Wherein should Life and the Blessedness of Life have
their element if they had it not in Thought?
their element if they had it not in Thought?
Fichte - Nature of the Scholar
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org/access_use#pd-google
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? 38! )
LECTURE I.
THE TRUE LIFE AND THE APPARENT LIFE.
The Lectures which I now commence have been announced
under the title of "The Way towards the Blessed Life. "
Following the common and customary view, which no one
can rectify unless he first accommodate himself to it, I could
not avoid thus expressing myself; although, according to
the true view of the matter, the expression "Blessed Life"
has in it something superfluous. To wit:--Life is necessari-
ly blessed, for it is Blessedness; the thought of an wwblessed
life, on the other hand, carries with it a contradiction.
Death alone is unblessed. Thus, had I expressed myself
with strict precision, I should have named my proposed lec-
tures "The Way towards Life, or the Doctrine of Life "--or,
viewing the idea on the other side, "The Way towards
Blessedness, or the Doctrine of Blessedness. " That, never-
theless, not nearly all that seems to live is blessed, arises
from this--that what is unblessed does not really and truly
live, but, for the most part, is sunk in Death and Nothing-
ness.
Life is itself Blessedness, I said. It cannot be otherwise;
for Life is Love, and whole form and power of Life consist
in Love and spring from Love. In this I have given utter-
ance to one of the most profound axioms of knowledge;
which nevertheless, in my opinion, may at once be made
clear and evident to every one, by means of really earnest
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? 390
THE DOCTIUNE OF ItELIOION.
and sustained attention. Love divides that which in itself
is dead, as it were into a two-fold being, holding it up
before its own contemplation;--creating thereby an Ego
or Self, which beholds and is cognizant of itself; and in this
personality lies the root of all Life. Love again reunites
and intimately binds together this divided personality,
which, without Love, would regard itself coldly and without
interest. This latter unity, with a duality which is not
thereby destroyed but eternally remains subsistent, is Life
itself; as every one who strictly considers these ideas and
combines them together must at once distinctly perceive.
Further, Love is satisfaction with itself, joy in itself, enjoy-
ment of itself,--and therefore Blessedness; and thus it is
clear that Life, Love, and Blessedness, are absolutely one and
the same.
I said further, that not everything which seems to be
living does really and truly live. It follows that, in my
opinion, Life may be regarded from a double point of view,
and shall be so regarded by me;--that is, partly as regards
Truth, and partly as regards Appearance. Now it is clear,
before all things, that this latter merely Apparent Life could
never even have become apparent, but must have remained
wholly and entirely non-existent, had it not been, in some
way or other, supported and maintained by the True Life--
and, since nothing has a real existence but Life, had not the
True Life, in some way or other, entered into the Apparent
Life and been commingled with it. There can be no real
Death, and no real Unblessedness; for, were we to admit
this, we should thereby attribute to them an existence,
while it is only the True Being and Life that can have exis-
tence. Hence, all incomplete existence is but an admix-
ture of the dead with the living. In what way this ad-
mixture generally takes place, and what, even in the lowest
grades of life, is the indestructible representative of the
True Life, we shall betimes declare. It is further to be remarked, that Love is at all times the seat and central-
point even of this merely Apparent Life. Understand me
thus:--the Apparent can shape itself into manifold, infinitely
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? LECTURE I.
391
varied forms; as we shall soon perceive more clearly. These
various forms of the Apparent Life, have all a common life,
if we use the language of Appearance; or, they all appear
to have a common life, if we use the language of Truth.
But if again the question should arise:--By what is this
common life distinguished in its various forms; and what is
it that gives to each individual the peculiar character of his
particular life ? --I answer:--It is the love of this particular
and individual life. Show me what thou truly lovest, what
thou seekest and strivest for with thy whole heart when
thou wouldst attain to true enjoyment of thyself,--and thou
hast thereby shown me thy Life. What thou lovest, in that thou livest. This very Love is thy Life,--the root, the seat,
the central-point of thy being. All other emotions within
thee have life only in so far as they tend towards this one
central point. That to many men it may be no easy matter
to answer such a question, since they do not even know
what they love, proves only that they do not in reality love
anything; and, just on that account, do not live because
they do not love.
So much, in general, as to the identity of Life, Love, and
Blessedness. Now for the strict discrimination of the True
Life from the mere Apparent Life.
Being,--I say again,--Being and Life are, once more,
one and the same. Life alone can possess independent ex-
istence, of itself and through itself; and, on the other hand,
Life, so surely as it is Life, bears with it such an existence.
It is usual for men to conceive of Absolute Being as some-
thing fixed, rigid and dead; philosophers themselves, almost
without exception, have so conceived of it, even while they
declared it to be Absolute. This arises only from the thinker
himself bringing to the contemplation of Being, not a living,
but a mere dead conception. Not in Being, as it is in and
for itself, is there Death; but only in the deadly gaze of the
dead beholder. That in this error is to be found the origi-
nal source of all other errors, and that through it the world
of truth and the whole spiritual universe is for ever closed
to man, we have proved in another place,--at least to those
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? 392
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
who were capable of accepting the proof; here, the mere
historical statement of the principle must be sufficient.
On the other hand, as Being and Life are one and the
same, so are Death and Nothingness one and the same. But
there is no real Death and no real Nothingness, as we have
already said. There is, however, an Apparent Life, and
this is the mixture of life and death, of being and nothing-
ness. Hence it follows, that the Apparent, so far as regards
that in it which makes it mere Appearance and which is
opposed to the True Being and Life, is mere Death and
Nothingness.
Further:--Being is throughout simple, not manifold;
there are not many beings, but only One Being. This prin-
ciple, like the former, contains an idea which is generally
misunderstood, or even wholly unknown, but of the evident
truth of which any one may convince himself, if he will
only give his earnest attention to the subject for a single
moment. We have here neither time nor intention to un-
dertake, with our present audience, those preparatory and
initiative steps which the mass of men require in order to
render them capable of such earnest reflection.
We shall here bring forward and employ only the results
of those premises; and these results will recommend them-
selves to your natural sense of truth without need of argu-
ment. With regard to the profounder premises, we must
content ourselves with stating them clearly and distinctly,
and so securing them against all misconception. Thus, with
reference to the principle we have last adduced, our mean-
ing is the following;--Being alone is; nothing else is; not,
in particular, a something which is not Being, but which lies
outside of all Being;--an assumption, this latter, which, to
every one who understands our words, must appear a mani-
fest absurdity, but which, nevertheless, lies, dim and unre-
cognised, at the bottom of the common notion of Being.
According to this common notion, something which in and
through itself neither is nor can be, receives from without
a superadded existence,--which thus is an existence of no-
thing;--and from the union of these two absurdities, all
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? LECTURE I.
393
truth and reality arise. This common notion is contradicted
by the principle we have laid down: Being alone is,--t. e.
that only which is by and through itself--is. We say fur-
ther: This Being is simple, homogeneous, and immutable;
there is in it neither beginning nor ending, no variation or
change of form, but it is always and for ever the same, unal-
terable, and continuing Being.
The truth of this prosposition may be briefly shown thus:
--Whatever is, in and through itself, that indeed is, and is
perfect:--once for all existing, without interruption, and
without the possibility of addition.
And thus we have opened the way towards an insight in-
to the characteristic distinction between the True Life,
which is one with Being, and the mere Apparent Life,
which, in so far as it is mere appearance, is one with No-
thingness. Being is simple, unchangeable, ever the same;
therefore is also the True Life simple, unchangeable, ever the
same. Appearance is a ceaseless change, a continual float-
ing between birth and decay; therefore is also the mere
Apparent Life a ceaseless change, ever floating between
birth and decay, hurried along through never-ending alter-
nations. The central-point of all Life is Love. The True
Life loves the One, Unchangeable, and Eternal; the mere
Apparent Life attempts to love the Transitory and Perish-
able,--were that capable of being loved, or could such love
uphold itself in being.
That object of the Love of the True Life is what we mean
by the name God, or at least ought to mean by that name;
the object of the Love of the mere Apparent Life--the tran-
sitory and perishable--is that which we recognise as the
World, and which we so name. The True Life thus lives in
God, and loves God; the mere Apparent Life lives in the
World, and attempts to love the World. It matters not on
what particular side it approaches the world and compre-
hends it;--that which the common view terms moral de-
pravity, sin, crime, and the like, may indeed be more hurt-
ful and destructive to human society than many other things
which this common view permits or even considers to be
Eb
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? 394
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
praiseworthy;--but, before the eye of Truth, all Life which
fixes its love on the Temporary and Accidental, and seeks
its enjoyment in any object other than the Eternal and Un-
changeable, for that very reason, and merely on account of
thus seeking its enjoyment in something else, is in like
manner vain, miserable, and unblessed.
The True Life lives in the Unchangeable; it is thus cap-
able neither of abatement nor of increase, just as little as
the Unchangeable itself, in which it lives, is capable of such
abatement or increase. In each moment of Time it is per-
fect,--the highest possible Life; and throughout Eternity
it necessarily remains what it is in each moment of Time.
The Apparent Life lives only in the Transitory and Perish-
able, and therefore never remains the same in any two suc-
cessive moments; each succeeding moment consumes and
obliterates the preceding; and thus the Apparent Life
becomes a continuous Death, and lives only in dying and in
Death.
We have said that the True Life is in itself blessed, the
Apparent Life necessarily miserable and unblessed. The
possibility of all pleasure, joy, blessedness, or by whatever
word we may express the general consciousness of Wel
being, is founded upon love, effort, impulse. To be united
with the beloved object, and molten into its very essence, is
Blessedness; to be divided from it, cast out from it, while
yet we cannot cease to turn towards it with longing aspiration, is Unblessedness.
The following is the relation of the Apparent, or of the
Actual and Finite, to the Absolute Being, or to the Infinite
and Eternal. That which we have already indicated as the
element which must support and maintain the Apparent,
and without which it could not attain even the semblance
of Existence, and which we promised soon to characterize
more distinctly, is the aspiration towards the Eternal. This
impulse to be united with the Imperishable and transfused
therein, is the primitive root of all Finite Existence; and in
no branch of this existence can that impulse be wholly de-
stroyed, unless that branch were to sink into utter nothing-
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? LECTURE I.
395
ness. Beyond this aspiration upon which all Finite Exis-
tence rests, and by means of it, this existence either at-
tains the True Life, or does not attain it. Where it does
attain it, this secret aspiration becomes distinct and intel-
ligible as Love of the Eternal:--we learn what it is that
we desire, love, and need. This want may be satisfied con-
stantly and under every condition:--the Eternal surrounds
us at all times, offers itself incessantly to our regards; we
have nothing more to do than to lay hold of it. But, once
attained, it can never again be lost. He who lives the True
. Liife has attained it, and now possesses it evermore, whole,
undivided, in all its fullness, in every moment of his exis-
tence; and is therefore blessed in this union with the object
of his Love, penetrated with a firm, immovable conviction
that he shall thus enjoy it throughout Eternity, and thereby
secured against all doubt, anxiety, or fear. Where the True
Life is not attained, that aspiration is not felt the less, but
it is not understood. Happy, contented, satisfied with their
condition, all men would willingly be; but wherein they
shall find this happiness they know not; what it is that
they specially love and strive after, they do not understand.
In that which comes into immediate contact with their
senses, and offers itself to their enjoyment,--in the World,
they think it must be found; because to that spiritual con-
dition in which they now find themselves there is really
nothing else existing for them--but the World. Ardently
they betake themselves to this chase after happiness, devot-
ing themselves, with their whole powers and affections, to
the first best object that pleases them and promises to
satisfy their desires. But as soon as such an one returns
into himself, and asks, "Am I now happy? " he is loudly
answered from the depths of his own soul, "0 no, thou art
as empty and needful as before. " They now imagine that
they have been mistaken in their choice of an object, and
throw themselves eagerly into another. This satisfies them
as little as the first:--there is no object under the sun or
moon that will satisfy them. Would we that any such ob-
ject should satisfy them? By no means :--that nothing
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? S96
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
finite and perishable can satisfy them,--this is precisely the
one tie that still connects them with the Eternal and pre-
serves them in existence:--did they find any one earthly
object that should fill them with perfect satisfaction, then
were they thereby irretrievably thrust forth from the God-
head, and cast out into the eternal death of Nothingness.
And thus do they fret and vex away their life;--in every
condition thinking that if it were but otherwise with them
it would be better with them, and then, when it has become
otherwise, discovering that it is not better;--in every position
believing that if they could but attain yonder height which
they descry above them, they would be freed from their an-
guish, but finding nevertheless, even on the desired height,
their ancient sorrow. In riper years, perchance, when the
fresh enthusiasm and glad hopefulness of youth have van-
ished, they take counsel with themselves, review their whole
previous life, and attempt to draw therefrom some conclu-
sive doctrine;--attempt, it may be, to convince themselves
that no earthly good whatever can give them satisfaction:
--And what do they now? They determine perhaps to re-
nounce all faith in happiness and peace; blunting or dead-
ening, as far as possible, their still inextinguishable aspira-
tions; and then they call this insensibility the only true
wisdom, this despair of all salvation the only true salvation,
and their pretended knowledge that man is not destined to
happiness, but only to this vain striving with nothing and
for nothing, the true understanding. Perchance they re-
nounce only their hope of satisfaction in this earthly life;
but please themselves with a certain promise, handed down
to them by tradition, of a Blessedness beyond the grave.
Into what a mournful delusion do they now fall! Full
surely, indeed, there lies a Blessedness beyond the grave for
those who have already entered upon it here, and in no
other form or way than that by which they can already
enter upon it here, in this present moment; but by mere
burial man cannot arrive at Blessedness,--and in the future
life, and throughout the whole infinite range of all future
life, they would seek for happiness as vainly as they have
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? I. KOTUKE I.
397
already sought it here, if they were to seek it in aught else
than in that which already surrounds them so closely here
below that throughout Eternity it can never be brought
nearer to them,--in the Infinite. And thus does the poor child of Eternity, cast forth from his native home, and sur-
rounded on all sides by his heavenly inheritance which yet
his trembling hand fears to grasp, wander, with fugitive and
uncertain step throughout the waste, everywhere labouring
to establish for himself a dwelling-place, but happily ever
reminded, by the speedy downfall of each of his successive
habitations, that he can find peace nowhere but in his Father's house.
Thus, my hearers, is the True Life necessarily Blessedness
itself; and the Apparent Life necessarily Unblessedness.
And now consider with me the following:--I say, the
element, the atmosphere, the substantial form--if this latter
expression may be better understood--the element, the
atmosphere, the substantial form of the True Life, is
Thought.
In the first place, no one surely will be disposed, seriously,
and in the proper meaning of the words, to ascribe Life and
Blessedness to anything which is not conscious of itself. All
Life thus presupposes self-consciousness, and it is self-con-
sciousness alone which is able to lay hold of Life and make
it an object of enjoyment.
Thus then :--The True Life and its Blessedness consists
in a union with the Unchangeable and Eternal: but the
Eternal can be apprehended only by Thought, and is in no
other way approachable by us. The One and Unchangeable
is apprehended as the foundation of ourselves and of the
world, and this in a double respect:--partly as the cause
whereby all things have come into existence, and have not
remained in mere nothingness; partly that in Him, and in
His essential nature--which in this way only is conceivable
to us, but in all other ways, remains wholly inconceivable--
is contained the cause why all things exist as they are, and
in no other way. And thus the True Life and its Blessed-
ness consists in Thought; that is, in a certain definite view
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? 398
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
of ourselves and the world as proceeding from the essential,
self-contained Divine Nature :--and therefore a Doctrine of
Blessedness can be nothing else than a Doctrine of Know-
ledge, since there is absolutely no other doctrine but a Doc-
trine of Knowledge. In the mind,--in the self-supporting
life of Thought,--Life itself subsists, for beyond the mind
there is no true Existence. To live truly, means to think
truly, and to discern the truth.
Thus it is:--let no one be deceived by the invectives
which, in these later godless and soulless times, are poured
forth on what is termed speculation. It is a striking charac-
teristic of these invectives that they proceed from those
only who know nothing of speculation;--no one who does
know it has inveighed against it. It is only to the highest
flight of thought that the Godhead is revealed, and it is to
be apprehended by no other sense whatever;--to seek to
make men suspicious of this mental effort, is to wish to cut
them off for ever from God and from the enjoyment of
Blessedness.
Wherein should Life and the Blessedness of Life have
their element if they had it not in Thought? Perhaps in
certain sensations and feelings, with reference to which it
matters not to us whether they minister to the grossest sen-
sual enjoyments or the most refined spiritual raptures 1
How could a mere feeling, which by its very nature is de-
pendent on circumstance, secure for itself an eternal and
unchangeable duration ? --and how could we, amid the ob-
scurity which, for the same reason, necessarily accompanies
mere feeling, inwardly perceive and enjoy such an un-
changeable continuance? No: it is only the light of pure
Knowledge, thoroughly transparent to itself, and in free pos-
session of all that it contains, which, by means of this clear-
ness, can guarantee its unalterable endurance.
Or, shall the Blessed Life consist in virtuous action and
behaviour? What the profane call virtue,--i. e. that a man
pursue his calling or occupation in a legitimate way, give
other men their due, and perhaps bestow something on the
poor :--this virtue will, hereafter as hitherto, be exacted by
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? LECTURE I.
399
law, and prompted by natural sympathy. But no one can
rise to True Virtue, to god-like action, creating the True and
the Good in this world, who does not lovingly embrace the
Godhead in clear comprehension; while he who does so
embrace it will thus act without either formal intention or
positive reward, and cannot act otherwise.
We do not here, by any means, promulgate a new doctrine
regarding the spiritual world, but this is the old doctrine
which has been taught in all ages. Thus, for example,
Christianity makes Faith,thc one indispensable condition of
True Life and Blessedness, and rejects, as worthless and
dead, everything without exception that does not spring
from this Faith. But this Faith is the same thing which
we have here named Thought:--the only true view of our-
selves and of the world in the One Unchangeable Divine
Being. It is only after this Faith,--i. e. this clear and living
vision,--has disappeared from the world that men have
placed the conditions of the Blessed Life in what is called
virtue, and thus sought a noble fruit on a wild and unculti-
vated stem.
To this Life, the general characteristics of which have
been set forth in this preliminary sketch, I have here pro-
mised to point you the way;--I have pledged myself to show
you the means by which this Blessed Life may be attained
and enjoyed. This instruction may be comprised in a single
remark, this namely:--It is not required of man that he
should create the Eternal, which he could never do;--the
Eternal is in him, and surrounds him at all times;--he has
but to forsake the Transitory and Perishable with which the
True Life can never unite, and thereupon the Eternal, with
all its Blessedness, will forthwith descend and dwell with
him. We cannot win Blessedness, but we may cast away
our wretchedness; and thereupon Blessedness will forthwith
of itself supply the vacant place. Blessedness, as we have
seen, is unwavering repose in the One Eternal; wretched-
ness is vagrancy amid the Manifold and Transitory; and
therefore the condition of becoming blessed is the return of
our love from the Many to the One.
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? 400
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
That which is vagrant amid the Manifold and Transitory
is dissolved, poured forth, and spread abroad like water;
notwithstanding its desire to love this and that and many
things besides, it really loves nothing; and just because it
would be everywhere at home, it is nowhere at home. This
vagrancy is our peculiar nature, and in it we are born. For
this reason the return of the mind to the One Eternal,
which is never produced by the common view of things but
must be brought about by our own effort, appears as concen-
tration of the mind, and its indwelling in itself;--as earnest-
ness, in opposition to the merry game we play amid the
manifold diversities of life;--and as profound thoughtfulness,
in opposition to the light-hearted thoughtlessness which,
while it has much to comprehend, yet comprehends nothing
thoroughly. This profound and thoughtful earnestness, this
strict concentration of the mlnd^and'itsTndwelling in itself,
is the one condition under which the Blessed Life can ap-
proach us; but under this condition it approaches and
dwells with us surely and infallibly.
It is certainly true, that, by this withdrawal of our mind
from the Visible, the objects of our former love fade from
our view, and gradually disappear, until we regain them
clothed with fresh beauty in the aether of the new world
which rises before us; and that our whole previous life
perishes, until we regain it as a slight adjunct to the new
life which begins within us. But this is the destiny in-
separable from all Finite Existence; only through death
does it enter into life. Whatever is mortal must die, no-
thing can deliver it from the power of its own nature; in
the Apparent Life it dies continually; where the True Life
begins, in that one death it dies for ever, and for all the un-
known series of future deaths which, in its Apparent Life,
may yet lie before it.
I have promised to show you the way towards the Blessed
Life! But with what applications, and under what images,
forms, and conceptions, shall such instruction be addressed
to this age, in these circumstances? The images and forms
of the established religion, which say the same things which
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? LECTURE I.
401
alone we can here say, and which say them besides in the
same way in which alone we can here say them, because it
is the most fitting way,-- these images and forms have been
first of all emptied of their significance, then openly derid-
ed, and lastly given over to silent and polite contempt. The
propositions and syllogisms of the philosophers are accused
of being pernicious to the country and the nation, and sub-
versive of sound sense, and that before a tribunal where
neither accuser nor judge appears;--and this might be en-
dured :--but what is worse, every one who desires to believe
in these propositions and syllogisms is told beforehand that
he can never understand them;--for this purpose, that he
may not accept the words in their natural sense, and as they
stand, but seek behind them for some peculiar and hidden
meaning;--and in this way misconception and confusion
are sure to arise.
Or, even were it possible to discover forms and applica-
tions by means of which we might communicate such in-
struction, how should we awaken a desire to receive it,--
here, where it is universally taught, and now with greater
applause than ever, that despair of all salvation is the only
possible salvation;--that the faith that mankind are but
the sport of an arbitrary and capricious God is the only true
wisdom;--and where he who still believes in God and Truth,
and in Life and Blessedness therein, is laughed at as an in-
experienced boy who knows nothing of the world?
Be this as it may, we have yet courage in store; and to
have striven for a praiseworthy end, even if it be in vain, is
yet worth our labour. I see before me now, and I hope
still to see here, persons who have partaken in the best cul-
ture which our age affords. First of all, women, to whom,
by the social arrangements of mankind, has been assigned
the task of caring for the minor external wants, and also for
the decorations of human life,--an employment which, more
than any other, distracts the mind and draws it away from
clear and earnest reflection,--while, by way of compensation,
nature has implanted in them warmer aspirations towards
the Eternal, and a more refined perception of it. Then I
Fb
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? 402
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
see before me men of business, whose calling drags them,
every day of their lives, through many and varied details,
which are, indeed, connected with the Eternal and Un-
changeable, but so that not every one can discover, at the
first glance, the link that unites them. Lastly, I see before
me young scholars, in whom the form in which the Eternal
is destined to pervade their being still labours in the pre-
paration of its future abode. While, with reference to this
latter class, I may perhaps venture to flatter myself with the
hope that some of my suggestions may contribute towards
that preparation, with reference to the two former classes, I
make far more modest pretensions. I ask them only to
accept from me what they might doubtless have acquired
for themselves independent of my help, but which with my
assistance they may reach with less labour and by a shorter
path.
While all these are disturbed and divided by the multi-
farious objects to which their thoughts must be applied, the
Philosopher pursues, in solitary silence and in unbroken
concentration of mind, his single and undeviating course
towards the Good, the Beautiful, and the True; and has for
his daily labour that to which others can only resort at
times for rest and refreshment after toiL This fortunate lot
has fallen among others upon me; and therefore I now pro-
pose to communicate to you here, so far as I myself possess
it and understand how to communicate it to you, whatever
may be so appropriated from my speculative labours, intelli-
gible to the general mind, and conducive to the attainment
of the Good, the Beautiful, and the Eternal.
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? 403
LECTURE II.
REFUTATION OF OBJECTIONS TO POPULAR
METAPHYSICAL TEACHING.
Strict order and method will, naturally and without farther
care on our part, arise throughout the whole subject-matter
of the discourses which I here propose to address to you, as
soon as we shall have made good our entrance within its
boundaries and set our foot firmly on its domain. As yet
we are still occupied with this last-mentioned business; and
with regard to it, the chief thing we have now to do is to
acquire a clearer and freer insight into the essential prin-
ciples which were set forth in our last lecture. In our next
lecture, we shall go over once again that which we have
already said; proceeding however from a different starting-
point, and employing a different language.
For to-day I entreat you to enter with me on the follow-
ing preliminary considerations:--
We wish to acquire a clear insight, I said:--clearness,
however, is only to be found in depth; on the surface there
never lies aught but obscurity and confusion. He, therefore,
who invites you to clearer knowledge, must necessarily in-
vite you to descend with him into the depths of thought.
And thus I will by no means deny, but rather openly declare
at the outset, that I have already in my previous lecture
touched upon the deepest foundations and elements of all
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? 404
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
knowledge, beyond which there is no knowledge; and that
in my next lecture I propose to set forth these same ele-
ments,--or, in the language of the schools, the profoundest
Metaphysics and Ontology,--in a different and indeed in a
popular way.
Against such an undertaking as the present two objec-
tions are commonly urged,--either that it is impossible to
treat these subjects in a popular way, or that it is un-
advisable to do so,--the latter objection being sometimes
made by philosophers who would willingly make a mystery
of their knowledge; and I must before all things answer
these objections, in order that in addition to the difficulties
of the subject itself I may not besides have to combat an
aversion to it on your part.
In the first place, as regards the possibility:--I indeed do
not know whether any philosopher whatever, or in particu-
lar myself, has ever succeeded or ever shall succeed in ele-
vating, by way of popular instruction, those who either will
not or cannot study philosophy systematically, to the com-
prehension of its fundamental truths. But, on the other
hand, I do know, and perceive with absolute certainty, the
the two following truths:--First, that if any man do not
attain to insight into these elements of all knowledge,--the
artistic and systematic development of which alone, but not
their substance, has become the exclusive property of Scien-
tific Philosophy,--if any man, I say, do not attain to insight
into these elements of all knowledge, then such a man can
likewise never attain to Thought, and to a true inward in-
dependence of spirit, but remains enthralled within the
limits of mere Opinion, and, during his whole life, is never
a proper individual mind, but only an appendix to other
minds; he wants an organ of the spiritual sense, and that
the noblest of them all:--that, therefore, the assertion, that
it is neither possible nor advisable to elevate those who can-
not study philosophy systematically to an insight into the
nature of the spiritual world by some other means, is just
equivalent to this, that it is impossible that any one who
has not studied in the schools should ever attain to true
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? LECTURE II. ' 405
Thought and spiritual independence, the school alone, and
nothing but the school, being the sole progenitor and nurs-
ing mother of mind;--or that, even were it possible, it would
not be advisable ever to give spiritual freedom to the un-
learned, but that these should always remain under the
guardianship of pretended philosophers, a mere appanage to
their sovereign understanding. For the rest, the distinction
which we have here touched upon between true Thought
and mere Opinion will become perfectly clear and distinct
at the beginning of our next lecture.
Secondly, I know and perceive, with like certainty, the
following:--that it is only by means of Thought, proper,
pure, and true thought, and absolutely by no other organ,
that man can approach the Godhead and the Blessed Life
which proceeds from the Godhead, and can bring them
home to himself;--that therefore the assertion that it is
impossible to communicate profound truth in a popular way
is equivalent to this,--that only through a systematic study
of philosophy is it possible for man to elevate himself to
Religion and its blessings, and that every one who is not a
philosopher must remain for ever shut out from God and his
kingdom. In this argument everything depends upon the
principle that the True God and the True Religion are to
be approached and comprehended only by pure Thought;
and we must often dwell upon this principle and endeavour
to make it evident on all sides. Religion does not consist
in that wherein it is placed by the common mode of
thought,--namely in this, that man should believe, be of
opinion, and rest satisfied, because no one has the hardihood
to assert the opposite,--his belief resting wholly on hearsay
and outward assurance,--that there is a God:--this is a
vulgar superstition by which, at most, a defective police
system may be remedied, while the inward nature of man
remains as bad as before, and indeed frequently is made
worse, since he forms this God after his own image, and in
him only manufactures a new prop for his own corruption.
But^Jierein, Religion does consist, that man in his own per-
son and not in that of another, with his own spiritual eye
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? 40G
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
and not through that of another, should immediately behold,
have, and possess God. This, however, is possible only by
means of pure, independent Thought, for only through this
does man assume true and real personality, and this alone is
the eye to which God can become visible. Pure Thought is
itself the Divine Existence; and, on the other hand, the
Divine Existence, in its immediate essence, is nothing else
than pure Thought.
Besides, to look at this matter historically, the assumption
that absolutely all men without exception may come to the
knowledge of God, as well as the effort to raise them all to
this knowledge, is the assumption and the effort of Chris-
tianity; and, since Christianity is the developing principle
and peculiar characteristic of modern time, this assumption
and this effort form the peculiar spirit of the Age of the
New Testament. Now the two expressions,--to elevate all
men without exception to the knowledge of God,--and, to
communicate to mankind at large the deepest elements and
foundations of knowledge in another way than that of sys-
tematic instruction,--mean strictly and entirely one and the
same thing. It is clear, therefore, that every one who does
not wish to return to the ancient times of Heathendom
must admit not only the possibility, but the irremissible
duty, of communicating to men the profoundest principles
of knowledge in a generally comprehensible form.
But,--to close this argument for the possibility of a popu-
lar exposition of the profoundest truth with the most deci-
sive proof, that of facts :--Has then this knowledge,--which
we have undertaken, by means of these lectures, to unfold
in those who as yet have it not, and to strengthen and
purify in those who already possess it,--has it never until our
time been present in the world, and do we pretend now to
introduce something wholly new and hitherto nowhere dis-
coverable? We would not wish to think that this latter
had even been said of us; but, on the contrary, we maintain
that this knowledge, in all its clearness and purity, which we
can by no means surpass, and in every age from the origin of
Christianity downwards, although for the most part unre-
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? LECTURE II.
407
cognised, and even persecuted by the dominant church, has
yet, here and there, secretly ruled the minds of men and
disseminated itself abroad. On the other hand, we do not
hesitate to declare that the method of regular, systematic,
and scientific investigation, by which we for our part have at-
tained to this knowledge, has in former times, not indeed in
respect of trial, but certainly in respect of success, been un-
known in the world; and that, under the guidance of the
spirit of our great forefathers, it has been for the most part
our own work. If, then, this scientific, philosophical insight
was before awanting, in what way did Christ, or--since, in
his case, some will assume for it a miraculous, supernatural
origin, which I will not here dispute,--in what way did
Christ's Apostles,--in what way did all those who, from their
time down to our own, have possessed this knowledge,--in
what way did they actually acquire it! Among the former,
as among the latter, there were many very unlearned per-
sons, wholly ignorant of philosophy or even opposed to it;
the few among them who meddled with philosophy at all,
and with whose philosophy we are acquainted, so philoso-
phized that it is easy for the educated man to perceive that
it was not to their philosophy that they owed their insight.
But to say, that they did not obtain that insight by way of
philosophy, is just to say, that they did obtain it in a popu-
lar way. Why then should that which has been possible
heretofore, in an unbroken sequence for nearly two thousand
years, be now impossible? Why should that which was pos-
sible with very imperfect aids, at a period when general
enlightenment was nowhere to be found in the world, be no
longer possible, now when the needful aids have been per-
fected, and, at least in philosophy, the requisite enlightenment exists? Why should that which was possible when
religious faith and natural understanding were yet at vari-
ance to a certain extent, become impossible now that they
have been reconciled to each other, and, forgetting their
former disunion, pursue in friendship one and the same end?
That which follows most decisively from all these con-
siderations is the duty incumbent upon every man who is
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? 408
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
penetrated by this higher knowledge to exert all his powers
to communicate that knowledge, wherever possible, to the
whole brotherhood of humanity; presenting it to each indi-
vidual in that form in which he is most open to its recep-
tion; never debating with himself, nor wavering in doubt,
whether or not it may succeed, but labouring as if it must
of necessity succeed; and after each completed effort, rising
with new and fresh vigour as if nothing had yet been at-
tained ;--and, on the other hand, the duty of each indivi-
dual who is not yet in possession of this knowledge, or who
does not possess it in fitting clearness and freedom and as
an ever-present possession, to devote himself wholly and un-
reservedly to the instruction thus offered to him, as if it
were destined for him especially, and belonged to him, and
must of necessity be understood by him; not fearfully and
timidly exclaiming "Ah! shall I indeed understand it? " or,
"Do I then understand it rightly? " Understand it rightly,
in the sense of perfect comprehension, would be saying
much ;--in this sense, these lectures may perhaps be under-
stood fully only by such as could themselves have spoken
them. But to understand, and that not erroneously, lies
within the power of every one who, moved by these dis-
courses, is elevated above the common view of the world,
and inspired with exalted sentiments and resolves. The
reciprocal obligation to both these duties lies at the founda-
tion of the contract we entered into at the beginning of
these lectures. I will unweariedly search for new forms,
applications, and combinations, as if it were impossible to
make myself fully intelligible to you:--do you on the other
hand, that is, you who seek instruction here--for to the
others I willingly limit myself to counsel--do you proceed
with earnestness and courage to the business, as if you had
to understand me by half words only;--and in this way I
believe that we shall agree well together.
These considerations on the possibility and necessity of a
generally comprehensible exposition of the deepest elements
of knowledge acquire a new significance and convincing
power, when we examine more strictly the peculiar and
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? LECTURE II.
409
characteristic distinction between the Popular and the
Scientific discourse;--a distinction which in my opinion is
virtually unknown, and which, in particular, lies wholly con-
cealed from those who talk so readily of the possibility and
impossibility of popular expositions. The Scientific dis-
course eliminates truth from among the errors which sur-
round and oppose it on all sides and in every form; and, by
demolition of these opposing view as error and as impos-
sible to true thought, shows the truth as that which alone
remains after their withdrawal, and therefore as the only
possible truth:--and in this separation of opposites, and
elucidation of the truth from the confused chaos in which
truth and error lie mingled together, consists the peculiar
and characteristic nature of the Scientific discourse. By
this method truth emerges before our eyes out of a world
full of error. Now it is obvious that the philosopher, before
such sifting of truth, before he could either project or begin
it and therefore independent of scientific proof, must al-
ready possess truth. But how could he attain possession of
it except by the guidance of a natural sense of truth which
exists in him with higher power than in his contempora-
ries ? --and in what other way, then, has he at first attained
it but by the unartificial popular way? To this natural sense
of truth, which is thus seen to be the starting-point even of
scientific philosophy, the Popular discourse addresses itself
immediately without calling aught else to its aid,--setting
forth the truth, and nothing but the truth, purely and sim-
ply, as it is in itself and not as it stands opposed to error,--
and calculates upon the spontaneous assent of this natural
sense of truth. This discourse cannot indeed prove any-
thing; but it must certainly be understood; for intelligence
itself is the only organ whereby we can apprehend its im-
port, and without this it cannot reach us at all. The Scien-
tific discourse presupposes in the hearer an entanglement in
the meshes of error, and addresses itself to a diseased and
perverted spiritual nature;--the Popular discourse presup-
poses an open and candid mind, and appeals to a healthy,
although not sufficiently cultivated, spiritual nature. After
ub
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? '410
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
all this, how can the philosopher entertain a doubt that the
natural sense of truth in man is sufficient to lead him to
the knowledge of truth, since he himself has attained to
that knowledge by this means and no other?
But notwithstanding that the comprehension of the deep-
est truths of Reason, by means of a popular exposition, is
possible,--notwithstanding further that this comprehension
is a necessary purpose of humanity towards the attainment
of which every power ought to be directed,--we must never-
theless acknowledge that there are, in the present age,
greater hindrances to the accomplishment of this purpose
than have existed at any previous time. In the first place,
the very form of this higher truth,--this strictly determi-
nate, settled, absolutely unchanging and unchangeable form,
--comes into collision, and that in a two-fold manner, with
the hesitating modesty which this age--has not indeed in
itself but yet--would exact from every one who undertakes
to deal with it. It is not to be denied that this knowledge
assumes itself to be true, and alone true, and true only in
the sharp and complete precision in which it is thus an-
nounced,--and everything opposed to it, absolutely and
without exception or mitigation, to be false;--that therefore
it seeks, without forbearance, to subdue all weak partiali-
ties, all vagrant fancies, and wholly disdains to enter into any
treaty or compromise with the other side. The men of these
days are offended at this severity, as if they were thereby
grievously ill-treated;--they would be deferentially saluted,
and consulted as to whether they will lend their sanction to
such a matter; would make conditions on their side, and
there should be some elbow-room left for their tricks of le-
gerdemain. Others are dissatisfied with this form of truth,
because it requires them at once to take their part for or
against, and to decide on the instant yes or no. For they
are in no haste to know for certain about that which never-
theless is alone worth knowing, and would willingly suspend
their voices, in case it should afterwards turn out to be
wholly otherwise; and besides it is very convenient to con-
ceal their want of understanding under the fashionable and
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? 38! )
LECTURE I.
THE TRUE LIFE AND THE APPARENT LIFE.
The Lectures which I now commence have been announced
under the title of "The Way towards the Blessed Life. "
Following the common and customary view, which no one
can rectify unless he first accommodate himself to it, I could
not avoid thus expressing myself; although, according to
the true view of the matter, the expression "Blessed Life"
has in it something superfluous. To wit:--Life is necessari-
ly blessed, for it is Blessedness; the thought of an wwblessed
life, on the other hand, carries with it a contradiction.
Death alone is unblessed. Thus, had I expressed myself
with strict precision, I should have named my proposed lec-
tures "The Way towards Life, or the Doctrine of Life "--or,
viewing the idea on the other side, "The Way towards
Blessedness, or the Doctrine of Blessedness. " That, never-
theless, not nearly all that seems to live is blessed, arises
from this--that what is unblessed does not really and truly
live, but, for the most part, is sunk in Death and Nothing-
ness.
Life is itself Blessedness, I said. It cannot be otherwise;
for Life is Love, and whole form and power of Life consist
in Love and spring from Love. In this I have given utter-
ance to one of the most profound axioms of knowledge;
which nevertheless, in my opinion, may at once be made
clear and evident to every one, by means of really earnest
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? 390
THE DOCTIUNE OF ItELIOION.
and sustained attention. Love divides that which in itself
is dead, as it were into a two-fold being, holding it up
before its own contemplation;--creating thereby an Ego
or Self, which beholds and is cognizant of itself; and in this
personality lies the root of all Life. Love again reunites
and intimately binds together this divided personality,
which, without Love, would regard itself coldly and without
interest. This latter unity, with a duality which is not
thereby destroyed but eternally remains subsistent, is Life
itself; as every one who strictly considers these ideas and
combines them together must at once distinctly perceive.
Further, Love is satisfaction with itself, joy in itself, enjoy-
ment of itself,--and therefore Blessedness; and thus it is
clear that Life, Love, and Blessedness, are absolutely one and
the same.
I said further, that not everything which seems to be
living does really and truly live. It follows that, in my
opinion, Life may be regarded from a double point of view,
and shall be so regarded by me;--that is, partly as regards
Truth, and partly as regards Appearance. Now it is clear,
before all things, that this latter merely Apparent Life could
never even have become apparent, but must have remained
wholly and entirely non-existent, had it not been, in some
way or other, supported and maintained by the True Life--
and, since nothing has a real existence but Life, had not the
True Life, in some way or other, entered into the Apparent
Life and been commingled with it. There can be no real
Death, and no real Unblessedness; for, were we to admit
this, we should thereby attribute to them an existence,
while it is only the True Being and Life that can have exis-
tence. Hence, all incomplete existence is but an admix-
ture of the dead with the living. In what way this ad-
mixture generally takes place, and what, even in the lowest
grades of life, is the indestructible representative of the
True Life, we shall betimes declare. It is further to be remarked, that Love is at all times the seat and central-
point even of this merely Apparent Life. Understand me
thus:--the Apparent can shape itself into manifold, infinitely
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? LECTURE I.
391
varied forms; as we shall soon perceive more clearly. These
various forms of the Apparent Life, have all a common life,
if we use the language of Appearance; or, they all appear
to have a common life, if we use the language of Truth.
But if again the question should arise:--By what is this
common life distinguished in its various forms; and what is
it that gives to each individual the peculiar character of his
particular life ? --I answer:--It is the love of this particular
and individual life. Show me what thou truly lovest, what
thou seekest and strivest for with thy whole heart when
thou wouldst attain to true enjoyment of thyself,--and thou
hast thereby shown me thy Life. What thou lovest, in that thou livest. This very Love is thy Life,--the root, the seat,
the central-point of thy being. All other emotions within
thee have life only in so far as they tend towards this one
central point. That to many men it may be no easy matter
to answer such a question, since they do not even know
what they love, proves only that they do not in reality love
anything; and, just on that account, do not live because
they do not love.
So much, in general, as to the identity of Life, Love, and
Blessedness. Now for the strict discrimination of the True
Life from the mere Apparent Life.
Being,--I say again,--Being and Life are, once more,
one and the same. Life alone can possess independent ex-
istence, of itself and through itself; and, on the other hand,
Life, so surely as it is Life, bears with it such an existence.
It is usual for men to conceive of Absolute Being as some-
thing fixed, rigid and dead; philosophers themselves, almost
without exception, have so conceived of it, even while they
declared it to be Absolute. This arises only from the thinker
himself bringing to the contemplation of Being, not a living,
but a mere dead conception. Not in Being, as it is in and
for itself, is there Death; but only in the deadly gaze of the
dead beholder. That in this error is to be found the origi-
nal source of all other errors, and that through it the world
of truth and the whole spiritual universe is for ever closed
to man, we have proved in another place,--at least to those
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? 392
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
who were capable of accepting the proof; here, the mere
historical statement of the principle must be sufficient.
On the other hand, as Being and Life are one and the
same, so are Death and Nothingness one and the same. But
there is no real Death and no real Nothingness, as we have
already said. There is, however, an Apparent Life, and
this is the mixture of life and death, of being and nothing-
ness. Hence it follows, that the Apparent, so far as regards
that in it which makes it mere Appearance and which is
opposed to the True Being and Life, is mere Death and
Nothingness.
Further:--Being is throughout simple, not manifold;
there are not many beings, but only One Being. This prin-
ciple, like the former, contains an idea which is generally
misunderstood, or even wholly unknown, but of the evident
truth of which any one may convince himself, if he will
only give his earnest attention to the subject for a single
moment. We have here neither time nor intention to un-
dertake, with our present audience, those preparatory and
initiative steps which the mass of men require in order to
render them capable of such earnest reflection.
We shall here bring forward and employ only the results
of those premises; and these results will recommend them-
selves to your natural sense of truth without need of argu-
ment. With regard to the profounder premises, we must
content ourselves with stating them clearly and distinctly,
and so securing them against all misconception. Thus, with
reference to the principle we have last adduced, our mean-
ing is the following;--Being alone is; nothing else is; not,
in particular, a something which is not Being, but which lies
outside of all Being;--an assumption, this latter, which, to
every one who understands our words, must appear a mani-
fest absurdity, but which, nevertheless, lies, dim and unre-
cognised, at the bottom of the common notion of Being.
According to this common notion, something which in and
through itself neither is nor can be, receives from without
a superadded existence,--which thus is an existence of no-
thing;--and from the union of these two absurdities, all
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? LECTURE I.
393
truth and reality arise. This common notion is contradicted
by the principle we have laid down: Being alone is,--t. e.
that only which is by and through itself--is. We say fur-
ther: This Being is simple, homogeneous, and immutable;
there is in it neither beginning nor ending, no variation or
change of form, but it is always and for ever the same, unal-
terable, and continuing Being.
The truth of this prosposition may be briefly shown thus:
--Whatever is, in and through itself, that indeed is, and is
perfect:--once for all existing, without interruption, and
without the possibility of addition.
And thus we have opened the way towards an insight in-
to the characteristic distinction between the True Life,
which is one with Being, and the mere Apparent Life,
which, in so far as it is mere appearance, is one with No-
thingness. Being is simple, unchangeable, ever the same;
therefore is also the True Life simple, unchangeable, ever the
same. Appearance is a ceaseless change, a continual float-
ing between birth and decay; therefore is also the mere
Apparent Life a ceaseless change, ever floating between
birth and decay, hurried along through never-ending alter-
nations. The central-point of all Life is Love. The True
Life loves the One, Unchangeable, and Eternal; the mere
Apparent Life attempts to love the Transitory and Perish-
able,--were that capable of being loved, or could such love
uphold itself in being.
That object of the Love of the True Life is what we mean
by the name God, or at least ought to mean by that name;
the object of the Love of the mere Apparent Life--the tran-
sitory and perishable--is that which we recognise as the
World, and which we so name. The True Life thus lives in
God, and loves God; the mere Apparent Life lives in the
World, and attempts to love the World. It matters not on
what particular side it approaches the world and compre-
hends it;--that which the common view terms moral de-
pravity, sin, crime, and the like, may indeed be more hurt-
ful and destructive to human society than many other things
which this common view permits or even considers to be
Eb
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? 394
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
praiseworthy;--but, before the eye of Truth, all Life which
fixes its love on the Temporary and Accidental, and seeks
its enjoyment in any object other than the Eternal and Un-
changeable, for that very reason, and merely on account of
thus seeking its enjoyment in something else, is in like
manner vain, miserable, and unblessed.
The True Life lives in the Unchangeable; it is thus cap-
able neither of abatement nor of increase, just as little as
the Unchangeable itself, in which it lives, is capable of such
abatement or increase. In each moment of Time it is per-
fect,--the highest possible Life; and throughout Eternity
it necessarily remains what it is in each moment of Time.
The Apparent Life lives only in the Transitory and Perish-
able, and therefore never remains the same in any two suc-
cessive moments; each succeeding moment consumes and
obliterates the preceding; and thus the Apparent Life
becomes a continuous Death, and lives only in dying and in
Death.
We have said that the True Life is in itself blessed, the
Apparent Life necessarily miserable and unblessed. The
possibility of all pleasure, joy, blessedness, or by whatever
word we may express the general consciousness of Wel
being, is founded upon love, effort, impulse. To be united
with the beloved object, and molten into its very essence, is
Blessedness; to be divided from it, cast out from it, while
yet we cannot cease to turn towards it with longing aspiration, is Unblessedness.
The following is the relation of the Apparent, or of the
Actual and Finite, to the Absolute Being, or to the Infinite
and Eternal. That which we have already indicated as the
element which must support and maintain the Apparent,
and without which it could not attain even the semblance
of Existence, and which we promised soon to characterize
more distinctly, is the aspiration towards the Eternal. This
impulse to be united with the Imperishable and transfused
therein, is the primitive root of all Finite Existence; and in
no branch of this existence can that impulse be wholly de-
stroyed, unless that branch were to sink into utter nothing-
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? LECTURE I.
395
ness. Beyond this aspiration upon which all Finite Exis-
tence rests, and by means of it, this existence either at-
tains the True Life, or does not attain it. Where it does
attain it, this secret aspiration becomes distinct and intel-
ligible as Love of the Eternal:--we learn what it is that
we desire, love, and need. This want may be satisfied con-
stantly and under every condition:--the Eternal surrounds
us at all times, offers itself incessantly to our regards; we
have nothing more to do than to lay hold of it. But, once
attained, it can never again be lost. He who lives the True
. Liife has attained it, and now possesses it evermore, whole,
undivided, in all its fullness, in every moment of his exis-
tence; and is therefore blessed in this union with the object
of his Love, penetrated with a firm, immovable conviction
that he shall thus enjoy it throughout Eternity, and thereby
secured against all doubt, anxiety, or fear. Where the True
Life is not attained, that aspiration is not felt the less, but
it is not understood. Happy, contented, satisfied with their
condition, all men would willingly be; but wherein they
shall find this happiness they know not; what it is that
they specially love and strive after, they do not understand.
In that which comes into immediate contact with their
senses, and offers itself to their enjoyment,--in the World,
they think it must be found; because to that spiritual con-
dition in which they now find themselves there is really
nothing else existing for them--but the World. Ardently
they betake themselves to this chase after happiness, devot-
ing themselves, with their whole powers and affections, to
the first best object that pleases them and promises to
satisfy their desires. But as soon as such an one returns
into himself, and asks, "Am I now happy? " he is loudly
answered from the depths of his own soul, "0 no, thou art
as empty and needful as before. " They now imagine that
they have been mistaken in their choice of an object, and
throw themselves eagerly into another. This satisfies them
as little as the first:--there is no object under the sun or
moon that will satisfy them. Would we that any such ob-
ject should satisfy them? By no means :--that nothing
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? S96
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
finite and perishable can satisfy them,--this is precisely the
one tie that still connects them with the Eternal and pre-
serves them in existence:--did they find any one earthly
object that should fill them with perfect satisfaction, then
were they thereby irretrievably thrust forth from the God-
head, and cast out into the eternal death of Nothingness.
And thus do they fret and vex away their life;--in every
condition thinking that if it were but otherwise with them
it would be better with them, and then, when it has become
otherwise, discovering that it is not better;--in every position
believing that if they could but attain yonder height which
they descry above them, they would be freed from their an-
guish, but finding nevertheless, even on the desired height,
their ancient sorrow. In riper years, perchance, when the
fresh enthusiasm and glad hopefulness of youth have van-
ished, they take counsel with themselves, review their whole
previous life, and attempt to draw therefrom some conclu-
sive doctrine;--attempt, it may be, to convince themselves
that no earthly good whatever can give them satisfaction:
--And what do they now? They determine perhaps to re-
nounce all faith in happiness and peace; blunting or dead-
ening, as far as possible, their still inextinguishable aspira-
tions; and then they call this insensibility the only true
wisdom, this despair of all salvation the only true salvation,
and their pretended knowledge that man is not destined to
happiness, but only to this vain striving with nothing and
for nothing, the true understanding. Perchance they re-
nounce only their hope of satisfaction in this earthly life;
but please themselves with a certain promise, handed down
to them by tradition, of a Blessedness beyond the grave.
Into what a mournful delusion do they now fall! Full
surely, indeed, there lies a Blessedness beyond the grave for
those who have already entered upon it here, and in no
other form or way than that by which they can already
enter upon it here, in this present moment; but by mere
burial man cannot arrive at Blessedness,--and in the future
life, and throughout the whole infinite range of all future
life, they would seek for happiness as vainly as they have
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? I. KOTUKE I.
397
already sought it here, if they were to seek it in aught else
than in that which already surrounds them so closely here
below that throughout Eternity it can never be brought
nearer to them,--in the Infinite. And thus does the poor child of Eternity, cast forth from his native home, and sur-
rounded on all sides by his heavenly inheritance which yet
his trembling hand fears to grasp, wander, with fugitive and
uncertain step throughout the waste, everywhere labouring
to establish for himself a dwelling-place, but happily ever
reminded, by the speedy downfall of each of his successive
habitations, that he can find peace nowhere but in his Father's house.
Thus, my hearers, is the True Life necessarily Blessedness
itself; and the Apparent Life necessarily Unblessedness.
And now consider with me the following:--I say, the
element, the atmosphere, the substantial form--if this latter
expression may be better understood--the element, the
atmosphere, the substantial form of the True Life, is
Thought.
In the first place, no one surely will be disposed, seriously,
and in the proper meaning of the words, to ascribe Life and
Blessedness to anything which is not conscious of itself. All
Life thus presupposes self-consciousness, and it is self-con-
sciousness alone which is able to lay hold of Life and make
it an object of enjoyment.
Thus then :--The True Life and its Blessedness consists
in a union with the Unchangeable and Eternal: but the
Eternal can be apprehended only by Thought, and is in no
other way approachable by us. The One and Unchangeable
is apprehended as the foundation of ourselves and of the
world, and this in a double respect:--partly as the cause
whereby all things have come into existence, and have not
remained in mere nothingness; partly that in Him, and in
His essential nature--which in this way only is conceivable
to us, but in all other ways, remains wholly inconceivable--
is contained the cause why all things exist as they are, and
in no other way. And thus the True Life and its Blessed-
ness consists in Thought; that is, in a certain definite view
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? 398
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
of ourselves and the world as proceeding from the essential,
self-contained Divine Nature :--and therefore a Doctrine of
Blessedness can be nothing else than a Doctrine of Know-
ledge, since there is absolutely no other doctrine but a Doc-
trine of Knowledge. In the mind,--in the self-supporting
life of Thought,--Life itself subsists, for beyond the mind
there is no true Existence. To live truly, means to think
truly, and to discern the truth.
Thus it is:--let no one be deceived by the invectives
which, in these later godless and soulless times, are poured
forth on what is termed speculation. It is a striking charac-
teristic of these invectives that they proceed from those
only who know nothing of speculation;--no one who does
know it has inveighed against it. It is only to the highest
flight of thought that the Godhead is revealed, and it is to
be apprehended by no other sense whatever;--to seek to
make men suspicious of this mental effort, is to wish to cut
them off for ever from God and from the enjoyment of
Blessedness.
Wherein should Life and the Blessedness of Life have
their element if they had it not in Thought? Perhaps in
certain sensations and feelings, with reference to which it
matters not to us whether they minister to the grossest sen-
sual enjoyments or the most refined spiritual raptures 1
How could a mere feeling, which by its very nature is de-
pendent on circumstance, secure for itself an eternal and
unchangeable duration ? --and how could we, amid the ob-
scurity which, for the same reason, necessarily accompanies
mere feeling, inwardly perceive and enjoy such an un-
changeable continuance? No: it is only the light of pure
Knowledge, thoroughly transparent to itself, and in free pos-
session of all that it contains, which, by means of this clear-
ness, can guarantee its unalterable endurance.
Or, shall the Blessed Life consist in virtuous action and
behaviour? What the profane call virtue,--i. e. that a man
pursue his calling or occupation in a legitimate way, give
other men their due, and perhaps bestow something on the
poor :--this virtue will, hereafter as hitherto, be exacted by
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? LECTURE I.
399
law, and prompted by natural sympathy. But no one can
rise to True Virtue, to god-like action, creating the True and
the Good in this world, who does not lovingly embrace the
Godhead in clear comprehension; while he who does so
embrace it will thus act without either formal intention or
positive reward, and cannot act otherwise.
We do not here, by any means, promulgate a new doctrine
regarding the spiritual world, but this is the old doctrine
which has been taught in all ages. Thus, for example,
Christianity makes Faith,thc one indispensable condition of
True Life and Blessedness, and rejects, as worthless and
dead, everything without exception that does not spring
from this Faith. But this Faith is the same thing which
we have here named Thought:--the only true view of our-
selves and of the world in the One Unchangeable Divine
Being. It is only after this Faith,--i. e. this clear and living
vision,--has disappeared from the world that men have
placed the conditions of the Blessed Life in what is called
virtue, and thus sought a noble fruit on a wild and unculti-
vated stem.
To this Life, the general characteristics of which have
been set forth in this preliminary sketch, I have here pro-
mised to point you the way;--I have pledged myself to show
you the means by which this Blessed Life may be attained
and enjoyed. This instruction may be comprised in a single
remark, this namely:--It is not required of man that he
should create the Eternal, which he could never do;--the
Eternal is in him, and surrounds him at all times;--he has
but to forsake the Transitory and Perishable with which the
True Life can never unite, and thereupon the Eternal, with
all its Blessedness, will forthwith descend and dwell with
him. We cannot win Blessedness, but we may cast away
our wretchedness; and thereupon Blessedness will forthwith
of itself supply the vacant place. Blessedness, as we have
seen, is unwavering repose in the One Eternal; wretched-
ness is vagrancy amid the Manifold and Transitory; and
therefore the condition of becoming blessed is the return of
our love from the Many to the One.
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? 400
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
That which is vagrant amid the Manifold and Transitory
is dissolved, poured forth, and spread abroad like water;
notwithstanding its desire to love this and that and many
things besides, it really loves nothing; and just because it
would be everywhere at home, it is nowhere at home. This
vagrancy is our peculiar nature, and in it we are born. For
this reason the return of the mind to the One Eternal,
which is never produced by the common view of things but
must be brought about by our own effort, appears as concen-
tration of the mind, and its indwelling in itself;--as earnest-
ness, in opposition to the merry game we play amid the
manifold diversities of life;--and as profound thoughtfulness,
in opposition to the light-hearted thoughtlessness which,
while it has much to comprehend, yet comprehends nothing
thoroughly. This profound and thoughtful earnestness, this
strict concentration of the mlnd^and'itsTndwelling in itself,
is the one condition under which the Blessed Life can ap-
proach us; but under this condition it approaches and
dwells with us surely and infallibly.
It is certainly true, that, by this withdrawal of our mind
from the Visible, the objects of our former love fade from
our view, and gradually disappear, until we regain them
clothed with fresh beauty in the aether of the new world
which rises before us; and that our whole previous life
perishes, until we regain it as a slight adjunct to the new
life which begins within us. But this is the destiny in-
separable from all Finite Existence; only through death
does it enter into life. Whatever is mortal must die, no-
thing can deliver it from the power of its own nature; in
the Apparent Life it dies continually; where the True Life
begins, in that one death it dies for ever, and for all the un-
known series of future deaths which, in its Apparent Life,
may yet lie before it.
I have promised to show you the way towards the Blessed
Life! But with what applications, and under what images,
forms, and conceptions, shall such instruction be addressed
to this age, in these circumstances? The images and forms
of the established religion, which say the same things which
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? LECTURE I.
401
alone we can here say, and which say them besides in the
same way in which alone we can here say them, because it
is the most fitting way,-- these images and forms have been
first of all emptied of their significance, then openly derid-
ed, and lastly given over to silent and polite contempt. The
propositions and syllogisms of the philosophers are accused
of being pernicious to the country and the nation, and sub-
versive of sound sense, and that before a tribunal where
neither accuser nor judge appears;--and this might be en-
dured :--but what is worse, every one who desires to believe
in these propositions and syllogisms is told beforehand that
he can never understand them;--for this purpose, that he
may not accept the words in their natural sense, and as they
stand, but seek behind them for some peculiar and hidden
meaning;--and in this way misconception and confusion
are sure to arise.
Or, even were it possible to discover forms and applica-
tions by means of which we might communicate such in-
struction, how should we awaken a desire to receive it,--
here, where it is universally taught, and now with greater
applause than ever, that despair of all salvation is the only
possible salvation;--that the faith that mankind are but
the sport of an arbitrary and capricious God is the only true
wisdom;--and where he who still believes in God and Truth,
and in Life and Blessedness therein, is laughed at as an in-
experienced boy who knows nothing of the world?
Be this as it may, we have yet courage in store; and to
have striven for a praiseworthy end, even if it be in vain, is
yet worth our labour. I see before me now, and I hope
still to see here, persons who have partaken in the best cul-
ture which our age affords. First of all, women, to whom,
by the social arrangements of mankind, has been assigned
the task of caring for the minor external wants, and also for
the decorations of human life,--an employment which, more
than any other, distracts the mind and draws it away from
clear and earnest reflection,--while, by way of compensation,
nature has implanted in them warmer aspirations towards
the Eternal, and a more refined perception of it. Then I
Fb
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? 402
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
see before me men of business, whose calling drags them,
every day of their lives, through many and varied details,
which are, indeed, connected with the Eternal and Un-
changeable, but so that not every one can discover, at the
first glance, the link that unites them. Lastly, I see before
me young scholars, in whom the form in which the Eternal
is destined to pervade their being still labours in the pre-
paration of its future abode. While, with reference to this
latter class, I may perhaps venture to flatter myself with the
hope that some of my suggestions may contribute towards
that preparation, with reference to the two former classes, I
make far more modest pretensions. I ask them only to
accept from me what they might doubtless have acquired
for themselves independent of my help, but which with my
assistance they may reach with less labour and by a shorter
path.
While all these are disturbed and divided by the multi-
farious objects to which their thoughts must be applied, the
Philosopher pursues, in solitary silence and in unbroken
concentration of mind, his single and undeviating course
towards the Good, the Beautiful, and the True; and has for
his daily labour that to which others can only resort at
times for rest and refreshment after toiL This fortunate lot
has fallen among others upon me; and therefore I now pro-
pose to communicate to you here, so far as I myself possess
it and understand how to communicate it to you, whatever
may be so appropriated from my speculative labours, intelli-
gible to the general mind, and conducive to the attainment
of the Good, the Beautiful, and the Eternal.
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? 403
LECTURE II.
REFUTATION OF OBJECTIONS TO POPULAR
METAPHYSICAL TEACHING.
Strict order and method will, naturally and without farther
care on our part, arise throughout the whole subject-matter
of the discourses which I here propose to address to you, as
soon as we shall have made good our entrance within its
boundaries and set our foot firmly on its domain. As yet
we are still occupied with this last-mentioned business; and
with regard to it, the chief thing we have now to do is to
acquire a clearer and freer insight into the essential prin-
ciples which were set forth in our last lecture. In our next
lecture, we shall go over once again that which we have
already said; proceeding however from a different starting-
point, and employing a different language.
For to-day I entreat you to enter with me on the follow-
ing preliminary considerations:--
We wish to acquire a clear insight, I said:--clearness,
however, is only to be found in depth; on the surface there
never lies aught but obscurity and confusion. He, therefore,
who invites you to clearer knowledge, must necessarily in-
vite you to descend with him into the depths of thought.
And thus I will by no means deny, but rather openly declare
at the outset, that I have already in my previous lecture
touched upon the deepest foundations and elements of all
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? 404
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
knowledge, beyond which there is no knowledge; and that
in my next lecture I propose to set forth these same ele-
ments,--or, in the language of the schools, the profoundest
Metaphysics and Ontology,--in a different and indeed in a
popular way.
Against such an undertaking as the present two objec-
tions are commonly urged,--either that it is impossible to
treat these subjects in a popular way, or that it is un-
advisable to do so,--the latter objection being sometimes
made by philosophers who would willingly make a mystery
of their knowledge; and I must before all things answer
these objections, in order that in addition to the difficulties
of the subject itself I may not besides have to combat an
aversion to it on your part.
In the first place, as regards the possibility:--I indeed do
not know whether any philosopher whatever, or in particu-
lar myself, has ever succeeded or ever shall succeed in ele-
vating, by way of popular instruction, those who either will
not or cannot study philosophy systematically, to the com-
prehension of its fundamental truths. But, on the other
hand, I do know, and perceive with absolute certainty, the
the two following truths:--First, that if any man do not
attain to insight into these elements of all knowledge,--the
artistic and systematic development of which alone, but not
their substance, has become the exclusive property of Scien-
tific Philosophy,--if any man, I say, do not attain to insight
into these elements of all knowledge, then such a man can
likewise never attain to Thought, and to a true inward in-
dependence of spirit, but remains enthralled within the
limits of mere Opinion, and, during his whole life, is never
a proper individual mind, but only an appendix to other
minds; he wants an organ of the spiritual sense, and that
the noblest of them all:--that, therefore, the assertion, that
it is neither possible nor advisable to elevate those who can-
not study philosophy systematically to an insight into the
nature of the spiritual world by some other means, is just
equivalent to this, that it is impossible that any one who
has not studied in the schools should ever attain to true
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? LECTURE II. ' 405
Thought and spiritual independence, the school alone, and
nothing but the school, being the sole progenitor and nurs-
ing mother of mind;--or that, even were it possible, it would
not be advisable ever to give spiritual freedom to the un-
learned, but that these should always remain under the
guardianship of pretended philosophers, a mere appanage to
their sovereign understanding. For the rest, the distinction
which we have here touched upon between true Thought
and mere Opinion will become perfectly clear and distinct
at the beginning of our next lecture.
Secondly, I know and perceive, with like certainty, the
following:--that it is only by means of Thought, proper,
pure, and true thought, and absolutely by no other organ,
that man can approach the Godhead and the Blessed Life
which proceeds from the Godhead, and can bring them
home to himself;--that therefore the assertion that it is
impossible to communicate profound truth in a popular way
is equivalent to this,--that only through a systematic study
of philosophy is it possible for man to elevate himself to
Religion and its blessings, and that every one who is not a
philosopher must remain for ever shut out from God and his
kingdom. In this argument everything depends upon the
principle that the True God and the True Religion are to
be approached and comprehended only by pure Thought;
and we must often dwell upon this principle and endeavour
to make it evident on all sides. Religion does not consist
in that wherein it is placed by the common mode of
thought,--namely in this, that man should believe, be of
opinion, and rest satisfied, because no one has the hardihood
to assert the opposite,--his belief resting wholly on hearsay
and outward assurance,--that there is a God:--this is a
vulgar superstition by which, at most, a defective police
system may be remedied, while the inward nature of man
remains as bad as before, and indeed frequently is made
worse, since he forms this God after his own image, and in
him only manufactures a new prop for his own corruption.
But^Jierein, Religion does consist, that man in his own per-
son and not in that of another, with his own spiritual eye
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? 40G
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
and not through that of another, should immediately behold,
have, and possess God. This, however, is possible only by
means of pure, independent Thought, for only through this
does man assume true and real personality, and this alone is
the eye to which God can become visible. Pure Thought is
itself the Divine Existence; and, on the other hand, the
Divine Existence, in its immediate essence, is nothing else
than pure Thought.
Besides, to look at this matter historically, the assumption
that absolutely all men without exception may come to the
knowledge of God, as well as the effort to raise them all to
this knowledge, is the assumption and the effort of Chris-
tianity; and, since Christianity is the developing principle
and peculiar characteristic of modern time, this assumption
and this effort form the peculiar spirit of the Age of the
New Testament. Now the two expressions,--to elevate all
men without exception to the knowledge of God,--and, to
communicate to mankind at large the deepest elements and
foundations of knowledge in another way than that of sys-
tematic instruction,--mean strictly and entirely one and the
same thing. It is clear, therefore, that every one who does
not wish to return to the ancient times of Heathendom
must admit not only the possibility, but the irremissible
duty, of communicating to men the profoundest principles
of knowledge in a generally comprehensible form.
But,--to close this argument for the possibility of a popu-
lar exposition of the profoundest truth with the most deci-
sive proof, that of facts :--Has then this knowledge,--which
we have undertaken, by means of these lectures, to unfold
in those who as yet have it not, and to strengthen and
purify in those who already possess it,--has it never until our
time been present in the world, and do we pretend now to
introduce something wholly new and hitherto nowhere dis-
coverable? We would not wish to think that this latter
had even been said of us; but, on the contrary, we maintain
that this knowledge, in all its clearness and purity, which we
can by no means surpass, and in every age from the origin of
Christianity downwards, although for the most part unre-
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? LECTURE II.
407
cognised, and even persecuted by the dominant church, has
yet, here and there, secretly ruled the minds of men and
disseminated itself abroad. On the other hand, we do not
hesitate to declare that the method of regular, systematic,
and scientific investigation, by which we for our part have at-
tained to this knowledge, has in former times, not indeed in
respect of trial, but certainly in respect of success, been un-
known in the world; and that, under the guidance of the
spirit of our great forefathers, it has been for the most part
our own work. If, then, this scientific, philosophical insight
was before awanting, in what way did Christ, or--since, in
his case, some will assume for it a miraculous, supernatural
origin, which I will not here dispute,--in what way did
Christ's Apostles,--in what way did all those who, from their
time down to our own, have possessed this knowledge,--in
what way did they actually acquire it! Among the former,
as among the latter, there were many very unlearned per-
sons, wholly ignorant of philosophy or even opposed to it;
the few among them who meddled with philosophy at all,
and with whose philosophy we are acquainted, so philoso-
phized that it is easy for the educated man to perceive that
it was not to their philosophy that they owed their insight.
But to say, that they did not obtain that insight by way of
philosophy, is just to say, that they did obtain it in a popu-
lar way. Why then should that which has been possible
heretofore, in an unbroken sequence for nearly two thousand
years, be now impossible? Why should that which was pos-
sible with very imperfect aids, at a period when general
enlightenment was nowhere to be found in the world, be no
longer possible, now when the needful aids have been per-
fected, and, at least in philosophy, the requisite enlightenment exists? Why should that which was possible when
religious faith and natural understanding were yet at vari-
ance to a certain extent, become impossible now that they
have been reconciled to each other, and, forgetting their
former disunion, pursue in friendship one and the same end?
That which follows most decisively from all these con-
siderations is the duty incumbent upon every man who is
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? 408
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
penetrated by this higher knowledge to exert all his powers
to communicate that knowledge, wherever possible, to the
whole brotherhood of humanity; presenting it to each indi-
vidual in that form in which he is most open to its recep-
tion; never debating with himself, nor wavering in doubt,
whether or not it may succeed, but labouring as if it must
of necessity succeed; and after each completed effort, rising
with new and fresh vigour as if nothing had yet been at-
tained ;--and, on the other hand, the duty of each indivi-
dual who is not yet in possession of this knowledge, or who
does not possess it in fitting clearness and freedom and as
an ever-present possession, to devote himself wholly and un-
reservedly to the instruction thus offered to him, as if it
were destined for him especially, and belonged to him, and
must of necessity be understood by him; not fearfully and
timidly exclaiming "Ah! shall I indeed understand it? " or,
"Do I then understand it rightly? " Understand it rightly,
in the sense of perfect comprehension, would be saying
much ;--in this sense, these lectures may perhaps be under-
stood fully only by such as could themselves have spoken
them. But to understand, and that not erroneously, lies
within the power of every one who, moved by these dis-
courses, is elevated above the common view of the world,
and inspired with exalted sentiments and resolves. The
reciprocal obligation to both these duties lies at the founda-
tion of the contract we entered into at the beginning of
these lectures. I will unweariedly search for new forms,
applications, and combinations, as if it were impossible to
make myself fully intelligible to you:--do you on the other
hand, that is, you who seek instruction here--for to the
others I willingly limit myself to counsel--do you proceed
with earnestness and courage to the business, as if you had
to understand me by half words only;--and in this way I
believe that we shall agree well together.
These considerations on the possibility and necessity of a
generally comprehensible exposition of the deepest elements
of knowledge acquire a new significance and convincing
power, when we examine more strictly the peculiar and
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? LECTURE II.
409
characteristic distinction between the Popular and the
Scientific discourse;--a distinction which in my opinion is
virtually unknown, and which, in particular, lies wholly con-
cealed from those who talk so readily of the possibility and
impossibility of popular expositions. The Scientific dis-
course eliminates truth from among the errors which sur-
round and oppose it on all sides and in every form; and, by
demolition of these opposing view as error and as impos-
sible to true thought, shows the truth as that which alone
remains after their withdrawal, and therefore as the only
possible truth:--and in this separation of opposites, and
elucidation of the truth from the confused chaos in which
truth and error lie mingled together, consists the peculiar
and characteristic nature of the Scientific discourse. By
this method truth emerges before our eyes out of a world
full of error. Now it is obvious that the philosopher, before
such sifting of truth, before he could either project or begin
it and therefore independent of scientific proof, must al-
ready possess truth. But how could he attain possession of
it except by the guidance of a natural sense of truth which
exists in him with higher power than in his contempora-
ries ? --and in what other way, then, has he at first attained
it but by the unartificial popular way? To this natural sense
of truth, which is thus seen to be the starting-point even of
scientific philosophy, the Popular discourse addresses itself
immediately without calling aught else to its aid,--setting
forth the truth, and nothing but the truth, purely and sim-
ply, as it is in itself and not as it stands opposed to error,--
and calculates upon the spontaneous assent of this natural
sense of truth. This discourse cannot indeed prove any-
thing; but it must certainly be understood; for intelligence
itself is the only organ whereby we can apprehend its im-
port, and without this it cannot reach us at all. The Scien-
tific discourse presupposes in the hearer an entanglement in
the meshes of error, and addresses itself to a diseased and
perverted spiritual nature;--the Popular discourse presup-
poses an open and candid mind, and appeals to a healthy,
although not sufficiently cultivated, spiritual nature. After
ub
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? '410
THE DOCTRINE OF RELIGION.
all this, how can the philosopher entertain a doubt that the
natural sense of truth in man is sufficient to lead him to
the knowledge of truth, since he himself has attained to
that knowledge by this means and no other?
But notwithstanding that the comprehension of the deep-
est truths of Reason, by means of a popular exposition, is
possible,--notwithstanding further that this comprehension
is a necessary purpose of humanity towards the attainment
of which every power ought to be directed,--we must never-
theless acknowledge that there are, in the present age,
greater hindrances to the accomplishment of this purpose
than have existed at any previous time. In the first place,
the very form of this higher truth,--this strictly determi-
nate, settled, absolutely unchanging and unchangeable form,
--comes into collision, and that in a two-fold manner, with
the hesitating modesty which this age--has not indeed in
itself but yet--would exact from every one who undertakes
to deal with it. It is not to be denied that this knowledge
assumes itself to be true, and alone true, and true only in
the sharp and complete precision in which it is thus an-
nounced,--and everything opposed to it, absolutely and
without exception or mitigation, to be false;--that therefore
it seeks, without forbearance, to subdue all weak partiali-
ties, all vagrant fancies, and wholly disdains to enter into any
treaty or compromise with the other side. The men of these
days are offended at this severity, as if they were thereby
grievously ill-treated;--they would be deferentially saluted,
and consulted as to whether they will lend their sanction to
such a matter; would make conditions on their side, and
there should be some elbow-room left for their tricks of le-
gerdemain. Others are dissatisfied with this form of truth,
because it requires them at once to take their part for or
against, and to decide on the instant yes or no. For they
are in no haste to know for certain about that which never-
theless is alone worth knowing, and would willingly suspend
their voices, in case it should afterwards turn out to be
wholly otherwise; and besides it is very convenient to con-
ceal their want of understanding under the fashionable and
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