Morality
is nothing other
than obedience to customs,
of whatever kind there may be;
customs, however,
are the traditional way of behaving and evaluating.

In things in which no tradition commands
there is no morality;
and the less life is determined by tradition,
the smaller the circle of morality…

The free human being is immoral.

Because in all things
he/she is determined to depend upon him/herself
and not upon tradition.

In all the original conditions of mankind,
‘evil’ signifies
the same as ‘individual,’
‘free’,
‘capricious’,
‘unusual’,
‘unforeseen’,
‘incalculable’…

AND SO:

Every individual action,
every individual mode of thought arouses dread;
it is impossible to compute
what precisely the rarer, choicer, more original spirits
in the whole course of history have had to suffer
through being felt as evil and dangerous,
indeed through feeling themselves to be so.

Daybreak by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. R. G. Collingwood, aphorism 63

A few days ago I visited a magnificent Catholic church. The domed sanctuary offered a space that was acoustic perfection. The acapella concert was exquisite in delivery. The right space for creating such meaning and beauty.

I could not fail to notice the life-sized figure of a suffering savior suspended high on the wall of the nave. There were candles, and statues of saints placed at intervals  along the circumference of the room. That’s the thing about tradition. Tradition shouts: Obey! There is no “why.” To risk inquiring “why” indicates that one does not simply accede to the divine command.

Nietzsche comments that the circle of morality, that is, traditional ways, sanctioned by hoary practice, the “‘is’ because it ever was,” becomes smaller and smaller, becoming more dim. The old ways, becoming extinguished by a form of life emerging from ‘reason,’ life at light speed, cybernetics, iphones, the advent of AI, etc..

Nietzsche describes the relationship between tradition and morality.

After the AND SO, (my words inserted between quoted lines,) Nietzsche compassionately comments on the fate of all those who discounted tradition: those outliers crossing gender boundaries, those rejecting the mandates of capitalism, those resisting the exploitation of racism, etc..

How many stand-outs have suffered, and how intense the suffering when reflexively branded ‘evil and dangerous.’

Freedom=immoral=evil/dangerous