 The Apollonian element is the rational view of reality as subject to the principium individuationis, a concept that Nietzsche borrows from Schopenhauer (see  §1.2).  While ultimately an illusion, the Apollonian order of reality is necessary to the formation of any civilization. In opposition to the Apollonian, the Dionysian is the awareness of the fundamental unity of all beings, again in analogy with Schopenhauer’s metaphysical Will. If the former impulse is expressed in peaceful contemplation, the latter is manifested in states of ecstatic frenzy, which ought however to be contained in order to spare individuals and civilizations from self-destruction. According to Nietzsche, only in the balance between the two tendencies is life bearable.