# The Ascetic Ideal and the Meaning of Suffering explained — The Genealogy of Morals

> Chapter companion for The Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

Nietzsche argues that the ascetic ideal provided humanity with a meaning for suffering, which was otherwise senseless and unbearable. By interpreting suffering as guilt, the ideal gave man a purpose and saved the will itself, even though it ultimately expressed a will to nothingness and a denial of life.

## Themes in this chapter

### The Ascetic Ideal and Its Meaning

The ascetic ideal gives suffering a purpose, saving the will but ultimately leading to a will to nothingness.

### Will to Power

The will is preserved through the ascetic ideal, even when directed against life itself.

## Character check-ins

### the ascetic priest

The ascetic ideal is embodied by the ascetic priest, who offers a meaning for suffering.

### Nietzsche

Nietzsche presents his analysis of the ascetic ideal and its role in giving meaning to human existence.

## Key lines

> Man, the bravest animal and the one most inured to suffering, does not repudiate suffering in itself: he wills it, he even seeks it out, provided that he is shown a meaning for it, a purpose of suffering.

Humans, despite being the most courageous and accustomed to pain, do not reject suffering itself; they actually desire and pursue it if they can see a reason or goal behind it.

_Nietzsche emphasizes the human need for meaning in suffering._

> Not suffering, but the senselessness of suffering was the curse which till then lay spread over humanity— and the ascetic ideal gave it a meaning!

The real curse was not suffering itself, but the lack of any purpose for it; the ascetic ideal provided that purpose.

_The ascetic ideal is presented as a solution to the problem of meaningless suffering._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters/28
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_genealogy_of_morals_se/chapters