Interpretation of Nietzche Quote

Blind pupils. -- As long as a man knows very well the strength and weaknesses of his teaching, his art, his religion, its power is still slight. The pupil and apostle who, blinded by the authority of the master and by the piety he feels toward him, pays no attention to the weaknesses of a teaching, a religion, and soon usually has for that reason more power than the master. The influence of a man has never yet grown great without his blind pupils. To help a perception to achieve victory often means merely to unite it with stupidity so intimately that the weight of the latter also enforces the victory of the former.

           from Nietzsche's Human, all too Human, s.122, R.J. Hollingdale transl.

            Friedrich Nietzche juxtaposes two main characters within this quote, the priest (any authoritative religious figure) and the religious follower. He describes the priest as being able to identify the fact that his teachings are not without flaws and imperfections. However, the priest will use this knowledge to influence those that are not as advanced as him. The pupil will listen to the ideals of the priest in order to better understand this idea of religion. The problem with this process is that priests do not allow room for interpretation about their religious teachings. Therefore, to be a “good” religious follower you must do so without using common sense, personal judgment or science. The priest becomes more like a dictator while his followers are his militia. Whether or not the intent of the priest is good, is irrelevant, because the influence the priest has amongst his followers is very high. As the priest obtains more followers, his power consequently also becomes greater.

            The importance of the role of the pupil must be further elaborated. Here, Nietzche describes the pupil as having “more power than the master”. Having just one follower is better than having no followers for the priest. This makes the pupil extremely valuable for the priest. A pupil that listens to the priest without questioning his ideals and does so in good faith has become invaluable; this is because the priest can more easily manipulate the pupil with his religious views. A pupil that is not ignorant to the flaws of the religious teachings of the priest can appreciate his teachings but make his own interpretations of how to appreciate “God”.

            I feel that this theory of the priest and pupil has been used throughout history and still are being practiced today. When Adolf Hitler was in power, he was able to convince the German people that by following his ideologies they will no longer suffer the aftermath of WWI. He also used his power of influence on people to commit horrible crimes against Jewish people during the holocaust. Today, use of this power occurs with Taliban in Afghanistan. Through the misuse of the Muslim religion they have succeeded in manipulating the Afghani people. Afghanistan has progressively digressed into the state it is today. A place where women were able to attend school freely has no such luxuries now. The Taliban have targeted Afghani people who are poor and are uneducated to initially start up their following. As their following grew, so has their tyranny within the country. In America, the teachings of the priest are used to target those who are seeking gay marriage. There is no reason why two people should not be allowed to be married to each other because they are of the same sex. However, those who are not homosexual follow the beliefs of their priest rather than judging themselves and having social acceptance for those who are different.