Is it virtuous
when a cell transforms itself
into a function of a stronger cell?
It has no alternative.

And is it evil
when the stronger cell assimilates the weaker?
It also has no alternative;

it follows necessity, for it strives for super-
abundant substitutes and wants to regenerate itself.

Hence we should make a distinction in benevolence between the impulse
to appropriate and the impulse to submit, and ask whether it is
the stronger or the weaker that feels benevolent…

Joy and desire
appear together in the stronger that wants to transform some-
thing into a function;

joy and the wish to be desired
appear together in the weaker that- wants to become a function.

…But it should be kept in mind that “strong” and ”weak” are
relative concepts.

–excerpt The Gay Science, Book 3, Section 118 by Friedrich Nietzsche

Ah, another meditation upon good and evil…  As if I know what I am speaking of…  These labels are used cheerfully, with enthusiasm — but Nietzsche calls my attention away from the superficial, thoughtless use of these terms.  My habit of believing good and evil to be absolutes, as if boundary markers between regions, or conditions of the psyche, one predatory and it’s opposite, benevolent — is likely a mistake.

It feels that I know what I am talking about, but I awaken later to the likelihood that I have been talking utter nonsense.   Years of talking nonsense…

Nietzsche asserts that a cell, one of the simplest examples of life, must either make use of a more simple living form, as a resource for growth and reproduction, or submit to a larger living entity, acceding to the natural process of contributing to the life of a more complex, “advanced” life form…  Assimilation or contribution are both necessary, critically important to life itself.  It (both) has no alternative!

I note the presence of “desire” on both sides of this equation.  The matter need not be one of violence, of conflict, of “nature red in tooth and claw” but one of mutual benefit.  Joy, desire, the desire to be desired arise on both sides of the equation.

Benevolence?  Why that’s merely an accompanying feeling.

Finally…

Nietzsche reminds us that strength and weakness are not absolute qualities but comparative descriptions.  Sometimes one leads and sometimes one follows, if we stick with the dance metaphor…

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How about a song?  This tune fits somehow:  Shame on the Moon by Bob Seger released in 1983.