According to Nietzsche, the instinct (Dionysian dynamic) do…

According to Nietzsche, the instinct (Dionysian dynamic) does not know about the future, whereas the imagination (Apollonian dynamic) does. Man, the unique animal with both imagination and instinct, is in conflict due to this difference in the way that his higher and lower functions interact because the imagination is showing him the risks that come with doing what is instinct is telling him to do. Thus, other animals do with gusto and a love of life that man does with trepidation. This idea makes sense from a Darwinian perspective because the instinct is kind of ancestral memory that recalls only successes and forgets all failures. Ancestors all hunted food and secured territory and mates and managed to reproduce before any of these activities cut his life short. Thus, the instinct tells us that to pursue our function as animals is a pure good that has no risk, whereas our imagination produces images of failure, humiliation, and death as possible consequences and makes us aware of risk. According to Nietzsche, people deeply wish to believe that their instincts are telling them the truth even though really they are deeply biased. This, according to Nietzsche, is the reason that people are drawn to spiritual quests like the alchemist's quest for the philosopher's stone. These spiritual quests have a similar emotional character for humans as the ordinary quests of animals, acting without imagination, have for them.