<![CDATA[Nietzsche writes in Daybreak, that:
Bold and daring undertakings are rarer in the modern age than they were in ancient time or in the Middle Ages — probably because the modern age no longer believes in omens, oracles, soothsayers or the stars. That is to say: we have become incapable of believing in a future determined for us, as did the ancients: who — in this quite different from us — were far less sceptical in regard to what was coming than they were in regard to what is.
Poor Friedrich, he suffers from selective views of history due to the attrition of stories over time. They tend to erode, leaving only the fantastic instead of the realistic. Yet, if belief is important, and I suspect it is, it seems to me that our belief in one’s own ability to determine a future, regardless of the accidents of birth, economics or whatever failure of gifts we believe we’ve received, is far more powerful a basis for action than mere faith in events scripted by beings or forces beyond our control. ]]>