the extent that we say *no* to any aspect of reality--that which is necessary--to that extent we cut ourselves off from the only source of abundant life and have, in fact, negated that which constitutes the conditions for the realization of our highest hopes and most noble possibilities. Because our essence and our authentic possibilities are inextricably intertwined with all that is and all that has been, Nietzsche's Zarathustra, in the spirit of Spinoza, teaches that redemption is achieved when our will becomes harmonized with the eternal necessity that governs the play of appearances: To redeem those who lived in the past and to re-create all 'it was' into a 'thus I willed it'--that alone should I call redemption (*Portable Nietzsche* 251). Redemption, in this sense, requires that we take our stand *beyond good and evil* and seems to require that we embrace a kind of determinism. We can, it seems, *do* what we will, but we can't *will* what we will.{8} Our real project is to discover our essential will, from whence alone our lives derive their meaning and purpose. Both Spinoza and Nietzsche seem to be saying that this discovery is facilitated by our affirmation of those aspects of reality that are beyond our control, which requires that we attempt, on the level of reflective consciousness, not to be controlled by such passive emotions as guilt, fear, and regret.{9} This is possible only insofar as we come to know, love, and (consciously) will ourselves as we are essentially, all of which presupposes--or, constitutes!--a right relationship to the power that grounds us. This right relationship to the power that grounds us is realized to the degree that our reflective consciousness is characterized by Spinoza's *intellectual love of God* and Nietzsche's *love of fate*, which are, practically speaking, closely related, if not identical concepts.{10} We must not imagine, however, that the breach between our empirical or conscious self and...
