'The real destiny of Man is something that ordinary men could not conceive and would be unable to comprehend, even if given a glimpse of it.
Our revolution is a final stage in an evolution that will end by abolishing history. It is my ultimate aim to perform an act of creation, a divine operation, the goal of a biological mutation which will result in an unprecedented exaltation of the human race and the appearance of a new race of heroes, demi-gods and god-men. My party comrades have no conception of the dreams that haunt my mind, or of the grandiose edifice of which the foundations, at least, will have been laid before I die. The world has reached a turning point, and will undergo an upheaval which the uninitiated cannot understand.'
-Adolf Hitler
The 'act of creation', of which Hitler spoke, would not come to pass if it was left to idle, Völkisch dreamers, followers of Lebensreform, or contemporary 'green new agers'. Hitler knew that only concrete action, in the real world, would allow him to achieve this 'unprecedented exaltation of the human race'. Perhaps Hitler's most perceptive and significant, yet little known statement was that the purpose of human evolution was 'to achieve a mystic vision of the Universe'. And Hitler knew that this vision - this union with the ultimate - could only be achieved by the race of 'demi-gods and god-men' - and it was this that motivated all the concern about the purity of the Aryan race that formed the essential core of Völkisch philosophy - because only the Aryan 'god-man' could achieve the 'ultimate purpose of creation'.
'I teach you the übermensch. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him ?'
-Friedrich Nietzsche
The concept of the Übermensch (Overman, Overhuman, Above-Human, Superman, Super-human) is a concept first found in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. The German prefix über can have connotations of superiority, transcendence, excessiveness, or intensity, depending on the words to which it is prepended. Mensch refers to a member of the human species, rather than to a male specifically. The adjective übermenschlich means 'super-human', in the sense of beyond human strength or out of proportion to humanity. In 'Die fröhliche Wissenschaft' - (The Joyful Science), Nietzsche announces to the reader that “common goal is to erect a new image and ideal of the free spirit,” in reference to the middle period of his work.
In 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' (1883) Nietzsche does indeed “erect a new image and ideal of the free spirit” in his pursuit of the higher man, the 'Übermensch'. Zarathustra is as a whole a compendium of unleashed, overflowing thoughts of the deep, formulations of mythological figures and profound archetypes, brimming in an ocean of apparent paradox. The doctrine of the “higher man”, as proposed by Zarathustra, sounds strangely reminiscent to the 'True Will', - the true self that exists in everyone. This is the equivalent to the inner core, the spiritual seed that is the seat for Gnosis that the ancient Gnostics recognized as the spiritual essence of the soul.
Nietzsche introduces the concept of the Übermensch in contrast to the 'other-worldliness' of Christianity: Zarathustra proclaims the Übermensch to be the 'meaning of the earth', and admonishes his audience to ignore those who promise 'other-worldly' hopes in order to draw them away from the earth.
The turn away from the earth is prompted, he says, by a dissatisfaction with life, a dissatisfaction that causes one to create another world in which those who made one unhappy in this life are tormented.
The Übermensch is not driven into 'other worlds' and away from this one. One can see in this a very similar view to that which Hitler held, as exemplified by his disapproval of Christianity. Nietzsche's Ubermensch was but one more link in an on-going ideational chain. The thematic continuity is a transcendent faith in humanity's evolutionary ascent towards apotheosis. This is by no means new.
This doctrine of transformationism dates back nearly 6,000 years, finding its crucible in Mesopotamia. It was the religious doctrine promulgated by the ancient Babylonian, Egyptian and Hellenistic Mystery cults. The evolution of man into superman - was always the purpose of the Ancient Mysteries, and it comes as little surprise that Nietzsche viewed the gods of the Bacchic and Dionysian Mysteries so favourably. They embodied his faith in humanity's emergent deity. Likewise, Hitler adhered to the religion of 'apotheosized man'. "Man is becoming God - that is the simple fact. Man is God in the making". (Hitler) In his coming kingdom of deified humanity, the Führer envisioned a system where the "god-man" justifiably ruled the "mass of lower humanity". This was in many ways derivative of Nietzsche's racial vision for the future. In 'Der Wille zur Macht' (The Will to Power), Nietzsche declares: "A daring and ruling race is building itself up... The aim should be to prepare a transvaluation of values for this new man, - most highly gifted in intellect and will. This man - and the elite around him will become the 'lords of the earth'".
Zarathustra first announces the Übermensch as a goal humanity can set for itself. All human life would be given meaning by how it advanced a new generation of human beings. The aspiration of a woman would be to give birth to an Übermensch, for example; her relationships with men would be judged by this standard. Zarathustra contrasts the Übermensch with the last man of 'egalitarian modernity', an alternative goal which humanity might set for itself. The 'last man' appears only in 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra', and is presented as a condition that would render the creation of the Übermensch impossible. Some commentators associate the Übermensch with a program of eugenics. This is most pronounced when considered in the aspect of a goal that humanity sets for itself. Nietzsche asserts that eugenical regimentation should be implemented with no regard for "rank, descent, or intellect", and he insists that there is an "unhealthy" population that "must at all costs be eliminated". Undoubtedly Nietzsche fear that such "dysgenics" would interbreed with those of healthier stock. Remember, Nietzsche's remarks are made in conjunction with procreation, inferring that he believes in a definite connection between hereditary and the "unhealthy."
Moreover, Nietzsche's bestowal of primacy upon the social "whole" shows his collectivist, or völkisch concerns. Hitler shared such ideas, as is evidenced by his virtual deification of the collective in 'Mein Kampf': "The sacrifice of personal existence is necessary to secure the preservation of the species" (Adolf Hitler). For Hitler the Übermensch represents a higher biological type, reached through artificial selection, and at the same time is also an ideal for anyone who is creative and strong enough to master the whole spectrum of human potential, good and "evil", to become an "artist-tyrant". In 'Ecce Homo', Nietzsche vehemently denied any idealistic, democratic or humanitarian interpretation of the Übermensch: 'The word Übermensch designates a type of supreme achievement, as opposed to 'modern' men, 'good' men, Christians, and other nihilists...
