Thus Spoke Zarathustra · Chapter
XXVI: The Priests explained
Zarathustra instructs his disciples to pass the priests quietly, acknowledging them as enemies yet feeling a kinship with them.
What happens
Zarathustra instructs his disciples to pass the priests quietly, acknowledging them as enemies yet feeling a kinship with them. He laments the priests' imprisonment by false values and their 'Saviour,' criticizing their churches as caves of shame and their worship as rooted in suffering and revenge. He calls for a new freedom beyond the all-too-human saviors, affirming that the Superman has never yet existed.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Herd Morality
Zarathustra condemns the priests' herd-like devotion to false values and their 'Saviour,' calling for liberation from such collective illusions.
Death of God and Revaluation of Values
The chapter challenges the priests' God as a construct of suffering and revenge, urging a revaluation beyond traditional religious frameworks.
Characters to notice
- Zarathustra
Addresses his disciples about the priests, expressing both pity and critique.
- The Priests
Described as enemies, prisoners of false values, and builders of churches as 'sweet-smelling caves.'
- The Superman
Referenced as the unattained ideal; Zarathustra states 'Never yet hath there been a Superman.'
Key passages
“He whom they call Saviour put them in fetters:— In fetters of false values and fatuous words!”
The figure they revere as a savior has actually bound them with deceptive values and meaningless doctrines.
Zarathustra argues that the priests' savior is the source of their imprisonment, not their liberation.
“Never yet hath there been a Superman. Naked have I seen both of them, the greatest man and the smallest man:— All-too-similar are they still to each other. Verily, even the greatest found I—all-too-human!”
No Superman has ever existed; I have observed both the greatest and the smallest humans, and they remain fundamentally alike—even the greatest is still merely human.
Zarathustra emphasizes the absence of the Superman and the persistent all-too-human nature of even the most exalted individuals.