# The Religious Neurosis and the Problem of the Saint explained — Beyond Good and Evil

> Chapter companion for Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

The chapter analyzes the 'religious neurosis,' its characteristic prescriptions of solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence, and its sudden swings between sensuality and asceticism. It critiques the philosophical fascination with the 'miracle' of the saint's sudden moral transformation, arguing this stems from a psychology corrupted by moral prejudices. Schopenhauer and Wagner are presented as key figures obsessed with this phenomenon.

## Themes in this chapter

### Psychology as the Fundamental Science

Critiques existing psychology for being wrecked by submitting to moral dominion and misinterpreting the 'miracle' of saintly transformation, calling for a more philologically precise psychology.

### The Role of Religion

Examines religion through the lens of neurosis and physiological regimen, questioning the cause-effect relationships in ascetic practices and the societal fascination with the saint.

## Character check-ins

### Arthur Schopenhauer

His philosophy is framed as starting from the problem of the saint and the negation of the will, making the religious crisis central.

### Richard Wagner

Identified as Schopenhauer's last great German adherent, who concluded his lifework by portraying the saintly/neurotic type (Kundry) on stage, coinciding with modern outbreaks like the Salvation Army.

### The Narrator

Critically dissects the religious neurosis, proposes skepticism towards miraculous interpretations, and suggests a philological error in traditional psychology.

## Key lines

> Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we find it connected with three dangerous prescriptions as to regimen: solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence

The religious neurosis is universally linked to a triad of ascetic practices.

_Establishes the core behavioral symptoms._

> the most sudden and excessive sensuality, which then with equal suddenness transforms into penitential paroxysms, world-renunciation, and will-renunciation

Extreme swings from lust to ascetic repentance define the condition.

_Describes the paradoxical, oscillating nature of the neurosis._

> How is the negation of will possible ? how is the saint possible?—that seems to have been the very question with which Schopenhauer made a start and became a philosopher.

Schopenhauer's entire philosophical project originated from the puzzle of the saint's will-renunciation.

_Posits Schopenhauer's central concern._

> What? 'Miracle' only an error of interpretation? A lack of philology?

The saint's miraculous transformation may be a misinterpretation caused by unscholarly, morally biased reading.

_The chapter's concluding, provocative challenge to traditional understanding._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters/47
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/beyond_good_and_evil_se/chapters