appear to him as the
ultimate
and absolute end and purpose
of his Being, so long as this freedom, which is discovered
only by its actual use, is wholly engrossed therein.
of his Being, so long as this freedom, which is discovered
only by its actual use, is wholly engrossed therein.
Fichte - Nature of the Scholar
handle.
net/2027/wu.
89090378035 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.
hathitrust.
org/access_use#pd-google
? 516
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
wishes and loves above all else,--namely, the Will of God
manifesting itself in him;--just as this personality is to the
Stoic only the means of obeying the Law: and both are
herein alike, and of equal value in our estimation. To the
sensuous man, on the contrary, his personal sensual Existence is his ultimate and especial object, and everything else
which he does or believes beyond it, is to him but the
means for the fulfilment of its purposes.
It is wholly impossible, and an absolute contradiction,
that any one should love in two different directions, or hold
two opposite purposes. The Love of God, which we have
described, entirely extirpates personal Self-love. For onlj
by the renunciation of the latter do we attain the former.
Again, where personal Self-love is, there the Love of God is
not; for the latter suffers no other Love beside it.
This, as we have formerly observed, is the fundamental
character of sensuous Self-love,--that it requires a Life
fashioned in a particular way, and seeks its Happiness in
some particular object; while, on the contrary, the Love of
God regards every form of Life, and all objects, but as
means; and knows that everything which is given is the
proper and necessary means; and therefore never desires
any object determined in this or that particular way, but
accepts all as they present themselves.
What then would the sensuous man who requires an
objective enjoyment do, were he indeed a man, and consist-
ent? I should think that, relying upon himself, he would
exert all his strength to gather around him the objects of
his enjoyment; enjoy what he had, and do without that
which was beyond his reach. But what happens to him, if
he be also a superstitious child 1 He says to himself that the
objects of his enjoyment are in the gift of a God who will
indeed grant them to him, but who for this service demands
something from him in exchange;--he alleges that there has
been a covenant made with him on the subject;--he ex-
hibits a collection of writings as the voucher of this pre-
tended covenant.
When he fully enters into this conception, how is it then
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? LECTURE VIII.
517
with him? Enjoyment still remains his especial object, and
his duty to his imagined God only the means for the at-
tainment of this object. This must be confessed,--there is
no escaping it. It will not do to say, as is frequently said:
--" I desire that the Will of God be done for its own sake;
--I wish Happiness--only by the way. " Setting aside for
a moment thy "by the way," thou yet admittest that thou
wishest Happiness because it is Happiness; and because
thou believest that, having it, it will be well with thee; and
because thou wouldst willingly have it well with thee. But
then thou certainly dost not desire that the Will of God be
done for its own sake alone; for then thou couldst not desire
Happiness, since the first desire supersedes and destroys
the second; and it is absolutely impossible that that which
is destroyed can exist beside, and be associated with, its de-
stroyer. Dost thou also wish, as thou sayest, that the Will
of God be done ? --then thou canst wish this only because
thou believest that thou canst not otherwise obtain that
which thou especially desirest,--namely Happiness;--and
because this wish is imposed upon thee by the desire by
which thou art more especially animated;--thou wishest
therefore the Will of God only "by the way," and because
thou art constrained to do so; but from the bottom of thy
heart, and with thy own good will, thou wishest only for
Happiness.
It is nothing to the purpose that this Happiness is re-
moved far from immediate sight, and even placed in another
world beyond the grave, where it is thought that it may be
possible to confound the two ideas with less trouble. What-
ever you may say with regard to this your Heaven,--or
rather whatever you may not say, in order that your true
meaning may not come to light,--yet the single circum-
stance that you make it dependent upon Time, and place it
in another world, proves already incontrovertibly that it is
a Heaven of sensuous enjoyment . Here Heaven is not, you
say;--but yonder it shall be. I pray you,--What then is
that which can be different yonder from what it is here?
Obviously, only the objective constitution of the world, as
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? 518
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
the environment of our existence. It must therefore, ac-
cording to your opinion, be the objective constitution of the
present world which makes it unfit for a Heaven, and the
objective constitution of the future world which makes it fit
for that purpose;--and thus you cannot any longer conceal
that your Blessedness depends upon outward cire\imstances
and therefore is a sensuous enjoyment. Did you seek your
Blessedness there where alone it is to be found, solely in God
and in the truth of his Manifestation, but by no means in
the mere casual Form in which he is manifested,--then
would you not need to refer yourselves to another Life, for
God is even now to-day, as he shall be in all Eternity. I
assure you,--and remember my words when it shall come
to pass,--just as, in the second Life to which you shall then
have attained, you will again make your Happiness depen-
dent on outward circumstances, you shall fare just as ill
there as you do here; and you will then console yourselves
with a third Life, and in the third with a fourth, and so on
for ever;--for God neither can nor will confer Blessedness
by means of outward circumstances, since he desires, on the
contrary, to give us Himself, independent of all of Form.
In a word:--this mode of thought, thrown into the form
of a prayer, would thus express itself:--" Lord! let but my
will be done, and that throughout an Eternity which on
that account shall be blessed; and in return thou shalt
have Thy Will in this short and wearisome present Time. "
--And this is manifest immorality, senseless superstition, ir-
religion, and actual blasphemy of the holy and bliss-giving
Will of God.
On the contrary, the expression of the constant mind of
the truly Moral and Religious Man is this prayer:--" Lord!
let but Thy Will be done, then is mine also done; for I
have no other will than this,--that Thy Will be done. "
This Divine Will is necessarily done now and for ever;--in
the first place, in the Inward Life of this man thus devoted
to it,--of which in our next lecture;--and then--what im-
mediately belongs to our present subject--in everything
that meets him in his Outward Life. All these events are
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? LECTURE VIII.
519
nothing else than the necessary and unalterable Outward
Manifestation of the Divine Work fulfilling itself in him 5
and he cannot wish that anything in these events should be
otherwise than what it is, without wishing that the Inward
Life, which can only thus manifest itself, should be other-
wise,--and without thereby separating his will from the
Will of God, and setting it in opposition thereto. He can-
not any longer reserve to himself a choice in these things,
for he must accept everything just as it happens; for every-
thing that comes to pass is the Will of God with him, and
therefore the best that can possibly come to pass. * To
those who love God, all things must work together for good,
absolutely and immediately.
To those also, in whom the Will of God is not inwardly
accomplished, -- because there is indeed no Inward Life
in them, but who are altogether mere outward things,--to them also the Will of God is done outwardly, as alone it
can reach them;--appearing at first sight ungracious and
chastening, but in reality in the highest degree merciful and
loving;--while with them it grows worse and worse, and
they weary themselves out, and even render themselves
despicable and ridiculous, in the vain chase after a good
which ever floats before their vision and ever eludes their
grasp,--until they are thereby at last driven to seek for
Happiness there where alone it is to be found. To those
who do not love God, all things must work together imme-
diately for pain and torment, until, by means of this tor-
ment, they are at last led to Salvation.
* For an account of a remarkable incident connected with this passage,
sec " Memoir" p. 128.
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? 520
LECTURE IX.
EXPOSITION OF THE HIGHER MORALITY--PASSAGE
TO THE STANDPOINT OF TRUE RELIGION--
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MORAL-
RELIGIOUS WILL.
The following were the results of our last lecture, and indi-
cate the point at which we now stand:--So long as man
still desires to be something on his own account,the True
Being and Life cannot develope itself within him, and hence
he likewise remains inaccessible to Blessedness; for all per-
sonal, individual Being is but Non-Being, and limitation of
the True Being; and, on that very account, is either obvious
Unblessedness,--as in the case of the first standpoint, that of
mere Sensuousness, which looks to outward objects only for
its enjoyment, whilst no outward object can possibly satis-
fy man;--or else, if not actual Unblessedness, yet just as little
Blessedness, but only mere Apathy, passive indifference, and
absolute incapacity for all enjoyment of Life,--as in the
case of the second standpoint, that of mere formal Legality.
On the contrary, as soon as man, by an act of the Highest
Freedom, surrenders and lays aside his personal, individual
Freedom and Independence, he becomes a partaker of the
Only True Being, the Divine, and of all the Blessedness
that is contained therein. We showed, in the first place,--
in order to separate ourselves distinctly from the opposite
sensuous mode of thought, and to lay this aside once and for
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? THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
521
ever,--how such an one, who has attained the True Life,
looks upon the outward and sensuous Life; and we found
that he regards his whole personal Ex-istence, and all out-
ward occurrences that affect it, but as means for the fulfil-
ment of the Divine Work in him; and indeed all of them
as they occur as necessarily the best and most legitimate
means; and hence he desires to possess no voice or choice
whatever with regard to the objective disposition of these
occurrences, but accepts them all as they present them-
selves. On the other hand, we reserved for our present
lecture, the description of the inward and peculiar Life of
such a man :--which description we now begin.
I have already shown, on a former occasion, that the
Third standpoint of the Spiritual Life,--which undoubtedly
is that at which we have now arrived, that, namely, of the
Higher Morality,--is distinguished from the second, that
of mere formal Legality, by the creation of a wholly new
and truly Super-sensual World, and by the development of
this world within the world of sense as its sphere; while,
on the contrary, the Law of Stoicism is only the Law of an
order in the world of sense. It is this assertion that I have,
in the next place, to establish on a deeper foundation, and
thus more clearly explain and more strictly define it.
On this standpoint, the whole sensible world, the existence
of which is assumed only because of our love and affection for
a determinate Ex-istence in outward objects, becomes only a
means; but unquestionably not a means for nothing,--upon
which supposition it would not be a means, since besides
itself there would then be nothing, and it would con-
sequently remain for ever an end, as the sole and absolute
Ex-istence,--but it becomes undoubtedly a means for an
Actual, True, and Real Being. What is this Being? We
know it from what has been said above. It is the inward
Essential Being of God himself, as it is absolutely, in itself
and through itself, immediately, purely, and without inter-
vening medium, without being modified, veiled, or obscured
by any Form contained in the personality of the Ego, and
which is, on that account, obstructive and limiting;--but
Xb
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? 522
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
broken only by the indestructible Form of Infinity. Since
this Being is determined only, on the one hand, by the Es-
sential Divine Nature which is founded absolutely on itself
alone, and, on the other, by the Form of Infinity, which, in
Actual Ex-istence, can never be dissolved or brought to a
conclusion,--as we have very distinctly set forth in our last
lecture,--it is clear that we cannot by any means compre-
hend mediately, through any other conception, and thus a
priori, how this Being will disclose itself; but that it can
only be immediately perceived and experienced, and only ap-
prehended in the act of its living forth-flowing from Being
into Ex-istence; so that the specific knowledge of this
new and Super-sensual World cannot be communicated, by
means of description and characterization, to those who do
not themselves live therein. He who is inspired of God re-
veals to us how it is;--and it is as he reveals it, just for
this reason--because He so reveals it; but without such in-
ward revelation no man can speak of it.
In general, however, and by means of an outward and
merely negative mark, this Divine World may be charac-
terized; and that in the following way :--All Being carries
with it the Love and Affection of itself, and so also the im-
mediate Divine Being which is manifested in the Form of
Infinity. Now this Being is, such as it is, not through any-
thing else, or for the sake of anything else, but through it-
self, and for its own sake alone; and when it appears and is
beloved, then it must necessarily be beloved and enjoyed
through itself alone, purely and solely on its own account;
--but by no means on account of something else, and thus
only as a means for this other thing, which would then be-
come the ultimate end of its being. And thus we have
found the desiderated outward criterion of the Divine World,
whereby it is completely separated from the World of Sense.
Whatever is a source of enjoyment in itself, and indeed of
the highest degree of enjoyment, infinitely transcending all
other degrees, is a Manifestation of the immediate and es-
sential Divine Nature in Reality. We may even describe
it as the most perfect phenomenon of each particular mo-
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? LECTUHE IX.
523
ment, and under the given conditions of Time;--provided we
do not understand thereby such a perfection as is given by
means of a mere logical conception, which contains nothing
more than the order and completeness of the Manifold,--but,
on the contrary, a perfection given through an immediate
affection towards a determinate Being.
Thus much as to the possible characterization of the New
World created by the Higher Morality within the World of
Sense. Should you desire of me yet greater clearness on
this point, you will doubtless not expect that I should at-
tempt a clearer characterization, for I think that in this
way nothing can be added to what we have already said,--
but you will require from me examples. Willingly indeed
shall I satisfy this desire, finding myself in these regions so
concealed from the vulgar eye; reminding you, nevertheless,
that I can here adduce only individual examples, which
cannot of themselves exhaust that which can be exhaust-
ed only in characterization, and which we have already so
exhausted;--examples which themselves can only be fully
comprehended by means of such characterization.
I say:--The inward and absolute Nature of God mani-
fests itself in Beauty; it manifests itself in the perfect
Dominion of Man over Nature; it manifests itself in the
perfect State and Polity of Nations; it manifests itself
in Science;--in short, it manifests itself in those conceptions
which, in the strict and peculiar sense, I term Ideas, and to
which I have directed attention in many ways, both in the
lectures which I delivered here last winter,* and in others
which have some time ago appeared in print, f In order
to explain my fundamental conception by means of the low-
est form of the Idea, concerning which we may venture to
hope that we shall be able at once to attain the requisite
clearness--namely Beauty:--There is much talk of the
splendours of the surrounding world, of the beauties of na-
ture, &c. ; as if,--were it intended that we should accept
*" Characteristics of the Present Age. "
t" On the Nature of the Scholar and its Manifestations. "
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? 524
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
these words in their literal acceptation,--as if Beauty
could ever appertain to the Earthly and Perishable, or could
be transferred to these. But the source of Beauty is in God
alone, and it reveals itself only in the minds of those who
are inspired by Him. Imagine, for example, a Holy Virgin,
who, being ascended into Heaven, encircled by the heavenly
hosts who fall down before her presence in rapt contempla-
tion, surrounded by all the splendours of a Heaven of which
she herself is the highest ornament and glory, can yet alone
of those present see nothing of all that takes place around
her, being wholly overwhelmed and lost in this one feeling:
--" Behold the handmaiden of the Lord: be it unto me ac-
cording to his will;"--clothe this feeling, thus surrounded,
in a human body, and then unquestionably you have Beauty
in a determinate Form. Now what is it that makes this
Form beautiful? Is it the separate parts and members of
which it is composed? Is it not much rather the single
feeling which speaks in all these members? The Form is
superadded, only because in it, and by means of it, the
Thought becomes visible; and it is transferred by means of
lines and colours to the canvass, because thus only can it be
communicated to others. Perhaps this Thought might also
have been expressed in hard and senseless stone, or in any
other material. Would then the stone thereby become
beautiful? The stone ever remains stone, and is wholly
unsusceptible of such a predicate; but the soul of the Artist
was beautiful when he conceived his work, and the soul of
every intelligent beholder in whom the conception is repeat-
ed will likewise become beautiful;--the stone ever remains
only that which fixes the limits of the outward perception
during this inward spiritual development.
This ideal Being and the creative Affection of it, as a
mere natural phenomenon, manifests itself generally as
Genius--for Art, for Government, for Science, &c. It is
understood, of course, and to every one who has any experi-
ence whatever in matters of this kind it is by means of this
very experience sufficiently known, that--since the natural
affection for such creations of Genius is the very foundation
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? LECTURE IX.
525
of the Life of Genius in which all its other life is swallowed
up,--I say, it is understood that true Genius does not require
to stimulate and urge itself on to industry in its Art or in
its Science by any Categorical Imperative, but that all its
powers, of their own accord, direct themselves towards this
its all-engrossing object;--further, that, so surely as any one
possesses True Genius, his work always prospers well, and
the products of his labour are always pleasing to him, and
thus he is ever surrounded, inwardly and outwardly, by the
Beautiful and Agreeable;--that, finally, he does not em-
ploy this Activity for the attainment of any object what-
ever beyond itself, nor will accept aught in exchange for it;
but, on the contrary, no earthly consideration would induce
him to leave undone what he alone may do, or to do it other-
wise than as seems right and pleasing to himself;--that
he consequently finds his true and satisfying Enjoyment
of Life only in such work, purely and solely as work, and for
the work's sake; and whatever of the external world he may
accept besides does not of itself engross his thoughts, but
he accepts it only in order that, renewed and strengthened
by it, he may return to his own true element. And thus
mere natural Genius soars far above both the low desires of
the Sensualist and the callous indifferentism of the Stoic,
and carries its possessor through an uninterrupted succes-
sion of blissful momenta, for which he needs nothing beyond
himself, and which, without painful effort or labour on his
part, arise spontaneously within his Life. The Enjoyment
of a single hour, passed happily in the pursuit of Art or of
Science, far outweighs a whole lifetime of Sensuous Enjoy-
ment y and before the picture of this Blessedness, the mere
Sensuous Man, could it but be brought home to him, would
sink in envy and dismay.
In the illustration we have thus adduced, we have as-
sumed a natural Genius as the peculiar source and root of
the Spiritual Enjoyment of Life, as well as of the scorn of
mere Sensuous Enjoyment; and I have desired, by means of
this single example of the Higher Morality and its Blessed-
ness, to lead you to a more universal conception of it. But
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? 52G
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
this Genius,--notwithstanding that its object is in itself
truly super-sensual, and the pure expression of the God-
head, as we showed in particular by the example of the
Beautiful,--does yet desire, and must desire, that its Spi-
ritual Object should receive a certain form and clothing in
the World of Sense; and thus Genius does also desire, in a
certain sense, such a determinate Form of its World and its
environment, as in our previous lecture we unconditionally
censured and condemned in the case of Sensuousness;--and
if the self-enjoyment of Genius were dependent on the ac-
cidental realization or non-realization of this outward re-
sult as the aim of its efforts, then would the peace and
tranquillity of Genius itself be at an end; and the Higher
Morality would be exposed to all the miseries of the lower
Sensuousness. But, so far as Genius is concerned, so surely
as it is Genius, it will assuredly succeed in the expression
and representation of its Idea in the appropriate medium,
and its desired Form and environment can therefore never
be awanting; while nevertheless it is the Activity with
which it produces this Form which is the true seat of its
immediate enjoyment, to which the Form itself only contri-
butes indirectly because in it only does the Activity become
appareut;--from which it is obvious that True Genius never
lingers long over anything it has already attained, nor dwells
in voluptuous enjoyment of it, and of itself in it, but pro-
ceeds onward without delay to new developments. In gene-
ral, however, apart from particular Genius, and with refer-
ence to all possible Life in which the Divine Being mani-
fests itself purely, I lay down the following principle:--So
long as joy in the deed is mixed up with desires regarding
the outward product of the deed, even the possessor of the
Higher Morality is not yet perfect in purity and clearness;
and thus, in the Divine Economy, the outward failure of his
deed is the means of forcing him in upon himself, and of
raising him to the yet higher standpoint of True Religion,
--that is, to the comprehension of what it really is that
he loves and strives after. Understand this as a whole, and
in its connexion, thus :--
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? LECTURE IX. 527
f
(I. ) The Free Ego, deduced and described with sufficient
distinctness in our previous lecture, and which, as Reflexion,
ever remains one and the same, does yet, as Object--that is,
as the reflecting substance that exists only in Appearance--
become divided, at the first glance into an infinity, but also,
for a reason that lies too deep to be treated of in these lec-
tures, into a progressive system of Individual Personalities.
(This separation is a portion of that division of the objective
world into the Form of Infinity which we have already suf-
ficiently described upon several occasions; and thus belongs
to the absolutely fundamental Form of Ex-istence, which
cannot be cast off even by the Godhead itself:--As Being
originally separated itself in this division, so it remains se-
parated in all Eternity; and hence no Individual given in
this division--that is, no Individual who has come into Ac-
tual Ex-istence,--can ever perish; this is to be noticed only
in passing, and in opposition to those among our contem-
poraries, who by means of a half-philosophy and whole-be-
wilderment esteem themselves in the highest degree en-
lightened when they deny the continued Ex-istence in
higher spheres of the Individuals actually existing here. )
In them,--these Individual Personalities thus arising from
the fundamental Form of Ex-istence,--the entire Divine Be-
ing is separated into an infinite progressive development in
Time, and is, as it were, divided among them, according to
the Absolute Law of such a division which is founded in the
Essential Divine Nature itself; whilst, further, every one of
these Individuals, as a section of the One Ego determined
by its own essential Form, necessarily bears this latter
Form in its entirety,--that is, as we said in our last lecture,
it is free and independent in relation to the five standpoints.
Each Individual has therefore in his own free choice, which
cannot be taken away from him even by the Divinity him-
self, the possibility of viewing and of enjoying from any
of these five standpoints that portion in the Absolute Be-
ing which belongs to him as an Actual Individual . Thus
has each Individual, in the first place, his determinate por-
tion in the Sensuous Life, and in its Love; which Life will
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? 528
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
appear to him as the ultimate and absolute end and purpose
of his Being, so long as this freedom, which is discovered
only by its actual use, is wholly engrossed therein. But if
he should rise, perhaps through the sphere of Legality, to
that of the Higher Morality, then will that Sensuous Life
become to him but a means; and his portion in the High-
er, Super-sensual, and immediately Divine Life, will re-
veal itself to his Love. Every one without exception neces-
sarily receives, by his mere entrance into Actual Existence, his portion in this Super-sensual Being; for otherwise,
he would be no result of that division of the Absolute
Being, according to its own Essential Law, without which
there is no Actual Ex-istence, and he would not other-
wise even have become actual; but to every one without
exception this Super-sensual Being may nevertheless re-
main concealed, should he be unable to renounce his Sen-
suous Being and its objective independence. Every one
without exception, I say, receives that portion in the Super-
sensual Being which is exclusively his own, and which be-
longs in the same manner to no other Individual whatever
but himself; which portion now develops itself in him in
all Eternity,--manifesting itself as a continuous course of
action,--in such a form as it can absolutely assume in no
other Individual;--and this, in short, may be called the in-
dividual character of his Higher Vocation. Not that the
Essential Divine Nature is divided in itself;--in all men,
without exception, the one and unchangeable Divine Na-
ture, as it is in itself, is assumed;--and if they can but at-
tain True Freedom, may also appear in actual manifestation;
--but this Nature manifests itself in each Individual in a
different Form, peculiar to himself. Let Being, as we have
already supposed, be -- A, and Form = B; then A, which
has absolutely entered into B, divides itself by this very
act of entrance, not according to its Essential Nature but
according to its Absolute Form in Reflexion, into (b + b
b . . . . ) = a System of Individuals: and each individual
b contains in itself--(1. ) the whole and indivisible A, (2. )
the whole and indivisible B, (3. ) its own particular b;--and
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? LECTURE IX.
52. 9
the same with all the other results of A throughout (b -f - b
+ *. . . . )
(2. ) No one can discover, by means of mere thought alone,
this his peculiar portion in the Super-sensual Being; nor
can he deduce it by way of inference from any other truth;
nor can he be made acquainted with it through any other
individual, since this portion cannot be known to any other
individual;--but he can attain a knowledge of it only by
immediate personal consciousness; and his Being must ne-
cessarily and spontaneously assume this Form so soon as he
has surrendered and wholly annihilated all personal will and
personal purposes within him. Hence it is clear, in the
first place, that with respect to this, which only each man
can clearly comprehend for himself in his own immediate
consciousness, it is impossible to speak in general terms,
and that I must here necessarily stop short. And what
end, indeed, could here be served by speech, even were
speech possible? He to whom his especial Higher Vocation
has revealed itself knows it as it is revealed to him; and
he may conclude by analogy how it is with others to whom
their Higher Vocation has also become clear and intelligible.
But as for him to whom it has not revealed itself, to him
no information on this subject can be communicated;--it
serves no purpose to speak of colours to the blind.
Has this peculiar Vocation revealed itself to him ? --then
does it penetrate him with unspeakable Love, and with the
purest Enjoyment;--penetrates him wholly, and takes pos-
session of all his Life. And thus it is the very first act of
the Higher Morality, which must infallibly ensue so soon as
the mere personal will has been resigned, that man becomes
wholly penetrated with his own especial Vocation, and de-
sires to be nothing whatever but that which he, and only
he, can be; which he, and only he, in virtue of his Higher
Nature, that is, of the Divine Nature in him, ought to be;
--in short, that he desires nothing whatever but that which,
at bottom, he actually wills. How could such a man ever
do anything with unwillingness, since he never does any-
thing else but that in which he has the highest delight?
Yb
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? 530 THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
What I said above of natural Genius, is even still more
applicable to the Virtue which is born of perfect Freedom;
for this Virtue is the highest expression of Genius; it is
the immediate power of Genius,--i. e. that Form which the
Essential Divine Nature has assumed in our Individuality.
On the contrary, the desire and effort to be something else
than that to which we are called, however great and noble
that other thing may seem, is the highest Immorality; and
all the constraints that man imposes upon himself for that
purpose, and all the unhappiness that he consequently suf-
fers, are themselves rebellions against the Divine Rule, and
resistances of our will to the Divine. What is it then that
has thus set up within us a purpose not imposed upon us
by our Higher Nature, but personal will, personal choice,
personal self-complacent wisdom ? --and thus we are very
far indeed from the renunciation of our own personal, in-
dividual will. This effort is necessarily the source of the
greatest unhappiness. In this position we must constant-
ly enforce, constrain, urge, and deny ourselves; for we can
never do that willingly which, at bottom, we cannot will;
and we can never attain a successful issue, for we cannot
accomplish that which our Nature itself forbids. This is
the affectation of outward sanctity against which we are
warned by Christianity. It may remove mountains, and
even give its body to be burned, and yet that will profit it
nothing if such be not the dictate of true Love,--that is, if
it be not its own peculiar Spiritual Being that necessarily
brings with it its own Affection. Will to be--we mean in
supersensual things, for in mere sense there is no Blessed-
ness--will to be what thou oughtst to be, what thou canst be,
and what therefore thou wilt be:--this is the fundamental
Law, as well of the Higher Morality as of the Blessed Life.
(3. ) This Higher Vocation of Man, which, as we said,
penetrates him with complete and undivided Love, exhibits
itself indeed, in the first place, in his own conduct; but in
the second place, and by means of that conduct, it likewise
manifests itself in a determinate result in the World of
Sense. So long as man does not yet know the true root
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? LECTURE IX.
531
and essential central-point of his Ex-istence, the two ele-
ments we have named,--his own Inward Being and its Out-
ward Result,--remain undistinguished. Something proves
unsuccessful with him; and the outward result at which he
aims does not ensue,--which indeed is not his fault, for he
wills only that which he can, but that of outward circum-
stances which are not susceptible of his influence,--and
then his Love, which has still a mixed object, is dissatisfied
with this failure, and thereby his Blessedness is disturbed
and destroyed. This forces him more deeply in upon him-
self, in order that he may make it perfectly clear to himself
what it really is that he strives after; and what, on the
contrary, it is that in deed and truth he does not strive
after, but which is indifferent to him. In this self-exami-
nation he will discover what we have plainly enunciated
above, although he may not express it in the same words,
--namely that/It is the development of the Divine Being
and Life in him, this particular Individual, which he
strives after especially and in the first place;--and hereby
his whole Being and Love will become perfectly clear to
him, and he will be raised from the Third standpoint of the
Higher Morality, in which we have hitherto retained him,
to the Fourth--that of Religion. This Divine Life now
continually developes itself within him, without hindrance
or obstruction, as it can and must develope itself only in
him and his individuality;--this alone it is that he properly
wills ;--his will is therefore always accomplished;--and it is
absolutely impossible that anything contrary to it should
ever come to pass. This his proper Inward Life does in-
deed still desire constantly to flow forth in surrounding cir-
cumstances and to fashion these after itself, and only in
this effort after outward expression does it show itself to be
true Inward Life, and not mere dead devotion. But the
result of this effort after outward expression does not de-
pend on his own isolated Individual Life alone, but upon
the general Freedom of other Individuals besides himself:
this Freedom God himself cannot wish to destroy, therefore
neither can the man who is devoted to God, and who has
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? 532
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
attained a clear knowledge of God,--neither can he wish
that it should be destroyed. While, therefore, he certainly
desires this outward result, and labours unceasingly and
with all his power to effect it,--because he cannot abstain
from doing so, and because this is his own proper Inward
Life,--he yet does not will it absolutely and unconditional-
ly; and it therefore would not, even for a single moment,
disturb his Peace and Blessedness should it nevertheless re-
main unaccomplished,--his Love and his Blessedness return
into his own proper Life, where they always, and without ex-
ception, find their true satisfaction. Thus much in general. For the rest, the matters now touched upon demand a
further exposition, which we reserve for our next lecture
in order that we may here reach a result which will spread
a general light over the whole;--namely,
(4. ) Everything which this Moral-Religious Man wills
and incessantly urges forward, has, in and for itself, no value
whatever to him;--as indeed it has none in itself, and is
not in itself the most perfect, but only that which is most
perfect in this moment of Time, to be superseded in a
Future Time by something still more perfect;--but it has
value for him only because it is the immediate Manifesta-
tion of God,--the Form which God assumes in him, this de-
finite Individual. Now God also dwells originally, likewise
in a peculiar Form, in all other surrounding Individuals,
notwithstanding that he remains concealed from most of
them in consequence of their personal, individual Will, and
their want of the highest Freedom, and thus is not actual-
ly manifested either in themselves, or in their conduct to-
wards others. In this position the Moral-Religious Man--
although with reference to himself he has entered upon his
portion of True Being--is, with reference to other Indivi-
duals, separated and cut off from the constituent parts of
Being which are related to him; and there abides in him a
sorrowful striving and longing to unite and associate him-
self with these kindred elements:? not indeed that this
longing disturbs his Blessedness, for this is the permanent lot
of his Finite Being, and a part of his allegiance to God, to em-
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? LECTURE IX.
533
brace which with Love is itself a portion of his Blessedness.
For what then would this concealed Inward Being, were
it manifested in the conduct of other individuals,--for what
would it possess a value in the estimation of our supposed
Religious Man? Obviously not for itself,--since even his
own nature has no value whatever to him in itself,--but
because it is the Manifestation of God in these Individuals.
Further, for what will he desire that this Manifestation
should possess a value in the estimation of these Indivi-
duals themselves? Obviously only that it may be recog-
nized by them as the Manifestation of God in themselves.
Finally, for what will he desire that his own conduct and
effort should possess a value in the estimation of these
Individuals? Obviously only that they may recognize in it
the Manifestation of God in him.
And thus we have now a general outward characteriza-
tion of the Moral-Religious Will, in so far as it comes forth
from the Inward Life, which ever remains hidden in itself,
into Outward Manifestation. In the first place, the object
of this Will is ever only the Spiritual World of reason-
able beings; for the World of Sense has long ago with him
been reduced to a mere sphere of spiritual activity. In this
Spiritual World, his positive Will is this--that in the con-
duct of each Individual there may be manifested purely
that Form which the Essential Divine Nature has assumed
in him this particular Individual;--that, on the other hand,
each Individual may recognize God, as he is outwardly ma-
nifested to him in the conduct of all other men;--that all
others may, in like manner recognize God as he is out-
wardly manifested to them in the conduct of this particular
Individual;--and that thus God alone may ever be manifest-
ed in all Outward Appearance;--that He alone may live and
rule, and nothing besides Him;--and that, everywhere and
at all times, He alone may be present to the eye of mortals.
Thus, as it is expressed by Christianity in the form of a
prayer:--" Thy kingdom come :--even that condition of the
world in which Thou alone art, and livest, and rulest, so
that--Thy Will may be done on earth,--in the Actual, by
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? 534
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
means of that Freedom which Thou Thyself wilt not take
away,--as it ever is done, and indeed never can be other-
wise done, in Heaven,--in the Idea, in the world as it is in
itself, and without relation to Freedom. "
For example :--Yonder they complain that misery is so
abundant in the world, and go about with a zeal, praise-
worthy in itself, to make it somewhat less. Alas! the mi-
sery that lies most open to view is not the true misery;--
since things are as they are, misery is the best of all that is
in the world; and since the world does not improve not-
withstanding all this misery, one might almost believe that
there is not yet enough of misery in it:--that the image of
God, Humanity, should be sullied, degraded, and trodden in
the dust,--this is the true misery in the world, which fills
the Religious Man with holy indignation. Perchance thou
dost alleviate the sorrows of humanity, so far as thy hand
can reach, by the sacrifice of thine own dearest enjoyments.
But this may happen only on account of Nature having
given thee a system of nerves so sensitive, and so harmoni-
ously attuned with the rest of humanity, that every sorrow
which thou beholdest repeats itself more keenly in thine
own organization;--and then it is to this delicate organiza-
tion that our thanks are due;--in the Spiritual World thy
deed passes unnoticed. Hadst thou done the like deed
in holy indignation that the Son of Eternity, in whom also
there dwells something god-like, should be tormented by
such trifles as these, and should be left there so forsaken by
his fellows;--with the desire that he might have at least
one glad hour in which he might raise his eyes joyfully and
thankfully to Heaven;--with the purpose that in thy hand
he might see the saving hand of God, and might know of a
surety that the arm of God is not yet shortened, but that He
has yet everywhere instruments and servants to do His will,
and that thus Faith and Hope and Love might arise in his
soul;--if thus what thou desiredst to help had been his In-
ward Nature, and not his Outward, which is ever without
true value;--then had thy deed been the outward expres-
sion of a Moral-Religious Spirit.
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? 535
LECTURE X.
SURVEY OF THE WHOLE SUBJECT FROM THE STAND-
POINT OF TRUE RELIGION;--DELINEATION
OF THE BLESSED LIFE.
Now that it is our purpose to bring these lectures to a close,
let us once more combine into one view the doctrine which
we have built up before you.
Life in itself is One; it remains unchangeably the same; and, since it is the perfect fulfilment of the Love of Life
that dwells in it, it is perfect Blessedness. This True Life
exists, at bottom, wherever any form or degree of Life is to
be found; but it may be concealed by an admixture of the
elements of Death and Nothingness; and then, by means of
pain and torment and mortification of this imperfect Life, it
forces itself onward towards its development. We have
followed, with our own eyes, this development of the True
Life out of the imperfect Apparent Life by which it may at
first be concealed;--to-day it is our purpose to accompany
this Life into the central-point of its dominion and to invest
it with all its glory. In our last lecture we characterized
the highest Form of Actual Life--that is--since Reality
consists wholly in a Form of Reflexion, whilst the absolutely
indestructible Form of Reflexion is Infinity--that Life which
flows forth in an Infinite Time, and employs the personal
Ex-istence of Man as its instrument, and hence manifests
itself as Action--we have, I say, characterized this Life by
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? 53G
TIIK DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
the name of the Higher Morality. We were constrained
to admit that, on account of the separation of the one Essen-
tial Divine Nature into many Individuals--a separation un-
alterably imposed by the law of Reflexion--the activity of
each particular Individual cannot avoid striving after an
outward result, not wholly dependent on the Individual
himself, in the surrounding world of Freedom;--that never-
theless the Blessedness of such an Individual will not be
disturbed by the failure of this result, provided only that he
raise himself to a true comprehension of that which he
strives after unconditionally, as distinguished from that
which he only seeks conditionally;--which comprehension
we termed the standpoint of True Religion. With
respect to this latter point especially, I referred you to our
present lecture, in which I promised a more thorough ex-
position of this subject.
I shall prepare the way for this exposition by a survey of
our whole subject from its profoundest standpoint.
Being ex-ists; and the Ex-istence of Being is necessarily
Consciousness, or Reflexion according to fixed laws, which
are contained in, and are to be developed from, Reflexion
itself:--this is the fundamental principle, now sufficiently
explained on all sides, of our whole doctrine. It is Being
alone that ex-ists,--that "is," in Ex-istence, and by whose
being in it alone Ex-istence is ;--that eternally abides in it
as it is in itself, and without whose indwelling within it Ex-
istence would vanish into Nothingness:--no one doubts this,
and no one who understands it can doubt it . But in Ex-ist-
ence, as Ex-istence,--i e. in Reflexion, Being immediately
changes its absolutely incomprehensible Form, which can
only be described as pure Life and Activity, into an Essence
or Nature--a specific and definite mode of Being; so that
we have never spoken of Being, and no one can ever speak
of Being, otherwise than by speaking of its Essence or
Nature. Although, therefore, our Being is ever in itself the
Being of Being; and thus remains, and can never become
other than this; yet that which we ourselves, and for our-
selves, are, have, and possess,--i. e. in the Form of ourselves,
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? J. KCTUttE X.
537
of the Ego, of Reflexion in Consciousness,--this is never
Being in itself, but only Being in our Form, as Essence or
Nature. How then is this Being, which certainly does
not enter into Form in all its native purity,--how is it yet
connected with Form ? --does it not thereby irrevocably
project forth from itself, and set up beside itself, a second,
wholly new Being,--which new and second Being is al-
together impossible? Answer:--Ask not for the "How;"
--be satisfied with the fact. They are connected; there is
such a bond, which,--higher than all Reflexion, proceeding
from no Reflexion, and not recognizing the jurisdiction of
Reflexion,--yet appears beside, and indissolubly associated
with, Reflexion. In this companionship with Reflexion, this
bond is Feeling;--and, since it is a bond, it is Love;--and,
since it is the bond that unites Pure Being and Reflexion,
it is the Love of God. In this Love, Being and Ex-istence,
God and Man, are One; wholly transfused and lost in each
other;--it is the point of intersection of the A and B we
have spoken of above ;--the act of Being, in supporting and
maintaining itself in Ex-istence, is its Love for itself, which
we do not conceive of as Feeling only because we do not
conceive of it at all. The Manifestation of this act of
Being, in supporting and maintaining itself in Ex-istence,
in companionship with Reflexion,--that is, the Feeling of
this act of Self-existence,--is our Love towards it; or, in
strict truth, its own Love towards itself in the Form of
Feeling; since we have no power to love it, but only itself
has power to love itself in us.
This--not its, nor ours--but this reciprocal Love, which
first separates us into two, and then binds us together into
one, is the original creator of our oft-mentioned abstract con- yception of a Pure Being, or a God. What is it which thus
carries us beyond all determinate and comprehensible Ex-ist- /ence, and beyond the whole world of absolute Reflexion? It
is our Love which no Ex-istence can satisfy. Conception does
here that only which it alone can do;--it defines and fashions
this Love, by abstracting from its object, which only by its
means becomes an object, everything that does not satisfy
zb
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? 538
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
this Love; leaving in it nothing but the pure negation of all
Conceivability associated with infinite and eternal Loveable-
ness. What then is it that assures us of God but pure,self-
sufficing Love, which is superior to all the doubt that is born
of Reflexion and is only possible therein ? --and what makes
this Love thus self-sufficient, but that it is the immediate self-
supporting and self-maintaining Life of the Absolute itself?
Not Reflexion, which by virtue of its very nature divides it-
self into parts, and thus is ever at variance with itself;--no,
Love is the source of all Certainty, all Truth, all Reality.
The conception of God, which has thus become a purely
abstract conception, gives shape and definition to this Love,
we said. In its own immediate Life, on the contrary--and I
entreat you to note this well--this Love is not thus defined
and fashioned; but it is, and it has and holds its object, not
by any means in conception, which never overtakes it, but
immediately in Love; and that indeed as it is in itself, be-
cause it is in truth nothing else than the self-supporting Life
of Absolute Being. Now it is this substance and material of
Love, which, in the first place, makes the Reflexion of Life
assume the form of a permanent objective Essence or Na-
ture; and then again divides, even to Infinity, the Nature
which has thus arisen, clothing it with new and ever-varied
Forms;--and thus creates its World. I ask :--What is it
then that gives a true and proper fundamental Substance
to this World, the Nature and Form of which are evident-
ly products of Reflexion? It is obviously the Absolute
Love;--the Absolute, I say,--or, as we may now express it,
--the Love of God towards his Ex-istence, or, the Love of
that Ex-istence towards the Living God. And what re-
mains for Reflexion? To give an objective standing to this
Substance, and to fashion it into an infinite succession of
objective Forms. But even with reference to this last
point,--What is it then that prevents Reflexion from ever
pausing in this work, and impels it incessantly forward from
each Form towards another, and from this again to another,
in endless succession? It is the inextinguishable Love for
that which necessarily escapes Reflexion, which lies con-
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? 516
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
wishes and loves above all else,--namely, the Will of God
manifesting itself in him;--just as this personality is to the
Stoic only the means of obeying the Law: and both are
herein alike, and of equal value in our estimation. To the
sensuous man, on the contrary, his personal sensual Existence is his ultimate and especial object, and everything else
which he does or believes beyond it, is to him but the
means for the fulfilment of its purposes.
It is wholly impossible, and an absolute contradiction,
that any one should love in two different directions, or hold
two opposite purposes. The Love of God, which we have
described, entirely extirpates personal Self-love. For onlj
by the renunciation of the latter do we attain the former.
Again, where personal Self-love is, there the Love of God is
not; for the latter suffers no other Love beside it.
This, as we have formerly observed, is the fundamental
character of sensuous Self-love,--that it requires a Life
fashioned in a particular way, and seeks its Happiness in
some particular object; while, on the contrary, the Love of
God regards every form of Life, and all objects, but as
means; and knows that everything which is given is the
proper and necessary means; and therefore never desires
any object determined in this or that particular way, but
accepts all as they present themselves.
What then would the sensuous man who requires an
objective enjoyment do, were he indeed a man, and consist-
ent? I should think that, relying upon himself, he would
exert all his strength to gather around him the objects of
his enjoyment; enjoy what he had, and do without that
which was beyond his reach. But what happens to him, if
he be also a superstitious child 1 He says to himself that the
objects of his enjoyment are in the gift of a God who will
indeed grant them to him, but who for this service demands
something from him in exchange;--he alleges that there has
been a covenant made with him on the subject;--he ex-
hibits a collection of writings as the voucher of this pre-
tended covenant.
When he fully enters into this conception, how is it then
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? LECTURE VIII.
517
with him? Enjoyment still remains his especial object, and
his duty to his imagined God only the means for the at-
tainment of this object. This must be confessed,--there is
no escaping it. It will not do to say, as is frequently said:
--" I desire that the Will of God be done for its own sake;
--I wish Happiness--only by the way. " Setting aside for
a moment thy "by the way," thou yet admittest that thou
wishest Happiness because it is Happiness; and because
thou believest that, having it, it will be well with thee; and
because thou wouldst willingly have it well with thee. But
then thou certainly dost not desire that the Will of God be
done for its own sake alone; for then thou couldst not desire
Happiness, since the first desire supersedes and destroys
the second; and it is absolutely impossible that that which
is destroyed can exist beside, and be associated with, its de-
stroyer. Dost thou also wish, as thou sayest, that the Will
of God be done ? --then thou canst wish this only because
thou believest that thou canst not otherwise obtain that
which thou especially desirest,--namely Happiness;--and
because this wish is imposed upon thee by the desire by
which thou art more especially animated;--thou wishest
therefore the Will of God only "by the way," and because
thou art constrained to do so; but from the bottom of thy
heart, and with thy own good will, thou wishest only for
Happiness.
It is nothing to the purpose that this Happiness is re-
moved far from immediate sight, and even placed in another
world beyond the grave, where it is thought that it may be
possible to confound the two ideas with less trouble. What-
ever you may say with regard to this your Heaven,--or
rather whatever you may not say, in order that your true
meaning may not come to light,--yet the single circum-
stance that you make it dependent upon Time, and place it
in another world, proves already incontrovertibly that it is
a Heaven of sensuous enjoyment . Here Heaven is not, you
say;--but yonder it shall be. I pray you,--What then is
that which can be different yonder from what it is here?
Obviously, only the objective constitution of the world, as
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? 518
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
the environment of our existence. It must therefore, ac-
cording to your opinion, be the objective constitution of the
present world which makes it unfit for a Heaven, and the
objective constitution of the future world which makes it fit
for that purpose;--and thus you cannot any longer conceal
that your Blessedness depends upon outward cire\imstances
and therefore is a sensuous enjoyment. Did you seek your
Blessedness there where alone it is to be found, solely in God
and in the truth of his Manifestation, but by no means in
the mere casual Form in which he is manifested,--then
would you not need to refer yourselves to another Life, for
God is even now to-day, as he shall be in all Eternity. I
assure you,--and remember my words when it shall come
to pass,--just as, in the second Life to which you shall then
have attained, you will again make your Happiness depen-
dent on outward circumstances, you shall fare just as ill
there as you do here; and you will then console yourselves
with a third Life, and in the third with a fourth, and so on
for ever;--for God neither can nor will confer Blessedness
by means of outward circumstances, since he desires, on the
contrary, to give us Himself, independent of all of Form.
In a word:--this mode of thought, thrown into the form
of a prayer, would thus express itself:--" Lord! let but my
will be done, and that throughout an Eternity which on
that account shall be blessed; and in return thou shalt
have Thy Will in this short and wearisome present Time. "
--And this is manifest immorality, senseless superstition, ir-
religion, and actual blasphemy of the holy and bliss-giving
Will of God.
On the contrary, the expression of the constant mind of
the truly Moral and Religious Man is this prayer:--" Lord!
let but Thy Will be done, then is mine also done; for I
have no other will than this,--that Thy Will be done. "
This Divine Will is necessarily done now and for ever;--in
the first place, in the Inward Life of this man thus devoted
to it,--of which in our next lecture;--and then--what im-
mediately belongs to our present subject--in everything
that meets him in his Outward Life. All these events are
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? LECTURE VIII.
519
nothing else than the necessary and unalterable Outward
Manifestation of the Divine Work fulfilling itself in him 5
and he cannot wish that anything in these events should be
otherwise than what it is, without wishing that the Inward
Life, which can only thus manifest itself, should be other-
wise,--and without thereby separating his will from the
Will of God, and setting it in opposition thereto. He can-
not any longer reserve to himself a choice in these things,
for he must accept everything just as it happens; for every-
thing that comes to pass is the Will of God with him, and
therefore the best that can possibly come to pass. * To
those who love God, all things must work together for good,
absolutely and immediately.
To those also, in whom the Will of God is not inwardly
accomplished, -- because there is indeed no Inward Life
in them, but who are altogether mere outward things,--to them also the Will of God is done outwardly, as alone it
can reach them;--appearing at first sight ungracious and
chastening, but in reality in the highest degree merciful and
loving;--while with them it grows worse and worse, and
they weary themselves out, and even render themselves
despicable and ridiculous, in the vain chase after a good
which ever floats before their vision and ever eludes their
grasp,--until they are thereby at last driven to seek for
Happiness there where alone it is to be found. To those
who do not love God, all things must work together imme-
diately for pain and torment, until, by means of this tor-
ment, they are at last led to Salvation.
* For an account of a remarkable incident connected with this passage,
sec " Memoir" p. 128.
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? 520
LECTURE IX.
EXPOSITION OF THE HIGHER MORALITY--PASSAGE
TO THE STANDPOINT OF TRUE RELIGION--
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MORAL-
RELIGIOUS WILL.
The following were the results of our last lecture, and indi-
cate the point at which we now stand:--So long as man
still desires to be something on his own account,the True
Being and Life cannot develope itself within him, and hence
he likewise remains inaccessible to Blessedness; for all per-
sonal, individual Being is but Non-Being, and limitation of
the True Being; and, on that very account, is either obvious
Unblessedness,--as in the case of the first standpoint, that of
mere Sensuousness, which looks to outward objects only for
its enjoyment, whilst no outward object can possibly satis-
fy man;--or else, if not actual Unblessedness, yet just as little
Blessedness, but only mere Apathy, passive indifference, and
absolute incapacity for all enjoyment of Life,--as in the
case of the second standpoint, that of mere formal Legality.
On the contrary, as soon as man, by an act of the Highest
Freedom, surrenders and lays aside his personal, individual
Freedom and Independence, he becomes a partaker of the
Only True Being, the Divine, and of all the Blessedness
that is contained therein. We showed, in the first place,--
in order to separate ourselves distinctly from the opposite
sensuous mode of thought, and to lay this aside once and for
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? THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
521
ever,--how such an one, who has attained the True Life,
looks upon the outward and sensuous Life; and we found
that he regards his whole personal Ex-istence, and all out-
ward occurrences that affect it, but as means for the fulfil-
ment of the Divine Work in him; and indeed all of them
as they occur as necessarily the best and most legitimate
means; and hence he desires to possess no voice or choice
whatever with regard to the objective disposition of these
occurrences, but accepts them all as they present them-
selves. On the other hand, we reserved for our present
lecture, the description of the inward and peculiar Life of
such a man :--which description we now begin.
I have already shown, on a former occasion, that the
Third standpoint of the Spiritual Life,--which undoubtedly
is that at which we have now arrived, that, namely, of the
Higher Morality,--is distinguished from the second, that
of mere formal Legality, by the creation of a wholly new
and truly Super-sensual World, and by the development of
this world within the world of sense as its sphere; while,
on the contrary, the Law of Stoicism is only the Law of an
order in the world of sense. It is this assertion that I have,
in the next place, to establish on a deeper foundation, and
thus more clearly explain and more strictly define it.
On this standpoint, the whole sensible world, the existence
of which is assumed only because of our love and affection for
a determinate Ex-istence in outward objects, becomes only a
means; but unquestionably not a means for nothing,--upon
which supposition it would not be a means, since besides
itself there would then be nothing, and it would con-
sequently remain for ever an end, as the sole and absolute
Ex-istence,--but it becomes undoubtedly a means for an
Actual, True, and Real Being. What is this Being? We
know it from what has been said above. It is the inward
Essential Being of God himself, as it is absolutely, in itself
and through itself, immediately, purely, and without inter-
vening medium, without being modified, veiled, or obscured
by any Form contained in the personality of the Ego, and
which is, on that account, obstructive and limiting;--but
Xb
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? 522
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
broken only by the indestructible Form of Infinity. Since
this Being is determined only, on the one hand, by the Es-
sential Divine Nature which is founded absolutely on itself
alone, and, on the other, by the Form of Infinity, which, in
Actual Ex-istence, can never be dissolved or brought to a
conclusion,--as we have very distinctly set forth in our last
lecture,--it is clear that we cannot by any means compre-
hend mediately, through any other conception, and thus a
priori, how this Being will disclose itself; but that it can
only be immediately perceived and experienced, and only ap-
prehended in the act of its living forth-flowing from Being
into Ex-istence; so that the specific knowledge of this
new and Super-sensual World cannot be communicated, by
means of description and characterization, to those who do
not themselves live therein. He who is inspired of God re-
veals to us how it is;--and it is as he reveals it, just for
this reason--because He so reveals it; but without such in-
ward revelation no man can speak of it.
In general, however, and by means of an outward and
merely negative mark, this Divine World may be charac-
terized; and that in the following way :--All Being carries
with it the Love and Affection of itself, and so also the im-
mediate Divine Being which is manifested in the Form of
Infinity. Now this Being is, such as it is, not through any-
thing else, or for the sake of anything else, but through it-
self, and for its own sake alone; and when it appears and is
beloved, then it must necessarily be beloved and enjoyed
through itself alone, purely and solely on its own account;
--but by no means on account of something else, and thus
only as a means for this other thing, which would then be-
come the ultimate end of its being. And thus we have
found the desiderated outward criterion of the Divine World,
whereby it is completely separated from the World of Sense.
Whatever is a source of enjoyment in itself, and indeed of
the highest degree of enjoyment, infinitely transcending all
other degrees, is a Manifestation of the immediate and es-
sential Divine Nature in Reality. We may even describe
it as the most perfect phenomenon of each particular mo-
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? LECTUHE IX.
523
ment, and under the given conditions of Time;--provided we
do not understand thereby such a perfection as is given by
means of a mere logical conception, which contains nothing
more than the order and completeness of the Manifold,--but,
on the contrary, a perfection given through an immediate
affection towards a determinate Being.
Thus much as to the possible characterization of the New
World created by the Higher Morality within the World of
Sense. Should you desire of me yet greater clearness on
this point, you will doubtless not expect that I should at-
tempt a clearer characterization, for I think that in this
way nothing can be added to what we have already said,--
but you will require from me examples. Willingly indeed
shall I satisfy this desire, finding myself in these regions so
concealed from the vulgar eye; reminding you, nevertheless,
that I can here adduce only individual examples, which
cannot of themselves exhaust that which can be exhaust-
ed only in characterization, and which we have already so
exhausted;--examples which themselves can only be fully
comprehended by means of such characterization.
I say:--The inward and absolute Nature of God mani-
fests itself in Beauty; it manifests itself in the perfect
Dominion of Man over Nature; it manifests itself in the
perfect State and Polity of Nations; it manifests itself
in Science;--in short, it manifests itself in those conceptions
which, in the strict and peculiar sense, I term Ideas, and to
which I have directed attention in many ways, both in the
lectures which I delivered here last winter,* and in others
which have some time ago appeared in print, f In order
to explain my fundamental conception by means of the low-
est form of the Idea, concerning which we may venture to
hope that we shall be able at once to attain the requisite
clearness--namely Beauty:--There is much talk of the
splendours of the surrounding world, of the beauties of na-
ture, &c. ; as if,--were it intended that we should accept
*" Characteristics of the Present Age. "
t" On the Nature of the Scholar and its Manifestations. "
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? 524
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
these words in their literal acceptation,--as if Beauty
could ever appertain to the Earthly and Perishable, or could
be transferred to these. But the source of Beauty is in God
alone, and it reveals itself only in the minds of those who
are inspired by Him. Imagine, for example, a Holy Virgin,
who, being ascended into Heaven, encircled by the heavenly
hosts who fall down before her presence in rapt contempla-
tion, surrounded by all the splendours of a Heaven of which
she herself is the highest ornament and glory, can yet alone
of those present see nothing of all that takes place around
her, being wholly overwhelmed and lost in this one feeling:
--" Behold the handmaiden of the Lord: be it unto me ac-
cording to his will;"--clothe this feeling, thus surrounded,
in a human body, and then unquestionably you have Beauty
in a determinate Form. Now what is it that makes this
Form beautiful? Is it the separate parts and members of
which it is composed? Is it not much rather the single
feeling which speaks in all these members? The Form is
superadded, only because in it, and by means of it, the
Thought becomes visible; and it is transferred by means of
lines and colours to the canvass, because thus only can it be
communicated to others. Perhaps this Thought might also
have been expressed in hard and senseless stone, or in any
other material. Would then the stone thereby become
beautiful? The stone ever remains stone, and is wholly
unsusceptible of such a predicate; but the soul of the Artist
was beautiful when he conceived his work, and the soul of
every intelligent beholder in whom the conception is repeat-
ed will likewise become beautiful;--the stone ever remains
only that which fixes the limits of the outward perception
during this inward spiritual development.
This ideal Being and the creative Affection of it, as a
mere natural phenomenon, manifests itself generally as
Genius--for Art, for Government, for Science, &c. It is
understood, of course, and to every one who has any experi-
ence whatever in matters of this kind it is by means of this
very experience sufficiently known, that--since the natural
affection for such creations of Genius is the very foundation
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? LECTURE IX.
525
of the Life of Genius in which all its other life is swallowed
up,--I say, it is understood that true Genius does not require
to stimulate and urge itself on to industry in its Art or in
its Science by any Categorical Imperative, but that all its
powers, of their own accord, direct themselves towards this
its all-engrossing object;--further, that, so surely as any one
possesses True Genius, his work always prospers well, and
the products of his labour are always pleasing to him, and
thus he is ever surrounded, inwardly and outwardly, by the
Beautiful and Agreeable;--that, finally, he does not em-
ploy this Activity for the attainment of any object what-
ever beyond itself, nor will accept aught in exchange for it;
but, on the contrary, no earthly consideration would induce
him to leave undone what he alone may do, or to do it other-
wise than as seems right and pleasing to himself;--that
he consequently finds his true and satisfying Enjoyment
of Life only in such work, purely and solely as work, and for
the work's sake; and whatever of the external world he may
accept besides does not of itself engross his thoughts, but
he accepts it only in order that, renewed and strengthened
by it, he may return to his own true element. And thus
mere natural Genius soars far above both the low desires of
the Sensualist and the callous indifferentism of the Stoic,
and carries its possessor through an uninterrupted succes-
sion of blissful momenta, for which he needs nothing beyond
himself, and which, without painful effort or labour on his
part, arise spontaneously within his Life. The Enjoyment
of a single hour, passed happily in the pursuit of Art or of
Science, far outweighs a whole lifetime of Sensuous Enjoy-
ment y and before the picture of this Blessedness, the mere
Sensuous Man, could it but be brought home to him, would
sink in envy and dismay.
In the illustration we have thus adduced, we have as-
sumed a natural Genius as the peculiar source and root of
the Spiritual Enjoyment of Life, as well as of the scorn of
mere Sensuous Enjoyment; and I have desired, by means of
this single example of the Higher Morality and its Blessed-
ness, to lead you to a more universal conception of it. But
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? 52G
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
this Genius,--notwithstanding that its object is in itself
truly super-sensual, and the pure expression of the God-
head, as we showed in particular by the example of the
Beautiful,--does yet desire, and must desire, that its Spi-
ritual Object should receive a certain form and clothing in
the World of Sense; and thus Genius does also desire, in a
certain sense, such a determinate Form of its World and its
environment, as in our previous lecture we unconditionally
censured and condemned in the case of Sensuousness;--and
if the self-enjoyment of Genius were dependent on the ac-
cidental realization or non-realization of this outward re-
sult as the aim of its efforts, then would the peace and
tranquillity of Genius itself be at an end; and the Higher
Morality would be exposed to all the miseries of the lower
Sensuousness. But, so far as Genius is concerned, so surely
as it is Genius, it will assuredly succeed in the expression
and representation of its Idea in the appropriate medium,
and its desired Form and environment can therefore never
be awanting; while nevertheless it is the Activity with
which it produces this Form which is the true seat of its
immediate enjoyment, to which the Form itself only contri-
butes indirectly because in it only does the Activity become
appareut;--from which it is obvious that True Genius never
lingers long over anything it has already attained, nor dwells
in voluptuous enjoyment of it, and of itself in it, but pro-
ceeds onward without delay to new developments. In gene-
ral, however, apart from particular Genius, and with refer-
ence to all possible Life in which the Divine Being mani-
fests itself purely, I lay down the following principle:--So
long as joy in the deed is mixed up with desires regarding
the outward product of the deed, even the possessor of the
Higher Morality is not yet perfect in purity and clearness;
and thus, in the Divine Economy, the outward failure of his
deed is the means of forcing him in upon himself, and of
raising him to the yet higher standpoint of True Religion,
--that is, to the comprehension of what it really is that
he loves and strives after. Understand this as a whole, and
in its connexion, thus :--
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? LECTURE IX. 527
f
(I. ) The Free Ego, deduced and described with sufficient
distinctness in our previous lecture, and which, as Reflexion,
ever remains one and the same, does yet, as Object--that is,
as the reflecting substance that exists only in Appearance--
become divided, at the first glance into an infinity, but also,
for a reason that lies too deep to be treated of in these lec-
tures, into a progressive system of Individual Personalities.
(This separation is a portion of that division of the objective
world into the Form of Infinity which we have already suf-
ficiently described upon several occasions; and thus belongs
to the absolutely fundamental Form of Ex-istence, which
cannot be cast off even by the Godhead itself:--As Being
originally separated itself in this division, so it remains se-
parated in all Eternity; and hence no Individual given in
this division--that is, no Individual who has come into Ac-
tual Ex-istence,--can ever perish; this is to be noticed only
in passing, and in opposition to those among our contem-
poraries, who by means of a half-philosophy and whole-be-
wilderment esteem themselves in the highest degree en-
lightened when they deny the continued Ex-istence in
higher spheres of the Individuals actually existing here. )
In them,--these Individual Personalities thus arising from
the fundamental Form of Ex-istence,--the entire Divine Be-
ing is separated into an infinite progressive development in
Time, and is, as it were, divided among them, according to
the Absolute Law of such a division which is founded in the
Essential Divine Nature itself; whilst, further, every one of
these Individuals, as a section of the One Ego determined
by its own essential Form, necessarily bears this latter
Form in its entirety,--that is, as we said in our last lecture,
it is free and independent in relation to the five standpoints.
Each Individual has therefore in his own free choice, which
cannot be taken away from him even by the Divinity him-
self, the possibility of viewing and of enjoying from any
of these five standpoints that portion in the Absolute Be-
ing which belongs to him as an Actual Individual . Thus
has each Individual, in the first place, his determinate por-
tion in the Sensuous Life, and in its Love; which Life will
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? 528
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
appear to him as the ultimate and absolute end and purpose
of his Being, so long as this freedom, which is discovered
only by its actual use, is wholly engrossed therein. But if
he should rise, perhaps through the sphere of Legality, to
that of the Higher Morality, then will that Sensuous Life
become to him but a means; and his portion in the High-
er, Super-sensual, and immediately Divine Life, will re-
veal itself to his Love. Every one without exception neces-
sarily receives, by his mere entrance into Actual Existence, his portion in this Super-sensual Being; for otherwise,
he would be no result of that division of the Absolute
Being, according to its own Essential Law, without which
there is no Actual Ex-istence, and he would not other-
wise even have become actual; but to every one without
exception this Super-sensual Being may nevertheless re-
main concealed, should he be unable to renounce his Sen-
suous Being and its objective independence. Every one
without exception, I say, receives that portion in the Super-
sensual Being which is exclusively his own, and which be-
longs in the same manner to no other Individual whatever
but himself; which portion now develops itself in him in
all Eternity,--manifesting itself as a continuous course of
action,--in such a form as it can absolutely assume in no
other Individual;--and this, in short, may be called the in-
dividual character of his Higher Vocation. Not that the
Essential Divine Nature is divided in itself;--in all men,
without exception, the one and unchangeable Divine Na-
ture, as it is in itself, is assumed;--and if they can but at-
tain True Freedom, may also appear in actual manifestation;
--but this Nature manifests itself in each Individual in a
different Form, peculiar to himself. Let Being, as we have
already supposed, be -- A, and Form = B; then A, which
has absolutely entered into B, divides itself by this very
act of entrance, not according to its Essential Nature but
according to its Absolute Form in Reflexion, into (b + b
b . . . . ) = a System of Individuals: and each individual
b contains in itself--(1. ) the whole and indivisible A, (2. )
the whole and indivisible B, (3. ) its own particular b;--and
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? LECTURE IX.
52. 9
the same with all the other results of A throughout (b -f - b
+ *. . . . )
(2. ) No one can discover, by means of mere thought alone,
this his peculiar portion in the Super-sensual Being; nor
can he deduce it by way of inference from any other truth;
nor can he be made acquainted with it through any other
individual, since this portion cannot be known to any other
individual;--but he can attain a knowledge of it only by
immediate personal consciousness; and his Being must ne-
cessarily and spontaneously assume this Form so soon as he
has surrendered and wholly annihilated all personal will and
personal purposes within him. Hence it is clear, in the
first place, that with respect to this, which only each man
can clearly comprehend for himself in his own immediate
consciousness, it is impossible to speak in general terms,
and that I must here necessarily stop short. And what
end, indeed, could here be served by speech, even were
speech possible? He to whom his especial Higher Vocation
has revealed itself knows it as it is revealed to him; and
he may conclude by analogy how it is with others to whom
their Higher Vocation has also become clear and intelligible.
But as for him to whom it has not revealed itself, to him
no information on this subject can be communicated;--it
serves no purpose to speak of colours to the blind.
Has this peculiar Vocation revealed itself to him ? --then
does it penetrate him with unspeakable Love, and with the
purest Enjoyment;--penetrates him wholly, and takes pos-
session of all his Life. And thus it is the very first act of
the Higher Morality, which must infallibly ensue so soon as
the mere personal will has been resigned, that man becomes
wholly penetrated with his own especial Vocation, and de-
sires to be nothing whatever but that which he, and only
he, can be; which he, and only he, in virtue of his Higher
Nature, that is, of the Divine Nature in him, ought to be;
--in short, that he desires nothing whatever but that which,
at bottom, he actually wills. How could such a man ever
do anything with unwillingness, since he never does any-
thing else but that in which he has the highest delight?
Yb
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? 530 THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
What I said above of natural Genius, is even still more
applicable to the Virtue which is born of perfect Freedom;
for this Virtue is the highest expression of Genius; it is
the immediate power of Genius,--i. e. that Form which the
Essential Divine Nature has assumed in our Individuality.
On the contrary, the desire and effort to be something else
than that to which we are called, however great and noble
that other thing may seem, is the highest Immorality; and
all the constraints that man imposes upon himself for that
purpose, and all the unhappiness that he consequently suf-
fers, are themselves rebellions against the Divine Rule, and
resistances of our will to the Divine. What is it then that
has thus set up within us a purpose not imposed upon us
by our Higher Nature, but personal will, personal choice,
personal self-complacent wisdom ? --and thus we are very
far indeed from the renunciation of our own personal, in-
dividual will. This effort is necessarily the source of the
greatest unhappiness. In this position we must constant-
ly enforce, constrain, urge, and deny ourselves; for we can
never do that willingly which, at bottom, we cannot will;
and we can never attain a successful issue, for we cannot
accomplish that which our Nature itself forbids. This is
the affectation of outward sanctity against which we are
warned by Christianity. It may remove mountains, and
even give its body to be burned, and yet that will profit it
nothing if such be not the dictate of true Love,--that is, if
it be not its own peculiar Spiritual Being that necessarily
brings with it its own Affection. Will to be--we mean in
supersensual things, for in mere sense there is no Blessed-
ness--will to be what thou oughtst to be, what thou canst be,
and what therefore thou wilt be:--this is the fundamental
Law, as well of the Higher Morality as of the Blessed Life.
(3. ) This Higher Vocation of Man, which, as we said,
penetrates him with complete and undivided Love, exhibits
itself indeed, in the first place, in his own conduct; but in
the second place, and by means of that conduct, it likewise
manifests itself in a determinate result in the World of
Sense. So long as man does not yet know the true root
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? LECTURE IX.
531
and essential central-point of his Ex-istence, the two ele-
ments we have named,--his own Inward Being and its Out-
ward Result,--remain undistinguished. Something proves
unsuccessful with him; and the outward result at which he
aims does not ensue,--which indeed is not his fault, for he
wills only that which he can, but that of outward circum-
stances which are not susceptible of his influence,--and
then his Love, which has still a mixed object, is dissatisfied
with this failure, and thereby his Blessedness is disturbed
and destroyed. This forces him more deeply in upon him-
self, in order that he may make it perfectly clear to himself
what it really is that he strives after; and what, on the
contrary, it is that in deed and truth he does not strive
after, but which is indifferent to him. In this self-exami-
nation he will discover what we have plainly enunciated
above, although he may not express it in the same words,
--namely that/It is the development of the Divine Being
and Life in him, this particular Individual, which he
strives after especially and in the first place;--and hereby
his whole Being and Love will become perfectly clear to
him, and he will be raised from the Third standpoint of the
Higher Morality, in which we have hitherto retained him,
to the Fourth--that of Religion. This Divine Life now
continually developes itself within him, without hindrance
or obstruction, as it can and must develope itself only in
him and his individuality;--this alone it is that he properly
wills ;--his will is therefore always accomplished;--and it is
absolutely impossible that anything contrary to it should
ever come to pass. This his proper Inward Life does in-
deed still desire constantly to flow forth in surrounding cir-
cumstances and to fashion these after itself, and only in
this effort after outward expression does it show itself to be
true Inward Life, and not mere dead devotion. But the
result of this effort after outward expression does not de-
pend on his own isolated Individual Life alone, but upon
the general Freedom of other Individuals besides himself:
this Freedom God himself cannot wish to destroy, therefore
neither can the man who is devoted to God, and who has
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THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
attained a clear knowledge of God,--neither can he wish
that it should be destroyed. While, therefore, he certainly
desires this outward result, and labours unceasingly and
with all his power to effect it,--because he cannot abstain
from doing so, and because this is his own proper Inward
Life,--he yet does not will it absolutely and unconditional-
ly; and it therefore would not, even for a single moment,
disturb his Peace and Blessedness should it nevertheless re-
main unaccomplished,--his Love and his Blessedness return
into his own proper Life, where they always, and without ex-
ception, find their true satisfaction. Thus much in general. For the rest, the matters now touched upon demand a
further exposition, which we reserve for our next lecture
in order that we may here reach a result which will spread
a general light over the whole;--namely,
(4. ) Everything which this Moral-Religious Man wills
and incessantly urges forward, has, in and for itself, no value
whatever to him;--as indeed it has none in itself, and is
not in itself the most perfect, but only that which is most
perfect in this moment of Time, to be superseded in a
Future Time by something still more perfect;--but it has
value for him only because it is the immediate Manifesta-
tion of God,--the Form which God assumes in him, this de-
finite Individual. Now God also dwells originally, likewise
in a peculiar Form, in all other surrounding Individuals,
notwithstanding that he remains concealed from most of
them in consequence of their personal, individual Will, and
their want of the highest Freedom, and thus is not actual-
ly manifested either in themselves, or in their conduct to-
wards others. In this position the Moral-Religious Man--
although with reference to himself he has entered upon his
portion of True Being--is, with reference to other Indivi-
duals, separated and cut off from the constituent parts of
Being which are related to him; and there abides in him a
sorrowful striving and longing to unite and associate him-
self with these kindred elements:? not indeed that this
longing disturbs his Blessedness, for this is the permanent lot
of his Finite Being, and a part of his allegiance to God, to em-
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? LECTURE IX.
533
brace which with Love is itself a portion of his Blessedness.
For what then would this concealed Inward Being, were
it manifested in the conduct of other individuals,--for what
would it possess a value in the estimation of our supposed
Religious Man? Obviously not for itself,--since even his
own nature has no value whatever to him in itself,--but
because it is the Manifestation of God in these Individuals.
Further, for what will he desire that this Manifestation
should possess a value in the estimation of these Indivi-
duals themselves? Obviously only that it may be recog-
nized by them as the Manifestation of God in themselves.
Finally, for what will he desire that his own conduct and
effort should possess a value in the estimation of these
Individuals? Obviously only that they may recognize in it
the Manifestation of God in him.
And thus we have now a general outward characteriza-
tion of the Moral-Religious Will, in so far as it comes forth
from the Inward Life, which ever remains hidden in itself,
into Outward Manifestation. In the first place, the object
of this Will is ever only the Spiritual World of reason-
able beings; for the World of Sense has long ago with him
been reduced to a mere sphere of spiritual activity. In this
Spiritual World, his positive Will is this--that in the con-
duct of each Individual there may be manifested purely
that Form which the Essential Divine Nature has assumed
in him this particular Individual;--that, on the other hand,
each Individual may recognize God, as he is outwardly ma-
nifested to him in the conduct of all other men;--that all
others may, in like manner recognize God as he is out-
wardly manifested to them in the conduct of this particular
Individual;--and that thus God alone may ever be manifest-
ed in all Outward Appearance;--that He alone may live and
rule, and nothing besides Him;--and that, everywhere and
at all times, He alone may be present to the eye of mortals.
Thus, as it is expressed by Christianity in the form of a
prayer:--" Thy kingdom come :--even that condition of the
world in which Thou alone art, and livest, and rulest, so
that--Thy Will may be done on earth,--in the Actual, by
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? 534
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
means of that Freedom which Thou Thyself wilt not take
away,--as it ever is done, and indeed never can be other-
wise done, in Heaven,--in the Idea, in the world as it is in
itself, and without relation to Freedom. "
For example :--Yonder they complain that misery is so
abundant in the world, and go about with a zeal, praise-
worthy in itself, to make it somewhat less. Alas! the mi-
sery that lies most open to view is not the true misery;--
since things are as they are, misery is the best of all that is
in the world; and since the world does not improve not-
withstanding all this misery, one might almost believe that
there is not yet enough of misery in it:--that the image of
God, Humanity, should be sullied, degraded, and trodden in
the dust,--this is the true misery in the world, which fills
the Religious Man with holy indignation. Perchance thou
dost alleviate the sorrows of humanity, so far as thy hand
can reach, by the sacrifice of thine own dearest enjoyments.
But this may happen only on account of Nature having
given thee a system of nerves so sensitive, and so harmoni-
ously attuned with the rest of humanity, that every sorrow
which thou beholdest repeats itself more keenly in thine
own organization;--and then it is to this delicate organiza-
tion that our thanks are due;--in the Spiritual World thy
deed passes unnoticed. Hadst thou done the like deed
in holy indignation that the Son of Eternity, in whom also
there dwells something god-like, should be tormented by
such trifles as these, and should be left there so forsaken by
his fellows;--with the desire that he might have at least
one glad hour in which he might raise his eyes joyfully and
thankfully to Heaven;--with the purpose that in thy hand
he might see the saving hand of God, and might know of a
surety that the arm of God is not yet shortened, but that He
has yet everywhere instruments and servants to do His will,
and that thus Faith and Hope and Love might arise in his
soul;--if thus what thou desiredst to help had been his In-
ward Nature, and not his Outward, which is ever without
true value;--then had thy deed been the outward expres-
sion of a Moral-Religious Spirit.
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? 535
LECTURE X.
SURVEY OF THE WHOLE SUBJECT FROM THE STAND-
POINT OF TRUE RELIGION;--DELINEATION
OF THE BLESSED LIFE.
Now that it is our purpose to bring these lectures to a close,
let us once more combine into one view the doctrine which
we have built up before you.
Life in itself is One; it remains unchangeably the same; and, since it is the perfect fulfilment of the Love of Life
that dwells in it, it is perfect Blessedness. This True Life
exists, at bottom, wherever any form or degree of Life is to
be found; but it may be concealed by an admixture of the
elements of Death and Nothingness; and then, by means of
pain and torment and mortification of this imperfect Life, it
forces itself onward towards its development. We have
followed, with our own eyes, this development of the True
Life out of the imperfect Apparent Life by which it may at
first be concealed;--to-day it is our purpose to accompany
this Life into the central-point of its dominion and to invest
it with all its glory. In our last lecture we characterized
the highest Form of Actual Life--that is--since Reality
consists wholly in a Form of Reflexion, whilst the absolutely
indestructible Form of Reflexion is Infinity--that Life which
flows forth in an Infinite Time, and employs the personal
Ex-istence of Man as its instrument, and hence manifests
itself as Action--we have, I say, characterized this Life by
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TIIK DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
the name of the Higher Morality. We were constrained
to admit that, on account of the separation of the one Essen-
tial Divine Nature into many Individuals--a separation un-
alterably imposed by the law of Reflexion--the activity of
each particular Individual cannot avoid striving after an
outward result, not wholly dependent on the Individual
himself, in the surrounding world of Freedom;--that never-
theless the Blessedness of such an Individual will not be
disturbed by the failure of this result, provided only that he
raise himself to a true comprehension of that which he
strives after unconditionally, as distinguished from that
which he only seeks conditionally;--which comprehension
we termed the standpoint of True Religion. With
respect to this latter point especially, I referred you to our
present lecture, in which I promised a more thorough ex-
position of this subject.
I shall prepare the way for this exposition by a survey of
our whole subject from its profoundest standpoint.
Being ex-ists; and the Ex-istence of Being is necessarily
Consciousness, or Reflexion according to fixed laws, which
are contained in, and are to be developed from, Reflexion
itself:--this is the fundamental principle, now sufficiently
explained on all sides, of our whole doctrine. It is Being
alone that ex-ists,--that "is," in Ex-istence, and by whose
being in it alone Ex-istence is ;--that eternally abides in it
as it is in itself, and without whose indwelling within it Ex-
istence would vanish into Nothingness:--no one doubts this,
and no one who understands it can doubt it . But in Ex-ist-
ence, as Ex-istence,--i e. in Reflexion, Being immediately
changes its absolutely incomprehensible Form, which can
only be described as pure Life and Activity, into an Essence
or Nature--a specific and definite mode of Being; so that
we have never spoken of Being, and no one can ever speak
of Being, otherwise than by speaking of its Essence or
Nature. Although, therefore, our Being is ever in itself the
Being of Being; and thus remains, and can never become
other than this; yet that which we ourselves, and for our-
selves, are, have, and possess,--i. e. in the Form of ourselves,
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? J. KCTUttE X.
537
of the Ego, of Reflexion in Consciousness,--this is never
Being in itself, but only Being in our Form, as Essence or
Nature. How then is this Being, which certainly does
not enter into Form in all its native purity,--how is it yet
connected with Form ? --does it not thereby irrevocably
project forth from itself, and set up beside itself, a second,
wholly new Being,--which new and second Being is al-
together impossible? Answer:--Ask not for the "How;"
--be satisfied with the fact. They are connected; there is
such a bond, which,--higher than all Reflexion, proceeding
from no Reflexion, and not recognizing the jurisdiction of
Reflexion,--yet appears beside, and indissolubly associated
with, Reflexion. In this companionship with Reflexion, this
bond is Feeling;--and, since it is a bond, it is Love;--and,
since it is the bond that unites Pure Being and Reflexion,
it is the Love of God. In this Love, Being and Ex-istence,
God and Man, are One; wholly transfused and lost in each
other;--it is the point of intersection of the A and B we
have spoken of above ;--the act of Being, in supporting and
maintaining itself in Ex-istence, is its Love for itself, which
we do not conceive of as Feeling only because we do not
conceive of it at all. The Manifestation of this act of
Being, in supporting and maintaining itself in Ex-istence,
in companionship with Reflexion,--that is, the Feeling of
this act of Self-existence,--is our Love towards it; or, in
strict truth, its own Love towards itself in the Form of
Feeling; since we have no power to love it, but only itself
has power to love itself in us.
This--not its, nor ours--but this reciprocal Love, which
first separates us into two, and then binds us together into
one, is the original creator of our oft-mentioned abstract con- yception of a Pure Being, or a God. What is it which thus
carries us beyond all determinate and comprehensible Ex-ist- /ence, and beyond the whole world of absolute Reflexion? It
is our Love which no Ex-istence can satisfy. Conception does
here that only which it alone can do;--it defines and fashions
this Love, by abstracting from its object, which only by its
means becomes an object, everything that does not satisfy
zb
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? 538
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
this Love; leaving in it nothing but the pure negation of all
Conceivability associated with infinite and eternal Loveable-
ness. What then is it that assures us of God but pure,self-
sufficing Love, which is superior to all the doubt that is born
of Reflexion and is only possible therein ? --and what makes
this Love thus self-sufficient, but that it is the immediate self-
supporting and self-maintaining Life of the Absolute itself?
Not Reflexion, which by virtue of its very nature divides it-
self into parts, and thus is ever at variance with itself;--no,
Love is the source of all Certainty, all Truth, all Reality.
The conception of God, which has thus become a purely
abstract conception, gives shape and definition to this Love,
we said. In its own immediate Life, on the contrary--and I
entreat you to note this well--this Love is not thus defined
and fashioned; but it is, and it has and holds its object, not
by any means in conception, which never overtakes it, but
immediately in Love; and that indeed as it is in itself, be-
cause it is in truth nothing else than the self-supporting Life
of Absolute Being. Now it is this substance and material of
Love, which, in the first place, makes the Reflexion of Life
assume the form of a permanent objective Essence or Na-
ture; and then again divides, even to Infinity, the Nature
which has thus arisen, clothing it with new and ever-varied
Forms;--and thus creates its World. I ask :--What is it
then that gives a true and proper fundamental Substance
to this World, the Nature and Form of which are evident-
ly products of Reflexion? It is obviously the Absolute
Love;--the Absolute, I say,--or, as we may now express it,
--the Love of God towards his Ex-istence, or, the Love of
that Ex-istence towards the Living God. And what re-
mains for Reflexion? To give an objective standing to this
Substance, and to fashion it into an infinite succession of
objective Forms. But even with reference to this last
point,--What is it then that prevents Reflexion from ever
pausing in this work, and impels it incessantly forward from
each Form towards another, and from this again to another,
in endless succession? It is the inextinguishable Love for
that which necessarily escapes Reflexion, which lies con-
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