The concept of the "Faustian" has taken on a life of its own, far beyond the origins of the legendary tale of Doctor Faustus and his infamous pact with the devil. Across the centuries, and especially beginning in the 19th century, the adjective "Faustian" came to represent a fundamental drive and character of the human spirit, particularly the spirit of the West. But what does it really mean to have a "Faustian" nature or to live a "Faustian" life?
At its core, to be Faustian means to be in restless pursuit of the unreachable, to perpetually strive for more - more knowledge, more power, more accomplishment. The Faustian individual is one who is never content to rest with what has already been achieved, no matter how grand. There is always another mystery to probe, another mountain to scale, another limit to surpass. The Faustian spirit is a spirit of endless aspiration and expansion.
In this sense, the Faustian outlook is profoundly future-oriented. While the Faustian type may study and draw upon the past, their essential orientation is forward into the uncharted and unknown, boldly going "where no one has gone before." Faustian culture is characterized by relentless innovation, boundary-breaking, pioneering into new vistas - geographically, intellectually, technologically.
The Faustian Revolution
Historically, the emergence of the Faustian spirit marked a revolutionary turn as human beings increasingly stepped out from under the shadow of tradition, convention, and religious authority to assert their own agency and autonomy. The Faustian individual, as famously portrayed by Goethe, rejects being a mere passive recipient of divine grace and revelation. He wants to seize the reins of destiny, to be the master of his own fate, to re-make the world through his own initiative.
In doing so, the Faustian type becomes akin to a secular "Creator" - the scientist solving the mysteries of the cosmos, the inventor devising new technologies, the explorer forging paths into uncharted lands, the entrepreneur bringing new industries and systems into being. The Faustian is not content to merely be a creature, but strives to be an independent creator.
However, this "Promethean audacity" also courts hubris and tragedy. In "over-reaching," the Faustian individual risks losing touch with human limits and purposes, becoming a destructive force. The tale of Doctor Faustus is, after all, a cautionary one of damnation. The Faustian spirit, untethered, can result in nihilism or a blind will-to-power.
The Perils and Promise of the Faustian
So while the Faustian drive has fueled human progress, it has also unleashed new capacities for devastation and needed to be balanced with humility, empathy, and ethical restraint. An unchecked Faustian spirit can become monstrous and self-defeating.
Moreover, the Faustian spirit seems to burn brightest in the "Spring" and "Summer" of a civilization, to use Oswald Spengler's historical schema, when it is vital and ascendant. But Spengler argues all civilizations, like organisms, eventually exhaust their élan vital and decline as the Faustian drive slackens. One open question is whether the Faustian spirit of the modern West has already peaked and entered its twilight phase.
Nevertheless, the Faustian conception represents a vision and challenge - to make our lives an open-ended adventure and achievement, to be the authors of our individual and collective destinies. It is an ideal that leads us to unceasing growth, creation and self-transcendence, to be all that we can be. Even if, in the end, the Faustian quest must reconcile itself to mortal and cosmic limits, it's an essential aspect of the human story.
image source: Freies Deutsches Hochstift / Frankfurter Goethe-Museum ; Licence: CC BY-NC-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/