Defining the human spirit is a challenging task. A person has to be intellectually courageous to state what he or she believes is right. Many philosophers have written about human nature but they often face platitude and consolation. Chaos that accompany the existence of human beings have not been satisfactorily addressed. In other words, scholars that specialise in studying the mess which come with human existence have not explained the problems associated with knowledge of conscience. There is, thus, a lack of understanding on how conscience affects religious people. Any person who intends to explain the chaos that come with human existence will only succeed by possessing a conscience like that of Pascal.
Nietzsche takes Pascal as the typical example of a Christian believer. Pascal’s fame resulted from how his religious belief or faith caused his inability to question. Pascal believed in an eternal reward, though the reality of the prize never bothered him. He thought that if the reward was not valid, he would have nothing to lose. If the reward turned out to be real, however, he would be advantaged because he would secure the prize. Pascal did not have a ground on why he believed in God. His faith required him to sacrifice his reasoning. This is why Nietzsche refers to the Christian faith as a sacrifice of one's self-confidence of spirit.
According to Nietzsche, humanity is divided into two groups. One group consists of slaves and the other of masters. Pascal's religious belief is described as the slave faith. On the other hand, the modern man demonstrated a master's confidence when he started questioning. Such boldness had never been experienced before. In master morality, good for the masters is what they consider good and bad for what they believe to be evil. For the slave morality, good is what makes them safe while bad what they fear. In this case, the masters are decisive for their reason and do what they perceive to be good for them.
Schopenhauer explained that human life involves one having unsatisfiable desires. In a slave mentality, where there is a denial of the will, the main objective should be to release humanity from these desires. Although it is human nature to desire, there is no ultimate satisfaction of the desires discovered. This leads to frustrations. Master mentality allows one to live a joyful life as one has a free spirit. In comparison, those in the slave mentality find it offensive to have a free spirit as they consider meekness and solitude as their core virtues. Nietzsche stated that sainthood requires one to renounce the world and his will. Sainthood involves conversion where one adapts a life of self-penitence and sacrifices the self-indulgence life. If one's life before conversion involved pursuing things according to their own will, they are denied the freedom of choice as saints. This is the main feature of slave mentality.
People in the Jewish Old Testament stood with fear and relevance, and these acts are considered noble by Nietzsche. He regards the Old Testament Christians to be the people who initiated the slave mentality that is expressed in the New Testament. Christians in modern day Europe have, however, changed their mentality. This is supported by atheists’ questioning of the existence of God. Atheists argue that God, who is the judge and our father, does not hear people and if he does there is nothing he does to help them. Belief in God has been substituted with faith in an important subject. The slave mentality is being outgrown by the master mentality, as many people now follow their free will. In today's world, religious sensibility is full of emptiness. No sacrifices are being made to God as it was in the ancient times where people sacrificed to God the best things they had.
Nietzsche’s idea of eternity reoccurrence is aimed at applauding the master mentality. It suggests that the things that happen in life should continue happening eternally. In this idea, people with free spirits would not mind if the occurrences in their lives happened again and again for all eternity because they enjoy how they live. They are comfortable with everything that they do. Contrarily, people with the slave mentality would not want a cycle of the occurrences in their lives because they fear what will happen to them if they fail to observe specific rules. Slave mentality people hope for a better life after death.
Thus, they would not advocate for a cyclic repetition of life occurrences. Nietzsche's idea is very applicable and it puts one in a position to live a life where they are free. It also helps them to prepare for death as they do not have to worry about the way they are living currently. Humans run away from the reality of the chaos in their lives by creating fictional images in their minds to console themselves. They created religion for their benefit and due to the need to satisfy their desires.
