59. It Is the Cult of the Subsequent

Every age has its own divine type of naivety, for the discovery of which other ages may envy it. One might reckon the hominase religiosi among the artists as their highest rank. It is the profound, suspicious fear of an incurable pessimism which compels whole centuries to fasten their teeth into a religious interpretation of existence. The fear of the instinct which divines that truth might be attained too soon before man has become strong enough, hard enough, artist enough.