VI.

Through the recognition of the masochistic natural law, I passed into a peculiar condition. Individual love and sorrow no longer made any

## particular impression on me. I began to observe masochism in the life

and work of Nature, in the history of humanity, in social life, and in civilization.

Is not the great developmental principle of Nature based upon this--that the existence and progress of the species is dependent upon pressure exercised on it by its environment? The more difficult the conditions of existence, the harder the pressure of the environment, the more =suffering= the species has to bear, the stronger must be the reaction against these, the more strongly will the powers and capacities of that species become active, and by this the species will be elevated to a higher level.

“=Thus suffering is the driving force of Nature. Nature is therefore masochistic!=”

Within the species itself the same law holds. Within the “human” species have not those varieties developed to the highest which have had to overcome the =hardest= environment? Those who by nature have been troubled with the greatest difficulties in providing for their food-supply? Those who have =suffered= most?

Is not the existence of the living being dependent upon the “struggle for existence,” upon the mutual hostility of the species, striving for one another’s annihilation?

It is a characteristic trait of human nature that all religions are based upon the same fundamental principle: “Only by =suffering= canst thou become happy!”

Is not this true =masochism=, when humanity, by means of modern science, has also been robbed of the hope of a beyond, of the hope for eternity and blessedness, and is offered =nothing= in its place? Look at universal history!

Was not the birth of that great idea associated with frightful sufferings, with the influence of fire and sword, blood and death? Has not humanity crucified its greatest benefactors? Has it not rewarded them with the gallows, the torture-chamber, the wheel, the stake, the prison, and the asylum?

And all out of =love for humanity=!

All the persecutions of Christians and Jews, the inquisitions and burnings of heretics, witch-trials, the religious sorrows of all times--all were outflows of the =love for humanity=. Their aim was to safeguard mankind from the robbery of its happiness by heresy!

The love of humanity begat our Neros, our Torquemadas, our Ivans the Terrible, and Schdanows!

Why did these men torture other men?... In order =themselves= to realize in imagination the others’ torments, to sympathize with them, to feel with them. In order in their own spirit to endure these martyrdoms; that is to say, to torture themselves with the representation of the pain of another.... “=Thus in its motives sadism is nothing else than masochism.=”

The =love of humanity= erected the cross of Christ, lighted the faggots with which Huss and Bruno wore burned, tortured Thomas Münzer, stabbed Marat, decapitated Hebert, and built the gallows of Arad, St. Petersburg, Chicago, etc.!

The =love of humanity= built the Bastille, the Tower of London, the Spielberg, Blackwell’s Island, and the Schlüsselburg, built the torture-chambers of the Inquisition, constructed the medieval penal system, and those of Montjuich, Alcalla del Valle, Borissoglebsk, and many others.

Remarkable! That precisely your “love of humanity” was the most cruel tormentor, the most inexorable executioner, the most bloodthirsty butcher of men, and the greatest of all criminals.

=Do you not see in all this the wise rule of the masochistic principle? That it was only persecution which diffused these ideas?= All the progress which man makes in =civilization= must be paid for by means of enormous sacrifice. The superhuman sorrows of millions of slaves created the civilization of antiquity--the Phœnician, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Assyrian, the Greek, and the Roman! (With regard to this often disputed fact, see Mommsen: “In comparison with the sufferings of the slaves of antiquity, all the sufferings of modern negro slaves are simply a drop in the ocean!”)

=Indian= civilization is the product of the most horrible suppression and plunder of the lower castes by the higher. The soil of the Southern States of America was cultivated through being manured with the sweat, blood, and bones of negro slaves.

The soil of Europe, again, was made fertile by the sufferings of slaves and serfs, and so on!

Amid the most horrible birth-pangs, amid the slave rebellions, peasant wars, and revolutions, in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, mankind was enabled to throw off the shell of the feudal system. Therewith capitalism was born. This newest form of civilization, once more, is based upon horrible plundering, oppression, and misery of millions and millions of proletarians.

What a devastation of humanity results from the acquirements of civilization in respect of engineering and the practical arts!... Every invention and discovery demands its victims!...

How often have chemists been destroyed by an explosion in the creation of new compounds, or killed by the development of poisonous vapours!

Count the engineers who have been sacrificed to their profession, or bacteriologists who have been killed through infection in the study of zymotic diseases!

Count all the victims of professional diseases, of tuberculosis, phosphorus necrosis, lead poisoning, mercurial poisoning, etc.!... Count all those who have fallen from scaffoldings, all the sailors who have been drowned, all the railway employees who have been run over, all the factory hands who have been torn to pieces by machinery, all those who have been destroyed in mines by explosions, etc.!

Think of the hunger and misery of the widows and children of these victims of industry and science, of the loss of work and other social injuries resulting from capitalism!

The rebellion of the victims of this system, again, gives rise to the class war, with new tortures, new sufferings!... In order ultimately, by the creation of a new social system in the future, to free mankind from these sufferings!... People believe it! But that is =nonsense=! The sufferings will only assume a new =form=, and will =increase=!!

Do you, then, believe that all the miseries of mankind at the present time have been the result only of chance, not of =foresight=?

Oh, no! These sufferings were only the =stimulus= which drove mankind forward to new construction, to greater progress, in order to avoid suffering!... Progress brought new suffering, and so on.

“=Thus suffering is the civilizing factor of mankind! To free mankind from suffering would mean to rob mankind of civilization.=”

Can we represent to ourselves a life of complete satisfaction?

No! Without suffering, the needs would be wanting which alone provide the stimulus to progress!... Without suffering, we should also be without enjoyment. For everything reaches our consciousness only by means of its opposite.

“=To free us from torment means to rob us of pleasure.... But then we should no longer have any interest in life!=”

“=Civilization is a union, a hermaphrodite structure, of pleasure and pain--that is, masochism!!... The progress of mankind is only possible by means of the masochistic principle.=”

=Oh, cruel-sweet philosophy of Golgotha!! Eternally shalt thou remain the Moira and Kismet of humanity!!!=