Zend Avesta 02 English Gustav Theodor Fechner

Zend - Avesta
or
about the things of heaven and the hereafter
From the point of view of nature

from
Gustav Theodor Fechner
Third edition.
Obtained by Kurd Laßwitz.
Second volume
--------------------
Hamburg and Leipzig.
Publisher of Leopold Voss.
1906th
Contents:
Second volume.
About the things of the sky.
XV. Annex to the third section
A. Additions to the aesthetic assessment of the shape and color of the earth
B. About the solid framework of the earth
C. About the liquid of the earth
D. About the air
E. About the imponderable powers
F. About the evolution of the earth
G. Self-preservation principle in the solar system
XVI. Appendix to the fifth section
Some ideas about the first emergence and the successive creations of the organic
kingdom of the earth
XVII. Appendix to the eighth section
Additional Considerations on the Earth's Mind
XVIII. Appendix to the ninth section
Additions to the step structure of the world
XIX. Appendix to the eleventh section
A. Practical Argument for the Existence of God and a Future Life
B. Addition to the Supreme World Law and its Relations to Freedom
C. The Freedom Question from a Practical Point of View
D. Basic View of the Relationship between Mind and Body
a) Presentation
b) Comparison
c) Justification and probation
Addition l. On the Nearer Physiological Conditions of Objective
Physical Appearance
Addition 2. Brief Explanation of a New Principle of Mathematical
Psychology
XX. Overview of the Doctrine Of the things of the sky
About the things of the hereafter.

foreword
XXI. About the importance of human death and the relationship of the future to the
present life
XXII. Development of the analogy of the future life with a memory life
A. Relationships of otherworldly spirits to the higher spirit and to each other
B. Relationships between the otherworldly and the worldly spirit worlds
C. About the relationships of the otherworldly spirits to the worldly sense
world and the higher reality
XXIII. From the physical underlay of the future life
A. From the otherworldly corporeality, as it appears from this standpoint
B. From the otherworldly corporeality, as it appears from an otherworldly
standpoint
XXIV. Difficulties of various kinds
A. Questioning how man can take over his inner education and development
into the hereafter
B. Questions that relate to the destruction of the brain in death, the suffering
and aging of the spirit with the body
C. Question, how the existences of the hereafter undeterred survive messed
D. question of how far the death of our present body could carry an awakening
of our future
XXV. Analogies of death with birth
XXVI. About the usual attempts to justify the immortality doctrine
XXVII. Direct justification of the immortality doctrine
XXVIII. Practical aspects
XXIX. comparison
XXX. References of our doctrine to Christian teaching in particular
XXXI. Overview of the doctrine of the things of the hereafter
XXXII. beliefs
XV. Annex to the third section.
A. Additions to the aesthetic assessment of the

shape and color of the earth.
(See Vol. IS 52 ff.)
It is not without reason that it was not without reason that we came several times to
explain the spherical form as the most perfect figure, except that it can not be the
most perfect for the education of man, because as a human being he is still a very
subordinate being, and every figure only according to purpose as it corresponds to the
destiny of the being, may be called perfect in its kind. But it also depends on the
type. Exactly only a higher being, which has a more rounded in itself, more
harmoniously terminating existence, tolerates and demands the spherical
form. Although not pure, which would contradict any individualization; but it suffices
that the main train be spherical and allow and have its modifications. Man still quite
involved in the main form, that its organization is still far from the self-contained
conclusion and goal of perfection; Rather, he is one of the members of the
elaboration, the means of perfection, in that he himself is a self-perfected one. And
should not he be modest enough not to contradict that? But in its form, tendencies
round off, which most significantly become the most significant for us. What the
earth, but not man as a whole, is able to achieve, we see him nevertheless in his
noblest parts, head and eye, approaching approximately, who are not dependent on
the dependence of the earth, but of the lower ground, the most rise. Thus we first
have the earth itself, and then the human head, therein the human eye as approaches
to the sphere; but the head means more than the eye, and the earth more than the
head. From a teleological point of view, however, it can be assumed that man, too,
has become entirely head or eye in his form, and herewith on earth himself would
have reflected the earth even more pure than is the case now, if only with complete
dependence could have existed from the ground. Even earlier, the spherical shape of
the earth itself was teleologically related to its external independence and material
needlessness (Bd., I, chapter III, chapter VI). That which distinguishes the figure of
man from that of the earth is thus to be understood merely as an expression of the
lesser independence and perfection of his nature. that man, too, in his form, has
become all head or eye, and herewith on the earth himself would have reflected the
earth even more pure than is the case now, if he could have existed without
dependence on the ground. Even earlier, the spherical shape of the earth itself was
teleologically related to its external independence and material needlessness (Bd., I,
chapter III, chapter VI). That which distinguishes the figure of man from that of the
earth is thus to be understood merely as an expression of the lesser independence and
perfection of his nature. that man, too, in his form, has become all head or eye, and
herewith on the earth himself would have reflected the earth even more pure than is
the case now, if he could have existed without dependence on the ground. Even
earlier, the spherical shape of the earth itself was teleologically related to its external
independence and material needlessness (Bd., I, chapter III, chapter VI). That which
distinguishes the figure of man from that of the earth is thus to be understood merely
as an expression of the lesser independence and perfection of his nature. Even earlier,
the spherical shape of the earth itself was teleologically related to its external
as an expression of the lesser independence and perfection of his nature. Even earlier,
the spherical shape of the earth itself was teleologically related to its external
as an expression of the lesser independence and perfection of his nature.
If the earth is that which we are only after the sides of our most perfect parts, it is
much more perfect than they are themselves. For the spherical main form of our head
is almost destroyed in the face and only imperfectly preserved in the cranial vault and
eye. By contrast, the spherical shape of the earth is not both destroyed and nuanced
by the flattening, and the mightiest mountains are not able to affect the main form,
and the mobile play of the trains on the surface of the earth, with unspeakably greater
variety and freedom, leaves the main form much more undisturbed the play of our
facial features by moving that in variations of relatively much higher order. This is
significantly related to the size of the earth; for by virtue of this the modifications of
their form could, in absolute terms, be greater and more manifold than in ours, and
yet less proportionately impair the principal form; the grossest variations of our
figure are still among their finest.
In many respects we are reminded in the natural form of the stars of principle,
which have also asserted themselves in the artistic form of the Greek gods, whereby it
may be remembered that the Greek gods themselves are to a great extent only
anthropomorphoses of the stars. As the Greeks perceived that the more ideal the
formation of a man, the greater his point of view; Thus they exaggerated it with their
gods and even increased the angle of view beyond that which occurs in humans at all,
up to 100 °, since the usual visual angle is only about 85 ° for us, and only 70 ° for
the Negro. And this contributes significantly to the highly ideal expression of the
Greek gods faces. But, of course, essentially human, the face still had to be kept to
the needs of an art, which was intended by humans for humans. Nature is no longer
bound by this consideration; indeed, it can no longer bind itself to it in the realm of
higher beings. And so we see them that which is only striven for in the noblest parts
of man, the spheres in the higher beings in a higher sense exaggerating to the full
form of the same.
The Greek profile is the same for all the Greek gods in the main line, being slightly
differently bent, and surpassing any other face shape in simplicity. The figure of the
stars is also for everyone The main feature is the same, but slightly different, and
outweighs any other form of simplicity. But so much the simpler the Greek face is
than the bumpy face of a Kalmyk, so capable of so much more refined expression,
and what a nobler, greater difference lies between the various Greek gods faces. But
the main feature of the face of the Greek goddesses Venus and Luna is still bumpy
against that of the stars bearing their name, and how much more elaborate is the
surface of a star than a Greek statue, and not accidentally, but most carefully
Maintaining higher purpose considerations that can not deviate from higher beauty
considerations.
One can be sharp and say that if the spherical shape is the most perfect shape, the
elliptical and more subtle modification of the spherical shape can not be the most
perfect. One or the other. But it is also here with the natural beauty as well as the
beautiful art. Basically, a conflict takes place between the satisfaction for the lower
and higher sense, the first of which demands only the purest, most actual feature, the
latter characteristic expression of higher spiritual meaning, which can not be without
modification of the universal right, symmetrical. Now there is the highest beauty,
where the conflict is so resolved that both are as close as possible to one; but
something must yield to every demand.
If, from a human point of view, we at all want to raise the question of a beauty of
form beyond the point of view of the human being, do philosophers not seek to raise
absolute questions and demands in this respect, though to answer only in absolute
terms? In my opinion, we have no more secure considerations than those of the kind
developed here, which proceed from the human beyond the same. Or which ones
would they be? And if figures appear in nature, as they are worthy of those
reflections of higher beings, should we want to see empty bowls in these figures,
even want to see, when everything unites to show them filled with life?
We have considered only the plastic side of the beauty of the earth; but let us now
remember that also shine and color, shadow and light are essential, indeed more
essential, for their beauty and characterization than for man himself (Bd. I, chapter
III); and if the eye, with regard to the main figure, still misses a great deal in the
diversity of conditions in the earth, his demands are all the more outdone in regard to
the manifold change and change of splendor and color; but the whole impression of
the phenomenon is based on the cooperation of both sides, on which it depends.
B. About the solid framework of the earth.
In a sense, the rock frame of the earth could be compared to the skeleton of the
human body, provided that it serves the earth as a firm foundation for the attachment
of moving parts, like the skeleton of us. From another side, however, our skeleton
may be regarded as one of the moving parts of the skeleton, as a limb articulated
thereon, since the voluntary movement of our body in relation to the body of the earth
can only be done by virtue of its attachment to it Voluntary movement of our limbs in
relation to our rest of the body (see Vol. I. Chapter III), for which many other points
of equations still apply. Our body, even with the main body of the earth, is still tighter
and safer with freer motion than any member of our body with the main body. In fact,
heaviness keeps man tighter to the earth, and leads him more safely back to leaving it
than all elastic bands can do with our bones, our sole is still hollow, and the earth is
rough, our foot Get hold of it and do not slip by itself. But man can move freely
around the globe; whereas in our joints only a very limited mobility takes place.
Here, as is so often the case, we find a privilege which the organization of man
alone strives for, through the union of earth and man, or rather, which reaches the
human being as a member of the earth in the most perfect degree. Man, the highest
creature of the earth, surpasses in the ability to twist and turn his limbs in all
directions, all animals that have a skeleton at all; but the earth surpasses him
unspeakably by using him as a movable member with the other animals
themselves. The Weber brothers have made the interesting observation that man can
reach his body with his hands, even the fingers of a hand are sufficient, except that
they only partially touch the arm on which they are themselves assets;
Of course, the solid framework of the earth has a very different preponderance over
our skeletons, which are movable on it, than the main trunk of our skeleton against its
freely movable limbs; and a thorough comparison can not be drawn as
everywhere. But just because the solid framework of the earth has that preponderance
of firmness and greatness against our skeletons, the skeletal trunk of our skeleton has
not once again against its members; on the contrary, our skeleton itself has more
flexible limbs throughout. The contrast between a solid basic stem and articulated
approaches is repeated in the earth after a comparison that is higher without
comparison than it appears in us. All human and animal skeletons have so to speak
their common solid backbone in the skeletons of the earth, and with its tremendous
firmness, imperturbability, and inviolability, which, with its immense size-
preponderance, lies above the moving parts, now the main trunk of the skeleton in
men and animals itself has been able to obtain a certain inner mobility in its
vertebrae, in order to differentiate itself Purposes to bend; it does not have the full
nature of a fixed framework, but is more or less shaken and bent in all movements of
our limbs, which does not harm, because the earth is fixed. The earth owes its
immense independence to this tremendous preponderance of its skeletal structure,
through its movable limbs, with which it can move it. How many people and animals
walk around on her, no one wobbles when kicking the other;
Once again we can see how, in a certain sense, the great similarity between the
relationships of man and the earth in other respects fails completely. In a certain
sense, nothing can be more comparable than the directing of the creatures of the earth
to the fixed framework of the earth with the articulation of our limbs on the main
frame of our body; nothing different in other ways. But here as everywhere we find
the deviation in the earth in the sense of a higher expediency. If we wanted to be able
to comparatively compare human beings and animals with limbs of the earth, we
would demand that they be as great in relation to them as our limbs were in relation
to our main stem, so we demanded that every step be taken by a human being and
beasts shook the whole earth mightily, whereby the other humans and animals would
have been shaken at the same time; To prevent this, the limbs of the earth have been
made minute in proportion to the whole earth; and in that sense no longer quite
comparable with our limbs. Incidentally, the Bd. I. Chap. The remark made here
about the greater importance of small modifications here, as is often the case in the
following, their application.
The size of the scaffold of the earth grants the second advantage of permitting the
attachment of innumerable and innumerable manifold members. Whereas every
human being and every animal has only a few individual limbs attached to its basic
framework in restricted places with limited latitude of movement, the earth around it
is occupied by freely movable limbs, or rather entire limb systems (humans and
animals) of the most varied kind Have scope of movement around the whole
earth. Every human being has only two similar arms; the earth has 1000 million
similar people moving around it, and so do many other species of animals, each of
which handles it differently. Insofar as all these now move together on their spherical
surface, we can say the skeleton of the earth is set up like a single great common
condyle for the mobile approach of all its members. It is so at the same time its
thickness according to solid vault to wear and its surface after all condyle to
move. On our body, this perfect union of the two functions does not appear that way,
and the articular surfaces, moreover, are scattered here and there. But in the earth
many things are broken up again, which melts into ours. and the articular surfaces are
also scattered here and there. But in the earth many things are broken up again, which
melts into ours. and the articular surfaces are also scattered here and there. But in the
earth many things are broken up again, which melts into ours.
In our case the movement of the limbs on the main trunk occurs through the
mediation of synovial fluid and, as the Weber brothers have proven, the pressure of
the air. At the earth movement of parties at parties even without the help of an
intermediate liquid is made possible; the humans and animals run over the dry
land. But now part of the earth is still covered with liquid to make swimming possible
for fish and ships; the air plays its role in the flight of the birds, and the air pressure in
particular in the flight of flies on ceilings and walls, the progression of leeches and
many other animals. The earth, therefore, has been able to dissolve the functions of
the solid, the fluid, and the airy, which we have fused in the joint movement, into a
threefold function.
Our skeleton includes certain parts and certain parts, the first apparently with the
foremost purpose of protection against the outside world and the union among each
other, such as the viscera of the head, the thoracic, the pelvic cavities, the latter with
the reverse purpose, they in the in the most suitable situations, and with the firmest
documents, to open communication with the outside world and among each other,
especially the sensory organs and organs of voluntary movement; finally, with the
mutual purpose of relating the inner and outer parts to each other in such a way that,
without hindrance of their purposeful cooperation, a disturbance of their functions is
prevented, which would undoubtedly easily occur, if the brain and other entrails and
sensory organs hung around. Those could then not do their inward, undisturbed,
outward-looking functions. But in order to relate them both, the walls of the bone are
pierced with holes through which nerves and veins mediate.
In our skeleton, however, a conflict of these ends occurs several times, which
hinders their exhausting fulfillment, whereas we see in the framework of the earth,
for all those purposes in one, the most perfect.
First and foremost, the purpose of protection by surrounding it with solid parts in
our pelvic, thoracic, and abdominal cavities is only very incompletely fulfilled, most
still accomplished in the formation of the skull by enclosing the brain, and yet merely
an incomplete one-sided approach to performance achieved the solid earth frame. For
this is quite an isolated capsule (except for the small volcanic flock) around its liquid
intestines; and thus combines with the advantages of the strongest support vault and
most perfect condyle also the advantages of the most perfect skull capsule, by which
it is not said that what this capsule includes also has brain significance for the
earth; on the contrary, the very fact that our brain is enclosed in a special small solid
capsule it saved the earth from burying it even under the big capsule, as soon as
looking closer. But if the hard shell of the earth does not have a brain to protect, then
it has something else to protect, provided it contributes very much to the wall of a
stone jar, which encloses a hot liquid, the inner geothermal heat, which otherwise is
much freer in the room would withhold, withhold. Later.
For the other purpose of presenting the organs which are intended for free
intercourse with the outside world and among themselves, in the most favorable
conditions and with the most suitable and solid documentation, the framework of the
earth is more complete than ours, since the convex spherical shape is the same
Carrying all-round and most uniform performance against the outside world on its
own, and most skillfully keeping the surface parts together with the ability to place
themselves in any altered relationship with one another; and since all that is to serve
the communication with the outside world is really also completely placed on the
convex outer surface of the earth frame, while much of it, indeed the most important
thing, lies either directly in inner cavities enclosed or in deep depressions of the outer
surface because the purpose to grant him an external protection and undisturbed
activity for the purpose of freely presenting it to the outside world; It is therefore only
through external approaches and in part long middle links that the traffic with the
outside world must be restored from a certain point of view. Our brain, which is most
involved in all human intercourse, is completely inside an inner cavity, four of our
sense organs are enclosed in deep depressions on the outside; only the tactile organ
replaces the all-round diffusion of the same, which makes the injury of a single site
harmless , the protection. In the case of the earth, on the other hand, everything that
has the power of the brain and the senses is placed entirely on the outer curvature of
its main frame. what then, of course, was the supplementary protection for our brain
and our main senses. The earth is like a skull, which, instead of using its concavities
to hide the brain completely, the main senses halfway inside, conversely, uses its
convexity to keep the brain freely out into the sky with the senses, and the freest
traffic to present themselves to each other, to which every human being is just like a
moving stalk. If it was not protection, then it would be best if our brains too, without
a skull capsule, were openly distributed to every impression that they were supposed
to absorb and process from the outside; but now, in our skull closure, this need of
protection is sufficient, the earth does not repeat, but rather, on a large scale, uses this
measure, by allowing our senses and brains to move freely among themselves and
with Heaven. How foolish it would be to look again for a brain, or what its meaning,
in the depths of the earth, because such is in our depths; just so as not to place the
brain in its depth, it has placed it in our own, but it has us to the surface. If a brain
were hidden under the thick skull capsule of the earth, embedded in the remnant
matter of the same, it would be worse than a mole, and all the long ropes and
passages, guided by the crust of the earth analogous to our nerves and vessels, could
not the advantageous device which now really takes place for its easy and immediate
reference to the effects it is to absorb and process. From the advantages that the brain
of the earth does not form a single compact mass, but in parts, d, f. the individual
brains of man and of animal, being divided, have been spoken before (vol. I. chapter
IV).
Of course, if the outside of the earth carries both brain and sensory power at the
same time, and if the whole vein system of the earth, which is reasonably comparable
to one, has been placed on the outside, then the holes in the earth's capsule could also
be omitted In the case of the cranial capsule, which serves to pass nerves and vessels,
it could be completely closed, and thus made more suitable, to prevent all mutual
interfering interventions of the internal and external. But that precaution, on the other
hand, is not superfluous, is easily elucidated if we remember that the interior of the
earth is a glowing liquid, and as it was shown earlier (vol. I, chapter III), flowing and
flowing in its own way. Of course, neither these movements of the inner gluten nor
the outer sea of tides, nor the movements of our rivers, the whole of organic life may
still be so ordered on the outside, as is the case if the internal fluid were not cut off
from the external by the solid crust of the earth; indeed, how necessary this
conclusion is, we can see from the devastation which glowing streams of lava can
cause, which, in spite of it, sometimes burst forth from within, but are not of great
importance for the whole. However perfect this material conclusion is, so little is it a
conclusion of the inner development of force against the external, in that gravity and
magnetism permeate freely through the shell from the inside outwards, as if the shell
were not present. Without having special openings, it is quite consistent for these
effects. if the inner fluid were not cut off from the outer by the solid earth
crust; indeed, how necessary this conclusion is, we can see from the devastation
which glowing streams of lava can cause, which, in spite of it, sometimes burst forth
from within, but are not of great importance for the whole. However perfect this
material conclusion is, so little is it a conclusion of the inner development of force
against the external, in that gravity and magnetism permeate freely through the shell
from the inside outwards, as if the shell were not present. Without having special
openings, it is quite consistent for these effects. if the inner fluid were not cut off
from the outer by the solid earth crust; indeed, how necessary this conclusion is, we
can see from the devastation which glowing streams of lava can cause, which, in spite
of it, sometimes burst forth from within, but are not of great importance for the
whole. However perfect this material conclusion is, so little is it a conclusion of the
inner development of force against the external, in that gravity and magnetism
permeate freely through the shell from the inside outwards, as if the shell were not
present. Without having special openings, it is quite consistent for these
effects. which, in spite of it, sometimes burst forth from within, but are not in the
least for the whole. However perfect this material conclusion is, so little is it a
effects. which, in spite of it, sometimes burst forth from within, but are not in the
least for the whole. However perfect this material conclusion is, so little is it a
effects.
In the same proportion, as our skeleton is detrimental to mass against the skeleton
of the earth, it is not in its advantage against its elaboration and structure, but above
in the same, because it itself represents the finely divided parts of it. The basic
structure of the earth is not lacking in structure, of which the geologists, in their count
of their formations and strata, tell us enough; but it is natural that, since these are to
form a perfectly firm foundation, they themselves need not be so artificially and
fragilely connected to one another as they must be, rather than the bones of our
limbs. They are more simple, yet more immobile, over each other, like the vertebrae
of our spine, but at the same time enclose the bowels of the earth, like our ribs, only
more complete, which was necessary because of the fluid of this intestine. Moreover,
the structure of the earth's skeleton is superior to that of ours and ours, inasmuch as
the various limbs of the earth's skeleton consist of stratifications of different
substance, but our bones consist entirely of the same substance, which is itself
different from the substance of the larger masses of the same Erdskeletts.
After all, the framework of the earth fulfills the conditions of independence,
firmness, free movement of joints, the protection of inner parts, the most
advantageous attachment of outer parts, and a trained structure without comparison
more complete than ours, which on the other hand is indecent, dependent, weak, frail,
awkward, incompletely broken through, full of angular hiding places, of monotonous
substance, in every case very imperfect, if one tries to attach to it the meaning of an
independent framework, on the other hand it means the meaning of a very suitably
furnished movable member apparatus, auxiliary apparatus, additional apparatus,
appendix on the basic framework of the earth wins.
Many lower animals approach the earth as in shape, as well as in the nature of the
solid framework. Many infusoria are almost entirely surrounded by a silica panzer,
but silica is also the main constituent of the solid earth shell; other lower animals,
such as shells, snails, corals, have a shell or an inner framework of carbonate lime,
which also contributes very much to the solid earthen shell. However, as always, so
here, the touch of the extremes only from a certain side instead. For it is easy to see
that in the lower creatures the seemingly similar device does not achieve the same
versatility of purposes at once, as with the earth; and you can say in this respect the
saying: duo cum faciunt idem, non est idem, so change, duo cum habent idem, non est
idem . Thus, the finned panzer of the infusoria and the shell of the oysters certainly
fulfill the purpose of protection from the outside world perfectly, but not at all the
purpose of freely presenting also the parts of external exchange with the outside
world. On the other hand, this purpose is just so one-sided in the establishment of the
species of polyps, which sit externally on a calcareous frameworks. Many of the
lower animals lack the solid framework, because here objects whose existence is not
compatible with the solid framework are given priority. But in the earth all purposes
which a solid framework can fulfill, are at the same time in connection with each
other and with the most versatile purposes of other parts in the most perfect way.
Even from many other points of view, the solid shell of the earth could be
considered. It is the communal foundation of all our homes; just as our skeletons are
only small moving beginnings, branches of them, so our apartments are only small
festivals. It is the communal treasury and communal cellar for the earth; how much
that would narrow the place above or be quickly devastated, is safe down there and is
only brought up as needed; Coal, lime, salt, iron, gold and diamonds. It is also the
common well for the earth; we need water everywhere, but if it were everywhere,
where should we stand and walk; so we have it under our feet. It is also the common
burial place, the general cemetery for the whole earth; while it greens and blooms on
the surface, it harbors down the corpses, the dead. Yes, corpses over corpses have
piled up in her from past stages of creation; life changes over a common grave, which
itself consists almost entirely of corpses; yes, not only does it change over, it is rooted
in it, but it compels the old death to do so, and keeps cladding its skeleton with new
flesh. And because the tomb can not stretch out, and yet every new generation of
creation demands a new tomb, the tomb grows in depth, and each buries itself in a
new layer over the old one. When the time comes, the earth will be scooped up again,
the sea will leave its bed, and it will be the gravedigger's office. Yes, corpses over
corpses have piled up in her from past stages of creation; life changes over a common
grave, which itself consists almost entirely of corpses; yes, not only does it change
over, it is rooted in it, but it compels the old death to do so, and keeps cladding its
skeleton with new flesh. And because the tomb can not stretch out, and yet every new
generation of creation demands a new tomb, the tomb grows in depth, and each
buries itself in a new layer over the old one. When the time comes, the earth will be
scooped up again, the sea will leave its bed, and it will be the gravedigger's
office. Yes, corpses over corpses have piled up in her from past stages of creation; life
changes over a common grave, which itself consists almost entirely of corpses; yes,
not only does it change over, it is rooted in it, but it compels the old death to do so,
and keeps cladding its skeleton with new flesh. And because the tomb can not stretch
out, and yet every new generation of creation demands a new tomb, the tomb grows
in depth, and each buries itself in a new layer over the old one. When the time comes,
the earth will be scooped up again, the sea will leave its bed, and it will be the
gravedigger's office. always clad his skeleton with new meat. And because the tomb
can not stretch out, and yet every new generation of creation demands a new tomb,
the tomb grows in depth, and each buries itself in a new layer over the old one. When
the time comes, the earth will be scooped up again, the sea will leave its bed, and it
will be the gravedigger's office. always clad his skeleton with new meat. And because
the tomb can not stretch out, and yet every new generation of creation demands a new
tomb, the tomb grows in depth, and each buries itself in a new layer over the old
one. When the time comes, the earth will be scooped up again, the sea will leave its
bed, and it will be the gravedigger's office.
which are no larger than a grain of sand form whole mountains; a large part of the mountains of
San Casciano in Tuscan consists of chambered clams so small that Signor Soldani collected 10,445
pieces of one ounce of the rock. Chalk is mostly completely made up of them. The Tripel, long
known as a polish for metal in use, owes its polishing power to the silica shells or pebbles of
Infusoria that make it up. But whole mountain masses are formed of these remnants of infinitely
different microscopic creatures, " The Tripel, long known as a polish for metal in use, owes its
polishing power to the silica shells or pebbles of Infusoria that make it up. But whole mountain
masses are formed of these remnants of infinitely different microscopic creatures, " The Tripel, long
known as a polish for metal in use, owes its polishing power to the silica shells or pebbles of
Infusoria that make it up. But whole mountain masses are formed of these remnants of infinitely
different microscopic creatures, "
(Sommerville, Cosmos, IS
34.)
"d'Orbigny's research has shown that much of the interior of
South America consists of chalk layers, which, like the European
and African chalk mountains, consist entirely of the calcareous
shells of the microscopic foraminifera, to which other silicified
petrefacts are added only in small proportions. If the life of
these foraminifera had not been active in the primeval world, the
chalk lands of Brazil, such as Libya and Egypt, would now be seas,
and the chalk cliffs of Rügen, Denmark, Brittany, and the English
coasts would be nonexistent and 1000 feet thick Countries are
under water, so these countries are creations of the organic
world.
It is very similar to the layers of shell limestone, the coralline lime, which consist so
thoroughly of lime casings and calcareous shells of shellfish, that one has long since raised the
question of whether not all lime is of animal origin. The up to 500 feet high limestone mountains in
northern Germany and Poland, the limestone mountains around Tarnowitz and Krakow, the
surroundings of the Harz, the Thuringian Forest, the Rüdersdorfer limestone island, the eastern
Black Forest, a land area of 360 square miles in Germany would be under water, if the Nautilus -,
Ostrea-, Pekten-, Mytilus-, Terebratula-, the Trochus, Buccinum species of the primitive world did
not live. "
"Even the vertebrates have helped to form geological formations through their bones: the
bone conglomerates, the Parisian bone gypsum, the bone breccias on the coast of Dalmatia and
France, around Nice, Cette, in Corsica and Sardinia, to Gibraltar, the phosphoric lime in the marls
of Mecklenburg and Pomerania are essentially constituted by the phosphoric lime of the bones of
fish, amphibians and mammals. "
(Schultz Schultzenstein, The Organizing Spirit of Creation, Berlin, 1851, p.
C. About the liquid of the earth.

Just as the fixed framework of our body can fulfill its function only in dependence
on that of the earth, by relying on it, the system of fluid vessels (veins) in our bodies
depends only on that of the earth, insofar as it does To draw liquid from it and to give
it back to it, so that it may itself again be regarded as a complementary part of it, and
for that very reason can not be a simple repetition of it, as our solid framework is not
a repetition of the framework of the earth rather, it has to complement the system.
The rivers and streams carry the water down; the trees and herbs lift it up; the
humans and animals carry it on all sides, move it in circles in itself and mix and
process it with materials, to which no brook, no tree can reach. Rivers and streams
are channels open at the top and pour into the open sea and into the sea with an open
view to the sky, to return the clouds as much as possible and as quickly as
possible; The trees which want to lift water carry it out of hiding of the ground
upwards in closed thrashing tubes, packed in firm bark, in order not to evaporate too
much on the way, at first, when it does not go higher, they spread in branches and
leaves and needles, to pour it out of steam as quickly and easily as possible out of the
shower of a watering-can and to pump in new water from below; but the animals,
because they are supposed to carry it off to distant places, are quite clumped together
into closed containers, and yet not so closed that they could not leave a trace of mist
on the way and finally let the water go. So the earth of all places gets water, drives it
by rail in all sorts of ways, mixes and processes it with materials of all sorts. that they
did not leave behind a trail of haze on the way and finally could let the water away
completely. So the earth of all places gets water, drives it by rail in all sorts of ways,
mixes and processes it with materials of all sorts. that they did not leave behind a trail
of haze on the way and finally could let the water away completely. So the earth of all
places gets water, drives it by rail in all sorts of ways, mixes and processes it with
materials of all sorts.
If we look at the way in which the humidities in us are related to the feast, then we
will find again and again a conflict of ends, which is happily avoided or solved in the
earth as a whole and in the great.
Our blood is enclosed in channels whose main directions are fixed once and for all,
and it is undisputed that its purpose for the regular course of our processes is to keep
the bloodstreams in their particular direction. The safest and most complete would
have been achieved if the channels had been buried immediately in the solid bone
mass; but this was not possible, because the contractility and elasticity of the veins is
essentially necessary to carry on the blood and to distribute it differently according to
the requirement; in the conflict of both ends, therefore, the first had to yield a little,
and the veins were made soft, elastically bendable, which in part makes the firmness
of their position entry, but chiefly makes them more easily rupturable, where then the
blood runs out. But with the earth in the big one we see the channels for the liquid
really outgrown in the solid mass. That conflict does not exist here; because the water
is pulled by the general traction of the earth to the sea and then driven up again by the
steam power and distributed according to need. What happens in our body through
the power of special artificial pumps and elastic hoses, simply happens in the earth
through the complementary immaterial action of gravity and warmth. The heaviness
draws the water, as it were, with venous power to the heart of the sea, and the heat
drives it again with arterial power into the air. because the water is pulled by the
general traction of the earth to the sea and then driven up again by the steam power
and distributed according to need. What happens in our body through the power of
special artificial pumps and elastic hoses, simply happens in the earth through the
complementary immaterial action of gravity and warmth. The heaviness draws the
water, as it were, with venous power to the heart of the sea, and the heat drives it
again with arterial power into the air. because the water is pulled by the general
traction of the earth to the sea and then driven up again by the steam power and
distributed according to need. What happens in our body through the power of special
artificial pumps and elastic hoses, simply happens in the earth through the
complementary immaterial action of gravity and warmth. The heaviness draws the
water, as it were, with venous power to the heart of the sea, and the heat drives it
again with arterial power into the air.Cum grano salis to understand.
While in us the solid skeleton is unfit to supply the blood to its channels, it is
penetrated and watered by the veins; but in doing so made a substantial contribution
to its strength. Again there is a conflict of purpose. For its strength it would have
been better, if it could have consisted of very compact rock mass, like the framework
of our earth; but the greatest possible strength, which it could have obtained in such a
way, using terrestrial matter, would not have been sufficient to protect it from
breakage and other injury, since it was a small, subordinate part of the movement
Earth had to be exposed to great risks in this regard. And how should it have healed
and regenerated, if no veins penetrated the bones to supply and remove
substances? In order to make this possible, it was better to abandon the danger of
breakage a little more, in order to be able to heal the not quite inevitable break all the
more surely.
But the solid framework of the earth, by its greatness and massiveness, is so far
removed from the danger of breakage and injury, that new epochs of evolution do not
demand it, and when new masses of mountains then break it, they themselves form
the healing callus. Carrying out water veins would therefore have no purpose, only
reduced the strength and the conclusion, therefore, the water penetrates into the
ground only to such a depth that it still benefits the surface.
From this it is again seen how little reason one has to see something of the organic
contrary in the very compact nature of the solid crust of the earth, for it is rather in
the sense of organic expediency; After all, even in us quite compact hard bone mass
without penetrating vessels in the enamel of the teeth before, because here everything
was important to have something very hard. Of course, the enamel of the teeth can
not replace itself once it is gone; but it would be even worse if he got into such a
loose state through the penetrating vessels that, in the constant use of his teeth, he
would always be in a half-worn and half-renewing state. Instead, we preferred to have
the whole mouth full of teeth; so if a tooth suffers damage, others are there to help. At
the earth, such a thin coating of melt would not have sufficed, so she was given a
thick mountain crust.
D. About the air.
The tracheas and lungs of all human beings and animals, and indeed the breathing
tools of all terrestrial creatures, can be considered from the point of view of the
preceding as the very branching branches of a single great breathing tool, the
atmosphere Air enters and leaves all of them and passes back and forth between them
in order to bring to the plants the nourishing breath of the animals, the animals, the
breath of the plants purified by the plants (see Nanna, pp. 207 ff.). The winds blow in
all directions; the organic creatures also help themselves; the animals, running
through the forest and the corridor between the plants, sitting on it, looking for food
on it, and the leaves, by being shaken freely by the wind. The circumstance also has a
favorable effect, that the carbon dioxide exhaled by the animals, as a particularly
heavy air, does not rise so easily, and therefore presents itself to the plants all the
more easily. Of course, these large proportions can not be found in our small
respiratory organs in the same way, which is just a small one-sided branching of
it. But if one likes analogies, the contrast between invaginated and everted respiratory
organs (lungs and gills), which is already found within the animal kingdom, can be
found on a larger scale between the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom, since the
leafy leaves are like gill-like protuberances inverted tracheas and lungs are opposite,
and can say:
Some, in order to bring out as much likeness of the earth as possible with an
animal, have sought to represent the breathing of the earth as if the earth itself
alternately puffed and breathed air, according to the varying air pressure. But apart
from the fact that the conduct of such a process is to a considerable degree an empty
assumption, we can not expect such crude similarities between ourselves and the
earth, even after earlier discussions. The breathing tool of the earth does not repeat
ours, but complements, links, and feeds our respiratory organs as a superior one; is
therefore also like these and with these on the surface of the earth, not in depth, as
little as a brain of the earth lies in the depths. How we everywhere, if we want to
draw comparisons between our organs and those of the earth, which can never be
quite true, Earth will not have to look for the corresponding inside of it, as we do,
because we ourselves are completely on our surface, and therefore also What
connects human and animal organs of a given kind to a high total organ, will be
found on the surface of the earth. It is undeniable, however, that such a linking organ,
as the atmosphere for the lungs, the solid skeleton for our skeletons, is most likely to
be able to provide for us with an analogous meaning for the earth as well as the
organs concerned, without, however, a full agreement of the conditions to be allowed
to see. In the earth, we must not seek the corresponding in the interior of the same as
in ours, because we ourselves lie wholly on its surface, and therefore also what
connects human and animal organs of a given kind to a high total organ, on the
surface of the earth will be looking for. It is undeniable, however, that such a linking
organ, as the atmosphere for the lungs, the solid skeleton for our skeletons, is most
likely to be able to provide for us with an analogous meaning for the earth as well as
the organs concerned, without, however, a full agreement of the conditions to be
allowed to see. In the earth, we must not seek the corresponding in the interior of the
same as in ours, because we ourselves lie wholly on its surface, and therefore also
what connects human and animal organs of a given kind to a high total organ, on the
surface of the earth will be looking for. It is undeniable, however, that such a linking
organ, as the atmosphere for the lungs, the solid skeleton for our skeletons, is most
likely to be able to provide for us with an analogous meaning for the earth as well as
the organs concerned, without, however, a full agreement of the conditions to be
allowed to see. to be on the surface of the earth. It is undeniable, however, that such a
linking organ, as the atmosphere for the lungs, the solid skeleton for our skeletons, is
most likely to be able to provide for us with an analogous meaning for the earth as
well as the organs concerned, without, however, a full agreement of the conditions to
be allowed to see. to be on the surface of the earth. It is undeniable, however, that
such a linking organ, as the atmosphere for the lungs, the solid skeleton for our
skeletons, is most likely to be able to provide for us with an analogous meaning for
the earth as well as the organs concerned, without, however, a full agreement of the
conditions to be allowed to see.
Our breathing tools are relatively as small branches of the Earth's breathing tool as
our skeletons from the Great Earth Skeleton, like our liquid-conducting vessels from
the Big Sea, for analogous reasons. If the atmosphere were not such a tremendous
reservoir of breath, our breathing tools would not find the assurance of the constant
satisfaction of the breathing need that they now find. It would be missing here at the
right quantity, there at the right quality of the air. Now, no matter how many people
and animals breathe and thereby consume oxygen and form carbon dioxide, the air
always remains breathable for them, because for the tremendous mass of air this
change does not yield much, even in a long time, and before it can become significant
the opposite respiratory process of the plants,
The atmosphere shows especially beautifully what we see everywhere in our
organism, that in an organically linked whole the same part betrays not only one but
all sides of purpose relations.
As a breathing tool, it is also the most common tuning tool. It is not only that all the
song of the birds, all the barking of the beasts, all the conversation of the people, and
all the sound of our musical instruments are carried through them, it is also in the
generation of sound itself; directly involved; all the throats sound only through the
breath drawn from her, all trees rush through their attack.
The atmosphere is also the most common flying tool, which not only vibrates fittig
all over the earth, but also enables all the wings of the living creatures to fly, and to
do so connects the activities of the living wing with those of the dead beaver, by
transferring the dust the earth is turning.
The atmosphere is also the most general suction and printing unit, whose stamp not
only always gently rises and falls, as the falling and rising barometer proves, but from
which all our water pumps, all our air pumps, all our barometers, yes all potion
creatures are only the co-dependent parts. By doing so, even the blood in our body
and the leg in the thigh pan are held back, the fly pressed against the wall, and the
leeches made ready for progress. The whole man and all animals are compressed by
this press and can only exist under this pressure.
The air rests on the surface of man at a pressure of about 21,000 pounds. 1) If one wants to know
what that means, think of the surface of the human body spread out in a plane, bearing a column of
mercury 28 inches high, or a column of water 32 feet high by weight. This pressure is experienced
by the human body. Now it is clear that if the body does not feel that burden at all, it must just be
prepared to withstand this burden; So that his device is charged with the pressure of the air in one.
1)The surface of the human body is about 1 square meter, and the pressure of
the air on the sea surface is 760 millimeters. Mercury level, which weighs
10325 kilograms. equivalent. (Pouillet's Phys., IS 118).
One can find a kind of miracle in how the atmosphere apparently combines so
completely opposite properties; it is the lightest and easiest moving and the lightest
movement mediating, yet at the same time the most enduring and uniform and
constantly pressing on our earth, wings and press in one. What may seem more
different than these functions, and the atmosphere unites them in the most perfect
and, as we will shortly see, much more. What we already saw in the solid framework
of the earth is also evident here. And just as the earth has much in it at its heart, what
we have to look for except ourselves, it also has an organ in the atmosphere for many
achievements, for which we first have to obtain external tools.
The atmosphere is also the most common bucket and the most common watering
can, scoops the water in vapors, carries it in winds across the land, collects it in the
sponges of the clouds, and expresses it across the land.
But at the same time it is the most common desiccant, it dries the laundry on a
leash, the malt on the kiln, the dung on the paths.
It is also the largest coolant at the same time and the most common heating fan as it
blows everywhere from the cool places to the hot and from the hot to the cool and
stirs the fire itself everywhere.
It is also the largest window at the same time and the biggest light screen for the
whole earth. What we see, we only see through them, all the stars shine through them
into the house of the earth, which becomes round about like a glasshouse. 2) But by
serving clarity, it serves at the same time to soften and uniformly disperse the
luminosity which otherwise would be glaringly bright for individual places and times,
and to communicate them softly with darkness in much the same way as the
umbrellas around our lamps do, except that they do unlike our umbrellas, not around
the luminous bodies, the stars, but the lit, the earth is appropriate, and has the
privilege of the most beautiful color ahead. If there were no atmosphere, there would
be no alternation between the bright blue day sky and the black starry night sky; but
we see the stars in the day as bright as at night with the sun and the moon at the same
time standing on an eternal pitch-black sky. The brightness and blue of the sky is due
to the fact that that the atmosphere dissipates the sunlight like a blue-colored
translucent screen of frosted glass. The shadows on the earth, too, would be
completely black, stinging brightly from the light ground, and one would sit in the
shadow of a house like in the dark night; Now these shadows are still illuminated by
the light cast back by the atmosphere. Every morning, when the sun rises, it would be
as if someone were suddenly entering a very dark room with a light, and in the
evening, as if going out with the light. So bright day and night would change. The
transition through dawn and dusk and of course the morning and evening red fell
away. and you sat in the shadow of a house like in the dark night; Now these shadows
are still illuminated by the light cast back by the atmosphere. Every morning, when
the sun rises, it would be as if someone were suddenly entering a very dark room with
a light, and in the evening, as if going out with the light. So bright day and night
would change. The transition through dawn and dusk and of course the morning and
evening red fell away. and you sat in the shadow of a house like in the dark
night; Now these shadows are still illuminated by the light cast back by the
atmosphere. Every morning, when the sun rises, it would be as if someone were
suddenly entering a very dark room with a light, and in the evening, as if going out
with the light. So bright day and night would change. The transition through dawn
and dusk and of course the morning and evening red fell away.
2) Humboldt (Cosmos III.144) emphasizes the teleological point of view of this atmosphere, which seems to us
so obvious and yet not self-evident, with the following words: "If one remembers the multiple processes which
in the primordial world are the separation of the solid, the fluid and the gaseous one around the earth's crust,
one can not avoid the thought of how close humanity has been to the danger of being surrounded by a more
obscure atmosphere, obscuring some groups of vegetation but covering the whole blanket of stars Knowledge
of the world construction would then have been deprived of the research spirit. "
The atmosphere also makes as much use as the windows of our hothouses, in that it
allows the radiant heat of the sun to pass through more readily than that left by
absorption from the surface of the earth, so that the heat is as if caught in a trap. This
is the property of transparent bodies in general.
There is reason to suspect that the atmosphere used to be different than it was now,
much wetter, warmer, more oppressive, more carbonated. It must have been wetter
and warmer, and therefore more oppressive than it was now, for the earth itself was
still warmer at the surface of the earth, and covered with water over a greater part of
the surface, and therefore much more strongly and more extensively steamed than
now. It must have been more carbonated if we consider that all the carbon of the
immense hard coal deposits now under the earth was previously contained in the air
as carbonic acid; in fact, even the carbonic acid of the lime deposit may have been
partly (at first) completely contained in the atmosphere. However, others necessarily
had to make these circumstances. As the vapors, which are much more plentiful than
those from below, were subject to the same reasons for cooling as above, the cloud
cover, which now only partially and locally removes the sight of the sun and the stars,
as it always does over a smoky pot, indisputably universal and permanent, and
creatures may have existed in the water cover of the earth for many periods before
they felt that there is a sun and that there are stars above their heads; and like the first
tearing of the cloud cover, the first sight of the sun and the blue sky by day and the
night sky, the first divorce of light and shadow on the ground, the first reflection of
the sun and the stars in the sea have been celebrated as a great event by new organic
creations from the earth, or have given rise to such, because hereby also completely
new conditions occurred. Certainly creatures with eyelids have only just been created.
The fish do not have any. With this tearing of the cloud cover, the earth was, so to
speak, first freely born into heaven; since she had only brooded so far. One may
compare it to the first glimpse of the chicken that has blown up the eggshell, or to the
first bursting of a flower that was previously dormant as a bud against the light. With
this tearing of the cloud cover, the earth was, so to speak, first freely born into
heaven; since she had only brooded so far. One may compare it to the first glimpse of
the chicken that has blown up the eggshell, or to the first bursting of a flower that was
previously dormant as a bud against the light. With this tearing of the cloud cover, the
earth was, so to speak, first freely born into heaven; since she had only brooded so
far. One may compare it to the first glimpse of the chicken that has blown up the
eggshell, or to the first bursting of a flower that was previously dormant as a bud
against the light.
It is quite possible that the first tearing of the cloud cover above was connected
with the first (at least the first considerable) tearing of the sea below, when
outgrowing, burning red mountain masses rose above it insular, and sent up such
strong currents of hot dry air that the cloud cover dissolved over it, and saw the blue
sky on the newborn land. This would have the interesting relation that the first
appearance of the luminous body, the sun, coincided with the first appearance of the
shadowing bodies, since before the first mountains raised above the sea no shadowing
body existed on the earth.
Even now, the Sahara hinders the formation of clouds by its rising, hot, dry air currents. And so
can be resolved by such a cloud.
If we wish to delve further into the process, although this will always remain a kind
of natural history novel, we may believe that the tearing of the cloud cover was
initiated above by a tremendous thunderstorm, as volcanic eruptions are still
accompanied by thunderstorms, so that that great moment was celebrated from above
and below at the same time with fiery appearances.
"For the Courant ascendant thunderstorms, the most striking example is the eruption of a volcano
regularly over the conflagration, but is there also a livelier Courant ascendant than the pillar of fire
of a volcano 11,000 feet high at Mount Vesuvius? Lancerotte's volcanic eruption in 1731, when
there was almost no thunderstorm, it immediately appeared at the first eruption. "
(Dove, Meteorol., P.
The occurrence of a thunderstorm in these cases is undoubtedly
due to the fact that the water vapors added to the volcanic
eruptions condense very rapidly at the top. Of course, however,
the breakthrough of glowing masses through the sea must develop
such water vapor even more abundantly; Therefore, the sky at first
only had to darken more, until the emerged land became dry and now
streams of dry air were sent up into the air, which dissolved the
cloud cover.
On the slopes of the upper masses of mountains, especially near the sea, where
cooling soon set in, the new organic creations of terrestrial and terrestrial plants were
to enter immediately.
The great carbonic content of the atmosphere, acting as a fuel for the plants,
combined with the great humidity and warmth to cause the luxuriant vegetation of
which the remains are still preserved in the coal-formation; but the same carbonation
made the air unfit for the breathing of the higher classes of animals and men. In
relation to this, we now see the earth at first busily working to get rid of this
superfluous carbon dioxide, but in such a way that doing away with it also served the
purposes of the present time. The most luxuriant growth, and the more frequent
renewal and rejuvenation of the vegetation, took place at the expense of this carbonic
acid, and at the same time served as preparation for the development of the higher
animal organization. When a plant had swallowed so much carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and could not extract anything from it, but rather began to give off as
much carbonic acid through rotting parts of the air as it drew from it as it continued to
grow, it was buried beneath the earth. and above it grew a new vegetation that
continued the business of air purification. One has found 50, 60, even up to 120 hard
coal deposits on top of each other, each of which has been able to extract its carbon
only by swallowing and decomposing the carbonic acid. Since in the past there were
no such destructive means of plant life through the animal and human world on a
large scale as now, because cattle and sheep did not graze the land yet, people did not
burn and consume the wood of the forests,
But not only the land but also the sea with its creatures helped for the same
purpose, though in a quite different way. At first the sea swallowed up its part of
carbon dioxide; but in order to keep it always thirsty afterwards, the carbon dioxide
was again and again withdrawn from the sea by the formation of the calcareous shells
of the lower creatures, consisting essentially of carbonate of lime, and these were
again buried anew, so that they now become chalk-camps to make 500 feet of power.
But if it had always gone away, the plants and animals would finally have
swallowed up all the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and there would have been
nothing left for the farther food of the first and for the new husking of the last. The
earth had to begin to comply with their carbonic waste and begin a new economy,
with a reduced effort carbon dioxide to produce the same fullness of
life. Accordingly, they no longer buried the plants as they had in the past, but left
them more to the gradual destruction on the surface, causing the carbon of the same
to go back to the air. Secondly, it increased the quantity of higher species of animals,
which required the removal of carbon dioxide from self-decreasing quantities of sea
creatures, which require carbonate of lime to their solid framework. whose
framework consists of phosphate of lime; thirdly, by the nature of their nourishment
and their breathing more than the former, they instructed the newly created creatures
to re-carbonate the carbon of their plants and to return it to the atmosphere3) ; Fourth,
finally, when everything did not seem sufficient, it created the man who, by burning
the wood, digging up and burning the coal and burning the lime for the construction
of his dwellings, becomes the most effective promoter of carbonic acid return to the
atmosphere, and the last two circumstances probably compensates for what is still
consumed on a continual basis by carbonic acid for the formation of corals and
shellfish in the sea; the sea also gradually shoved off again from these shores.
3)Lizards of lizard-like animals are already found in the hard coal period; but their respiratory process, though
lungs have, is very limited, as with cold-blooded animals. Only with warm-blooded animals, birds and
mammals, does a vigorous respiratory process begin.
E. About the imponderable potencies.

Man has in his nerves an enigmatic agent; at least one suspects that in addition to
the protein-like matter of which it consists, there is still a fine, unknowable medium
of unknown nature. If this is the case, then it can only be the earthly highly organized
development or flowering of the same fine medium, which penetrates and surrounds
heaven and earth as the general basis of the imponderable powers, but is bound and
moved in special ways in the earthly regions. Or how did it first come to humans? It
is best not to make any further hypotheses about this, even hypothetical, agent, but to
be content with this general point of view. Otherwise the unpredictable still occurs in
some modifications and in the earth whose origin and connection we partly know,
"What is invisible the living weapon of the eel, which awakens through the touch of damp and
dissimilar parts, in all the organs of animals and plants, which thunders the thundering sky, which
binds iron to iron and directs the silent recurring passage of the conducting needle everything, like
the color of the split ray of light, flows from one source, everything melts into an everlasting, all-
round force. "
(Humboldt's Ans. IS 34.)

In particular, the earth receives warmth partly from the sun, partly it has peculiar
heat sources in humans and warm-blooded animals, and in part it is a vessel of
primordial warmth. Let's first look at the first source.
If it is particularly advantageous in factories and larger institutions that the heating
and firing establishments are laid out quite large and in places where they do not
interfere with the operation of the business, then we see this purpose in admiration for
the earth Completely fulfilled. A single tremendous main hearth supplies the earth's
surface with light and heat at the same time, and is suspended high above it so that it
takes no place on it, nowhere in the way; at the same time such devices are made in
the form and motion of the earth, that from the uniform influence of that source of
light and heat, yet the manifold achievements emerge for them, as already considered
earlier.
The warmth of the sun, in conflict with the loss that the earth continues to suffer
from the radiation, can only penetrate to shallow depths, but now we see another
great event for warming the earth inside itself. To the large but very fine herd from
above enters, though from a lower, but more fulfilling, earth from below. Originally a
glowing liquid ball, the earth is still in its interior and has only gradually covered
itself by cooling and freezing from the outside with the crust that we now have as a
solid ground below us. But the more this crust has grown by increasing cooling, the
more it has protected the earth from further cooling down, so that now that it is only a
few miles thick, although a further increase in the cold is not completely hindered, it
is not noticeable for millennia. That the greatness of the earth contributes to the
slowness of the cold has been noticed before. One sees in such a way that the solid
crust with the meaning of a skeleton connects at the same time that of a protective
covering for the earth, which grew in accordance with it, as it began to become
cooler, and at the poles, where the reason for the cooling, undoubtedly also the
thickest. In the case of animals, the fur, in the case of men, the clothing, and in the
case of liquids which are to be kept warm, the vessel wall performs the same
services. These are additional aids that the earth has produced locally on its outside,
"The loss of the original heat of the earth has been far greater on the surface than in its interior,
and it is present as far cools on the surface that its temperature here probably not 1 / 30 exceeds
degrees C. the heat that their by the other two causes (warming by the sun and warmth of the sky)
will remain constant ..... In the beginning the temperature of the earth has decreased very rapidly,
but at present this decrease is almost unnoticeable for a very long time with depth will not always
remain the same, but it will be thousands of years (30,000 years after the calculation for a decrease
of 1 / 30 ° C.) before it has come down from half of the present one. "
(Fourier in Biot's Lehrb.
Phys. VS 386.)
"Beaumont concluded, by Fourier's theory and Arago's
observations, that the amount of central heat reaching the surface
of the earth would melt a 1 1 / 4- inch thick rind of the earth
over the course of a year ."
"According to fairly consistent experiences in the artesian well, in the upper crust the heat
increases on average with a vertical depth of 92 feet per foot at 1 ° C. If this increase were in terms
of an arithmetic ratio, then at a depth of 5 2 / 10 geogr. Miles of granite melted. " (Humboldt's
cosmos.)
"According to the calculations of the glaubhaftesten Naturforscher the whole thickness of the
solid crust of the earth is not more than 50 000 feet or 2 1 / 2 geographic & miles of which about 34
000 feet come to the crystalline mass rocks;.. 10, 000 to the transitional formations, 5000 to the
secondary layers and 1000 to the recent tertiary situations. "
(Burmeister's Schöpfungsgesch. 3. Aufl.
S. 174.)
"Pouillet finds (by an admittedly not entirely reliable
account) that if the quantity of heat which the sun sends to earth
during the course of a year is evenly distributed on the earth and
used for melting ice without loss, it would then be able to
produce one (95 the earth enveloping layer of ice of 31
meters 1 / 2 par. feet) thickness to melt, and further, that when
the sun was completely surrounded by ice, and all emanating from
it heat would only be used to melt this ice, Then, in 1 minute, a
layer 12 meters thick would be melted away. "
(Pouillet, Lehrb. Phys. II.
P. 496.)
One can ask, why the inner geothermal energy and their protection? The same
obstacle that the solid earth crust offers to the escape of heat from the earth also
makes that the heat of the interior no longer be felt on the surface, whose heat now
appreciably depends only on the external action of the sun. So it would seem useless
to retain the heat in the interior, perhaps even inappropriate, since only by this
retention, the heat is useless for the surface. Considering how laboriously we often
obtain the heat at the surface, and what immense quantity of heat is contained in the
interior, one can indeed regret that this heat is so idly confined. In the past, the heat
was still noticeably reaching the surface of the earth, or it was renewed by the
swelling of hot mountain masses. and the most luxuriant vegetation, even extending
over the polarges, the remains of which we have just left in the monstrous coal-
roaring, was the result; the whole earth was like a greenhouse heated from below; that
has now stopped, since the heat from below is as good as shut off against the
top. However, since on the whole nature does not seem inappropriate, or, if we want
to admit inexplicable things in it, there is a tendency to remove it more and more, this
careful institution, which we can use to close off the heat in the depths against the
surface to see it made more and more effective, and to serve as an argument for the
fact that in the case of the earth something more than the supply of humans and
animals arrives on the surface; yes, that for them, after having let the heat
surplus, under whose influence its first development took place, but it is more useful
to retain the remaining heat as deeply as possible at depth, than to let it be used on the
surface by its people and animals, to whom instead they prefer peculiar remedies,
partly in internal heat sources, partly in external protection. The warmth of the
interior, though idle for us, will be so little idle for the earth, as our own warmth is
useless to us, albeit from other and perhaps for us not entirely exploratory points of
view. Instead, they preferred to offer some peculiar remedies, partly in internal
sources of heat and partly in external protection. The warmth of the interior, though
idle for us, will be so little idle for the earth, as our own warmth is useless to us,
albeit from other and perhaps for us not entirely exploratory points of view. Instead,
they preferred to offer some peculiar remedies, partly in internal sources of heat and
partly in external protection. The warmth of the interior, though idle for us, will be so
little idle for the earth, as our own warmth is useless to us, albeit from other and
perhaps for us not entirely exploratory points of view.
To believe this we may find ourselves all the more motivated, as two kinds of
protection for the preservation of heat, which come together through the cover of the
earth, and through the greatness of the earth, and as the former protection by the same
cooling, the it is intended to be confined, has only been produced, and the more it
grows the farther the cooling progresses. This is in complete analogy with the
purposeful self-restraints we experience in our own organism with so many effects. A
frequent or prolonged painful pressure on the finger, z. B. when playing an
instrument, or on the foot when walking on bare ground produces a horny skin,
whereby the longer the effect of the pressure is limited; every habituation to initially
annoying stimuli takes place through that the stimuli bring forth bodies in our body,
whereby their effect is limited. Yes, we have a case that reveals a certain special
analogy with the present one. Namely it grows the animals in the north and in the
harsh winter, the thicker the fur, the more the cold increases. The stronger cooling
experienced by the animals stimulates their organism to produce a stronger protection
against the cooling, as is the case with the earth, only that with the latter the
mediation is much simpler, but also indisputably more direct to the purpose of the
Self-restraint is addressed. For in animals, the cold affects only through extensive, at
least for our consideration, extensive, and not yet clearly recognized mediations
thereon, which also undeniably produce only incidentally this success. Yes, we have a
case that reveals a certain special analogy with the present one. Namely it grows the
animals in the north and in the harsh winter, the thicker the fur, the more the cold
increases. The stronger cooling experienced by the animals stimulates their organism
to produce a stronger protection against the cooling, as is the case with the earth, only
that with the latter the mediation is much simpler, but also indisputably more direct to
the purpose of the Self-restraint is addressed. For in animals, the cold affects only
through extensive, at least for our consideration, extensive, and not yet clearly
recognized mediations thereon, which also undeniably produce only incidentally this
success. Yes, we have a case that reveals a certain special analogy with the present
one. Namely it grows the animals in the north and in the harsh winter, the thicker the
fur, the more the cold increases. The stronger cooling experienced by the animals
stimulates their organism to produce a stronger protection against the cooling, as is
the case with the earth, only that with the latter the mediation is much simpler, but
also indisputably more direct to the purpose of the Self-restraint is addressed. For in
animals, the cold affects only through extensive, at least for our consideration,
extensive, and not yet clearly recognized mediations thereon, which also undeniably
produce only incidentally this success. Namely it grows the animals in the north and
in the harsh winter, the thicker the fur, the more the cold increases. The stronger
cooling experienced by the animals stimulates their organism to produce a stronger
protection against the cooling, as is the case with the earth, only that with the latter
the mediation is much simpler, but also indisputably more direct to the purpose of the
Self-restraint is addressed. For in animals, the cold affects only through extensive, at
least for our consideration, extensive, and not yet clearly recognized mediations
thereon, which also undeniably produce only incidentally this success. Namely it
grows the animals in the north and in the harsh winter, the thicker the fur, the more
the cold increases. The stronger cooling experienced by the animals stimulates their
organism to produce a stronger protection against the cooling, as is the case with the
earth, only that with the latter the mediation is much simpler, but also indisputably
more direct to the purpose of the Self-restraint is addressed. For in animals, the cold
affects only through extensive, at least for our consideration, extensive, and not yet
clearly recognized mediations thereon, which also undeniably produce only
incidentally this success. as is the case with the earth, except that in the case of the
latter the mediation is much simpler, but also indisputable, directed all the more
directly to the purpose of self-restraint. For in animals, the cold affects only through
extensive, at least for our consideration, extensive, and not yet clearly recognized
mediations thereon, which also undeniably produce only incidentally this success. as
is the case with the earth, except that in the case of the latter the mediation is much
simpler, but also indisputable, directed all the more directly to the purpose of self-
restraint. For in animals, the cold affects only through extensive, at least for our
consideration, extensive, and not yet clearly recognized mediations thereon, which
also undeniably produce only incidentally this success.
One can not argue against this, the solid crust was created to give people and
animals solid ground and cut off from the hot inside, so not at all to refer to the
protection of the internal heat, which is rather accidental and on which nothing
matters. Such purposeless contingencies are not in the sense of the purposeful
nature; On the other hand, it is in the sense of the purposeful nature that it seeks to
achieve several purposes at the same time by one and the same means. Neither can
one say that the heat within is merely a remnant of the primordial warmth which was
necessary for the first development of the earth, but has now been put aside for
useless use. The purposeful nature tolerates no such idle remnants. What becomes
superfluous in one sense, is immediately used in a different sense appropriate. The
purpose of protecting the heat inside does not in fact exclude the purpose of giving
the creatures a solid ground by heart and of separating them from the interior;
conversely, if the purpose of protecting the internal heat is not removed, it would
solid shell merely reveals a purpose to the outside, not inward, whereas otherwise we
always have to seek a main meaning of solid shells in their relation to the
interior. The purpose of the solid ground and the custody of the creatures against the
internal heat would have been achieved much more fully, if the whole earth had been
made firm and cold, instead of having only a firm shell around the hot
interior; Earthquakes and lava flows would then have become impossible. Obviously,
both purposes were The preservation of the warmest possible liquid in the interior,
and the attainment of the greatest possible strength of the soil, on the outside against
each other, so that both were sufficiently satisfied in the connection. The existence of
humans and animals could have existed very well at a somewhat lower conclusion
against the bottom heat from below, indeed, as far as we can judge, easier and more
effortlessly than it is now the case. But apparently it seemed more important to secure
the rest of the geothermal heat as completely as possible by means of a sufficiently
thick crust than to allow it to benefit man and animals, which was always associated
with their loss. The existence of humans and animals could have existed very well at
a somewhat lower conclusion against the bottom heat from below, indeed, as far as
we can judge, easier and more effortlessly than it is now the case. But apparently it
seemed more important to secure the rest of the geothermal heat as completely as
possible by means of a sufficiently thick crust than to allow it to benefit man and
animals, which was always associated with their loss. The existence of humans and
animals could have existed very well at a somewhat lower conclusion against the
bottom heat from below, indeed, as far as we can judge, easier and more effortlessly
than it is now the case. But apparently it seemed more important to secure the rest of
the geothermal heat as completely as possible by means of a sufficiently thick crust
than to allow it to benefit man and animals, which was always associated with their
loss.
But without being able to fully explain the teleological riddle of the reticence of
geothermal energy, we can point out many things:
First of all, that the crust of the earth, although ordinary enough for the ordinary
mind and the slow development of earthly conditions, to permit no folding, no
breakthrough, and to distinctly exclude the material communication between the
inside and the outside, is different according to geological facts In former times, there
were upliftings and breakthroughs, through which new mountains arose, and with
which, unknown to us, the development of new organizational relations came into
relation. We can not know whether such catastrophes are not yet imminent, which
would undoubtedly lead to new developments. (See the appendix to the fifth section.)
But then it also seems understandable that the earth secured itself a sufficient
reservoir of hot liquid mass down below, and that the complete complete cooling
(mathematically speaking only possible in infinite time) would only be imminent if
the earth had completely completed its phases of development. This is a hypothesis
that has its possibility, though not demonstrable.
Moreover, the conclusion of internal heat from outside is not so complete that in
deep cellars and mines, in the hot springs, artesian wells, and probably also in the
Gulf Stream, local subsidies of heat from inside to outside have their purpose; and, of
course, the sustainable flow of these useful heat sources depends on the heat not
dissipating rapidly and from all sides out of the earth.
The constant temperature in the cellars of the Paris Observatory, at a depth of 27,6 meters (84 par.
Feet), is 11,82 ° C, while the mean surface temperature is 10,8 ° C. (Pouillet's Phys., 11. S 453 and
470.) This excess of temperature over the surface depends only on the internal heat of the earth.
The artesian well of Grenelle near Paris, whose water was drilled at 1800 feet, has a
temperature of 22 ° R, in addition to the mean locus temperature of 8 ° R, the Aachen springs have
46 °, the Karlsbader Sprudel 59 °, the spring source of the Geiser even 80 ° R.
The Gulf Stream, whose waters are heated up to 31 ° C in the Gulf of Mexico, contributes
significantly to ease the European climate in its turn to Europe. By the influence of this current,
northern Europe is separated from the polar ice belt by an ice-free sea; even in the coldest period,
the polar ice limit does not reach the European coasts. (See Pouillet's Phys II, 467. Dove, Meteorol,
p.
Further, though unknown to us, the heat and fluid of the interior, and its changes
and movements, may be related to the magnetism of the earth, which in fact,
according to the greater temporal-temporal changes which it undergoes, originates
only in a mobile or moving cause and, besides the usefulness it has for our shipping
and field art, may have even more general significance for the earth, over which, of
course, lies so much darkness as over the very basis of its creation.
The changes in geomagnetism by time of day and season are undoubtedly related to the course
of the sun, whereas the reason for the secular changes can hardly be found otherwise than in the
interior of the earth.
To seek the cause of terrestrial magnetism even in a magnetic iron nucleus, as is otherwise
done, is partly hindered by this internal variability, which is difficult to trace to mere temperature
changes of a solid nucleus, and partly by the fact that iron in the annealing senses magnetism
altogether loses. The iron in the interior, however, could, as far as we must believe, be present only
in a glowing liquid state.
The earth was undisputed earlier, as it was still completely glowing liquid, also
self-luminous, as it is now even warm. But this self-luminosity, when only found on
the surface at very high heat, is extinguished earlier than the self-heat that has found
its refuge inside, and with few exceptions the creatures themselves do not shine,
while many have a self-heat. The light on the surface of the earth now depends as
much as the heat mainly on the sun, but in the moon it has an aid to illuminate the
nights, without a corresponding aid to warm the nights, since the moonlight, though
not as otherwise one thought, cold, but only imperceptibly warming effect. This can
be interpreted teleologically. With the departure of the sun, the light is lost almost
immediately but not so much the heat of the day, which only relatively little
diminishes during the night, so it was necessary to install a lamp as an oven at
night. It can be observed that the full moon just rises when the sun goes down, and
goes down when it rises, and therefore is shorter in the summer, and longer in the
winter over the horizon. The Earth has created this temporary help itself because, at
least it is believed, the Moon used to be part of the Earth, which it hurled itself away
into the sky. The moon also goes around the earth in such a way that, since it is not
possible to have the light-aid through it always and everywhere at the same time to
the same extent,
As long as the earth was still considerably warm on the surface by its own heat,
only plants and cold-blooded animals, worms, fish, lizards, etc., existed on it, which
always assume very close the temperature of the environment and thrive everywhere
on the warm earth. Warm-blooded birds, mammals and humans did not exist yet; why
do they also have events to generate their own warmth, because the earth everywhere
supplied the heat effortlessly from the outside? The whole earth at that time was
much more uniformly covered with animals and plants similar to those now, because
the heat at that time was much more uniform all over the world. But when the
temperature of the surface of the earth sank more and more due to the cold, the
luxuriant life of the hitherto existing flora and fauna could no longer persist in the
same way. Most died, be it gradually, be it in the case of larger earth revolutions, and
not replace itself in the same ratio with something new of the same kind. The life of
the plant and lower animal worlds, which are in themselves no longer so well cared
for by external warmth, thus withered to a certain extent. But in order not to let the
organic life as a whole wither, the earth compensated for the heat which it was now
less able to supply to its creatures, by making part of its creatures flocks of its own
heat. For this, however, the organization of these beings had to be established more
artfully than that of the earlier beings. They should now do what they had done
externally through themselves. Thus, since the organization of beings can only ever
increase in connection, the organization of these new beings is more advanced than
that of the former. Of course, this is just one of the aspects that explain the progress
of the organization.
As warm-blooded animals and humans produce their own warmth, it might seem
that they have become more independent of the rest of the earth; but it is just the
opposite. After all, they can only generate their internal warmth from externally
absorbed earthly substances, and while lizards, snakes, frogs, and fish can starve for a
long time and breathe little, they must absorb food and air much and often in order to
nourish their warmth, because In fact, their own heat is produced only by chemical
processing of the ingested food with the intake air.
The cooling of the earth on the surface has not only succeeded in carrying with it a
higher, but also a more varied development of organic life, because the differences of
the climates and local temperature differences, with which the differences of organic
life are connected, have only fully developed.
The exact matching of man and earth with regard to the thermal conditions and the
artful installations, by means of which he was assured of a uniform temperature, still
afford opportunities for special considerations of teleological interest.
His own warmth does not relieve him of the requirement of an adequate degree of
external warmth; it can exist only under certain limits of external temperature; but
they are precisely those which he really finds on earth, and which is completely
exhausted in space and time, and combined in the most various ways with the other
earthly conditions, so that the richest unfolding of various conditions of existence for
him results from this. The shape and movement of the earth, the distribution of the
liquid and the solid, work together to alter the conditions in this relation as much as
possible. But then, as everywhere else in such cases, one can turn back and say that
man has been set up just the way he was most advantageous in these circumstances.
However advantageous the variety of temperatures on earth is, in part to stimulate
man in many ways, partly to produce a variety of products at his service, it would
have been less advantageous for him if his body were also affected by the changing
temperature of its environment always follow exactly. Necessarily, his organic
processes would then take a very non-uniform course, as a steam engine works faster
or faster as it is heated more or less. We really see in cold-blooded animals, which
always assume very close the temperature of the environment, the liveliness and
activity are very much connected with the external temperature; in the warmth they
are cheerful, in the cold they become lethargic or fall into numbness. Man's machine
should, however, always be ready to serve his will, and should be able to continue
working independently of the accidental change of external influences, even in strong
cold and heat; and so it was necessary to direct it, rather than principally to uneven
external warming, internally to heat it, and to heat it as steadily and uniformly as
possible, and also to take care that it did not neglect the warming and chilling
influence the external temperature was able to maintain a uniform degree of heat. We
now see these tasks fulfilled in man through the most ingenious mediations. should
be able to continue working independently of the accidental change of external
influences, even in strong cold and heat; and so it was necessary to direct it, rather
than principally to uneven external warming, internally to heat it, and to heat it as
steadily and uniformly as possible, and also to take care that it did not neglect the
warming and chilling influence the external temperature was able to maintain a
uniform degree of heat. We now see these tasks fulfilled in man through the most
ingenious mediations. should be able to continue working independently of the
accidental change of external influences, even in strong cold and heat; and so it was
necessary to direct it, rather than principally to uneven external warming, internally
to heat it, and to heat it as steadily and uniformly as possible, and also to take care
that it did not neglect the warming and chilling influence the external temperature
was able to maintain a uniform degree of heat. We now see these tasks fulfilled in
man through the most ingenious mediations. that it was able to assert a uniform
degree of heat against the warm and cold influence of the external temperature, which
was nevertheless not lacking. We now see these tasks fulfilled in man through the
most ingenious mediations. that it was able to assert a uniform degree of heat against
the warm and cold influence of the external temperature, which was nevertheless not
lacking. We now see these tasks fulfilled in man through the most ingenious
mediations.
First and foremost, success itself proves that it is the case, since man keeps his heat,
which is about 30 ° R in the interior, always constant under the greatest change in the
external temperature. Well, one thinks well, the title of the organic rich, always to
keep the man warm. But it is not like that. Rather, the most complicated measures are
taken to achieve the simple result that is involved. We ourselves would not find it
easy to keep an oven as warm as 70 years, as man is his lifeblood, and nature has no
other advantage in saving resources in achieving a result than that in the combination
and exhaustive use of the funds. And just of this the uniform preservation of heat in
man gives the most beautiful example.
The whole body of man can be regarded as a heating apparatus, let us call it an
oven after all, which has only a much more perfect interior than our ovens. While our
ordinary ovens serve as smaller boxes only to heat the larger boxes, our parlors, the
parlor of our womb heats itself up directly as a stove box. But here are already
important benefits. Our ovens must be much hotter than our parlors; now there is
much heat left near the stove and in the furnace itself, and the distance is often not
enough; it is too hot right next to the stove, and often too cool, far from it. The room
as a whole has a very uneven temperature. It is always embarrassing where to place
the oven; everywhere he is in the way and disturbs the symmetry of the room. All
these evils are avoided by us by the simple fact that the heatable space coincides with
the boiler room itself. By virtue of this, a very moderate temperature of the boiler
room could be obtained at all, since it did not need to be increased any higher than
was useful for the room to be heated, and facilities were made possible which ensured
the most uniform distribution of this heat; so that there was no need to give it away to
the losses in one place, in order to do enough for other places. The oven is nowhere in
the way, because he can not stand in his own way. as it did not need to be raised any
higher than for the space to be heated, and facilities were made possible which
ensured the most uniform distribution of this heat; so that there was no need to give it
away to the losses in one place, in order to do enough for other places. The oven is
nowhere in the way, because he can not stand in his own way. as it did not need to be
raised any higher than for the space to be heated, and facilities were made possible
which ensured the most uniform distribution of this heat; so that there was no need to
give it away to the losses in one place, in order to do enough for other places. The
oven is nowhere in the way, because he can not stand in his own way.
It is very strange and a beautiful case of the touch of the extremes, that in the
internal heating of our body the same is achieved by just opposite means, which is the
external heating of the earth. In the latter case it is the tremendous removal of the
heater from the body to be heated, in connection with the immense preponderance of
the first in size and heat against the latter, whereby a mild and, as far as it is not
modified by the shape of the earth itself, is perfect uniform warming of the earth is
achieved and the discomfort which would result from the position of the heater in the
space to be heated is prevented; however, with us the direct coincidence of the
heating apparatus with the body to be heated of the location, size and heat makes the
corresponding. There was an empty space, but as uniformly as possible filled with the
thinnest ether between the heating and the heated body, the cheapest possible; Here
the most complicated organizational conditions were set in motion to achieve the
result in question.
The fuel for the hearth of our body is not wood, but, as already noted, food; for it is
known that it is chiefly the carbon (and partly hydrogen) of the food, which in our
body, like the carbon of the wood in our ovens, unites with atmospheric oxygen; the
chemist calls it burning, and thereby produces the heat of our body except that this
combustion does not take place with a bright flame, but very gradually and in a
highly controlled manner, so that the burning power of the material is completely
exhausted and the most uniform penetration of the body with heat is achieved. The
whole body is a firebox set up through and through, so that the fuel in its smallest
parts comes into contact with the atmospheric oxygen in the smallest parts
everywhere,4)
4) Physiologists are not completely clear on the exact conditions of this.
In the lungs, the furnace of our womb has a never-resting bellows, which draws in
usable air with each inhalation, expels useless air with each exhalation; but he has no
food; because she is spared him by his perfect arrangement. In the case of our ovens,
the food serves partly to make a draft, partly to remove the smoke; but if someone
were always at hand with a bladder, the food would not be needed in the first place,
and if the fuel were so completely consumed that no smoke would be produced, it
would not be necessary in the second respect; but the bladder of the lungs is always at
hand in our body and in progress, and the fuel is really so completely consumed that
no smoke is released; but if the unusable air requires a drain, she finds this through
the bellows tube itself. There are also devices that replace the ash box. The bladder of
our lungs is further arranged to regulate its activity exactly according to need. If we
rise to high mountains or in a balloon, where the air gets thinner and there is a risk
that the stove will not be properly fed with air, the breaths involuntarily become
faster, but slower in compressed air (Junod).
Through hunger, the oven of our body informs itself when it becomes necessary to
add new material; he has pliers in his hands to fetch the same himself, he also has feet
that are not fixed like the unferment ovens, but run after the fuel; he also has tools in
his teeth to make the material smaller, since, as with our wood, the fuel grows
through more complete reduction. But even if the stove lacks material for refilling for
a while, it does not hurt immediately because it has collected a reserve; the fat begins
to be consumed; starving people lose weight; and finally, even the essential substance
of the body is attacked. The furnace of the body, when he finds nothing more to burn,
begins to burn oneself; he is so well prepared for his function.
In the meantime, the temperature of the body would still not remain the same with
a uniformly sustained process of this internal combustion process, but depending on
the prevailing external heat or cold, it would always be supplemented or withdrawn,
unless special aids were used for compensation.
First of all, man eats generally more in the cold (in particular, the polar people
enjoy very high-carbon food), inhales more vigorously, and the inhaled air is denser
than in the heat, and he feels more inclined to make movements, whereby the number
and depth of the Breaths is increased (the muscle movement itself causes an
insignificant heat development), which all carries a stronger heating.
"Increasing air heat, in fact, after the most careful experiments of Vierordt, causes a
significant decrease in the number and depth of respiratory movements, as well as in the carbon
dioxide content of exhaled air." At a temperature of 8.47 ° C, Vierordt breathed at 12 o'clock, 16
times, only 11.57 times at 19.40 ° C, he expended 299.33 CC carbonic acid at 8.47 ° C, only 257.81
CC at 19.40 ° C "(Wagner, Physiol. Digestion, page 667.)
Edwards has proved by numerous comparative experiments on small birds, sparrows,
yellowhammer, and siskins that they breathe less even in the summer at an artificially equal
temperature and produce less heat than in winter; which can only depend on the fact that the
physical constitution changes from summer to winter accordingly. It can be concluded after multiple
circumstances that the same applies to man. (Edwards, De l'infl, etc., pp. 163. 200. 487.)
In addition, however, the following aids contribute very much to maintain the
uniformity of the temperature:
1) In the heat the exhalation increases; by evaporation, however, heat is bound or
generated cooling; in the cold, the evaporation and thus cooling off.
2) In the heat, the blood is more to the skin, as the swelling of the veins proves, in
the cold, it is more inward; At first it is given more cooling by the external
atmosphere, (because even very warm air is generally still colder than 30 ° R) in the
last it is more withdrawn.
3) By cooling the skin by external cold, the temperature difference between the
skin and the air is reduced and hereby the heat radiation dependent on the size of this
temperature difference is reduced.
4) The layers of fat under the skin are very poor heat conductors.
By the totality of these remedies it comes about that man always maintains his
temperature in the interior almost invariably, while on the skin, however, he changes
very considerably with the external temperature (just as the corresponding also
applies to the whole earth).
Meanwhile, the effectiveness of these funds has its limits. When the cold gets too
big, people freeze to death, and when the heat gets too high, it still burns. But these
aids are sufficient for the average conditions on the habitable part of the earth; and
now the earth still offers a great variety of external aids, which allow man to
compensate even unusual influences and to extend the limits of the habitability of the
earth. It may be remarked, however, that the earth presents many more or stronger
external aids to the cold than heat, which is related to the fact that the heat on the
earth does not rise anywhere or not easily above the degree that can be tolerated, but
the cold (partly to the poles too, partly on high mountains, partly in winter). To
protect against strong heat, for example, only shade, ventilation, cool apartments and
cool drinks are available; for protection against cold but not only the previous
appropriate means in shielded and quiet locations, warm dwellings, hot and heated
drinks, but also still very varied and vigorous in firing materials, warm clothes and
beds, whereas the protection, the artificially preserved ice or Ice from mountains
granted against heat, not very eligible, since he has little to offer.
There are still some special teleological remarks to make. As nature keeps a supply
of cooling on the heights in ice and snow, it has kept a supply of fuel in the depths in
the coal. Some of the means used for cooling in the summer can, in other respects,
also serve as warming in the summer, such as deep cellars, houses with thick
walls. Forests give shade in summer and firewood for winter etc
It is interesting how the organic furnace changes as it is intended to work under modified
conditions. We have already considered the influence of the size of the body in this regard earlier
(vol. I. chapter III). If the furnace is to be surrounded by water, as in seals, whales, the unfavorable
circumstance is that the dense water at the same time extracts more heat than the thin air without
comparison; and that requires provision again. Accordingly, such animals are padded with very
thick layers of fat under the skin; and the respiratory process is exceptionally developed at least in
the seals (EH Weber). This is not the case with whales; but their immense size helps keep them
warm. In general, the process of generating heat and maintaining heat is conditioned by the
interaction of many circumstances, which can be more or less mutually exclusive. Now, since the
organism has many other purposes to accomplish than to produce and maintain warmth, a remedy
can sometimes resist a certain purpose to be fulfilled by the organism; then nature keeps to another.
Regarding the warmth which the earth receives through the mediation of the sun,
we are easily inclined to add too passive a role to the earth, as if the heat were, so to
speak, ready for it. Basically, however, the warming of the earth in the sunshine is an
act of surface stimulated only by it; for instance, the twitching of a muscle of the
external stimulus requires formation and varies and varies greatly according to its
attachment and strength, but always is the muscle's own thing. You can easily prove
this. The higher someone rises in the balloon or on a high mountain, the more he
freezes, although the sun's rays reach him more unabated than below. Why? The
opaque earth surface belongs to the sun rays to lessen heat. It then rises with the air or
the water, which warms up on the ground, but reaches more or less upwards; but
neither the water nor the air, as transparent bodies, are able to warm themselves in the
sunbeam, or they can do so only insofar as they lack something in the perfect
transparency. If you put water in the focus of a burning mirror in which the heaviest
metals melt, it does not even boil, ether does not ignite in it, whereas every opaque
body warms under the influence of the sun, each under the same sun influence in
other ways even differently, black bodies stronger than white, rough stronger than
smooth. in the air, however, it also gets more or less upwards; but neither the water
nor the air, as transparent bodies, are able to warm themselves in the sunbeam, or
they can do so only insofar as they lack something in the perfect transparency. If you
put water in the focus of a burning mirror in which the heaviest metals melt, it does
not even boil, ether does not ignite in it, whereas every opaque body warms under the
influence of the sun, each under the same sun influence in other ways even
differently, black bodies stronger than white, rough stronger than smooth. in the air,
however, it also gets more or less upwards; but neither the water nor the air, as
transparent bodies, are able to warm themselves in the sunbeam, or they can do so
only insofar as they lack something in the perfect transparency. If you put water in
the focus of a burning mirror in which the heaviest metals melt, it does not even boil,
ether does not ignite in it, whereas every opaque body warms under the influence of
the sun, each under the same sun influence in other ways even differently, black
bodies stronger than white, rough stronger than smooth. when they lack something in
perfect transparency. If you put water in the focus of a burning mirror in which the
heaviest metals melt, it does not even boil, ether does not ignite in it, whereas every
opaque body warms under the influence of the sun, each under the same sun
influence in other ways even differently, black bodies stronger than white, rough
stronger than smooth. when they lack something in perfect transparency. If you put
water in the focus of a burning mirror in which the heaviest metals melt, it does not
even boil, ether does not ignite in it, whereas every opaque body warms under the
influence of the sun, each under the same sun influence in other ways even
differently, black bodies stronger than white, rough stronger than smooth.
Not unlike warming it is with enlightenment and coloring. The earth has to
participate in it automatically; the sunbeams bring only the excitation. Only in this
way does a body appear illuminated, throwing back the light by self-contained forces,
and, depending on what it does differently, it appears black, white or
colored. Sunlight does not paint the body in the same way that we paint something
with the paintbrush that brings the particular color to every spot, but the bodies have
to paint themselves out of the general color pot of sunlight with their own color. The
whole colorful landscape, with which the earth is covered, is indeed from some side
of the earth own, although admittedly not alone work. Even the sky blue is from this
side only an earthly blue.
F. On the evolution of the earth.
Our and every animal and vegetable organism develops out of a relatively uniform
mass and out of a monotony of circumstances in such a way that the longer it is
divided and subdivided, the more manifold relationships develop outwardly and
inwardly. It is not without interest to follow Earth's analogue course of development,
although only hypotheses are available here, but some of them are highly probable.
From what we can conclude, the earth behaves like a sphere that is generally
cooled by a very high temperature. If we follow this cooling process with probability
conclusions as far back as possible, there was a time when even the heaviest earthly
bodies were still melted and farther back a time when the most fire-resistant bodies
had evaporated, in a word where the whole earth was nothing but a tremendous one
Sphere of glowing dense vapor, in which a certain divorce of substances could not yet
be mentioned, as vapors mix uniformly. Gradually, however, this ball cooled, and a
part of it containing the less volatile substances condensed into a large, drippable, but
still glowing sphere. which occupied the center because of its greater density and was
surrounded by a very hot gas or steam envelope. The liquid sphere contained mainly
the metallic and earthy substances in the molten state, but the gas and vapor
envelope, besides the atmospheric air, contained all the water which is now on the
earth, since the hot surface of the compacted sphere still did not permit precipitation
of the water vapor in drippable form and all carbonic acid and other acids, which can
only exist in gaseous or vaporous form in high heat. The one mass had thus divorced
into two: a drippable central mass and a gaseous or vaporous shell. The liquid sphere
contained mainly the metallic and earthy substances in the molten state, but the gas
and vapor envelope, besides the atmospheric air, contained all the water which is now
on the earth, since the hot surface of the compacted sphere still did not permit
precipitation of the water vapor in drippable form and all carbonic acid and other
acids, which can only exist in gaseous or vaporous form in high heat. The one mass
had thus divorced into two: a drippable central mass and a gaseous or vaporous
shell. The liquid sphere contained mainly the metallic and earthy substances in the
molten state, but the gas and vapor envelope, besides the atmospheric air, contained
all the water which is now on the earth, since the hot surface of the compacted sphere
still did not permit precipitation of the water vapor in drippable form and all carbonic
acid and other acids, which can only exist in gaseous or vaporous form in high
heat. The one mass had thus divorced into two: a drippable central mass and a
gaseous or vaporous shell. which can only exist in a strong heat gas or vapor. The one
mass had thus divorced into two: a drippable central mass and a gaseous or vaporous
shell. which can only exist in a strong heat gas or vapor. The one mass had thus
divorced into two: a drippable central mass and a gaseous or vaporous shell.
However, the beginning of the development may be represented somewhat differently, but this
has no significant influence on the later progress, namely, that the earth was not, as previously
presupposed, hottest from the beginning, and in vapor state by virtue of this heat that from the
beginning it consisted of peculiar heat from scattered parts (incomparable to any state of
aggregation now known), which progressively converged by virtue of the general mass attraction,
and that only through increasing condensation and entering chemical compounds does a heat finally
rise to the brim began to develop, as heat is generated everywhere through the compression of
matter and chemical compounds. Whether something like that could really happen under the
influence of the original forces, Of course, no calculation has yet been decided. Even so, however,
one will be able to come to an epoch where the earth consisted of a central sphere in a fiery river
and a hot atmosphere around it.
Upon further cooling, the liquid ball began to solidify on the surface, 5 and after the
solidified earth crust had become cold enough to permit precipitation of water, the
water from the atmosphere would precipitate as water vapors condense on
cooling. 6)There was a long rainy season in which the sea rained down on the solid
crust. This rainy season lasted perhaps millennia; for, as the cooling progressed
slowly, the precipitation had to continue, until the sea finally subsided, and the
atmosphere was exhausted so far from water-vapor, that, instead of continuous rain,
the fall of the rain, depending on the season, the times, and the place It began to
change as the vapors began to rise, which in fact could not begin until the air began to
lose its saturation with moisture for the existing temperature in time and
place. 7)Meanwhile, the air could not clear immediately. The intermediary between
merriment of the air and precipitation of the water is everywhere given by mist and
cloud formation; and so, at the time of this changing up and down of the water, there
was still a dense, high-reaching fog all over the still warm seas, like a brood over a
pot of warm water set in the cold air. For in fact the earth, which was placed in the
cold skies and covered with even warmer water, behaved in a similar way. Depending
on the night and day and pole height, this fog may be denser or thinner, but
everywhere present, and only clear in the highest heights of the air; as, with distance
from the ground, the vapors expanded more and more, and therefore had to dilute and
dissolve more easily, as we see the same thing with steam over the pot. Of course, the
cold also rises, and this had to transport the formation of mist above; but there was a
lack of material at higher altitudes. Thus, a new layer, the fog layer, had entered the
earlier layers. We now have water around the liquid entrails, over or over water, over
misty mist, over it clear air, above it finally the pure ether.
5)The confluence of the first frozen parts after the equator seems very doubtful to me because of the
swelling of the equatorial zone, associated with the formation of the flattening, since at the
beginning of the solidification the flattening has long since been completed had to be formed. In
contrast, another circumstance deserves consideration. The surface cooling parts had to lower
before they could solidify because of their increased tightness and this greatly delay the time of
incipient solidification, but at the same time the cooling be communicated to the deeper layers, to
the depth where the ( growing closer to the inner) impermeability of the earth no longer allowed a
further sinking of the cooling layers. The solidification could thus begin only at a time when the
temperature of the atmosphere in contact with the surface had long since fallen below the freezing
point. Lyell even says that the whole earth had to feel its way to the point of freezing before the
solidification could begin. But he does not consider the increase in density inside.
6) For this purpose it was not necessary that the earth crust was already cooled up to 80 ° C, since
under the stronger pressure, which the dense atmosphere expressed earlier, the compression of the
vapors had to take place already with higher temperature.
7) The warmer the air, the more water vapor it can contain dissolved; what exceeds the saturation
level is reflected.
However, as the sea decreased in warmth and consequently began to develop less
abundant vapors, the space above the sea also had to begin to clear up, and only at
higher altitudes should a cloudy compaction begin again, where the cold remained
sufficient, the compression of the vapors to effect. Thus, the fog gradually rose
(below the equator for greater heat there higher than under the poles) and formed in
the higher regions a cloud cover around the earth, which at first surrounded the whole
earth, and just like the fog layer before It could experience changes in thickness and
density over time and place, depending on whether it was reduced by rain or
supplemented by evaporation. Now there was a solid layer between two liquid, one
lower denser hotter, mainly consisting of molten metals and ores, and an upper
thinner colder, consisting of water; and a cloud layer between two layers of air, a
lower denser warmer moister, and an upper thinner colder drier.
The earth thus structured now also had its articulated movements; the liquid mass
inside, the sea outside, the atmosphere all around had their circling tides; The rain
poured downwards, the steam, with it alternately, upwards, the acid-impregnated sea
devoured the ground and let fall the dissolution again according to the
cold. Everything was still monotonous, uniform and downright. The land still had no
mountains, the sea still covered the whole earth, the cloud cover still covered the
whole sky, the temperature was still relatively uniform everywhere, since it depended
less on the sun than on the ground heat, and its differences depending on the different
position of the sun have been dulled by the covering with the sea and the cloud cover
against now.
But now began the contrast of land and sea to enter. Islands, countries, and
mountains rose above the sea, lifting the earth's crust by forces pressing from below,
and tearing out hot masses which later solidified. 8th) As a result, the sea was
transformed into tremendous fluctuations, and the otherwise still air was excited to
storms by the great local temperature changes. gradually everything calmed down
again, the sea set down what it had cut off; but the uplifts, breakthroughs renewed,
rose higher and higher, the greater force was required to lift and blow up the ever-
increasing crust of the earth; Paragraph followed paragraph, in the intervening times
of such revolutions, the weathering of the rocks increased the material; The climate
now began to change in other circumstances than by geographical latitude, to the
circulation of waters in ebb and flow, and to the rise and descent of the sea in sea
vapors and rain came the rivers and the exhaling plants of the land. It also tore the
cloud cover, The clouds scattered and gathered here and there for a thousand reasons
of irregularity, which nevertheless always agree in a general legality; in short, the bill
kept growing. Of course you have to look for a very rough picture in all this.9)
8)On the contrary, some think that the crust of the earth was ruptured, rather than bursting from below, by the
fact that the extended hot interior could not follow the contraction of the decaying bark. The latter is
represented by Prevost. See Comptes rendus 1850, séance da 23 Sept. et 7 Oct.
9) Further versions s. in Burmeister's story of creation, whose presentation has been left here in some points.
We do not know how the formation of organic beings was interwoven in this course
of education; only this we know (see Chapter III) that it took place in a
thoroughgoing connection with it, and in addition to a plan which completely
corresponds to the plan of formation of the whole earth itself. In fact, even in the
formation of organic beings, at first great monotony, uniformity over the whole earth,
simple relations of organization, and all the more variety and organization of the
whole organic kingdom and of the individual organisms themselves, the further the
course of education progressed. It is interesting, but it would be extensive to pursue
this in detail.
What, however, can be partly stated with certainty about the origin of organic
beings, and partly as conjecture, from the general point of view, should be considered
in the appendix to the fifth section.
G. Self-Preservation Principle in the Solar System.
Like our bodies, the earthly system and the higher system inherit a principle of self-
preservation which protects these higher systems much more effectively from
destruction than we can say from our bodies. In fact, all the basic conditions of the
earth and the solar system have partly fixed firmly, partly they move only in periodic
fluctuations, whereby they oscillating or circulating again and again returned to the
previous state. Thus, the position of the poles on the surface of the earth, the stability
of the sea, the mean distance of each planet from the sun, and the sidereal orbital time
of the same around the sun, are fixed for all time, the eccentricities, the inclinations,
and the nodal lengths of the planets though all changeable, but equal to the
movements of a pendulum in certain usually very narrow limits. Although the major
axes of the trajectories (apses) continue to turn in the same direction, they always
return to their old position. The living power of the whole solar system oscillates
between a maximum and a minimum, etc
Invoice and observation have united to prove this stability of the solar
system. 10)Only in the case when the ether in heavenly space, whose acceptance is
offered by the phenomena of light, should oppose the bodies of the world, even if
little, would they gradually approach the sun with increasing shortening of their
orbital period, and finally into the sun is falling. Whether it is the case, can not decide
for sure yet. The constitution of the ether is not sufficiently known. It is certain that
no planet has yet shown any trace of such approximation, but in view of the
extraordinary thinness of the ether in relation to the density of the planets and the
brevity of our previous observations, this could also be interpreted as having hitherto
been unnoticeable , In sink's Comet (3 1 / 2Year round-trip time), a gradual approach
to the sun and shortening of the orbital period were really noticed, and all the more so
because of the resistance of the ether, when the effect of a resistance on a thin comet
had to be felt incomparably more easily than on a dense planet ; but Bessel has
pointed out that the phenomenon also allows another explanation.
10) See hereunder Littrow in Gehler's Wortb. Article universe, p. 1485 ff.
This cause must also generate an acceleration of the movement. Which of the two
causes is really present, or whether both are present at the same time, we do not know
yet; still less can we know how strongly these causes affect the comet. "
XVI. Annex to the fifth section.
Some ideas about the first origin and the successive creations of
the organic kingdom of the earth.
We can not explain the first origin of the organic beings, that is, do not depend on
the principles of now known processes; but in the field of indeterminate conjecture
that opens up here, but gain a sure point of departure and starting point of
consideration, and save the principle of declarability itself, by adhering to the
proposition that, as for any other reason different consequences belong, so also to
different kinds of consequences always different reasons. 1)But insofar as we are
concerned here only with the material side of organic creations, this proposition for
our purpose can be tightened even more closely to the fact that different material
consequences also always include different material reasons, which does not exclude
the material side of the consequences how the reasons belong to a spiritual. But this
has been talked about enough elsewhere, and it is only incidentally referred to here.
1) Cf. Bd. IS 210. 212.
From the above proposition, there can be no question that the first origin of the
peculiar organic arrangements and movements, as we now observe them on earth, is
due to arrangements and motions already peculiar, and so on, backwards to the first
disposition of the earthly system , was already preconditioned; If, for a moment, we
take into consideration the creative activity of the mind, it is necessary for such
peculiar bodily products to produce just such peculiar bodily activities (cf., vol. I,
chapter XI, N).
There is nothing to prevent the assumption, in the indeterminable original state of
the earthly system, of any arbitrary arrangements and movements, as may be required
by the existence of their present consequences, to be present. May we always think,
in order to have a rough idea of the idea, the first state of the earth, chaotic, fluid, or
even gaseous; but in any case we must not think of it in analogy with any state of
inorganic mixtures, liquids, gases, which we now possess, for it is from such
conditions that no valid analogy could have given rise to the present organic devices,
although the substances in the earliest states are so manifold could be mixed as in any
mixture, and the free mobility of the particles could be the same as in the liquid or
gas state. But undoubtedly peculiar combinations of substances and peculiar
movements took place through interactions of the parts, as we no longer find them in
the inorganic today, and although they did not yet constitute organisms in their
present form, but in the gradual formation, division of the Earth could give
such. According to the definition, when the individual inorganic regions of the earth
were separated from the total mass (Vol. II, Chapter XV, F), the preparation for
excretion and finally actual excretion of the organisms or their germs took place,
always with reservations. that this is not really an excretion, since everything
remained connected in the whole of the earthly system.
In any case, one should not think that the germs of the organic beings were only
dislocated in the primordial ball of the earth, and each of them had developed in their
own way without any common and interdependent relations. Then the thoroughly
expedient relation of the organisms to each other and to the whole realm of the
earthly, which we have discussed earlier, could not take place. Rather, the whole
Urball must be regarded as a single coherent system of motion, the rotation of which
itself is related to the movement and processes of organisms in causal nexus because
of teleological nexus. 2)After all, at first this ball seems to ferment properly; but in
that respect it was not really orderly, when the connection of these motions, no longer
appraisable for us, included the tendency and the inclination to engage in the
appropriate manner, to dissect, without somehow falling apart, as we now see it.
2) This is also possible according to Vol. I. Chap. III well-developed theory about the origin of the rotation of
the Earth understand well.
So when we ask why humans and animals no longer arise out of the inorganic, the
answer is that they never originated from it, but the inorganic and the organic have
both evolved in a connexion of something, which in its original state neither is purely
comparable with the organic and the inorganic (as we understand it oppositely), as
was previously discussed in a picture (vol. I, chapter II); and if we ask why man and
animals can not artificially be made from the constituents of them everywhere, by
bringing them together in reasonable proportions, the answer is that we can not
hereby imitate neither the order of uranium nor the origin . which were necessary for
the emergence of organic beings. In fact, first and foremost, by the uniform or crude
mixture of the substances which we can always obtain, we can not at the same time
reproduce the arrangement of the substances in their smallest parts, as is essential to
the constitution of an organism; B. from flour or its components no seed with its
peculiar internal structure zusammenzukneten again. And just as little are we able to
reproduce the movements, which are undoubtedly very complicated and interacting
with the entire movements in the earth's original mass and teleologically connected,
under whose influence the organisms, even essential systems of motion, arose and
could only develop, and their development today organic movements are still. Of
course, if we were really to be able to artificially render the inorganic substances into
the same arrangements or movements which they now have in their organic
combinations or have once had in their precursors, then organic life would also be
produced here; but we just can not do it.
As general and unexhausting as these considerations are, they are unlikely to be of
use, by excluding some inadequate notions about our subject matter, and prescribing
us a direction and limits on and within which we must adhere when used in
conjunction with otherwise valid ones want to remain true to exact and teleological
considerations of nature.
But how will we have to think of the emergence of the successive organic
creations? The earlier ones have gradually disappeared and more and more new ones,
at last or in the midst of the last man, have taken the place.
Some naturalists now create the later organisms by developing the earlier ones,
others by new primordial creation like the first. Let's put the reasons for both views
next to each other.
Reasons for the first view.Everywhere perfection develops only gradually from
imperfection; should a creature as perfect as man have arisen from a leap from raw
nature? It is much easier to think that the gradual evolution of the animals has finally
reached man. How many have changed and refined many animals, such as dogs,
horses, climate, way of life and breeding, over many generations, even under our
eyes; in particular, a gradual change of circumstances can do much in this respect; but
in the course of many millennia climate and other external conditions of life may
have changed much more, and more gradually, than we have in our historical
observation. Also, as long as the earth had not yet fixed its inorganic state,
Reasons for the other approach. What audacity, the people of infusoria, polyps, at
most fish 3) trained to think? There breaks off any analogy. The constitution of the
animals can now be modified to a certain extent by changing the external
circumstances, but if one goes beyond these limits, they wither, die out, fast or slow,
as one tries fast or slow; and there is no fact that even the slowest change in
conditions could extend the limit of the organisms' changes to the indefinite. In
addition, the emergence of the new beings does not appear to have been related to
both slow and rapid changes, which at one and the same time entailed the decline of
the old and the conditions for the emergence of the new beings. One can doubt it; but
it remains the most probable. Much more plausible and less difficult than the
assumption of an immediate emergence of the higher creatures from the lower is the
assumption of a further development of the creative activity of the earth itself. Thus
the leap is only avoided in another way. Our spinning-machine, too, is not made of
former spinning-wheels, our English grand pianos have not evolved from earlier
pianos, but the earlier instruments themselves have been rebuilt, these are rather
deferred, and the new instruments freshly made of new materials, only so that, of
course, existence of the earlier instruments has led to their construction, in that the
builder increased his inventiveness on the basis of the earlier invention even beyond
this. It will have been the same with the inventions of the earth. If it was a matter of
further education of the former organisms, then man must have been formed out of
monkeys, and so also the Tibetans, the Prof. Schelver, and necessarily all, who
attached themselves to the further education theory. But it would at least seem more
graceful to be allowed to regard oneself as the son of the earth, for the son of an
orangutang and grandson of a lizard; but also more reasonable. Man's reason reaches
out over the whole earth and controls it; the monkey does not look any further over
the earth than he can see from the tree, and only cares about the nuts of that tree; One
does not know actual intermediate stages between monkey and man; because the
Negro is still human. It now seems easier to think that the earth, through a renewed
strain of its whole being, produced man in connection with a number of other beings,
rather than producing it by gradual improvements to the monkey. It would be as if a
poet gradually made the main hero of his poem emerge from a harlequin; he can
probably initiate his appearance by such a funny person; but he certainly produces the
hero himself fresh from his head.
3) It seems that the fish have already appeared in the earliest epochs; although this is not yet decided.
After putting together these reasons, the second view seems much more agreeable
to me, though it too has its difficulty. For the creation of the first creatures, however,
it was easy to provoke orders and movements in the earthly system, which must have
been quite different from, or deviating from, those we now see around us; the
hypothesis was completely free. But when the mammoths and the cave bears were
alive, we must believe that the earth had already acquired a very similar shape on its
surface. And yet people did not come until later. Should we nevertheless be forced
back to the first view; nevertheless from the monkey and back from lizard and fish to
have originated? I mean, Before we decide on this desperate and yet always
desperately improbable view, let us first take a look around if we can somehow meet
the difficulty of the second view. Or would someone know a third view?
If I now stand by what is on the surface, I certainly do not even know what to think
of something that might embarrass us. But should not something lie in the
depths? After all, we really do not know how, by what means man is actually
produced today; but at least not by forces that prove effective on the surface of man,
but only in depth. Yes, it should not be allowed to look for something hidden in the
biggest hiding place of the earth, what else to find nowhere, and what must be
somewhere? The principle of excluding other possibilities seems to be here; but also
some positives.
In fact, I try, in the absence of a firm adumbration, to spin some thoughts into the
blue of possibilities and, in spite of all the improbabilities, to keep myself to the
smallest, I still most like to remember that beneath the crust of earth The beginning of
a parent stem of peculiar arrangements and movements, which has just been shut off
by the solidification of the bark of the species development, which could come into
contact with water, air, and light outside the bark, and organic life, as we know it but
who still retained the ability to thrive in such a development. Should all the
arrangement and movement containing the germ of the organic really be confined
from the outset only to the circumference of the earth, did not something have gotten
inside too? It does not seem probable that primitive heat has been preserved
internally, and that it would be difficult to find a teleological reason for its
preservation and closure inside, if not the hidden, that it was used to preserve the
organic fermentation inside continue.4)
4)If, as is probable, terrestrial magnetism and its secular changes in the depths of the earth have its basis, we
would at least have a general implication that much must be done in the depths of the earth, which can not be
explained by external processes; or, conversely, geomagnetism, with its secular changes, is so far from being
explained by external processes that we are likely to find it to be truly internal. One might think of comparing
it to the nervous principle of the inner parent of organic arrangements and movements. Yes, one could boldly
find in earth magnetism at the same time the mother-stem of our moving nervous principle, and even the
moving nerve-principle of our mother-stock. But it must be confessed
In the capacity to attain real organic evolution, the internal parent stem could be
displaced by the occasional perforations of the cortex, coming into contact with sea,
air, and light. Even in a peculiar state of arrangement and motion, he might well
determine the elements outside to be connected in a new order and motion, just as the
organisms already formed are able to do so today. Indeed, in the interaction between
the internal and the external, the new organic creatures, or at least their germs (eggs,
seeds) could be formed at the same time, and the inorganic elements in which they
are to live could be suitably modified for their development and their existence.
It then does not prevent us from assuming that, as the Earth cultivates itself to some
extent by heart, so too, in a teleologically rational connection with it, the core of
organic arrangements and movements develops inwardly, so that each new
breakthrough causes organizations, who, from one side, betrayed an advance against
the former, and from another side a coherent plan. The connection in which the
members of each organic creation stand beneath each other could also be explained
by the fact that it is indisputable that the mother-stem inside is a teleologically and
functionally coherent system.
One can go further back and say that the whole earthly system develops not only in itself
according to a coherent plan, but in connection with the conditions of the whole world; which
explains why the arrangement of organic creatures can be so useful in relation to day and night and
general cosmic relations. Now it is not necessary for the sun and moon themselves to work directly
on the creation of the organic creatures, in order to match their arrangement; but their and the
organic creatures' creation has been purposeful from the beginning, and continues to develop for
them. The conscious principle, under whose influence man originates, is then connected with this
general connection; What the earth does for itself can after all possibly be conceived as something
unconscious for itself, in the way in which the unconscious enters into the conscious (Bd. I. Chapter
VII). What God is a conscious creation, generation, can be unconscious of the earth. But we do not
want to decide anything about it.
Inasmuch as the main constituents of the interior of the earth are earth species
(silica, lime, talc, etc.) and metals, especially iron, and the organisms generally have a
skeleton of earthy substance or an earthy (chalky or siliceous) shell and some iron in
contained in a combination that we can not produce, one might surmise that these are
the constituents that make up the interior for the formation of the organisms, that is,
primarily the constituents of the solid foundation of the organisms. Moreover, the
organisms contain only the constituents of water and air in a peculiar
arrangement; and these could accordingly also be derived from the outer water and
the outer air. The solid earthy constituents go back to the earth in death; yes we will
bury ourselves in the depths from which they only deeper still, originally may have
come, while the soft and liquid in turn decomposes again into water and air. Each
goes where his first germ comes from.
Of course, if we now let molten earths and metals on the surface of the earth
solidify in contact with water and air, they only solidify in an inorganic manner,
without expressing a particularly striking influence on the environment; but it is
natural that a fluid state, which itself emerged only from inorganic deposition and
solidification, can only supply it again; on the other hand, a state which, under the
influence of the primal heat, still retained some of the original movements and
chemical dispositions, could behave differently; In that sense, it would not at all be
comparable with the fluid states known to us, and we could no longer search for an
analogous state on the surface, because here the very conditions of its disappearance
are given. But a calculation, whether such a foreign state of matter in the interior is
possible for the surface is itself not possible; For since we can not calculate the
possibility of the organic state of matter outside, we can neither calculate the
possibility nor the impossibility of a state that can transform itself into organic
matter. The possibility of calculating material arrangements and movements exceeds
our powers at all; only on what has been given can we compute some things on the
basis of experience, but experience is only given on the surface. In any case, we can
neither calculate the possibility nor the impossibility of a state that is capable of
transforming itself into organic matter. The possibility of calculating material
arrangements and movements exceeds our powers at all; only on what has been given
can we compute some things on the basis of experience, but experience is only given
on the surface. In any case, we can neither calculate the possibility nor the
impossibility of a state that is capable of transforming itself into organic matter. The
possibility of calculating material arrangements and movements exceeds our powers
at all; only on what has been given can we compute some things on the basis of
experience, but experience is only given on the surface.
Obviously unfavorably, of course, who wants to misunderstand it, is the fact that
small eruptions of the earth crust with ejection and outflow of internal masses take
place in the volcanic eruptions even in our own time, without there being any trace,
be it peculiar arrangements or movements the coming out masses or a new formation
of organic creatures. In the meantime one can find no binding counter-evidence in
those facts. For in the open or superficial foci of inner activity, dispositions and
movements which have survived deeper and require a tremendous breakthrough in
order to emerge may have long since been destroyed by a continuing unrest under
merely partial communication with the outside world; while the volcanic eruptions
always emptied only the most superficial. It remains true that the previous views can
only be based on the need to explain facts, not positive facts themselves; also, we
only share them as irrelevant, which should deserve attention when choosing between
different options.
To the principle that other consequences require other reasons belongs as a
counterpart the principle that other causes have different consequences. Here too,
general conclusions for our subject can be made. The first human or the first human
pair emerged for reasons other than those born later; So it was certainly different
from this one; he was an immediate child of God and of the earth (cf., cf, chapter VI),
the born-again children of man only. He was the original original, we are only the
copies that can not reach the spirit of the original; he was the durable copper plate, we
are the transient impressions. Certain advantages of the first humans before us, z. For
example, a great age of the forefathers, may indeed no longer alienate us thereafter; it
is undisputed that their constitution had a very different durability than ours; and only
when, through the multitude of men, did this longevity of the individual become
superfluous, and it was gradually lost. The teleological objection to the original unity
of the human race, that its preservation had not been sufficiently secured in a
primitive pair, thus stands out, especially considering that the first human couple was
undoubtedly born under the most favorable external circumstances. We ask, how
could the first humans be kept naked and merely in a nature which they still could not
control, not use against whose dangers they were unable to defend themselves? Yes,
of course, If the first humans had been born like the present children and placed in the
forest or on a meadow into the cold among wild animals, as a human mother
probably does, who forgets about her maternal duties, she would have looked ill
about her. But in general the mother takes care of the child, and the child knows how
to find the breast. So also the earth will have directly provided for her child, the first
man, since she had not yet produced a mother, to care for the grandchildren, she will
have placed her in the most favorable place, and the man will have had its instincts
who let him find what he needed on earth, just as the child now has his instincts to
find what he needs on the human mother. These primal instincts were lost, the more
the generations descended and multiplied, partly because the more and more human-
descending origins of men brought with them different consequences than the first
divine, partly because these instincts became less and less necessary, according to the
people themselves, who gained help from other people and these more developed
their reason. The first golden age of humanity gradually dwindled. Thus, the
coincidence of the causal and the teleological, which we notice everywhere else, also
asserts itself here. The first golden age of humanity gradually dwindled. Thus, the
asserts itself here. The first golden age of humanity gradually dwindled. Thus, the
asserts itself here.
The Bible is known to leave the first human beings in an initially more perfect state and a more
intimate relationship with God than those born later; and in the myths of most peoples, the first
human being himself is considered divine.
Tacitus says of the ancient Germans: "Celebrant carminibus antiquis, quod unum apudillos
memoriae et annalium genus est, thuistonem deum, terra editum, et filium manum, origin gentis,
conditoresque."
the sun and the moon. , , For the Karaibs, Logno is the first man to descend from his heavenly
dwelling and create the earth and then return to heaven. For the same, Sawaka is the one who first
produced lightning and downpours and still causes them. He turned into a bird and then into a
star. In both cases the creator is thus conceived as an omnipotent man. Many Greenlanders attribute
the origin of all things to the first human, Kaliak. " He turned into a bird and then into a star. In both
cases the creator is thus conceived as an omnipotent man. Many Greenlanders attribute the origin of
all things to the first human, Kaliak. " He turned into a bird and then into a star. In both cases the
creator is thus conceived as an omnipotent man. Many Greenlanders attribute the origin of all things
to the first human, Kaliak. "
"The whole relation of the great spirit to the first man, as expressed in these Native American
ideas, is strongly reminiscent of gnostic views: the Ophites also called the forefather the first man,
and some of the Valentinians, the followers of Ptolemy, gave the name of the forefather of the
universe the name of man, and so did Valentin himself. "For the Kabbalists, Kadmon is the
primitive man, the unity of the powers emanating from God."
(Müller, in the "Theologue, Stud., And Criticism."
1849. H. 4. S. 864.)
In particular, the Talmudists have fallen for it (according to
arbitrary interpretation not at all regarding biblical passages)
to adorn Adam with wonderful qualities; on which one finds, inter
alia, in Eisenmenger's "New ent. Judenth." IS 364 and Bartolocci,
Bibliothèque rabbinique I. 61 many.
One can raise the question of whether the current design of organic creation with
man at the top will remain the last, or whether new creations or transformations of the
previous creation are to be expected. Let us venture into the field of this question
with a few guesses, since of course there can be no question of more than one here.
If we consider that the earth still has an existence of indefinite duration, after it has
passed through many previous organizational periods, we do not want to conclude
with the present one. Especially if our assumption were valid, that the interior of the
earth still holds a mother's stock of arrangements and movements, which by breaking
the bark are able to enter the proper conditions for the development of organisms, and
that the warmth of the earth itself preserves this disposition contributes. This
motherstock and this warmth will gradually be exhausted in produce. But apart from
this hypothesis, we have every reason to relate the creation of new creations to major
earth revolutions, whatever the relationship is. And there is no reason to consider the
one by which the mammoths and cave bears were destroyed, and by which or by
which man arose, the last. Only that the human race itself has not encountered a great
revolution of the species can seem to us to be sure against it, and of course such a one
will never be able to meet man more than twice; once by creating them, the other by
destroying them. But it is no different with this assurance than with the security of
those who grow on a volcano. If he spits only at the time of the forefathers, one at last
forgets that he could spit; and one should be reminded by the never entirely silent
raging inside that he could break loose any moment again, as he has often done after
long intervals. But we all really live on such a volcano, which still rages inside,
which reveals it by its small volcanoes, that it does not sleep inside, except that the
outbreaks of the great volcano occur in much longer intermediate periods than those
of the smaller ones if we live safely in the midst of such a great interim period, it will
not secure our descendants. With the ever-thickening crust of the earth, the difficulty
of the breakthroughs grows larger, and with this the intervening periods in between
become longer and longer; but the danger of their entry remains. only that the
outbursts of the great volcano occur in much longer intervening periods than those of
the smaller ones, and if we live safely in the midst of such a large intervening period,
our descendants are not sure. With the ever-thickening crust of the earth, the
difficulty of the breakthroughs grows larger, and with this the intervening periods in
between become longer and longer; but the danger of their entry remains. only that
the outbursts of the great volcano occur in much longer intervening periods than
those of the smaller ones, and if we live safely in the midst of such a large
intervening period, our descendants are not sure. With the ever-thickening crust of the
earth, the difficulty of the breakthroughs grows larger, and with this the intervening
periods in between become longer and longer; but the danger of their entry remains.
v. Humboldt commented on this: "Nothing can give us certainty that over the next few centuries
those Plutonic powers will not add new to the mountain systems of different ages and directions
enumerated by Elie de Beaumont." Why should the crust of the earth already lose the quality of
folding? In the Montblanc and Monte Rosa, in the Sorata, Illimani and Chimborazo, the mountain
systems of the Alps and the Andes chain, which have almost emerged, have raised colossi, which do
not indicate a decrease in the intensity of the subterranean forces.all geognostic phenomena indicate
periodic changes of activity and rest.The calm that we enjoy is only an apparent one.The
earthquake, which is the surface under all celestial stretches,
From this side, then every possibility would be free. But, one may ask, has not man
reached the pinnacle of what can be achieved on earth? Do not we already have the
king of the earth in man? Can a king arise over the king?
Now of course, we are so used to seeing in the most perfect man the summit of
perfection at all, that we ourselves anthropomorphosieren God for it and make our
angel then; but while we must recognize that it is untriftig basically trying to find just
the human in a higher nature in us, we will probably also have to recognize that it is
untriftig, a higher progressive development of the earthly kingdom with human
nature barriers to put.
In fact, it seems as if man betrays a striving for some of the privileges that should
adorn the right king of the earth, when it has already reached, and at first represents
the creeping larva or caterpillar of a butterfly once flying over the earth becomes.
What is it that makes us inclined to see in man already the king of the earth above
all animals, even externally very similar? The conception, domination, connection,
centering of all earthly relations, which is given in it and by means of it. But if we
take a closer look, in the present institution of man it appears rather to have been
initiated, initiated, achieved and achievable, at any rate comes through the most
arduous means external to man, and always remains highly incomplete and
incomplete. Every mountain, every river, every sea sets an obstacle, which man has
learned to overcome only gradually, and even now only with time and effort
overcomes. But if man himself always devises better methods that can promote him
in these relationships, Without, however, being able to completely overcome the
inadequacy of its nature, should not nature, which seems to be inventing in much the
same way as man, by means of a perfection of her present invention of mankind,
someday be in a better position to overcome those inadequacies? Since the means is
very close to it. Should it not, as soon as it is possible by man's nature, be able to
bring about and intensify the connection and relation of earthly relations as far as
possible, should it bring about a newer higher advance by increasing its nature, or a
higher nature over his produces? After all, man can not bring about a certain limit
according to his nature. Even man, when he has devised more perfect methods of
connection and relationship, drop the old ones; but the old ones must have worked
first to lead him to the new ones.
I confess that it has always seemed to me a particular matter of concern to see in
man the final conclusion of earthly organic developments. Man considers himself the
highest creature, and the bird flies over him. This does not seem to me to be a
satisfactory conclusion either aesthetically or teleologically. It is true that man has far
greater advantages for the wings of the bird; but they would become more
meaningless if he had the wings of the bird too. Only the bird's wing would provide
him with an adequate material tool for his reason, which tries to survey, to skim over,
and to link everything from above, which would enable him to practically fulfill the
highest tasks; he would also give him a sensual view of the whole world from
above, to fly over all obstacles easily, to allow the easiest and fastest communication
with the whole earth and its equals; his hands, with which he rules the earth, would
extend so much as the wings continue to carry him. The bird, of course, has wings,
but as it has neither the reason nor the hands of man, all those advantages are of little
use to him. It is only for a rational being that the wing can develop its greatest
possible power, and at the same time that reason can only exert its greatest possible
power by means of the wing. Should nature not be able to combine advantages in a
new increase in the organization, which it now only separates and therefore achieves
only half, because they can only gain their highest effect and meaning through their
union? Even now we see them combining many advantages in man, which only
occasionally come to other animals, but so far they have not been able to unite the
wing and flight of the bird with them; this seems to be reserved for a later task. And if
we notice that the reason of the individual human being, and still more the reason of
humanity, only gradually rises to the height and conception which it is able to achieve
with the present means of man, we can also find it understandable. that only after this
inner flight-tool has ripened in the creatures to the required height, the outer arises in
a new transformation of the creatures, whereby indisputably the inner perfection,
To be sure, man owes, though not the investment, but the high development of his
reason, in part even to the difficulties which he would be spared from being
overcome by wings, and the external need he must seek to remedy. would surely be
able to develop without them not having that high. But now we see him learning that
he has overcome the difficulties more and more, that is why he does not become
more unreasonable, but turns to tasks of greater importance and difficulty. Just as he
has made an invention which easily allows him to overcome a difficulty hitherto only
laboriously overcome, so his reason operates in the use of it, he reproduces it at
once, combined her achievements among themselves and with the achievements of
other tools and is thereby led to higher inventions, in which he now easily reaches
what he only with many tools especially had to win and grab. Thus we may now
presuppose that, when nature has reached this point, it will be easy to overcome some
of the difficulties in the invention of future higher creatures, which by means of
present creatures will be difficult to overcome with man at the head, and thus not
their rationality decrease at all, but will only be driven to higher levels of
performance; but insofar as man's reason itself is only a scion or outflow of natural
reason, with which she needs, elaborates, and recombines her inventions, it will also
be assumed that that in the higher creatures according to man the effluent or offspring
of reason, which has now become more highly developed, will exert itself in a higher
degree. But in order to arrive at this higher development, of course, the activity in
human reason itself must have preceded it.
One can pick up other considerations. The means of communication between
humans are now multiplying more and more; Steam engines, railways are the main
promoters of the same. But as they multiply, they also threaten to exhaust their
resources. They can only duplicate and remain in progress as long as the coal
reaches; and it is not clear where a replacement should come from. But should the
once-gained profit in connection with earthly conditions be lost again? I think that,
when all the resources accumulated from the earth have exhausted or are close to
exhaustion, which can satisfy the ever-increasing need of human communication,
nature, in its immanent reasonableness, by the need itself, not to go backwards, to be
driven to create creatures according to a new plan, which makes these means
dispensable from now on. Then, after all, even higher mountains may appear than
now, and every new earth revolution seems to raise higher mountains; the new beings
will no longer transcend them, they will fly over them.
It can not be doubted that the emergence of higher winged creatures over man one
day is possible when we have seen nature raise higher and higher on fins and wings
above the lower creatures bound to the ground. As long as all or most of the land was
covered with sea, even the fish rose with their fins over the stuck polyps and
shells; then in the air the winged beetles, bees, butterflies over the crawling worms,
even creeping worms are themselves still the predecessors or larvae of these higher
creatures; then the birds over the crawling snakes and lizards, linked by the
transitional element of the pre-worldly pterodactyls with it. Each time the winged
beings developed according to a completely new educational plan; so that is also
conceivable
Yes, one can say that in man there is already an effort to get him off the
ground; except that, in order not to give up advantages which were even more
important for now and which in the present plan of creation could not yet be
reconciled with the real flight, they did not come to him completely up to the ground.
In fact, if we compare man with the rest of mammals, we see how really the two
forelimbs are already set free from the ground; he has aligned himself as if he wanted
to leave the earth, but he still stuck to it with two feet. The next step seems to be that
lifting off the ground is completely done. It is not without interest to note that in the
case of the closest relatives of man nature has actually pushed this detachment a little
further than in man himself, only that the other higher advantages which are inherent
in man must be withdrawn. So we see in the monkeys the four feet transformed into
four climbing hands, whereby they easily get off the ground and swing from one tree
to another, but, of course, they can stand and walk less upright on the earth; and in the
case of the bats, in fact, stretched out flesh-skins between all four extremities; which,
of course, makes them all the more unfit for handling. Monkeys and bats, however,
have really special relationships with humans, represent a kind of distorted image of
the same. Because no matter how similar a bat may seem to humans, it has, because
of significant similarities in the dentition and position of the breasts, with humans and
unite monkeys into a special order and have them placed at the head of the other
animals, as done by Linnaeus. And since there were already primeval monkeys and
bats, one can see in it a kind of foreplay of man. and in the case of the bats, in fact,
stretched out flesh-skins between all four extremities; which, of course, makes them
all the more unfit for handling. Monkeys and bats, however, have really special
relationships with humans, represent a kind of distorted image of the same. Because
no matter how similar a bat may seem to humans, it has, because of significant
similarities in the dentition and position of the breasts, with humans and unite
monkeys into a special order and have them placed at the head of the other animals,
as done by Linnaeus. And since there were already primeval monkeys and bats, one
can see in it a kind of foreplay of man. and in the case of the bats, in fact, stretched
out flesh-skins between all four extremities; which, of course, makes them all the
more unfit for handling. Monkeys and bats, however, have really special relationships
with humans, represent a kind of distorted image of the same. Because no matter how
similar a bat may seem to humans, it has, because of significant similarities in the
dentition and position of the breasts, with humans and unite monkeys into a special
order and have them placed at the head of the other animals, as done by
Linnaeus. And since there were already primeval monkeys and bats, one can see in it
a kind of foreplay of man. Monkeys and bats, however, have really special
relationships with humans, represent a kind of distorted image of the same. Because
no matter how similar a bat may seem to humans, it has, because of significant
similarities in the dentition and position of the breasts, with humans and unite
monkeys into a special order and have them placed at the head of the other animals,
as done by Linnaeus. And since there were already primeval monkeys and bats, one
can see in it a kind of foreplay of man. Monkeys and bats, however, have really
special relationships with humans, represent a kind of distorted image of the same.
Because no matter how similar a bat may seem to humans, it has, because of
significant similarities in the dentition and position of the breasts, with humans and
unite monkeys into a special order and have them placed at the head of the other
animals, as done by Linnaeus. And since there were already primeval monkeys and
bats, one can see in it a kind of foreplay of man. to unite with the humans and
monkeys in a special order and have them placed at the head of the other animals as
done by Linnaeus. And since there were already primeval monkeys and bats, one can
see in it a kind of foreplay of man. to unite with the humans and monkeys in a special
order and have them placed at the head of the other animals as done by
Linnaeus. And since there were already primeval monkeys and bats, one can see in it
a kind of foreplay of man.
These animals, therefore, have gone further up the hill than man, and seem to
suggest that nature, when approaching human beings in the course of education, was
really about initiating an even more complete survey. In the meantime the monkey
and the bat, with the freer elevation over the ground, could not attain the control of it,
which is secured to man by the conjunction of his hands and his upright state with the
co-operation of reason; accordingly, nature rather abandoned to man some of that
advantage of free exaltation, and at first turned all diligence to the development of the
brain and the training of the hand and the foot, in order to give the latter a secure
foundation by the latter. The monkey,
But man owes, next to his reason, and in connection with his half bodily exaltation
over the ground, and the thereby possible transformation of two extremities into
hands, already the most important part of the advantages which distinguish him from
the rest of the animals; and there is no doubt that with an even more complete
upliftment (provided the possession and use of reason and hands were not stunted by
it), they would grow even more. But the wing is needed for this complete elevation
over the ground.
The erection puts man in the position of surveying the earth from above into the distance, and the
position on two, instead of four feet, easier to turn to all sides, so better to be able to look
around. The transformation of two feet sticking to the ground into two hands at the top, but still
under the prospect of the eyes, enables him not only to go through the scene, which is surveyed
from above and in circles, but also to work practically, to control, partly directly, partly by means of
the tools made by the hands. But with the same facilities there is also the possibility of getting in
better communication with each other; to better face each other, to show each other with the help of
hands mutual help, love and friendship testimonies, partly tools of traffic, roads, wagons, books,
letters, and so on; even in this there is an advantage that, owing to the reduced base of foot, people
can gather more and more closely than the four-feet.
Basically, man also recognizes the privilege afforded by the possession of wings,
when he paints the otherwise entirely humanized angels with wings. Only, of course,
something is not made as easy as painted. If man really does receive wings, they
could not be so easily put on him as the painter does; the whole organization plan
would have to change; and then, when we look at nature's course of education, there
is an obvious conflict in the task of putting on strong legs, hands and wings at the
same time. In the bird the wings are not added to four feet, or to two hands and two
feet, but the two front extremities transform themselves into wings, and thus the bird
comes to the benefits of the hands. In the insects wings with several pairs of legs
occur at the same time, but the caterpillar has more legs than the butterfly, so here,
too, the wings seem to have emerged at the expense of the legs; also the legs of the
butterfly are weak and thin and can not replace the hands; The actual tools for
handling are here more attached to the head and only light kind. And it understands
well why wings can not easily be combined with strong arms and legs. Wings need
strong muscles and nerves to move; strong arms and legs too; This makes the place in
dispute, not only externally but also internally. Our painted angels are an anatomical-
physiological impossibility; you would have to paint them hunchbacked, to the wings
attached to the rear and the muscle masses, to move the wings are necessary to
install; for our masses of muscle only suffice for the poor; but it is undisputed that the
internal devices for the movement of the wings and the arms would be even more in
the way than the external tools themselves. Therefore, in the case of the bird, the
replacement of the front extremities by the wings; Therefore, giving up the wings in
man to win hands.
In the meantime, what could not be achieved by means of the organizational plan
so far followed, could indeed be achieved by modifying it; and there it is quite close,
if there are already creatures with four feet (most mammals), those with four hands
(monkeys), those with two feet and two wings (birds), those with two feet and two
hands (humans) even think of creatures with two hands and two wings. One can
indeed still miss such a creature in the chain of beings; but it can also be easily
expected, as it has come to hands ever in the youngest generations. Of course,
effective use of the hands also requires a firm footing on the ground; but it would be
easy to set up the lower part of the body. The hands could also provisionally support
the feet, and more than a makeshift representation would not be necessary if the
wings were the main means of transportation. I make this suggestion to nature and
leave it to her, whether she wants to make the hind or front limbs into wings or
hands; as well as overcoming the difficulties that she might otherwise find.
Winning the wings would also save people some hands-on work, because a very
important part of this job is to create and handle communication tools that would
become superfluous. And even if man has already managed to discharge part of his
work to lower creatures, pack animals and pack animals, this could still be the case to
a greater extent in the future. The higher being might perhaps have more beings
among them, saving him the low labor. With every new creation not only higher
creatures are created, but also new creatures of lower levels; and there might be
among them more suitable for the service of the higher being than the present
ones; for once the principle of the use of lower creatures by the higher ones has been
applied, nature will hardly leave it again on ascending it, but continue to train it; it
will allow a greater part, and perhaps even more highly developed members of the
animal world, to be tamed by the highest creature. Thus the whole organization of the
highest earthly creature could simplify itself in terms of the satisfaction of gross
bodily needs by bodily achievements and become all the more suitable for higher
spiritual activities. Even now man, held against the animals, appears as the most
naked, unarmed, helpless creature; only the hands, bared even by sharp nails and
claws, betray an external privilege; but he tames and tames the whole animal world
by means of his more sophisticated reason and his articulated tools. It is undeniable
that this will increase even more in the future when he ascends with even greater
advantages over the animal world, no longer has to ascend to the horse from below,
but looks down on the whole animal world as his predator from above. So it would be
possible that in later generations, the hands also withdraw more.
I would also like to suppose, from the figure of man, that with him the summit of earthly
development is not only not yet attained, but rather that he is far from it. I mean, the highest earthly
being will try to approach the earth itself in form more than man, who does it already in his noblest
parts, but little on the whole. Let it be omitted, which fixes man partly to the coarse earth, partly
into rough material relation to it, so I imagine, there will arise, although only after many
intermediate creations, beings like beautiful eyes or heads, more as now reliant on a life of light and
fragrance and air, swimming or flying through the skies, with no legs that they no longer need,
without arms, Wear the main.
One should not credit nature as an imperfection if it does not develop such higher
creatures until later times. Their perfection is not at all in a summit reached once for
all, but in such an eternal advance, that everything in every moment fits together
expediently enough to satisfy the present needs, only with such a side of
dissatisfaction as to drive itself to further progress. So that every former time from
certain sides is just as self-sufficient, as from the other side every later time is just as
behind against one even later, as the former against it. The development of the higher
creatures can only happen in connection with a fortification of the whole earthly
kingdom. This must first be ripe to carry higher creatures;
XVII. Appendix to the eighth section.
Additional considerations about the sensory area of the earth.
Let's try from the point of view that the earth belongs to a few souls, to give some
details about their sensory domain, as they seem to be in consequence of the basic
considerations, but with the confession that many uncertainties and doubts remain.
Our eyes are the eyes of the earth; by seeing it, she sees it; and all intuitions which
we gain thereby are connected in their soul, their consciousness. In part, our views
complement each other, in part they coincide; each of us has a different field of view,
being different from things, but we also see some of the same objects. This
supplementation on the one hand and meshing on the other hand can seem very
purposeful; but also difficult to imagine how the soul of the earth behaves in relation
to it. When many eyes look at the same thing, optically, there are just as many
pictures of it; Does the earth see with the many eyes of its creatures, if they turn
against the same thing, these too so many times?
That this is not necessary is proved by our own two eyes. In each of them falls an
optical picture of the same object, but we simply see it. Even more striking prove the
insect eyes. One has been convinced by direct experiments that an object gives as
many pictures in the eye of the fly as facets are; it is like looking at an object through
an artificially faceted glass; but nobody will believe that the fly really sees the object
so many times. We have here in the small, what may take place in the earth on a large
scale. Since each facet is set against the objects differently from the other, each has a
different field of vision, and the pictures are not quite identical; certainly they put
themselves together for the soul of the fly into a picture, in which the different
complements the same. By what physical means this is mediated in us and in the
flies, because it is certainly not physically abrupt, we do not know, or there are only
very inadequate or unproven hypotheses; but in short, you see, nature knew how to
do it. Thus, there is no obstacle to believe that she has been able to do something
similar to the earth, although we can as well give as little as. It is undeniable that one
does not want the same facilities here as with a human or an insect, since the whole
conditions are essentially different; It may be based on a very general principle. After
all, the soul simplifies the physical composition at all and everywhere in the
sensation, thus pulling it together to say it; many vibrations z. B. in a simple
tone. Basically, that is just as wonderful as seeing many pictures as one; but under
what nearer conditions and in what limits this principle is valid, we do not know.
I think of everything in order to think something sensible, which, although not
proved by the foregoing considerations, is permitted, so long as we all see one and
the same thing, the spirit of the earth also sees with us only one and the same thing,
that is, put them in the same space and time, as long as we do, and that only if there
are discrepancies in our intuitions, they will also be felt by the spirit of the
earth. Also, everything can be reversed and say that if the higher mind vividly moves
a thing into the same room, the same time, we do it. And the fact that it is the case
shows itself in the practical, the last touchstone of all the theoretic, because we all
find each other in harmony and understand about it. If it were not,
The higher mind can at the same time completely see a thing through our all-round
eyes, which we can not do individually. His visual field has, so to speak, a dimension
more than ours, which basically presents only one surface at a time. But, at least in
memory, we can combine that into a whole picture of what we have seen around an
object gradually. The Earth is already open to this combination in the intuition. She is
a higher being than us.
In general, in recognition of their height above us, we must renounce from the outset to be able to
do many things just like the earth. Enough when the mind tells us that and in which direction it
must have otherwise than we do. In the highest sense, we have to recognize such a relationship
between us and God. The infinity of the world in time and space goes beyond our immediate
capacity and, in an attempt to discuss them conceptually, leads to insoluble antinomies. That will
not be the case with God. We still have to establish the infinity. In relation to every upper being
such circumstances may occur. I mention this here because, in an attempt to further discuss the
general sense-relations of the earth, there might still be many things that can not happen in us,
With the differences which the intuition of the higher being has from ours,
differences are interrelated which reach through the whole higher psychic life, and in
part have already been asserted from other points of view.
Even our most abstract, most general concepts require symbolism in order to be
thought for themselves. Just as the faculty of symbolization increases, so does the
capacity of such concepts. What a greater development of language accomplishes
with regard to spiritual communication to others is attained by the more developed
capacity of this inner symbolization for the inner spiritual intercourse in the thinking
subject itself; it is capable of expressing and controlling larger, wider, more
comprehensive, deeper conceptual contexts.
Further, as the views of many people in the higher mind can be combined in a
general view, and even cover it in a certain sense, if he sees the same object as one
with many eyes, then all the concepts and ideas that link and identify or even identify
or identify These views are grown, or take such views. So that the same spirit can
have the same concept in many people at the same time and can connect it even as it
has been considered before. But the intuitions of the different creatures with respect
to the same object are only partly coincident, and so will this also be true of the
various concepts and ideas which have evolved on the basis of visual experience.
Let us add to this general consideration of the sensory life of the earth a few special
things; where it will be necessary to keep to a certain extent so that the sheet does not
become a book; Especially as the considerations become more uncertain, the more
they engage in particular. Yes, some will simply call fantasies, which will continue to
present themselves here. Maybe they really are. But may a young view and prospect
be allowed to enjoy fantasies a little, as little as she is ignorant of what she once must
be; is only mind in the plant and basically. And who is able to say how serious and
serious is that which perhaps seems so fantastic because it seems so new?
First let's look at some preliminary considerations.
A large statue in the distance might look something like a small one nearby, but if
you wanted to insert a piece of the big statue into the small one, the impression would
be completely destroyed. What fits in with the big does not fit into the little one. Only
the smallest particles can be replaced in both without interference by each other. The
impression of the statue depends on the whole, and how something changes in it,
everything must change, but the impression should still remain the same on the
whole. Unevennesses of the surface of a certain size, which would be very disturbing
in the small statue, do not harm the big one, nor does the large statue require the same
durability as another material than the small one.
Next: A thick string or rope can give the same tone as a short, thin string; only a
stronger one; but for a long distance he will sound just as weak. But it takes a very
different force to make a taut rope sound like a string; and if the string finds that the
same bow, which makes it sound to itself, does nothing at all, it can easily believe
that it can not sound at all. But only the right strength is missing. But the strength,
which is only sufficient to make the rope sound, would tear the string. Both can be
sodo not communicate about the means by which they are stimulated to sound. Again
it would not be possible to substitute a part of the rope in the string, if she still
retained her ability to sound.
Unevenness of the rope, which does not affect its ability to sound, would be
unbearably disadvantageous again for the same size at the string. And since a heavy
rope can be stretched and kept taut, it will be preferable at all, to receive the strong
tone which one demands, to take a heavy rod or a bell. This is something completely
different than a string; and even less a piece of a bell than a piece of rope can be
substituted for the string, yet it gives the same tone when it sounds throughout. But
only if it sounds throughout. It all comes back to the context as a whole, and if
something changes in the whole context, everything has to change, the same tone is
supposed to emerge again. So you see similar points of view for very different cases.
Should not they also return in different cases? Especially in very analog?
It is not disputed that our sensory organs or, more generally, the nerves in it, act
only through the connection as a whole and with the whole, like the strings which are
connected in themselves and with the instrument, and which are able to set their tone
only in this and through this connection. If one cuts off a nerve, or cuts it across, it
feels as little as the cut or cross-cut string sounds. Perhaps, as the string of the
instrument owes its power to sound in a special way, to a certain tension of its
weighable parts, so the sensory nerves of their ability to feel in a certain sense, a
certain tension of the imponderable nerve-ether contained in them. That's
hypothesis; for the whole nervous ether in its relation to the soul is hypothesis;
Thus, if a being as great as the earth has not only small sensory organs in us, but
also great ones outside or above us, then, in the above examples, we must not
suppose that a part of these sensory organs inserted in us does the same for our
sensation would do what it does for the earth in its full and natural connexion in the
earth; and that the same weak means, which may excite the small senses of man,
suffice for the great senses of the earth, and the same strong means, which are
necessary for the great senses of the earth, would not be too strong for our little ones,
and that irregularities, which would be very disturbing to our little senses, would also
be disturbing to the great senses of the earth; that at last the same material and the
same device could serve as purposefully for them as for our sensory organs. On the
contrary, we must absolutely presuppose the opposite of all this. Everything has to
change in the transition from the small to the big, so that the performance on the
whole remains appropriate. Even with the larger sensory organs of the earth, there are
other such things, it might just be to create a certain tension of the ether, which,
according to the most exact physics, the earth penetrates as well as our nerves, with
the play of this tension To have a game of sensations; but this tension and this game
will then be able to be generated only by the whole arrangement, not a piece of the
arrangement. Everything has to change in the transition from the small to the big, so
that the performance on the whole remains appropriate. Even with the larger sensory
organs of the earth, there are other such things, it might just be to create a certain
tension of the ether, which, according to the most exact physics, the earth penetrates
as well as our nerves, with the play of this tension To have a game of sensations; but
this tension and this game will then be able to be generated only by the whole
arrangement, not a piece of the arrangement. Everything has to change in the
transition from the small to the big, so that the performance on the whole remains
appropriate. Even with the larger sensory organs of the earth, there are other such
things, it might just be to create a certain tension of the ether, which, according to the
most exact physics, the earth penetrates as well as our nerves, with the play of this
tension To have a game of sensations; but this tension and this game will then be able
to be generated only by the whole arrangement, not a piece of the arrangement. to
penetrate the earth as thoroughly as our nerves, in the most exact physics, in order to
have a play of sensations with the play of this tension; but this tension and this game
will then be able to be generated only by the whole arrangement, not a piece of the
arrangement. to penetrate the earth as thoroughly as our nerves, in the most exact
physics, in order to have a play of sensations with the play of this tension; but this
tension and this game will then be able to be generated only by the whole
arrangement, not a piece of the arrangement.
Let us add the following: The most different sensations, seeing, hearing, smelling,
tasting, feeling in us, take place by means of seemingly very similar nerves. Now one
does not see why the reverse should be less possible, the same sensation by means of
seemingly very differently arranged apparatuses. Because this is logically
connected. According to that fact, it can not at all be the externally appearing
arrangement of the nerves which comes into consideration, but something in the
nerves which we do not know; if we also suspect or hold it possible that tension and
movements of a fine medium come into play.
In short, from a general point of view, there is no obstacle to the material existence
of material facilities in the earth for the service of sensations, the parts of which,
substituted in us, can not possibly do the same for us. We can not deduce the least of
the earth from the fact that they can not afford us. If we wish to conclude in this
respect, we can only do so from the real knowledge of the essential material
conditions of feeling and feeling, which we do not have, or uncertainly, but with hope
to approach truth, from the point of view of a higher analogy Teleology, as which
only goes from neighbor to neighbor. Uncertainty will always stay here, as long as
the effective causes of the causes of the causes have not been properly recognized and
become the analogy with induction; but at least it will be possible to find something
not only more probable, but also more constructive, by such a way, than lies in the
barren and yet quite unjustified denial that there is anything to be found here because
there is nothing to be seen.
Having said that, let's dare to try.
On the one hand, the human being, like the human being, can look at itself, but on
the other hand look into an external world, which for her is heaven. What the earth
has to do is first our eyes and other earthly beings' eyes; whether more will be
considered; first of all, but surely this. The wealth and the development of their facial
means is, even though we think of nothing, already unspeakably greater than
ours. She has her special eyes for the most special points of view, distant and close-up
views, scattered back and forth all over her surface, and free to move to seek the most
suitable points of view. The insects crawl even to the smallest angle; everything
should be seen.
It is undeniable that, taken together, it is very much, but it still does not seem to me
enough. Much is looked upon from our earthly standpoints, but it seems to me
inadequate from the heavenly unitary standpoint of the earth itself. In fact, the small
and many eyes of creatures, while excellent, correspond to the multiplicity and the
change of earthly points of view and objects, but not so much to the simplicity, unity,
sublimity of the celestial viewpoint and the celestial objects. The question arises:
should the earth, the great, some, heavenly beings, to the smallness and fragmentation
and transience of the earthly eyes not a great, some, eternal eye for contemplation of
forever having a heaven and heavenly objects? Is not the fragmentation of our eyes
just as futile as it is expedient for the contemplation of earthly objects? Although the
earth can also look at the sky with our eyes; but that their creaturely eyes are really
only intended to contemplate the earthly things is proved by the fact that they (with
few exceptions in the case of lower creatures) are all turned downwards and forwards
only. We have to head that they (with few exceptions among lower creatures) are all
turned downwards and forwards only. We have to head that they (with few exceptions
among lower creatures) are all turned downwards and forwards only. We have to
headfirst give a forced position to look up. Should not the earth, the being above us,
also have an eye naturally directed upwards against the sky, with which it can look
around freely in the sky? Moreover, the creaturely eyes are only short-sighted, only
suitable for overlooking and screening limited circles on the earth, but the less
suitable for penetrating even the heavenly distances and for recognizing what is going
on on other stars. Should not the earth be able to see its heavenly neighbors better
face to face?
In fact, what we can do with our eyes to look at the sky remains something very
imperfect. All celestial bodies appear to our eyes only as evenly slices, in which
nothing can be distinguished. The high heavenly beings, angels, go before us, the
subordinate earthly, in light mists. But should they go together so veiled in all their
beauty in color, splendor and change of splendor and color - and how beautiful that
is, we have seen earlier - just as lost to them as we are? The sun does not seem to us
larger than a plate, the fixed stars only like points that can not be magnified by a
telescope; shall a heavenly being, an angel, Do not see the big sun as bigger than a
plate and only see the distant suns as dots? Yes, we can not actually look at the sun
with our eyes; and there should be no eye for it to enjoy its splendor? The flowers, of
course, open themselves safely to the sunlight; but do you have eyes to receive a
picture of it?
After these considerations, before I know what else the earth can do with the sight
of the sky than with our eyes, I believe that she can still look at the sky differently,
and now seek with what.
Now suppose I did not know that, and with which man or an animal can see, from
what would I close it most surely? About the existence of his retina? Certainly
not. How does this betray the ability to see? True, "once you know that someone is
blind, you believe you can see it from the back," and so, once you know that the
retina is used for seeing, you probably also think that you let it of look at the
back. Any reasonable researcher, however, who knew nothing about it, would
cheaply ask, by what principle the existence of this soft, moist, fibrous mushy skin
might cause facial sensation; and consider it equally fanciful to attribute it to them
merely on the basis of their construction, as if we wished to add such to any part of
the earth by reason of its nature. What could finally determine him, indeed what
alone can determine us to believe that it really serves to see? If anything, the
appearance of a picture of the objects on it and the careful furnishing, produce this
picture on it. So we do not finish. Let us not seek the retina, which proves nothing in
itself, and is, on the whole, not to be expected in the same way as on a small scale, in
order to find the image and thus the power of seeing in the earth, but we seek the
image and its Creation calculated device to find in the earth the faculty of seeing and
what represents the retina, for we can not see it for ourselves once and for all. that she
really serves to see? If anything, the appearance of a picture of the objects on it and
the careful furnishing, produce this picture on it. So we do not finish. Let us not seek
the retina, which proves nothing in itself, and is, on the whole, not to be expected in
the same way as on a small scale, in order to find the image and thus the power of
seeing in the earth, but we seek the image and its Creation calculated device to find in
the earth the faculty of seeing and what represents the retina, for we can not see it for
ourselves once and for all. that she really serves to see? If anything, the appearance of
a picture of the objects on it and the careful furnishing, produce this picture on it. So
we do not finish. Let us not seek the retina, which proves nothing in itself, and is, on
the whole, not to be expected in the same way as on a small scale, in order to find the
image and thus the power of seeing in the earth, but we seek the image and its
Creation calculated device to find in the earth the faculty of seeing and what
represents the retina, for we can not see it for ourselves once and for all. So we do not
finish. Let us not seek the retina, which proves nothing in itself, and is, on the whole,
not to be expected in the same way as on a small scale, in order to find the image and
thus the power of seeing in the earth, but we seek the image and its Creation
calculated device to find in the earth the faculty of seeing and what represents the
retina, for we can not see it for ourselves once and for all. So we do not finish. Let us
not seek the retina, which proves nothing in itself, and is, on the whole, not to be
expected in the same way as on a small scale, in order to find the image and thus the
power of seeing in the earth, but we seek the image and its Creation calculated device
to find in the earth the faculty of seeing and what represents the retina, for we can not
see it for ourselves once and for all.
Now, looking around and being at first embarrassed, where to find what I am
looking for, the great clear picture of the sun and stars and the optical device for its
creation in the earth; and I begin to believe that there is nothing in it with those
sublime demands that I have made, I am astonished at once that everything we are
looking for is there to the fullest extent, only a retina like ours is not there, and I can
at first not to break with the habit of demanding such a thing to see, not rather tearing
it completely away, until I see ever more and finally so much in agreement that the
whole earth itself appears as a heavenly eye, that contemplation, one of our similar
retinas can not be expected in the great celestial eye,
In fact, as an optical apparatus of the earth to generate an image of the celestial
objects, the compound of a huge mirror with a powerful lens confronts me, and I see
by means of the same a solar image of approximately 4 miles in diameter,
12 1 / 2 generated Qum surface. I ask myself, should this image be in vain, the optical
apparatus to be there in vain? For me, this picture can not be determined, for it blinds
me so well, as if I were looking into the sun itself; I can not look at it directly any
more than this, and it seems to me as small and blurred as the sun itself, but it is
different for the earth; it carries it clearly in the given size, and what can not be
distinguished in such a great picture?
The optical apparatus of which I speak is the connection of the convex sea-level
with the aerial lens (atmosphere), at the same time the simplest and most magnificent
connection of a catoptric and a dioptric apparatus, and in so far simpler than the
optical apparatus of our eye in which merely dioptric means are used. Actually, the
sea (since the rays penetrating into it are soon extinguished in color) is only a mirror,
but the atmosphere, which has a curved shape like the sea, is to be considered as a
lens. At the center of the convex sea level, the sun image is given in specified
size 1) according to similar laws, such as the sun picture in the dewdrop or on a glass
thermometer ball or by a convex mirror in general, only in such a way that the lens of
the atmosphere is still helpful, as is the picture; What gives a convex mirror on a
small scale, can still be perfected by the appropriate addition of a lens. Of course we
do not see the picture of the sun in the sea as great as it is, but only for the same
reasons why we do not see the sun itself as great as it is; due to the distance. That
immense sun-image of four miles in diameter lies virtually (since a real union of the
rays therein is as little as in our plane and convex mirrors) at half the earth's diameter
from the earth's surface in depth, ie visually so, and is in in every way, as if it were
there, just as the picture appears in our ordinary flat mirrors behind it and behaves
visually quite as if it really were behind it, even if a wall is directly behind the
mirror. All the ponds, all the seas, however isolated from the sea, cooperate with the
sea, according to optical laws, to furnish one and the same image of the sun; because
their curvature rounds the earth to a mirror, and a continuity is not necessary. It is,
wherever we look into the water, always one and the same image of the sun that we
see, as there is only one and the same sun everywhere, which we see directly in the
sky; the picture, of course, seems to go with us; but not unlike the sun or the moon
(apart from their daily walk) seem to go anywhere with us;
1) Its size is only calculated above.
Now, I think, if the earth does not feel at all in detail, but also in the whole, and that
is our basic condition, a sentient being can unite many absent-minded things, then it
can feel the totality of a point of light coming light rays, due to the reflection by their
sea level, again as divergent from one point, it produces even this divergence, and can
hereby feel the image of this point. From the pictures of all the points of an object,
however, the picture of the whole object itself is composed. Of course, then we do not
have to demand that we, by means of a piece of sea-level, also see into our eyes. The
ocean surface and ocean matter just do not fit into our small ether tension apparatus,
or,
In itself there can not be anything improbable that the virtual coincidence of many
rays in one point 2)just as the real gives the sensation of a visible point, since the soul
in general has the property of contracting a multiplicity of material effects in the
sensation, as, moreover, with every simple sound and sensation of light many
physical vibrations are psychically united. Also, in our objective optical apparatuses,
it is immaterial to the appearance of the picture whether the coincidence of the rays
therein is virtual or real; and thus one can well imagine that the double possibility
dependent on this corresponds to the objective development of an image, an equal
double possibility of subjective creation. Nature is otherwise accustomed to
exploiting in the organisms the multiplicity of their physical principles.
2) Virtual is the coincidence of the rays, as long as the rays do not really coincide, but only backwards behind
the mirror, as in the case of our plane mirrors. Concave mirrors can give images where the rays really meet.
Of course, not the virtual, but only the actual coincidence of the rays in one point
could be perceived as an image by means of our retina. But our retina, too, is not a
mirror, but a surface that dissipates the light, and in a completely different relation to
the optical apparatus than the surface of the sea, which allows no pure comparison
with it. If, by the way, we can not actually say that we are here, the retina feels, for
without the connection with the whole it feels nothing, so of course we will be able to
say the less the ocean surface feels; it serves only, in a different way of combining as
our retina, the sensation of a being who is generally sensitive. The seemingly violent
view, however, that the surface of the sea contributes to the sensation
At the same time I do not want to reduce the difficulties which lie in the fact that
we are still completely in the dark about the material conditions which the sensation
demands as a basis; so long as they are not resolved, an exact science can not respond
to the view here set forth, which is based on other aspects than those which fall
within its field; But just as little, even before she herself has solved this darkness, can
she say something to refute it. For them there is still a field of indeterminate and yet
undefinable possibilities. Anyone who is premature in the opposite sense, proves only
that he does not know what is important in this question.
Recognizing this insecurity, which still adheres to our view from an exact point of
view, I confess that for me something of subjectively overpowering lies in the
accommodation of the two considerations: first, should the earth, so completely
pointed to life in the sunlight, have no Have eye to look at the source of this light
safely? Secondly, should the immense picture that really arises in the sea from the sun
that it is made to make as a mirror, be in vain? Because to his small reflection in the
water dazzle, it is certainly not there.
The weight of this combining consideration, however, is reinforced by a further
examination of the teleological detail of the earth's optical apparatus.
The great radius of curvature and the size of the convex mirror that the sea presents
give two advantages at the same time, which we also achieve by enlarging the mirrors
or objectives in our telescopes, once to enlarge the image itself, so that more
particularities become distinguishable second, to make it brighter, so that they are
more clearly recognized. It is undisputed that the earth is thus enabled to recognize
the surface of the sun and its neighboring planets with comparatively great clarity, as
we see the face of a man facing us; though not with such great clarity, as she can
recognize her own surface by means of her earthly eyes; the fixed stars, which appear
to us only as points at the highest magnification may light-disks spread for the earth,
as the sun appears to us; but without allowing a view of their particularities, for
which the earth's level is not yet high enough.
Even the finer devices of our optical apparatus are repeated in the earth, and
probably with increased perfection; or, conversely, in our eyes the finer devices of the
optical apparatus of the earth are repeated. The density of the lens in our eyes
increases from outside to inside, so it is with the lens of the atmosphere as well. The
curved meanings in our eye deviate somewhat from the spherical shape to the
elliptical (and parabolic) to diminish the vagueness dependent on the spherical
aberration; just as the sea and the atmosphere deviate from the spherical to the
elliptical, with different elliptical curvature. It would be interesting to calculate the
optical effect of these circumstances more precisely. Although the atmosphere and the
sea serve other than optical purposes, it can not be asserted that everything is
calculated precisely and specifically just for the optical purpose, but rather that it is
possible that in the conflict of purposes the optical has something here and there have
to give in. But we have found so many other things, that the earth, through its
institutions on the whole and in the great, knows how to fulfill all sorts of purposes at
the same time and in the most perfect way, and to solve conflicts that exist among our
little institutions, that we would find it improbable, if there were a significant conflict
between different purposes. that in the conflict of the purposes the optical here and
there something had to yield. But we have found so many other things, that the earth,
through its institutions on the whole and in the great, knows how to fulfill all sorts of
purposes at the same time and in the most perfect way, and to solve conflicts that
exist among our little institutions, that we would find it improbable, if there were a
significant conflict between different purposes. that in the conflict of the purposes the
optical here and there something had to yield. But we have found so many other
things, that the earth, through its institutions on the whole and in the great, knows
how to fulfill all sorts of purposes at the same time and in the most perfect way, and
to solve conflicts that exist among our little institutions, that we would find it
improbable, if there were a significant conflict between different purposes.
It is not a matter of indifference that the atmosphere gradually runs thin. For if the
atmosphere were confined with a dense layer, its reflective effect would, by the same
principle, create and perceive an image, as through the surface of the sea, and one
image would disturb the other. The fact that the sea beats, and thus is not smooth, like
a mirror, has nothing to say in its size . The small imperfections of our most perfect
mirrors are undoubtedly comparatively very considerable to those which arise on the
surface of the sea through the waves.
Our eye communicates with a brain and every fiber of the retina is connected to a brain
fiber. This enables us not only to look, but also to consider what we have seen. Where then is that
considered, what is looked in the great pictures of the stars of the earth? Nothing seems to be there
because we ourselves see the sun image in the water as small and washed out as we see the sun
directly, or rather just can not look at it. So we can not count on anything in this relationship. But
otherwise we have already found the whole upper space of the earth comparable to a brain, which,
going beyond the human brains, serves the purpose of linking itself, while at the same time
occupying it; there are the rays that reflect the sea, and will intervene in the general life and
weaving of what exists in air and ether, and a higher spiritual life than we can grasp in this
world. When we speak of the hereafter, it will be shown how we can hope to intervene in it one day,
and thus lifted to a higher level than to take part in the higher conscious life and heavenly
intercourse of the earth. It is obvious, of course, that such considerations can only be hints which
have meaning for the context of our views. Nor do I ignore the fact that there is still much darkness
left in this field. just as we may hope to intervene one day, and thus lifted to a higher level than now
to take part in the higher conscious life and heavenly intercourse of the earth. It is obvious, of
course, that such considerations can only be hints which have meaning for the context of our
views. Nor do I ignore the fact that there is still much darkness left in this field. just as we may hope
to intervene one day, and thus lifted to a higher level than now to take part in the higher conscious
life and heavenly intercourse of the earth. It is obvious, of course, that such considerations can only
be hints which have meaning for the context of our views. Nor do I ignore the fact that there is still
much darkness left in this field.
Apart from the essential optical apparatus of the earth, which is given in sea and
atmosphere, we must notice the similarity which the whole earth has at all with one
eye; and if the earth is a heavenly creature, destined to live in the light of light, why
should not it have a body shaped accordingly, which is all that our body is only full of
a passing part, what is it but imperfect?
In fact, one can say that the earth is more eye than our eye itself. Just as our
skeleton is all but half and imperfect, what the skeleton of the earth is fully and
entirely, it is with our eye and the earth as eye. It would be a miracle if she could not
see, because everything is so wonderfully set up for the service of seeing her. Also,
our eye therefore needed to be only half what the earth is whole, because it even has
the whole earth in support as our skeleton has that of the earth. But it would be
indispensable, just this support, to see this help for our eyes in the earth, to keep their
optical devices only as a supplement for our eyes, because our eyes are in every
respectto act only as a supplement for them according to earthly special relations,
only to be able to perform earthly, not heavenly achievements.
Our eye is actually only an eye from the front, to the rear it is blind. Should there
be only such half-blind eyes? The earth, on the other hand, is completely immersed
freely in the ether of light, floating freely there, floating, having grown to nothing, so
that the light flows freely everywhere; and should it flow everywhere for
free? Although our eyes are set around the earth, they see all around; but not to see
the sky from which the light comes, in which it goes.
Our eye is round, but with the roundness of our eye there is still something half-
broken, broken; it is composed of two unequal round parts. Should there be such
broken eyes? The earth is round in one and out of the whole.
Our eye is beautifully adorned with splendor and color, and is most adorned with
splendor and color among all parts of our body; the earth is even more beautiful with
splendor and color; it is decorated all around with splendor and color.
Our eye is endowed with a rolling motion in order to always expediently serve the
earthly objects; the earth is endowed with an even more perfect rolling motion, in
order to always present itself to the heavenly objects, and thus to accomplish even
more perfect things. Indeed, our eye does not quite satisfy itself with its rolling
motion, the rotation of our head, of our body, and finally of the gait of our feet, must
still come to the aid of producing everywhere the necessary position against the
earthly things. But the earth, with its rolling motion, is quite sufficient to always win
the right position against the heavenly things. But since the heavenly external
relations are simpler and more regulated than our earthly ones,
Our eyes sleep half the time and watch half the time; are here also only half, what
the earth completely, which sleeps at the same time from one side and wakes from the
other.
When we want to sleep we pull the eyelid over and lie down on the side or the
back; she prefers to sleep herself as an eyelid by throwing herself around so that the
side of the light passes before the night side.
We have the iris (iris) to limit the entrance of the light even during waking, so that
it does not shine too brightly into the eye; the earth also has an iris which more
deserves the name, these are the clouds; only that she can draw them where and when
they need them; however, our iris can only simply widen and narrow its opening
throughout.
Our eye has a bony hold, being fastened in the eye-socket; the eye of the earth also
has a bony hold, except that with much greater advantage, as we have seen before, it
has inside it.
If we take the earth as an eye on the whole, we see that this eye has basically two
compartments, one of which is preferably intended to serve the view of the sky, the
other the view of the earth; the first being the great but simple surface of the sea, the
latter the land surface with the innumerable but small eyes of the land creatures, over
which the atmosphere is shared by both. but it must not be forgotten that no exclusive
determination takes place on one side or the other. For in the sea also clouds and
ships and objects of the shore are reflected; and live fish with eyes under the
surface; and on the other hand, the land creatures occasionally direct their gaze to the
sky, and of course it turns itself against the horizon; and the sea ' n and ponds of the
country contribute to the image of the sky, what the sea level is. Thus, in our
organism, too, we see many parts besides their main purpose in the interest of other
parts as a side effect.
I will now make a bold hypothesis. She can not be proved; but, if one accepts it,
opens up beautiful views of nature and even suggests a kind of language of the
stars. In doing so, the statement made earlier (vol. I, chapter VI, A) takes account of
the fact that the stars, while facing each other more individually from one side, enter
into more direct communication from another side. What has shown itself externally
in this respect will now also be reflected in the soul-movement after the following
considerations.
I mean, the rays emanating from the sun are still the sun, continuations of it, long
fingers of light, threads of feeling which it extends. Where they stir the earth, they
stimulate activities, changes, they feel the earth; but they also undergo changes (in
rejection, refraction, dispersion, etc.), which feels the sun. Thus the sun and the earth
interact with each other in the most direct manner, in that the sun can do nothing to
the earth without feeling what it is doing again. The rays that fall from the point of
the sun onto the sea level are, so to speak, diverted from the sea level as if diverging
again from a point below the surface of the sea. The earth now feels the point of this
divergence as a picture of the point. But as the earth feels the point of divergence, As
the sun creates it, the sun also senses the point of divergence generated by its rays by
being deflected. Thus, while the earth sees the image of the sun (composed of the
images of the individual points) directly by means of one's own eye, the sun sees its
reflection in the opposite eye of the earth. Not only humans have mirrors, but also
angels, but their mirrors are the eyes of the other angels. Even the human being
reflects himself small in the eye of the opponent. And also the pictures, which the
angels see in the opposite eye, appear to them only small in relation to their own
size. But, why, one asks, do they even appear? Do not they have special little eyes, to
see themselves directly in the Middle? It is true, but you should also see as they
appear to others. In our case, the mirror image that we see in the eye of the other of us
is separate from the retina image with which the other sees us, and both are not
alike. But in the eye of the angel, the mirror image with which he returns his image to
the other is the same that he himself feels. So each angel knows exactly how he
appears to the other.
But as the land gives way to the sea for a relationship in heavenly light, it surpasses
it by another relationship. The land must leave the sea the great pictures of the
stars; but let the sea leave something for the land, which may be more significant for
the earth's traffic with the stars than these pictures.
The land is covered with plant growth, and where the sun is most powerful, it is
also the plant growth. The life-process of the plant depends essentially on the light
and heat of the sun; conversely, the ray of sunshine has the most beautiful and richest
field of activity of its forces in the action on the plant-world. If the plant were not
stirred by the sun's rays, what colored their leaves, what would blossom, what brewed
their fragrance, what showed the butterfly the bee's way to it? Dead and cold, their
material remained lying on the ground; she is already languishing, there is not sun
enough; but the sunbeam, going into the void, would remain idle, colorless,
powerless. In the sea, the sun sees only its cold reflection, deserts and poles offer it an
eternally colorless monotony,
Just as the sun and the earth share the same mirror image that they give together,
presumably both feel it, the earth only as something that absorbs it from the other, the
sun as something that receives it from the other, so will it be What sun and earth in
the alternation of beam and plant give together. What no one can do for himself,
which only arises in their reciprocal exchange, both will feel together and in one, so
that each one feels determined by the other. Every plant senses in a special way that it
is a special being, as it has a part in this traffic, but the earth, which has all produced
from a connection and is still connected, will also feel what everyone encounters, and
not only feel the sum of it, but also the context of it. No less will the sun feel the
connection between the effects it expresses here. Thus each plant may be regarded as
a kind of colorful letter and the whole of the plant world above the earth as a writing
with a meaning around which the sun and the earth understand each other. But it is
not the combination of the plants alone that matters; they form only the main mass,
but not the main words of Scripture; as such, humans and animals, who do not grow
through the sunlight, but move and move under their guidance, walk in it. And that's
even more important for higher pay. around which the sun and the earth understand
each other. But it is not the combination of the plants alone that matters; they form
only the main mass, but not the main words of Scripture; as such, humans and
animals, who do not grow through the sunlight, but move and move under their
guidance, walk in it. And that's even more important for higher pay. around which the
sun and the earth understand each other. But it is not the combination of the plants
alone that matters; they form only the main mass, but not the main words of
Scripture; as such, humans and animals, who do not grow through the sunlight, but
move and move under their guidance, walk in it. And that's even more important for
higher pay.
In the whole living arrangement of the plant, animal and human worlds and their
changes through culture and traffic, a high sense in general reveals itself, of which no
single earthly creature is quite powerful, but the celestial creatures may well like this
arrangement to direct this rain and movement from above and to ground it from
below, and therefore to be able to communicate in the light traffic. It will be like our
language. Not everything we express with language; much remains hidden
inside. And so the stars can not look at each other outwardly, which is hidden within
them. Only something always comes to the surface of it, but which is meaningfully
connected with the inward, so that it can be considered as a temporary external
expression of it.
Of course, if we compare such a movement with writing or language, it is only a
comparison, which, like all such comparisons, partly fails. It is a communication that
is not based upon the image of the spiritual that is to be communicated, but that is
done by means of a related compilation of external sensory signs that convey a
mutual understanding. In so far as this traffic is the same by writing and
language. Otherwise the conditions are very different.
It is undeniable that what the creatures on each world-body think inwardly is far
less fully shared by the analogy of the language between the bodies of the universe
than by the language between the creatures on each world-body itself; how the
spiritual traffic through the language between the creatures on each world-body is
again more imperfect than the intercourse between the thoughts of a creature, but for
this there may be a more direct understanding of more general and higher reciprocal
relationships between the bodies of the world than between us. But all assumptions
about this subject are too uncertain for it to be better to forego further execution. It
was just here to indicate possibilities.
Since the earth has a heavenly to the earthly eyes, or even represents such a thing
on the earthly eyes, it should not have or be a heavenly also to the earthly ears; there
is nothing to hear for the earth in heaven, as there is so much to see for her? Of
course, there is no air between the bodies of the universe that could propagate sound
from one to another. Nevertheless, it is not unthinkable that the Earth will not merely
walk the other stars, but will also hear their step, even if this hearing is not quite
comparable to ours. We just do not want to hear the same device on a large and small
scale again. In any case, we find large oscillations on the earth, caused by the orbit of
the stars. Oscillations, however, are essentially audible; now it does not matter
We know that the oscillations of the sea in ebb and flow are brought about by the
course of the stars. If, of course, the earth were a smooth sphere, so would the tidal
wave they only smoothly circulate, but now the land has risen and the sea pushes
against the country twice in a day and twice back away. This oscillation can be
audible to the earth. Of course, the oscillations are very slow; but it does not prevent
the earth from hearing much deeper sounds than we do. We call it hearing, without
asserting that the sensation is quite like our hearing.
It may be noted that while there is low tide in one place of the earth, at the same
time tide is at the other; in fact all phases of an oscillation occur at the same time on
earth. It must be left to the question, whether the earth can not feel the same size of
the period around the analogy of the pitch, or only a noise arises for it. In any case,
the nature of the impression should somehow change according to the size of the
period. So far as the whole oscillation of the ebb and tide is composed of the
particular oscillations caused by the stars individually, (the strength given by the
moon being predominant), the earth may also distinguish the course of the individual
stars.
We need the intervening of air so we can hear something from another. But with the
heavenly bodies it does not need that. Gravity replaces the tension of air (if ebb and
flow depend on it), distinguishing it only from the fact that it introduces a material
connection of force instead of one air atom to another, from one world atom to
another. As seen through the light, hearing through the heavens propagates through
space, everywhere, where only the appropriate organ is found. For, of course, the
severity is as little audible as the air tension, and as the light is visible. The body she
pulls must push to arouse auditory sensation as the light must bump to awaken facial
sensation. Now it's time to meet facilities that this initiation takes place in orderly and
dependent on the course of the stars way. So now is the land there, that the sea bumps
against it.
Among the various oscillations in which the sea is displaced by the stars, the one
dependent on the moon has by far the preponderance over all others, soon caused by
the sun, then those following through the other planets; imperceptible are those by the
fixed stars. So the earth hears most of the world-body connected with it to the same
system; yes, in a way, it can still be expected of her; soonest from the sun, then from
the other planets; she hears nothing from the other stars, because they belong to a
higher sphere.
If one does not shun a somewhat sought comparison, one can reasonably compare the earth even
in the formal sense of the device with an ear, not only with the most developed, but the simplest
creatures, as well as the similarity of the earth with one eye, preferably with the simpler forms of
the eye takes place. But the simplest facilities are used in the greatest way on earth. Also, both
comparisons do not contradict, because the earth is able to represent the most diverse in itself.
Let's take the auditory organ of a shellfish. It consists of a simple nerve-filled bag or blisters
full of fluid, with a round stone (Otolith) in it. The pebble is constantly in a dancing motion, which
depends on the action of delicate lashes, which sit on the inner wall of the vesicle and, unknown by
whatever force, are in constant flickering motion, whipping the liquid in which the pebble
hovers , In all lower animals the organ of hearing is similarly set up, but in many animals, such as
snails, there are several pebbles instead of one, and they often take on a crystalline character.
Now we see in the earth something similar in appearance. The round or crystalline otolith is
the round solid earth body with its ragged land, the liquid is the sea, the nerve-sheath is the
atmosphere permeated by light and heat. The flicker hair does not need to move the otolith and the
liquid. The otolith is spinning, and towards it the sea turns in the cycle of the flood. On a small
scale, the sea is whipped by the winds.
It would be easy to extend these considerations even further, indeed to make
assumptions concerning the other senses. But the past is enough in the uncertainty of
the object, and probably more than enough to give an idea as it might possibly be in
the higher sensory sphere. We repeat, these considerations should not be
authoritative; but they are meant to indicate the direction in which the point of view
of contemplation should be raised and widened when it comes to ascend from the
conditions which apply to our sensory life to the relations of the superior beings. In
any case, an increase and expansion is necessary here; a lunatic but also slightly
possible for us subordinate beings; we like it modestly.
XVIII. Appendix to the ninth section.
Accessories over the step structure of the world.

If there are many gradations of the creatures in the neighborly sense of the higher
to the lower, then it may be well to think that there are many gradations in that other
of the higher to the lower. 1) There is nothing to scare at God's and the world's
greatness . The division of the divine universe is certainly not only broad, but also in
depth from top to bottom.
1) In this appendix I use the expressions higher and lower, upper and lower always in the sense of the
distinction of Bd. I. Chap. X.
Now, as the next step above our earth, our solar system is easily self-evident. On
the one hand, viewed from above, on the other hand, it may seem less bound in itself,
but more fused with the whole world than our body or the earth. On closer inspection,
however, we find it different.
On the first, all movements of the planets depend on each other and on the intuition
of the sun through mutual determination; all special conditions no less. And more like
the earth would like to make a stone of itself, for example, about a volcano ejected
beyond its sphere of attraction, as the solar system a planet. The bond that ties all its
bodies together is unbreakable. Only that, although more solid than the connection of
the hardest stone, it nevertheless allows a greater freedom of inner movements than
the loosest ligaments of our body.
On the other hand, in a broader sense, all the movements and purposive conditions
of our solar system are connected with those of the whole world, because in a broader
sense everything in the world is connected in work and purpose; but if men are
further apart than the limbs of every human being, the solar systems have again
moved inexorably farther apart than the planets-indeed, so far that the distances
between the planets among each other are vanishingly small. All the effects of one
system on the other are perceptible only as if from one point to another, whereas in
each solar system the individual bodies also express individually perceptible effects
on each other. All the bodies of our solar system go in the same direction about the
same with respect to them all, the unchanging center around which even the sun itself
rolls, only in the narrowest circle; but the centers of the various solar systems revolve
around a higher center again. All the planets of the same solar system are like siblings
to each other, but only to be regarded as cousins to the planets of another solar
system, and only the entire solar systems again like siblings in an upper sphere to
each other.
In fact, according to the most probable cosmogonic conceptions, all the planets of
our system are valid only for the birth of the same great sphere of matter, of which
the sun is still the mother-stock, and are still bound to this mother-stock by the bond
of forces. The great body of the sun stands, as it were, to the planets born of it, which
encircles it, in similar proportions as the earth to the men and animals born of it, and
only narrower orbits. Of course, the sun is not so directly connected by continuity
with the planets as the earth is by its creatures, but the material connection is less
important than the connection in ends, forces, and motion; In the first place, we are
basically only connected to the earth through the force of gravity. If the power of
gravity were lost, the centrifugal force would throw us as well off the earth as the
planets would from the sun. And the further up on the ladder a being stands, the freer,
the more loose become the constituents, members of the same. The earth is already
above us in this respect, since we and the animals are loosely attached to it as our
members to us; then the solar system again above the earth, because the planets are
looser attached to the sun than we are to the earth; but such a lottery does not mean
more being; on the contrary, a member can more easily separate from our bodies than
we can from the earth; and in the same circumstances it would be even more difficult
for a planet to break away from our solar system. The band of forces becomes much
firmer the higher the sphere is. The centrifugal force would throw us off the earth as
well as the planets would from the sun. And the further up on the ladder a being
stands, the freer, the more loose become the constituents, members of the same. The
earth is already above us in this respect, since we and the animals are loosely attached
to it as our members to us; then the solar system again above the earth, because the
planets are looser attached to the sun than we are to the earth; but such a lottery does
not mean more being; on the contrary, a member can more easily separate from our
bodies than we can from the earth; and in the same circumstances it would be even
more difficult for a planet to break away from our solar system. The band of forces
becomes much firmer the higher the sphere is. The centrifugal force would throw us
off the earth as well as the planets would from the sun. And the further up on the
ladder a being stands, the freer, the more loose become the constituents, members of
the same. The earth is already above us in this respect, since we and the animals are
loosely attached to it as our members to us; then the solar system again above the
earth, because the planets are looser attached to the sun than we are to the earth; but
such a lottery does not mean more being; on the contrary, a member can more easily
separate from our bodies than we can from the earth; and in the same circumstances it
would be even more difficult for a planet to break away from our solar system. The
band of forces becomes much firmer the higher the sphere is. the freer, the more
loose become the components, the members of the same. The earth is already above
us in this respect, since we and the animals are loosely attached to it as our members
to us; then the solar system again above the earth, because the planets are looser
attached to the sun than we are to the earth; but such a lottery does not mean more
being; on the contrary, a member can more easily separate from our bodies than we
can from the earth; and in the same circumstances it would be even more difficult for
a planet to break away from our solar system. The band of forces becomes much
firmer the higher the sphere is. the freer, the more loose become the components, the
members of the same. The earth is already above us in this respect, since we and the
animals are loosely attached to it as our members to us; then the solar system again
above the earth, because the planets are looser attached to the sun than we are to the
earth; but such a lottery does not mean more being; on the contrary, a member can
more easily separate from our bodies than we can from the earth; and in the same
circumstances it would be even more difficult for a planet to break away from our
solar system. The band of forces becomes much firmer the higher the sphere is. then
the solar system again above the earth, because the planets are looser attached to the
sun than we are to the earth; but such a lottery does not mean more being; on the
contrary, a member can more easily separate from our bodies than we can from the
earth; and in the same circumstances it would be even more difficult for a planet to
break away from our solar system. The band of forces becomes much firmer the
higher the sphere is. then the solar system again above the earth, because the planets
are looser attached to the sun than we are to the earth; but such a lottery does not
mean more being; on the contrary, a member can more easily separate from our
bodies than we can from the earth; and in the same circumstances it would be even
more difficult for a planet to break away from our solar system. The band of forces
becomes much firmer the higher the sphere is.
We see that we have a double comparison in which we can compare the planets in
the sun soon with limbs of the trunk of our body, sometimes with animals on the
earth. In a way it is only one and the same comparison, because we can compare the
animals on the earth ourselves with members of the tribe of a body, only that of
course none of these comparisons can quite hold, by the superordination of the solar
system over the earthly system brings as new conditions as the superordination of the
earthly system over our physical system, which can not be found in the subordinate
systems again. But such comparisons can always be explanatory from a certain
perspective.
In the sense of the first comparison, we will be able to say that the sun moves the
planets as their limbs in wide circles, or more correctly, the solar system does so,
since the moving force belongs to the totality of the system, in which the sun is the
center only as the main stem as well as the moving power of our body must be
ascribed to its totality, not merely to its main stem. But much more is true of the solar
system than of our earthly system, and of us that it has in itself the means of
satisfying its purposes; Therefore, the movements of his limbs do not serve too long,
but in the altered positions of these limbs lie even the means of satisfying inner
ends. This is an important point where comparison with our limbs no longer
holds. Another is that the motions of the planets are not subject to such random
volatility. From these points of view, the circle of the planets seems more like the
inner cycles to which our most important phenomena of life are linked; but even this
comparison would not hold back from the other side. Thus, similarities can only be
carried out to a certain extent everywhere.
From the point of view of the other comparison, the planets appear as creatures of
different kinds of life, who as inhabitants of the solar system strive to satisfy their
own purposes by their outward movements around a central main mass in a similar
manner to humans and animals as inhabitants and parts of the earthly system, though
for a firmer legalism than the creatures of our earth.
Now it may seem strange to the first sight that while the terrestrial system carries
such an innumerable number of animals and plants as separate creatures, the much
larger solar system includes so few individual creatures, especially since a viewpoint
of increase here seems to fail which we clearly see expressed in the relationship of
the earthly system to our own physical system. For how much more individual nature
does the earth have in its human beings, animals, and plants than we have in our
limbs?
But the existence of the planets does not exclude the possibility that besides these
giant members of the solar fuselage, which are projected far into the sky, these large
birds, which fly around the sunbeam in wide circles, are also surrounded by more
closely, individual physical beings produced by it. is planted in a plant-like manner,
but which we can not individually distinguish because of their small size, their
greater oppression, and their sinking in the sunshine; it would be rather strange if it
were not so. To these nearer sun-creatures, then, the planets would have to be
considered only in relation to distant first-born siblings or neighbors, which did not
prevent them from being exceedingly different from them, just as the creatures of our
earthly system are themselves very different from each other, some much firmer,
some much more loose connected with the central mass of the earth, some much
larger, some much smaller, some much more rounded, some much more irregular in
shape, some of much higher and richer, some of much lesser and more poorly gifted,
following some much more instinctive instincts, some much more enjoying a higher
freedom. All the freedom of external communication that we miss between the
planets, even though they emerge in each planet itself, can exist so well between
those nearer sun creatures than between the creatures more closely connected with
our earth, as well as in our bodies the freedom of movements distributed differently
among the different members. some much firmer, some much more loosely connected
with the central mass of the earth, some much larger, some much smaller, some much
more rounded, some much more irregular in shape, some much higher and richer,
some much lesser and more poorly endowed, some much following more instincts,
some enjoying much more freedom. All the freedom of external communication that
we miss between the planets, even though they emerge in each planet itself, can exist
so well between those nearer sun creatures than between the creatures more closely
connected with our earth, as well as in our bodies the freedom of movements
distributed differently among the different members. some much firmer, some much
more loosely connected with the central mass of the earth, some much larger, some
much smaller, some much more rounded, some much more irregular in shape, some
much higher and richer, some much lesser and more poorly endowed, some much
following more instincts, some enjoying much more freedom. All the freedom of
external communication that we miss between the planets, even though they emerge
in each planet itself, can exist so well between those nearer sun creatures than
between the creatures more closely connected with our earth, as well as in our bodies
the freedom of movements distributed differently among the different members. some
much smaller, some much more rounded, some much more irregular in form, some of
much higher and richer, some of much lesser and more poorly endowed, following
some much more instinctive instincts, some much more enjoying a higher
freedom. All the freedom of external communication that we miss between the
planets, even though they emerge in each planet itself, can exist so well between
those nearer sun creatures than between the creatures more closely connected with
our earth, as well as in our bodies the freedom of movements distributed differently
among the different members. some much smaller, some much more rounded, some
much more irregular in form, some of much higher and richer, some of much lesser
and more poorly endowed, following some much more instinctive instincts, some
much more enjoying a higher freedom. All the freedom of external communication
that we miss between the planets, even though they emerge in each planet itself, can
exist so well between those nearer sun creatures than between the creatures more
closely connected with our earth, as well as in our bodies the freedom of movements
distributed differently among the different members. following some much more
instinctive instincts, some enjoying much more of a higher freedom. All the freedom
of external communication that we miss between the planets, even though they
emerge in each planet itself, can exist so well between those nearer sun creatures than
between the creatures more closely connected with our earth, as well as in our bodies
the freedom of movements distributed differently among the different
members. following some much more instinctive instincts, some enjoying much more
of a higher freedom. All the freedom of external communication that we miss
between the planets, even though they emerge in each planet itself, can exist so well
between those nearer sun creatures than between the creatures more closely
connected with our earth, as well as in our bodies the freedom of movements
distributed differently among the different members.
The nearer sun creatures may in some ways outstep the planet, in some
respects. They may be proportionately unfolded creatures, as they are in their
smallness; they will scarcely be divided into creatures as special as the planets; rather,
be more like the creatures of these planets; but the planets, each of them having
satellites themselves, are more like the whole solar system, whose larger parts they
form. The nearer sun creatures, on the other hand, may enjoy certain advantages and
advantages through their proximity to each other and to the central body; they live in
closer and more manifold social relations on the same, yes the sun is like a hive of the
same, while the planets live more lonely, because everyone carries a society in
itself, but in which no individual may bring it as high as a sun-creature can bring; In
one sense, only one planet as a whole is superior to a single sun-creature, which seeks
to compensate for the relative inner poverty through an outward wealth of
life. Finally, however, the nearer sun creatures always remain siblings of the planets
whose creatures we are only.
Perhaps the sun's process of light is related to the life process of the beings on their
surface; It is probable that the central solar body is dark in itself. Perhaps they are
self-luminous, as we ourselves are warm; There are individual self-luminaries even
on earth. Then the light traffic of the sun with the planets would be only a traffic of
the smaller closer with the larger more distant solar beings; as even the beings on the
Sun will undoubtedly use their light to communicate with each other. But these are
just thoughts.
In any case, according to the above considerations, the sun can not really be
contrasted with our earth as a single equal-stage creature, but either only as a
collection of equal-level creatures and their parent stock, or even better placed above
them as a creature of upper degree, in such a way that the earth and to count the other
planets themselves as members. The sun, conceived as a body without the planets,
would be like a mutilated body cut off the largest moving and sentient limbs.
Consistently with these considerations, the moon would behave to the earth as the
planets to the sun. The Moon is just born out of the earthly system and still circles the
earth, but by making the rotation spin around its own axis in the rotation around the
earth, the top center, always turning the same side towards it, the earth as creature
already upper stage keeps its rotation about its own axis independent of the course
around the sun, the moon however, its member, always with the same side attached to
itself, as at us a member always with the same side adheres to the body. It can also be
considered, in the sense of the other comparison, that, as man and every animal, when
going round the earth, always turn the same surface of the sole against the earth and
never turn itself upside down, this also applies to the moon , the, how high he goes
above the earth, but still in the rank of earthly creatures, in some respects higher, in
others lower than us. His highest creature, if he still bears special creatures, will be
lower than the highest creature on the earth's surface, but in the end can have no
actual independence in the sense of our earthly creatures (as the moon seems
uninhabited) he is on the whole in a sense a higher being than we are.
Many things could still be suspected. But it is better not to pursue this subject
further. After all, let us concede that here difficulties arise in a way analogous to
those which we find in the contemplation of the lowest creatures. Should we look at a
polyp trunk with many polyp flowers as an animal, or as a collection of many
animals? He is probably one and the other, like the solar system. But it will be
difficult to form a proper idea of such conditions that are quite different from those of
our own bodies and our own souls. Despite this difficulty, no one doubts that the
polyps are living beings with soul. And so the same difficulty may recur in the realm
of the upper beings in a much higher sense; but how could we be mistaken in the
upper ones, which is not wrong with the lower ones? The touch of the extremes may
also apply here?
Only the general foresight is permitted: that, assuming now that our solar system
belongs to a larger star system, which deals with the whole of the Milky Way, here
we would have to look for the system which is closest to our solar system; you
wanted to try to go further.
XIX. Appendix to the eleventh section.
A. Practical argument for the existence of God

and a future life.
Argumentum a consensu boni et veri.
To the theoretical arguments for the existence of God and the future life (Bd. IS
chapter XI.B) I attach here a practical, to which I would like to give the
name Argumentum a consensu boni et veri ; since the truth of faith is derived here
from its goodness according to the general principle of the agreement of good and
truth. Far-reaching discussions can be made on this principle and its dependent proof
of the validity of the highest ideas; but here I content myself with a short exposition
of the main moments.
l) Any erroneous or deficient premise proves to be such as to be perceived as being
detrimental to the influence that it has on our thinking, to feeling and to action, or to
demolishing human happiness by giving us involved in disgusting moods and wrong
actions, which partly accompany or lead with direct discomfort, dissatisfaction, partly
later discomfort; on the other hand, the truth of a presupposition proves itself by the
opposite of all this. This sentence proves itself all the more, the greater influence
error or truth gains on our feeling, thinking, acting, on a larger perimeter of people
and the longer duration it extends, while an error without considerable intervention in
our remaining feeling, thinking . Acting for a small circle of people and for a short
time can be satisfying and useful. But it now becomes clear that the belief in God and
immortality, apart from the theoretical satisfaction which he is able to carry with him,
also entails the greater, more important, and more far-reaching advantages, while
unbelief carries disadvantages for humanity and individual human beings the further
and deeper this belief or unbelief decisively intervenes in the mind and the action of
men, and stretches out in ever greater circumference and for ever longer
duration; Where does it come from, that unbelief can not sustain itself in the long run
in a large circle? So the belief that God and immortality exist carries the mark of truth
in itself. But it now becomes clear that the belief in God and immortality, apart from
the theoretical satisfaction which he is able to carry with him, also entails the greater,
more important, and more far-reaching advantages, while unbelief carries
disadvantages for humanity and individual human beings the further and deeper this
belief or unbelief decisively intervenes in the mind and the action of men, and
stretches out in ever greater circumference and for ever longer duration; Where does
it come from, that unbelief can not sustain itself in the long run in a large circle? So
the belief that God and immortality exist carries the mark of truth in itself. But it now
becomes clear that the belief in God and immortality, apart from the theoretical
satisfaction which he is able to carry with him, also entails the greater, more
important, and more far-reaching advantages, while unbelief carries disadvantages for
humanity and individual human beings the further and deeper this belief or unbelief
decisively intervenes in the mind and the action of men, and stretches out in ever
greater circumference and for ever longer duration; Where does it come from, that
unbelief can not sustain itself in the long run in a large circle? So the belief that God
and immortality exist carries the mark of truth in itself. but also for all the greater,
more important and far-reaching advantages, but unbelief carries disadvantages for
humanity and individual human beings, the further and deeper this belief or unbelief
decisively intervenes in the mind and action of men, and in ever greater
circumcisions and ever longer ones Duration he stretches out; Where does it come
from, that unbelief can not sustain itself in the long run in a large circle? So the belief
that God and immortality exist carries the mark of truth in itself. but also for all the
greater, more important and far-reaching advantages, but unbelief carries
disadvantages for humanity and individual human beings, the further and deeper this
belief or unbelief decisively intervenes in the mind and action of men, and in ever
greater circumcisions and ever longer ones Duration he stretches out; Where does it
come from, that unbelief can not sustain itself in the long run in a large circle? So the
belief that God and immortality exist carries the mark of truth in itself. the further and
deeper this belief or unbelief decisively intervenes in the mind and action of men, and
stretches out in ever greater circumference and for ever longer duration; Where does
it come from, that unbelief can not sustain itself in the long run in a large circle? So
the belief that God and immortality exist carries the mark of truth in itself. the further
and deeper this belief or unbelief decisively intervenes in the mind and action of men,
and stretches out in ever greater circumference and for ever longer duration; Where
does it come from, that unbelief can not sustain itself in the long run in a large
circle? So the belief that God and immortality exist carries the mark of truth in itself.
Even parents and rulers who do not believe in God and immortality generally consider it useful
for their children and subjects to be educated in this faith, so much does the salvific value of this
belief be felt; nor will it be denied that the salvation of it increases with the spread and
intensification of the influence which it gains on the feelings, thoughts, and actions of men. And
even if this is only the case with a certain organization of this belief, then at least such a shaping of
it is possible, which then (according to No. 2) will be regarded as the right one.
2) The closer formation of this belief then comes under the same principle:
Provided that a design or side of the formation of the faith in God and immortality
contributes all the more to the happiness of humanity, the more, the longer, and in
ever further circumference it contributes Influence on the feeling, thinking, acting
gains, so this design or side of the formation of the faith is to be regarded as true, in
the contrary as false or deficient, so that after all only the faith can be regarded as the
truest, which of humanity after the whole the most salutary of relationships.
3) Insofar as the best for man has to be considered, which is human satisfaction,
happiness, not only for individual relations, for a short time, for individual factions,
but on all sides of the human being, for the totality of humanity indefinite duration, in
view of all consequences, most secure and to promote, the previously established
truest faith at the same time can be called the best, and will be able to be inferred
from the goodness of the faith on its truth. I call this the conclusion of a practical
principle.
The conclusion of a practical principle is preceded by the inference of the theoretical principle,
which takes as its basis the agreement of faith in itself and with the actual nature of things. The
practical principle judges the truth of faith according to the conformity to the purposes, the
theoretical to the conformity to the reasons of being and happening
In itself, the practical principle can be used just as well for the construction of the faith as the
theoretical one, except that it is generally just as difficult to judge the goodness of the faith from the
most general, highest, last points of view as the incontinence of the same with itself and the actual
nature of things. Therefore, a combined application of both principles is the most pertinent, and
since (according to Nos. 4 and 5) both principles have worked from the beginning to the formation
of the faith, the consideration of the historical of the faith acquires a meaning which no individual
can escape should; as the individual reason itself reaches its height only on the basis of the
historical basis of the faith, and is more easily mistaken as far as it goes further from it.
4) From time immemorial, the practical argument, borrowed from the goodness of
faith, has consciously and unconsciously worked to create, preserve, and shape the
belief in God and immortality, and continues to do so, not alone but at the same time
with theoretical reasons and because of an indigenous feeling. Even Christ's teaching
could only be used as a healing and salvific place. In the process it can happen and
often happens that faith assumes partly for the temporal advantage of individual,
partly irretrievable views of what pervades the whole, partly of apparent conflict with
theoretical grounds, erroneous and thus unfavorable forms of humanity; but not in
that lies the error that men sought to establish him to their advantage,
5) Our principle hereby gives us in a coherence clarity as to why there is still so
much lack of the right formation of the faith, and to gain the certain prospect that we
will approach it indefinitely. Humans begin by having particular interests and by
believing that the belief they have created is best. But as the benefits of truth and the
disadvantages of falsity continue to seize time and space, they are increasingly and
more difficult for all individuals who have true or false beliefs, and attach those in the
right knowledge, and bring them back from the wrong, so that ultimately only the
faith can be left, which links all individual interests best and most perfectly to a
general interest.
6) Our principle allows us to respect something as belonging to the nature of
religion, the essentiality of which is often challenged in recent times, the firmness,
security, and unity of all in a common faith, whereas many more modern ones want
everyone to make his religion as possible have to cope according to his special
needs. For, according to our principle, the truth of faith proves practically in the sense
that its salubriousness grows the more people and the more solidly and intimately
they are permeated by it. A faith that merely held on to, served or seemed to serve
individual or individual factions of humanity, but which, if accepted by all mankind,
could not prove the same, would prove that it was not the truest, and it would always
prove that his advantage, even for the individual, was not true and lasting. Not,
therefore, is faith in the needs of the individual, but the need of the individual is
(through education, one's own and others) to be adapted to a belief which is capable
of satisfying the needs of all in the context of the most; and if the unity in a best faith
has not yet been achieved, then it must always be presented as an ideal destination.
From this point of view, general measures which direct religious education in a common good
direction are not only not reprehensible, but are grounded in the nature of the true religion
itself. Yes, there is a great blessing in the most possible union of all in a given faith, even apart from
its particular content, only its general foundations are good. The danger which the people run, if in
common education in the once historically founded faith certain errors are put into the purchase,
which do not affect the foundations of the good, is unspeakably less than if it gave the discord of
views price and on its own Criticism of the faith is instructed, to which according to the nature of
things very few can be qualified and called. Then it runs the risk to err in the most important things,
to lose the foundations of the good itself, and at least forfeit the blessing of agreement. But in view
of the fact that the historical basis can not yet be regarded as absolutely valid in every detail, it must
also be left to everyone, on the basis of education, which has become in its sense, the truest and best
in his To seek a way without being justified in introducing his views into public education. The
profession of a reformer can only come from God at all. But this difficult object so rich in
considerations and counter-reflections can not be completely settled here at all. But in view of the
fact that the historical basis can not yet be regarded as absolutely valid in every detail, it must also
be left to everyone, on the basis of education, which has become in its sense, the truest and best in
his To seek a way without being justified in introducing his views into public education. The
considerations and counter-reflections can not be completely settled here at all. But in view of the
fact that the historical basis can not yet be regarded as absolutely valid in every detail, it must also
be left to everyone, on the basis of education, which has become in its sense, the truest and best in
his To seek a way without being justified in introducing his views into public education. The
considerations and counter-reflections can not be completely settled here at all. which he has
become in the same sense as to seek the most true and best in his own way, without there being any
justification for introducing his views into public education without further ado. The profession of a
reformer can only come from God at all. But this difficult object so rich in considerations and
counter-reflections can not be completely settled here at all. which he has become in the same sense
as to seek the most true and best in his own way, without there being any justification for
introducing his views into public education without further ado. The profession of a reformer can
only come from God at all. But this difficult object so rich in considerations and counter-reflections
can not be completely settled here at all.
7) From the point of view of our principle, the development and shaping of
religious ideas is placed in the most harmonious and practical connection with the
condemnation of morality and of life, because the tendencies of morality and of life
proceed to assert and promote it what is most salutary and most beneficial to
humanity; but the ideas of God and immortality, according to the design which they
accept by our principle, themselves appear as the most powerful aids to the fruitful
shaping of life, because the very point of their formation is precisely to establish what
is valid in them as what of the highest point of view must have the most general most
thoroughly beneficial influence on the entire human.
8) Our argument is based in the first place on a most general basic relation, which
is at once inherent in the innermost nature of things and the ultimate essence of the
spirit and has always been accorded a divine dignity, that of truth and good, and at the
same time leaves that relation itself most practical aspects stand out.
At the same time, however, it is based on the broadest basis of experience, provided
that in the last instance man can only experience what serves him or satisfies him
through his consequences. Indeed, the whole connection of good and truth in the
sense indicated could only be found by the most generalization of experience.
9) One can relate the previous argument to the following or to the following.
We would not need faith in God and immortality if God and immortality were
not; For if man has made the faith in God because he needs him, he has not made the
fact that he needs the faith in God for his prosperity, and accordingly is compelled to
do it by the need. The production of this belief by man must therefore be grounded in
the same real nature of things which man himself has created with his needs. Partly, it
would be to put an absurdity in the nature of things, partly it runs counter to
experience, as far as it can be done, that nature would have arranged man to thrive
only by believing in something that was not.
B. Addition to the supreme law of the world and its relation to freedom. 1)
The supreme law of the world, what we Bd. I. Ch. XI.B is set up, tacitly recognized
tacitly and factually applied and therefore is nothing new in itself. However, the
fundamental importance that it holds for its universality and conceptual self-
evidentness for the whole realm of real existence does not yet seem to me to be
adequately appreciated. This is followed by a few more discussions, partly on the
extension, partly on the closer execution of the former employees. However, I do not
return to the details of the relation of the law to the existence of the divine
spirit; since the earlier discussions dealt with this preferentially.
1) The following is essentially a treatise in the reports of the KS Ges. Of the Wiss. (math.-phys. class) to
Leipzig from 1849, pp. 98 ff. But the treatment of the question of freedom has taken a somewhat different turn
here.
In the realm of material as well as spiritual events we distinguish many laws; in

that z. These include gravity, magnetic, electrical, chemical attraction, persistence,
the coexistence of small vibrations, etc .; in this, that of association, of habituation, of
the combination of pleasure and instinct, etc. Many special laws can be subordinated
to a more general one; all the particular laws of attraction, more generally, that the
masses strive to move in the straight line connecting them, and all the laws of
attraction and rejection at the same time to the more general law of interaction, that
the masses in the direction of their line of connection have in general the same
quantities of motion strive to change their distance. The laws of association,
habituation, etc
It is easy to see that the difference in the laws of events is as much related to the
differences of circumstances for which they are valid as to the differences of
successes determined by them. The law of gravitation differs from the law of
cohesion, insofar as it refers to appreciable distances of the particles, that of their
proximity to contact; these are different circumstances, with which also a different
success is connected; and the different law determines just the success that differs
according to the different circumstances or the relationship between the
two. Corresponding with the laws in the spiritual. More general laws of events are
therefore not only those which formally form a larger circle of laws, but also, because
they are related, such which in reality comprehend a greater circle of circumstances
and successes between which they establish the relationship; and the question of
whether there is a most general law of events, will therefore automatically be at once
the same, whether there is a law, which all possible laws and all possible
circumstances and all possible successes, which can occur in the area of the
happening, deals with itself.
We have laid down such a law in the proposition: If and wherever the same
circumstances recur, and whatever these circumstances may be, the same successes
will return, but under different circumstances other successes will return.
Basically, this is the self-understood concept of a formal and real most general law
for the event. For if, somewhere and someday, something could happen differently
than the other time under the same circumstances, that very case would come out of
the general lawfulness which is demanded, and it would not really exist as such. If,
however, the same consequence could have other causes than the other, lawlessness
would exist in the opposite direction within this possibility.
In order to leave no doubt as to the meaning of the expressions, I may understand
once and for all, under certain circumstances, all determinable determinations of
material and spiritual existence in space and time 2) ; only the absolute place in space
and time in time can not be considered one Circumstance, a determination of
existence, since he obtains his determinateness only through what exists therein. The
use of the word circumstance seems expedient inasmuch as in our law the nature of
every event is related to the nature of that which surrounds it in time and space. In so
far as circumstances lead to a success in the sense of our law, we call them reasons of
success.
2) Cf. above the Nearer Bd. I, Chap. XI.B. Note.
One could raise the objection that our law is illusory from the outset, since for
every event the totality of circumstances in time and space is considered to be
essential, and thus there is no question of a repetition of the same in time and space as
reasons for the event could be. But then there could be no question of any laws of
events, since such presupposes the possible repetition of the cases and their
circumstances. Law is only what allows repeated use. In every law of events,
therefore, we must suppose the possibility of abstracting from distant in space and
time in favor of the nearer or the farther they lie. Whether this supposition is really
permissible, coincides with the experiential probation of our law itself, which we are
about to talk to, because only with reference to this condition can the probation be
possible and have meaning. In the case of their validity, however, under the guidance
of our law itself, pure success for isolated circumstances can be found. We can not
really cut off two world bodies from the action of the rest of the worlds bodies, but
find how they would really behave without this cooperation, watching what happens
the more they move away from the others.
But the mere conceivability of our law does not yet include its reality or actual
validity, as long as the opposite is conceivable. In fact, nothing prevents one from
thinking that at different times or in different places the same circumstances lead to a
different success, and that the same success may depend on different
circumstances; that z. For example, if two world bodies of definite given mass and
distance today so and tomorrow attract, or draw here, repel at another place in the
sky; that two people or the same person could act differently under the same external
and internal conditions. Now that the thinkability decides neither here nor there for
the reality, it is necessary to look in the experience.
Now it is to be admitted that quite pure experiences can not be made, because
according to all relations exactly neither the same circumstances nor successes recur
in any larger or smaller spatial or temporal orbits; but they often return
approximately, and in the widest variety of circumstances it is always possible to find
consistent points of view, for which purpose the correspondence can also be sought in
the consequences. And so it can be said that, as far as the experience permits, we can
only confirm that general law. That first and foremost in the realm of the corporeal,
the same circumstances always carry the same results, is the basis on which
astronomy, physics, physiology are based. Although it may seem conversely, the
same success may depend on various reasons. A string can z. For example, if they
have the same tone, they may be painted, struck, plucked, or even vibrated in the
most varied ways; but we will always find ourselves alone: First of all, that these
different reasons have something in common, which causes the common in
success; secondly, that we only neglect the different side of successes depending on
the variety of reasons. How, in our case, the common element that carries the same
tone is the vibration of a string which is always stretched in the same way, but that in
the success, what we neglect, is therein,
Our most general law summarizes the organic and the inorganic in the same way
and in breadth. It is, indeed, only a peculiar though very general case of our most
general law, which I express in the proposition, that in so far as the same
circumstances recur in the organic as in the inorganic, the same successes recur, in so
far as not the same circumstances, not the same successes. Experience, however,
confirms this proposition, as far as it always exists, and hereby at the same time our
law itself by one of its most general cases.
Thus, the eye looks visually according to the laws of the camera obscura , because
and so far the circumstances of its device that of a camera obscuraare; the vocal
organ sounds according to the laws of wind instruments and vibrating bands, because
and as far as the circumstances of its arrangement are the same; the heart acts like a
printing unit, because and as far as it is arranged as such; the limbs act as levers and
pendulums, because and as far as they are arranged as such; and so in all cases. On
the other hand, the organic body produces substances which can not be produced in
any retort or crucible, because the body is furnished quite differently from the
latter; In the nervous system, processes take place that are nowhere else to be found,
because there are nowhere else equivalent institutions.
Arriving at the spiritual realm, which, however, never exists without material or
corporeal giving, which therefore always requires sympathy (if one does not
eliminate the contemplation of it through the spiritualistic point of view), we also find
here, in accordance with humanity In the nature of their existing mental constitution
they are more like and similar to other circumstances, and their behavior becomes
more similar, so that at least in experience there is no reason to doubt that two
inwardly, spiritually and bodily equal constituted human beings under very similar
external causes always behave the same way. What certain theories of freedom might
find objectionable to this sentence, which in a certain way seems self-evident, does
not affect us here. where we first pay attention to the experiential point of view. On
the other hand, one may argue that he is idle, because an absolute equality of all
internal and external circumstances for two people does not occur at all, and
indisputably can not occur to nature in substance; Equality always takes place only
after certain relationships. But since there are greater or fewer approaches to this
case, it is nevertheless necessary to present it as an ideal borderline case; and that it
never fully realizes itself to us as the basis of considerations whereby the interest of
freedom can not be satisfied in spite of our law, but by virtue of it. because an
absolute equality of all internal and external circumstances for two people does not
occur at all and indisputably can not occur in nature of the thing; Equality always
takes place only after certain relationships. But since there are greater or fewer
approaches to this case, it is nevertheless necessary to present it as an ideal borderline
case; and that it never fully realizes itself to us as the basis of considerations whereby
the interest of freedom can not be satisfied in spite of our law, but by virtue of
it. because an absolute equality of all internal and external circumstances for two
people does not occur at all and indisputably can not occur in nature of the
thing; Equality always takes place only after certain relationships. But since there are
greater or fewer approaches to this case, it is nevertheless necessary to present it as an
ideal borderline case; and that it never fully realizes itself to us as the basis of
considerations whereby the interest of freedom can not be satisfied in spite of our
law, but by virtue of it. to present it as an ideal borderline case; and that it never fully
realizes itself to us as the basis of considerations whereby the interest of freedom can
not be satisfied in spite of our law, but by virtue of it. to present it as an ideal
borderline case; and that it never fully realizes itself to us as the basis of
considerations whereby the interest of freedom can not be satisfied in spite of our
law, but by virtue of it.
If all the prescriptions of our law could be obtained only under the presupposition,
and serve again as confirmation of the presupposition, "that the farther they are from
further in space and time, the more remote they are," the This does not mean, nor is it
justified, that really the reasons remote from time and space have no influence on the
success, it may only be felt in a longer sequence and a larger perimeter of the
event. All the prescriptions and applications of the law may be only approximate
under the not improbable presupposition that it is so, because we can never take into
account the totality of conditioned circumstances, and accordingly can not find the
full result of success; but in part this approximation could be equivalent for our
practical interests of accuracy, and in part the law does not lose its binding power and
usability, so that it can only be applied to approximations, if only they are
possible. We would then be all the more correct about the success, the more we
considered the wider range of conditions, and the less we followed the
consequences; If we wanted to go further, we would have to broaden our view of the
circle of conditions in time and space. This restriction, once under that condition, is in
our finitude, and we should not hide it, but we should be clear about it. in part, the
law does not lose its binding force and usability, that it can only be applied to
approximations, if only such are possible. We would then be all the more correct
about the success, the more we considered the wider range of conditions, and the less
we followed the consequences; If we wanted to go further, we would have to broaden
our view of the circle of conditions in time and space. This restriction, once under
that condition, is in our finitude, and we should not hide it, but we should be clear
about it. in part, the law does not lose its binding force and usability, that it can only
be applied to approximations, if only such are possible. We would then be all the
more correct about the success, the more we considered the wider range of
conditions, and the less we followed the consequences; If we wanted to go further, we
would have to broaden our view of the circle of conditions in time and space. This
restriction, once under that condition, is in our finitude, and we should not hide it, but
we should be clear about it. and the less we followed the consequences; If we wanted
to go further, we would have to broaden our view of the circle of conditions in time
and space. This restriction, once under that condition, is in our finitude, and we
should not hide it, but we should be clear about it. and the less we followed the
consequences; If we wanted to go further, we would have to broaden our view of the
circle of conditions in time and space. This restriction, once under that condition, is in
our finitude, and we should not hide it, but we should be clear about it.
This does not exclude the investigation, but rather demands to what extent given
circumstances noticeably affect the expanse of space and time; but this special
investigation occupies us all the less as the whole condition first requires special
examination. However, empirical science does not yet seem to provide me with
sufficient data for the secure and sharp general answering of the questions that hover
over here. In the realm of space, it is generally assumed that the effectiveness of the
forces has no limits, but it defines forces which decrease very rapidly with
distance. Different in time. It might be considered possible that the totality of the
present circumstances is in any case sufficient to determine future success, as far as it
can be predicted at all, without it being necessary, To look for the reasons that go
back in time, provided that every present in itself has the means to produce the next
present, and so on into the indeterminate; but everything that has been former has
transferred its effects to the present in such a way that basically everything of the
former is taken into account as a reason, taking into account the present. However,
this is a question which still demands its investigations, considering that the present
itself is a fluid one, and neither the state of acceleration of a body nor the state of a
soul can be adequately characterized by a moment. but everything that has been
former has transferred its effects to the present in such a way that basically
everything of the former is taken into account as a reason, taking into account the
present. However, this is a question which still demands its investigations,
considering that the present itself is a fluid one, and neither the state of acceleration
of a body nor the state of a soul can be adequately characterized by a moment. but
everything that has been former has transferred its effects to the present in such a way
that basically everything of the former is taken into account as a reason, taking into
account the present. However, this is a question which still demands its
investigations, considering that the present itself is a fluid one, and neither the state of
acceleration of a body nor the state of a soul can be adequately characterized by a
moment.
According to the investigations of W. Weber, the state of acceleration, especially in the
movements of the unpredictable, is peculiarly important.
Let us now make a few general observations of our law, those already employed, in
part recapitulating, and in some cases carrying out further relations.
1) Our law is the most general causal law; for reason and consequence refer to each
other only according to this law; and are called only reason and consequence, as long
as they refer to each other afterwards.
2) Insofar as different successes always depend on different circumstances, the
general principle for its particularity lies in this side of our supreme law, and, if one
makes forces as mediators of success, the principle for the specialization of the
powers, as those only by their law can be characterized. Since every particular
circumstance or complex of circumstances, when repeated, always carries the same
particular success or complex of successes, one can always draw up a special law and
a special force for this kind of success. In such a way, laws and powers can be
specialized down to the smallest detail, and in fact there has never been a limit to this
relationship. But as far as the various particular circumstances are related in
continuity or subordinate to more general ones, it also applies to the various laws and
forces. Usually we do not particularly distinguish only the most peculiar laws, and we
do not know the most general ones sufficiently to speak of them or to introduce them
into consideration. We distinguish z. For example, do not consider the laws of
attraction for any other distance and ratio of masses, but consider them only united
under the general law of gravitation; we do not sufficiently know the general laws
under which the phenomena of light and magnetism unite, and regard these
phenomena only under the laws which are especially valid for them. It also applies to
the various laws and forces. Usually we do not particularly distinguish only the most
peculiar laws, and we do not know the most general ones sufficiently to speak of
them or to introduce them into consideration. We distinguish z. For example, do not
consider the laws of attraction for any other distance and ratio of masses, but consider
them only united under the general law of gravitation; we do not sufficiently know
the general laws under which the phenomena of light and magnetism unite, and
regard these phenomena only under the laws which are especially valid for them. It
also applies to the various laws and forces. Usually we do not particularly distinguish
only the most peculiar laws, and we do not know the most general ones sufficiently to
speak of them or to introduce them into consideration. We distinguish z. For example,
do not consider the laws of attraction for any other distance and ratio of masses, but
consider them only united under the general law of gravitation; we do not sufficiently
know the general laws under which the phenomena of light and magnetism unite, and
regard these phenomena only under the laws which are especially valid for them. to
talk about it or introduce it to consideration. We distinguish z. For example, do not
regard these phenomena only under the laws which are especially valid for them. to
talk about it or introduce it to consideration. We distinguish z. For example, do not
regard these phenomena only under the laws which are especially valid for them.
Of course, with this conception the not uncommon notion can not exist, as if the
various forces were independently existing, really separate entities, which are able to
control the successes without being controlled by them themselves. Rather, as the
circumstances under which the forces change, the forces do not change conceptually,
but in reality, while they are always understood to be under the general law which
governs the circumstances before and after the change, and herewith the change itself
included. Gravity, by its own action, can be transformed into cohesion by bringing
the particles close to the touch from a considerable distance; but undoubtedly a more
general law seizes gravitation and cohesion as special cases,
When substances which in the outer world are still in the inorganic world because
of inorganic conditions, they enter into the organism, then a new alien force-force
does not pass to it, which causes the new successes that are manifested, but the
organic and Inorganic arrangements are both only special cases of the generally
possible material arrangements, for which also general laws must be valid, in which it
is founded, how the phenomena change, if substances enter from one to the other
arrangements. The formation of the crystal in the brine and the formation of the
chicken in the egg take place under the influence of very different forces; but this
does not hinder the existence of a law which determines, as in the various material
circumstances, which are in the brine, and which in the incubated egg, the material
successes of education in both must be different; which more general law
characterizes a more general material formative power, of which the organic and
inorganic are only special cases.
In this way, all the dividing walls that one likes to set between different forces fall
without the distinctions that can be made any further than one is used to doing.
The disconcerting and confused dispute as to how far the laws of the inorganic are
transferable to the organic, and that the organic may be considered in accordance with
the laws of the inorganic, is clarified and settled here by one, albeit very general, but
nevertheless sufficiently authoritative for exact research aspects.
It is only in so far as other laws are valid for the organic than the inorganic process,
as the circumstances, the institutions on which the event depends, are both
others. Now it can be argued whether the differences of the organic and inorganic
device are based on a fundamental difference between the two, or on what ultimate
grounds they are traceable. But the exact researcher, no matter how much he may
care for this conflict in the philosophical interest, can, on the basis of our law,
completely dispense with the consideration of it in the course of his research. In any
case, he may look at and treat the organic according to the rules found valid in the
inorganic, as far as he finds corresponding, or according to rules, which prove
himself in the sense of our law, in circumstances traceable to it, as the examples given
above prove themselves; He must seek new rules for new circumstances, which can
not be reduced to them, just as well as when he encounters new circumstances which
can not be attributed to the former in the inorganic, and must then seek further, the
new rules with the old ones as much as possible under more general rules to unite; It
is no different from what he was accustomed to doing for himself in the domain of
the inorganic.
The distinction between the organic and the inorganic, the exaggeration, if you will,
of the former over the latter, therefore no longer means anything before the authority
of our most general law, which itself takes over this distinction and rises above this
exaltation. The character of the organic can produce particular results only to the
extent that it carries with it special circumstances or means of conditioning them; and
he certainly does that many times and himself lies in his conception. But not in every
respect does he do it, and as far as it does not, he can not cause any new successes
against the inorganic. But the other side of the matter is just as certain; in so far as it
is the case, it must also cause new consequences; and the study of the new laws for
these new circumstances is thus not cut off, but demanded. It is only necessary to
really relate these new laws to the new circumstances, not, as is so often the case, to
consider the question of this relationship altogether eliminated by the general concept
of the organic.
Perhaps one tries to stifle the guiding principle of this guiding principle by the
following objection: It is possible to observe the equality of the material
circumstances between the organic and the inorganic; but in the organic also an ideal
principle, let us call it the soul, life-principle, purposive principle, which does not fall
into the observation of the naturalist, and yet participate in the successes; The
circumstances may therefore seem to be the same externally in the organic and the
inorganic, but they can not really be the same in view of the idealistic factor that is
taking place. In any case, the transfer of rules from the inorganic to the organic,
according to observed apparent equality of circumstances, becomes inadmissible. In
any case, experiences of the above kind show that just as it is with the difference of
the ideal between the two, so far as only the material circumstances are the same in
both, the material successes remain the same in both, so that the presupposable
difference of the ideal between the two can not in any way change the conclusions
which can be drawn from the equality or inequality of the material circumstances
with reference to material success. The reason that this is so is easy to find in our
general views on the relationship of body and mind. which can be drawn from the
equality or inequality of material circumstances, with reference to material
success. The reason that this is so is easy to find in our general views on the
relationship of body and mind. which can be drawn from the equality or inequality of
material circumstances, with reference to material success. The reason that this is so
is easy to find in our general views on the relationship of body and mind.
4) The conclusions of experience, induction and analogy, gain a generalization and
principled certainty and certainty in recognition of our law, in which they are usually
not grasped.
For induction, it is generally necessary to foot on repeated experiences. According
to our law, a single experience is perfectly sufficient to guarantee the recurrence of
success in the same circumstances for all time and establish a sure law upon it, and
the repetition of experience is only necessary, partly for the uncertainty and
distraction of our sensuous To provide a remedy, partly to abstract from the individual
cases more general laws for the general or elementary, which are common to several
cases. By analogy, one usually concludes indefinitely: Similar causes will give
similar results; but it wonders how far similar? According to our law, one will
definitely conclude: in so far as the reasons are the same, the results will be equal; as
far as the reasons are not the same, the successes will not be the same. In this way the
unequalness of the cases is rendered as useful to the conclusion as the same. Most
errors of experience are due to a lack of consistent distinction and adherence to this
dual view, and the frequency of such fallacies has been due to the fact that one
usually associates with the conclusions of experience only a precarious certainty
against the so-called reason-conclusions which rest upon the principle of
contradiction. In the meantime, the conclusions of experience have, in principle, a
certainty which equals that of our supreme law itself, which has an analogous
meaning for the real field, as does the proposition of contradiction for the
conceptual; insofar as the real realm no more tolerates a contradiction with what has
been posited, just as the realm of reason does; only that, of course, our law as a law
for experience, even its most general proof, can principally seek only in the most
general experience. Of course, errors in the application of the conclusions of
experience can be as little attributed to the principle of the same as logical errors to
the reason conclusions.
Let us now note that reasonings without the use of empirical conclusions, rather
than being valid for reality, can mean nothing at all. For I can conclude that all men
are mortal, Caius is a human, so Caius is mortal; but that all men are mortal is itself
first a matter of induction and analogy, without which the whole conclusion would be
built in the void. It can be asserted, then, that every certainty of the conclusion in the
real sphere depends on the certainty and safe application of our most general law.
The chief difficulty of valid conclusions of experience lies in the fact that in
complicated processes, and all processes are more or less complicated, they are not
immediately illuminated, and what they refer to each other as a cause and
consequence in particular. If new complicated experiences occur which do not fully
coincide with the previous ones, and later experiences do not coincide with previous
ones, they will always have something similar and something unequal with them,
then the sequence which belongs to the first complex of reasons can not transferred
completely to the second; but at first it remains indeterminate, what are the
consequences of the same, what are the consequences of the unequal. However, a
single experience can never be used to assess the following experiences. At the same
time you can see How this depends on the principle of exact inquiry, to ascertain the
laws for the general and elemental of phenomena from repeated experiences under
changed circumstances and with the greatest possible isolation of special
circumstances. Our supreme law can spare nothing of this work, but merely put it in
the most general terms.
5) Insofar as our law is valid, we can assume a completely unbreakable legality
prevailing throughout the whole of nature and the spirit world, just as it is in the
interest of our theoretical research, as well as in the properly understood practical
interest, without neglecting liberty. Because as Bd. IS ch. XI.B, our law, though
binding on all space and all time, on all matter and mind, still leaves an
indetermination by its very nature, yes, the greatest that can be imagined. For it
certainly says that, in so far as the same circumstances recur, the same result must
return, if not; but there is nothing in his expression, which is the nature of the first
success even in any places for any circumstances, nor the nature of the entry of the
first circumstances themselves somehow determined. In this relation everything was
free from the beginning according to the law; and everything is still free, as far as old
circumstances are not repeated, which they never completely do.
If we apply this in particular to the freedom of man, it will be said:
Every human being, viewed from the spiritual and physical point of view,
represents a special set of circumstances, set in a special way in the general
composition of circumstances, which probably returns from a certain side here and
there, but nowhere completely, and thinks and acts Accordingly, also according to his
own legal position, which is interlinked from its inner and irrepressible world
position, into a dependent, bound and freedom, in a nowhere quite so recurring
manner that constitutes its individual character, that is, that it is bound to think in the
same way and to act like others, sharing with them the same pre-existing
circumstances of his interior and world position, which can and will be the case of a
thousand different sides;but with its freedom it always reaches out from other sides,
so that even the particular can not quite be the same between him and others.
Since every new human being has already passed the whole development history of
humanity, he is, of course, subject to all his already developed legality; but he can
always himself contribute new moments to the development of the same with
freedom, which become decisive for the future. Also, from a general point of view, it
can be regarded as the determination of the individual not to dissolve again that
which has already been gained by humanity, but to develop it further.
In the manifold expressions which the concept of freedom can assume (see addition
1 below), however, it can not be expected that freedom, as it appears in accordance
with our principle, will correspond in the same way to all the expressions of this
concept, which is rather impossible , If you set z. For example, a free will of the kind
that it arises, groundless, out of nothing; Thus the notion of freedom dependent on
our principle does not correspond to this idea. Everything that is free, and hence the
freest will in existence, has hereafter related to it the reasons by which he grows out
of the former; only what direction he will take in consequence of these reasons
remains indeterminate and indeterminable, as far as he is free. Is one also seeking
freedom in the very will, so this close version does not correspond to the concepts of
freedom that depend on our principle; at least there is nothing in our concepts of
freedom, which limits it to the will, although it can apply to it. In any case, our
concept of freedom is one that does not exceed the fluctuating field of common
concepts of freedom; and our view of freedom seems to be an indeterministic one
insofar as everything does not seem necessarily predetermined from the outset, as it
does after determinism, although it rather deviates from the prevailing indeterministic
views. In any case, our concept of freedom is one that does not exceed the fluctuating
field of common concepts of freedom; and our view of freedom seems to be an
indeterministic one insofar as everything does not seem necessarily predetermined
from the outset, as it does after determinism, although it rather deviates from the
prevailing indeterministic views. In any case, our concept of freedom is one that does
not exceed the fluctuating field of common concepts of freedom; and our view of
freedom seems to be an indeterministic one insofar as everything does not seem
necessarily predetermined from the outset, as it does after determinism, although it
rather deviates from the prevailing indeterministic views.
Addition l. About the varied use of the concept of freedom. According to some, doing is based
on inner reasons, on self-determination, without external coercion, in general as free action; where
then, of course, the planetary system, which determines itself purely by itself in its movements,
would have to be named freely in the exercise of these movements. From this point of view, one
even identifies freedom with inner necessity; if one considers self-determination to be a self-
determination that is in the nature of the free subject and necessarily expressed according to the
nature of the subject. On the other hand, freedom requires the absence of all, be it internal or
external, coercion, in extreme views the absence of reasons in general. Other times it is only the
absence of internal or external obstacles to doing, what one calls for the freedom of doing, but in
itself would not be excluded that this action was due to internal or external necessitive
reasons. Soon it is an indefinable possibility of various modes of doing, which is counted as
freedom; but this indeterminate possibility may relate in part to each individual case, partly to the
whole realm of action in connection with it, partly to an objective which takes place in itself, if
there are no reasons for the decision, partly a subjective one, if only they are not Let us assess what
makes different turns of the concept of freedom possible and real. In a narrower sense, the category
of the spiritual is drawn to freedom, only mental beings are called free, although self-determination,
the question of the necessity of the event, In this general definition of freedom, in which some are
content, there is no reason for limitation to the spiritual, and one speaks of free movements of the
body as well. The above fluctuations in the general definition of freedom now also affect the
freedom of the spiritual or soul-endowed beings, and new ones are added. In a broader sense, not
only man and animals are judged to be free to do, and he thinks they have a distinguishing feature
of the plants assumed to be innocent: but in a narrower sense freedom is only added to creatures
which have a will or a conscious choice but it remains questionable where will and choice actually
begins. The existence of the will as well as the ability to choose still leaves the question of whether
the will or the decision in the election arises with or without necessary determination; which is the
main point of contention between the determinists and indeterminists. Depending on whether one
considers the will absolutely, irrespective of the nature of its formation, or an indeterminist will to
freedom, then the application of the concept of freedom may again be very different. It is also
possible to demand for freedom, apart from the will, the ability to carry out the will. Also, someone
with all will is called unfree, if he is unable to resist his lusts, free only to those who subordinate his
will to the will of God or to a general moral maxim. Further distinction is made between higher,
lower, outer, inner, absolute, relative, physical, moral, legal freedom, etc. In ordinary life there is a
great confusion between these different versions of the concept of freedom; and one can say that it
is more augmented than diminished by its scientific treatment.
Again, it is not the intention to clarify this matter, much less to attempt to establish a definite
definition of the concept of freedom as the only permissible and universally valid one, since one
would try in vain to do violence to the freedom of the usage of language by some restriction. It is
only in relation to our fundamental law that we make freedom in a certain way, as it has been shown
to be self-explanatory by the explanation of this law, not to discuss the word, the concept of
freedom, which one may need in different contexts, but rather to make factual considerations about
the predictability or non-predictability of the event.
Addition 2.About the contrast of the deterministic and indeterministic view. In general, the
deterministic view asserts a continuous necessity of all happenings, without it being so different in
the spiritual, moral, volition, and thinking as in the physical, the object of natural science; the laws
may be different, more difficult and perceptible; but the need is the same. Everywhere, for whatever
reason, there is a need to follow what is happening, and everywhere there is only one way of
success, determined by the nature of the reasons just given; These reasons are again determined by
their retrograde reasons, and so indefinite. Is the constitution of the interior and exterior given to a
person, and are the external circumstances given to him, so everything is eternally given to him, for
by these reasons all consequences necessarily develop into the indefinite. If a man believes that he
is free to act, he is simply unaware of the necessary reasons.
The indeterministic view, as opposed to the deterministic, denies this universal necessity, without
being able to deny or desire that there is an area or a side of necessity in the world. Its essence lies
in the fact that it does not keep everything necessarily determined on all sides, like the deterministic
one. But it can take on a different form, depending on whether it seeks freedom as the absence or
opposite of the necessity, here and there, in a broader or narrower sphere, and even more closely
determines it in one way or another. According to the prevailing views, freedom in a narrower sense
is not confined to the spiritual realm, but is found here also, in particular, in the sphere of the will,
or at least in the will, the most exquisite manifestation of freedom. 2) In the will there is a principle
which breaks through the barriers of necessity, is sublime above it, and modifies, by its action, what
is otherwise necessary. The will is determined by no internal or external necessitive reasons that it
just takes the direction we see it accepting; but his decision in this or that direction, especially in
moral terms, for good or evil, comes into being, indeterminable by everything else, purely out of
himself. He brings the reasons for the decision out of himself. Neither the preceding nor the
accompanying has any influence on their nature. Not conditioning and upbringing make man good
or evil, but in spite of being conditioned and educated, one's own will makes one good or bad, one
will, which is not itself determined by conditioning and education. What conditioning and education
can have the most effect is to determine only the field and the form in which the good or bad will-
determinations will unfold. Although external motives may encourage the will to decide, the nature
of the decision remains his own, without being bound by anything to decide one way or the
other. But indeterminism of the newer version generally admits that the freedom of the human will
is subject to self-restraint, as long as it determines more and more to a persistent direction through
earlier decisions. The more he has already decided in a certain direction, the more the tendency to
decide in the same direction increases; thus the character and the inclination of man arise. Only a
result of earlier free self-determination of the will is what constitutes the dominant interest of
man; hence faulty inclinations are the guilt of man. But even this determination is never
complete. Some, to explain the innate of affection, speak of decisions of will even before birth in a
being of which we have no knowledge.
2)Without asserting that the following account accurately reflects the meaning
of all indeterministic views, it is likely to highlight the essence of most, and is
in particular consistent with the view advanced by Miiller in his Doctrine of
Sin Th. II.
As you know, the determinist explains the indeterminist's freedom for
appearance. His objections will also be able to turn against our conception of
freedom, only in a different form than against the usual indeterministic conception. I
find the decision of the dispute difficult at all; in the past it was attached to a pure
determinism, but the clinging of an indeterministic element of freedom in the sense
we are discussing not only justifies itself to me, but also to combine it with the
advantages of a well-founded determinism in an advantageous manner. We will now
say something about this from a theoretical point of view in order to (c.) Take up the
subject again from a practical point of view.
According to our account, something is only predetermined and predictable to the
extent that it results from a repetition of previous circumstances; Insofar as new
circumstances occur, there is indefinability of success. Success can come one way or
the other, except that it does not agree with what has already happened in a certain
way elsewhere or earlier for other reasons. By the way, he is free. So far as the
indeterminacy of success, as far as it takes place, lies in the nature of things, that is,
of the supreme law governing all things, all events, it can be said that the mode of
success in itself is not necessarily this or that. For all new reasons, circumstances, as
far as they are really new, something follows, for which there is no principle of
determination that such must occur in the world. Another sense would be the
expression that something is not necessarily meant to be inferior at all. In the course
of world evolution, however, circumstances occur which, if not new in all respects,
nevertheless have a side of the new, and herein lies our realm of freedom, which is
never separated from the field of necessity.
But now the determinist can here think to find the appearance and deny that
something new is actually occurring in the world. He may point out that, at any rate,
much of what we are simply inclined to call new circumstances or new
circumstances, is only such a combination or alteration of old circumstances, that the
new successes come as special cases under old rules already won ; The success of an
innovation can often be calculated by a proportionality or composition covered by old
laws or, more generally, by a function of the past. And the possibility of this is
grounded in the generality of our law, for by virtue of which it will have to apply not
only to the individual, but also to the general of the cases, and provided, in a certain
space,
Thus, with regard to the arrangement of its masses, our planetary system will never
again return to the constitution which it had at any moment in eternity; but,
notwithstanding, all its motion in eternity is completely determined by rules which
are based entirely on what has already existed. Finally, all the circumstances that
matter in the success here are reduced to quantities of masses, distances, velocities,
directions, compositions, and ratios of all this; and how the causes are composed, the
consequences are put together; experience itself has proved that it is the case, and at
the same time has taught us the rules of calculating the composition of the
consequences according to the composition of the causes.
In the sense of the determinist, it will now be necessary to generalize, to say, what
we notice in the planetary system, to say that all we call new circumstances or new in
the circumstances are such compositions and modifications that can be calculated
according to rules which, if not already found out of the past, but can be found out of
it. From the beginning all are given the basic conditions that matter, and so given that
no new determination can occur in the course of time.
This view is apparent, but only in so far as an example is chosen as the outcome of
the contemplation and is proposed for its generalization, which of course belongs to a
field of necessity that can not be denied, but the justification of its generalization does
not automatically follow carries.
In fact, for the determinist, the reduction of the new to old circumstances by the
rules of proportion and composition, or even as a function of the simple, is far from
successful, and there is little chance that it will ever succeed completely. As we arrive
at the spiritual realm, the simplest laws, which apply to the simplest conditions, reach
nowhere, by composition and by proportion or in any use, to cover also that which
belongs to the entanglement of these relations as a whole. What will arise of spiritual
relations and developments from the meeting of three people is so little fully
calculable from what arises from the meeting of each two, as the impression of a
chord, a melody can not be found from the individual intervals. There is something in
the whole compilation, which becomes unpredictably different with every other
compilation.
But as it is in the spiritual, it is also in the material basis of the spiritual. With the
principles that are sufficient in the case of gravity, one does not suffice everywhere in
the body world. In the past, however, naturalists were more inclined than ever to
assume that everything in nature, as in the effect of gravity, could be traced back to
the composition of the effects of elementary forces between one particle and another,
and with the laws of these forces and composition its effects are given the principle of
calculating everything that happens in nature. But it has turned out that this is not the
case. In the organic it is almost obvious that this principle is not sufficient. Nor is
there any need for the fundamental effects to depend only on the relationship of two
particles everywhere. Why can not there be those where three, where four, where all
parts of a system contribute to the basic effect? So it seems to be really the case with
the organic molecular effects. In any case, the assumption that such an effect does not
occur in the void is proved by the fact that in the field of the unpredictable, which
nevertheless intervenes everywhere in the weighable and plays an important role in
the organic itself, such events certainly occur. It has been shown here (in the field of
electrical, galvanic, magnetic motion) that not only the particular success, but also the
general law of success in the action of two particles is altered by the action of other
particles in a manner for which no one has hitherto Principle of certain calculation is
given. The connection to the whole has an influence, which can not be determined
from the composition of any particulars. We are still not quite sure how far such
effects are and what their basic nature is; can therefore not expect further information
about it from science; but it is certain that such effects exist. In the realm of the
chemical, the molecular in general, there are effects which appear to belong here; It
may be questioned whether they, as well as those in the organic sphere, do not depend
on the intervention of the unpredictable in the weighable. It is further important, then,
that through the imponderable ether in the heavenly space, which is not only
contained between all the world bodies, but also permeates and interacts with
everything that can be weighed, the whole world is linked to a whole,
Compare this to a passage in W. Weber's "Electrodynamic Measurements" (Essays of the
Jablonowski Society, 1846, p. 376). He says, "After this, this force (which two electric particles
exert on each other) depends on the size of the masses. From their distance, from their relative
speed, and finally, from that relative acceleration which accrues to them partly because of the
continuation of the movement already existing in them, partly because of the forces acting on them
by other bodies.
It seems to follow from this that the direct interaction of two electric masses is not dependent
exclusively on these masses themselves and their relations to each other, but also on the presence of
third bodies. Now it is known that Berzelius has already suspected such a dependence of the direct
interaction of two bodies on the presence of a third, and has designated the resulting forces by the
name of the catalytic. If we use this name, it can be said that the electrical phenomena are partly due
to catalytic forces.
However, this demonstration of catalytic forces for electricity is not a severe consequence of
the found basic laws of physics. It would only be if it were necessary to combine the idea with this
basic law, that only those forces would be determined by this which exerted direct electrical masses
on each other. However, it can also be thought that the forces understood by the found fundamental
laws are in part also such forces which indirectly exert two electrical masses on each other, and
which, therefore, first of the mediating medium, and furthermore of all bodies, which rest on this
medium act, have to depend. It can easily happen that such mediate forces, when the mediating
medium eludes our consideration, appear as catalytic forces, although they are not. , , , The idea of
the existence of such a mediating medium is already present in the idea of the widespread electrical
neutral fluid. "
To this Weber does not dispute that the widespread electric neutral medium "coincides with
the ether, which diffuses and propagates light vibrations".
If we are based on the presupposition of such a cross-world link, even if it is only
mediated by the unpredictable, which must then be classified by every single
organism, then it is easy to overlook how considerations based on that of inertia,
shock, For all that depends on this connection, they become inapplicable, and how
the necessity, which takes place in the domain of those phenomena, is inextricable to
the domain of that which depends on this connection.
In fact, in the case of inertia, shock, and severity, the only basis for calculation is
the behavior of a body in itself or the effect which two body particles or bodies
express on each other; but the relations of a single body or two bodies to each other
are always repeated in space and time, and so the rule which applies to it is repeated
and generalized, and can be based on it in the calculation. Also cases where the basic
effect depends on the combination of three or more bodies or parts of the body may
be repeated, and a generalization from one case to another and thus a foresight of
success for these other equal cases is possible in principle. But is there a general
linkage of effects, Where the compilation of all parts (even if they are all
unpredictable, but retroactive to the weighable) comes into consideration, such a
compilation can not recur quite so much in other space and time, since the whole
world has nothing in it and always in Further, according to the assumption itself, a
calculation of the total effect of the individual effects and comparison with earlier
states is possible in principle; and therefore something unpredictable remains
here. But of course this unpredictable in the whole also concerns the individual,
which is included in it, and each one differently according to its different position to
the whole, so that, if it itself has the character of an individuality,
Thus our freedom does not appear as singled out from the connection with the
whole, as one so gladly imagines; but justified in reality only by and in this context,
is just as much a part of general freedom as a contribution to it, just as the necessity
we are subject to is only part of and a contribution to the general necessity.
The workings of inertia, shock, and gravity have themselves a background of freedom, are again
the foundation of free activity, and are essentially connected with it, if one calls it free, and whose
origin can not be deduced from any laws as necessary. Neither the first arrangement nor the first
movements in the world can be deduced from the laws of inertia, shock and gravity or any laws as
necessary, not even these laws themselves; but what can be inferred as necessary thereafter requires
itself first of all without calculation and, even if we take into account the most exact astronomical
calculations, in the last instance is only an approximation, which finally has to become non-toxic,
because basically every body is influenced by the sum of all bodies; but we can only take into
account the effect of a limited body world. Now it is just as difficult to think of a limited as an
unlimited world, but the rule of calculating the gravitational effects could, in principle, only be
successful for the former; otherwise, and only after being counted for tens of millions of years,
would it have been raised to the tens of millions of times the maximum power of divergence, not
only in fact, but in principle finally becoming noticeable. And however necessary the bodies of the
world may be to move in heavenly space through gravity and inertia, it is an area of freedom that
moves in them. In accordance with the movements of the celestial bodies and the effects of gravity,
the life and construction of the free creatures also change, and the whole heavy structure of the
cosmic bodies, indeed of the whole world, is only the foundation of this free life, originally
originated with him out of a connexion of action, and thus remains inseparable, as we have so often
explained. The free creatures, on the other hand, are not free in all respects.
However much freedom is exercised in the world, this does not prevent us from calculating
every single individual into the side which is necessary for it, by determining what is
indeterminable by freedom, or as indeterminate (by means of indeterminate coefficients , Limbs,
etc.) or as by experience to introduce into the bill; It is no different from what we have long since
done with all that is indeterminable by our ignorance of the reasons or laws by which they operate.
Compare this with my essay "On the mathematical determinability of organic forms and
processes" in the reports of Leipz. Soz., Mathematics. Phys. Dept., f. 1849, p. 50.
It is not to be mistaken that these reflections on the physical conditions which
underlie freedom may still leave much to be desired, as long as our inadequate
knowledge of these conditions does not permit a sure course of
contemplation. possible that they are still subject to objections; yes, it would be bad
for the doctrine of liberty, if only it could be based on it; but it was merely the
intention to show that, even on the assumption of a fixed connection between the
spiritual and the material, natural science has no right to transfer the necessity, which
abstracts it from certain regions, to the whole of the physical and therefore founded
psychic event while, on the other hand, no view of freedom can deny that there is also
one side of necessity in the world.
In addition to the objective impossibility of calculating all events, there is still a
subjective one. For it is factual and comprehensible that, as conditions become
entangled or ascend to a higher order, as in the sense of the progressive development
of the world as a whole, the calculation of the successes of these complicated
circumstances becomes ever more difficult, an ever-increasing degree of development
of the spirit, even if it is always possible in itself. And indisputably, no being can
compute successes arising out of reasons which are more complicated or of a higher
order than the inner relations of the being itself, but only lower, though we may refer
to the spiritual or corporeal, whatever happens to each other, since a more highly
evolved spiritual is always connected with a more highly developed body. A worm
will never be able to foresee, like a monkey, a monkey never, as a man, a man never,
how God will behave, except for relationships according to which they are adequate
to the higher one; for insofar as the insight of each being is connected with its stage
of development, it can not open up beyond the faculty of it, which has room only at a
higher stage of development.
Thus a man who is still at a lower level of education will never be able to calculate
how he will behave when he has reached a higher one, except for relationships in
which he already confronts the higher one; The reverse is probably more likely that
man, when he reaches a higher level of education, overlooks the motives of his action
on the former lower, though this too never completely. So far as the world is actually
in a progressive development, we must confess that for this reason too there is an
impossibility absolutely in the nature of the thing to calculate in advance all the
successes of the world, in so far as the calculation of what into the later higher
Development would fall, a being of higher degree of development would presuppose
what contradicts itself.
It may indeed be said that, although the knowledge of the future in such a way
always includes an indetermination, it will be possible for the degree of higher
knowledge attained to calculate the necessity of the earlier course of education more
and more backwards. But if we look closer, it seems more valid to say that as we
become more and more educated, we will be enabled more and more to calculate
what is necessary in higher education; at least we will not be able to assert anything
else by experience .
C. On the question of freedom from a practical point of view.
As it has its difficulty, from a theoretical point of view, between the deterministic
and indeterministic view of freedom 3)To make a pure decision is also the case in
practice, while, of course, the decision is very easy if, as is usual, one considers the
most advantageous, the other the most disadvantageous. In the end I declare myself
an indeterministic concept, but with little overweight of the reasons, and so that the
deterministic moment, which every indeterminism has to absorb, (since everyone has
to acknowledge a field of necessity), receives a larger margin without comparison
according to the usual indeterministic views; from other sources, however, the
indeterministic moment is not limited to the sphere of will.
3) See the concept of these views in B of this chapter.
Let us first develop pure determinism under its most advantageous form; which
will be all the less superfluous, as it will continue to show, that we finally have
nothing to give up from this deterministic view, but only to acknowledge that instead
of the whole it covers only one side of the whole.
The drawbacks which are ascribed to determinism in its ordinary form disappear, in
fact, when set up under the more specific definition, and carried out from the point of
view, that the necessary order of the world is at the same time a necessary good in the
sense that everything is individual in it; although considered at times and as an
individual, now and here does not seem good, but when viewed in the whole of time
and space, it finally becomes necessary for the good, and even evil, through the
consequences of evil, is finally determined to be good here and there.
Our determinism, however, does not merely postulate such a world order, but it can
invoke the factual manifestation of the same, provided counteractions against the
good and returns to it appear innumerable in detail, but, on the whole, always manage
a tendency toward the good. This tendency appears more clearly as we raise
ourselves from the individual to the whole (see Vol. I, chapter XI.G); so that we can
conclude what seems to be lacking in its full realization, it is only in such a distance
that we are unable to survey the whole of time and space, but from this we can derive
confidence in the subject , Our lives here, however brief, are enough to overlook the
meaning and course of the world order so far as to ensure us on the whole, there are
good and just goals. Individuals err and sin in many ways, and often evil receives the
reward that the good has earned; but the laws and rules binding humanity, or larger
factions of it, are, though not taken from the danger of error, but on the whole
directed chiefly to the good, the right, and the righteous; and there is an inner need
that drives mankind to perfect it in this direction more and more. The individual
himself, who now sins and errs, is so driven by the consequences of his error and his
sins, which strike back upon him for a short time, to finally come to knowledge and
good, as the one who knows and does right through the inner and outer external
pay, that leads the good and the true with and finally leads to it, is strengthened and
strengthened in it. Even today we see good and bad conscience, divine and human
punishments, threats and promises, exhortations and warnings, praise and blame,
honor and disgrace, which relate to the good and the bad, and always in the direction
of the good pushing and pushing away from evil, the good consequences of the good
and the evil consequences of evil will increase all the more, and repel the author the
more surely and forcefully the longer they have time to grow and develop; yet the
present life often does not suffice for the just completion; and we must not be
surprised if the world order encompasses not only the narrow limits of our present but
of our eternal existence. But everything that is not yet fulfilled and completed in the
present life, we can look for in the following life; in which we can only presuppose a
development of the same plan that we already see expressed in our present
life. Indeed, the fact that here we see a plan, a tendency out of the whole and on the
whole, and yet in detail not perfect and educated, gives us the definite hope of a
future, leaving us the present life as the moment or fragment of a larger one Whole
appear, which progresses to this completion. And it is undeniable that the
deterministic view does not deteriorate in that it not only includes but also demands
the view of a future life. we can search for life in the following life; in which we can
only presuppose a development of the same plan that we already see expressed in our
present life. Indeed, the fact that here we see a plan, a tendency out of the whole and
on the whole, and yet in detail not perfect and educated, gives us the definite hope of
a future, leaving us the present life as the moment or fragment of a larger one Whole
the view of a future life. we can search for life in the following life; in which we can
only presuppose a development of the same plan that we already see expressed in our
present life. Indeed, the fact that here we see a plan, a tendency out of the whole and
on the whole, and yet in detail not perfect and educated, gives us the definite hope of
a future, leaving us the present life as the moment or fragment of a larger one Whole
the view of a future life. which we already see pronounced in our present life. Indeed,
the fact that here we see a plan, a tendency out of the whole and on the whole, and yet
in detail not perfect and educated, gives us the definite hope of a future, leaving us
the present life as the moment or fragment of a larger one Whole appear, which
progresses to this completion. And it is undeniable that the deterministic view does
not deteriorate in that it not only includes but also demands the view of a future
life. which we already see pronounced in our present life. Indeed, the fact that here
we see a plan, a tendency out of the whole and on the whole, and yet in detail not
perfect and educated, gives us the definite hope of a future, leaving us the present life
as the moment or fragment of a larger one Whole appear, which progresses to this
completion. And it is undeniable that the deterministic view does not deteriorate in
that it not only includes but also demands the view of a future life. makes the present
life appear to us as a moment or fragment of a larger whole, which progresses to this
that it not only includes but also demands the view of a future life. makes the present
life appear to us as a moment or fragment of a larger whole, which progresses to this
that it not only includes but also demands the view of a future life.
Let us therefore imagine the law that the longer, the more surely the good or evil
consequences of action are repelled upon the author, and finally repelled more
frequently, the more and longer the action has been expressed in the same direction,
beyond this life, yes Death itself, as a great means of attaining and completing under
new conditions what could not be achieved in this relation under the conditions of the
present-day life, surely the good will finally find his reward, which may even be
shortened here more abundant, the longer he was shortened to him; for the wicked,
however persistent obstinacy, there will finally come a time when the consequences
of his evil will become too powerful for him, he will at last be compelled to divert
him, and in proportion as he diverts,
And so we can be so determined in this version of determinism, which makes man
everywhere necessarily determined, but so determined that the consequences of his
actions themselves become necessary determinants of his salvation, first and for all
temporal cross and suffering, of all present ones Irrigation and tribulation, in general
consolation, that everything must once again turn out to be the best, the good once
more his reward, the evil must find his punishment, and finally forced by penalties of
evil finally to repent and thus for his own salvation must be because this is so
grounded in the general necessity, its eternal and immutable laws. According to this
view, by being rather obdurate, somebody, in a certain sense, comes all the nearer to
the transposition of the good, because the consequences of hardening grow, the more
it grows; and after the necessary course of the world order last overgrow them. So
whoever becomes obstinate may, for a time, become more and more evil, the habit of
sinning himself works, but ultimately comes with the same necessity, only on a
harder path, to the good than he is not hardened, because he is punitive and
redeeming Makes the betting order bigger than the hardening of every single person.
We see z. B. the inordinate. He eats, drinks, and makes himself comfortable, but as
far as he goes beyond his rights, the consequences of his intemperance begin to
prepare, or even to mix with his pleasures, with the tendency to deprive him of his
vices. The overcharging follows discomfort, after repeated repetition disorganization
of health, well of wealth, disregard of others. Many have been converted to
temperance by these consequences, and many have been discouraged from
intemperance by considering them in advance. But not many. Certainly, it is not
possible, according to the institution of the world order that once takes place, on
whose ultimate grounds determinism and indeterminism are equally ignorant, that
this or that impiety is brought to repentance under the conditions of this life; what
drives him to sin is too powerful in him; there must be suffering under which his life
can not endure to force him to improve. Well, they really come in, if he persists in his
indulgence; he dies, takes his unreasonable meaning over to the other world, and now
comes under new conditions, but it will presumably be those which do not abolish the
proliferating consequences of his error, but permit a greater increase of them than
hitherto. At last man can not stand it anymore, there is a point where hell gets too hot
for everyone; where he knows how to help himself better than he gets better, and as
he gets better he also brings with it conditions
Another example:
It is someone who is an egoist who takes everything for granted. Gradually, he
alienates all human beings. One meets him with resignation; one does not want to
have anything to do with him; one fails him love, respect; you do not help him
because he does not help others. He can get into such distress, such misery by it, he
can finally feel so lonely, that he goes into himself, and finally is determined to
change his course of action and thinking. Maybe not. For all that necessarily affects
something, but it does not necessarily succeed immediately to good success. Now
then he will again take his egoism into the other world; the consequences of his
mistake will continue in the other world; the loneliness, or whatever hell hell has for
him, will be so awful for him that his mind is finally forced to another direction. So in
all cases.
If man leads this course of the world order as a necessary right to mind, then he
himself will find a powerful impulse which, in part, averts him from the evil and
partly leads him back to the right path. And so the determinism thus conceived does
not allow us, as one accuses him, to idly face the good final goals or to go limp, but
rather to help determine activity and virtue. After all, if the evil one answers to the
exhortation to improve, what can I do to make me act that way? I act that way,
because I must do so, what can I do against the necessity that drives me, and once
everything has to be well, I do not need to worry about it. But the answer is ready:
well, you act that way because it is so necessary; but it is just as necessary that if you
continue to be inordinate, you get sick, if you continue to be lazy, you become poor,
if you continue to be loveless, you are abandoned and hated, and above all, that all
the consequences of your evil deeds will haunt you in the afterlife. However much
man apologizes to himself and to others with his necessary determination, if he only
believes in the necessity of these consequences at the same time, contemplation of
them will necessarily co-determine him, that he seeks to evade them. But the fact that
the belief in this necessity is awakened to him lies in the necessity of the world order
itself. If I do not say this to him, others will tell him, others will not tell him, then he
will see the consequences for others, and if all this saying and seeing is fruitless, the
impulse of the future consequences will not suffice. To assert the improvement, the
once really occurring consequences themselves will finally suffice. Torment can and
will always rise so high that it compels man to do everything first to get rid of her,
then to avoid everything that might bring her back. The more convinced one in any
way is that the consequences of evil will necessarily strike back at the evil itself and
force it to change, the more it will compel its contemplation to change now. That
someone believes that he is necessarily determined can not abolish the effects of the
necessary determinations, and yet this seems always to be presupposed if one
reproaches determinism on the practical side. Now there are necessary provisions for
the good in the world order, and indeed they are such that even the consideration of
this coercion contributes to coercion. The deterministic belief, properly and
thoroughly conceived, is itself one of the most effective means of coercion for the
good.
If this coercion is to be but a success of one's own human will, no determinability
of the will for good and evil will be recognized by the educating means of the world
order. Only suggestions to decide the good or the bad should be given, but the
decision itself can not be influenced by it; this always comes directly out of the
freedom of the will, which can not be determined by itself, or is preconditioned by
earlier free decisions of the will. The one who has once sinned falls so undoubtedly to
the eternal hell; for the more often he has sinned, the more freedom diminishes to
divert, whereas, according to the deterministic view established earlier, the power of
habituation is also recognized as a determinant moment for evil,
All internal and external means of the world order, whereby human beings in fact
are led to good, are held back by evil, lose their meaning in this version of
indeterminism, as set forth by Miiller, Baader, Fischer, and others. When a wicked
one is exhorted to improve, the consequence of this view is that his free will struggles
and reciprocates, only I determine myself by myself; Whatever you say, there is no
purpose for me in this, that I should take upon myself a motive for good as bad, and if
the most terrible thing you threaten would happen, it would run like water from the
impenetrability of my freedom. True, the will never asserts this consequence; but that
is proof that their principle does not exist in this way.
However, the most urgent exhortations, punishments and sufferings often seem
to pass without a trace of man; he remains stubborn; In other words, a word, a small
occasion, can bring about a total change in the person. And in such cases fans of this
view like to refer. But it is only the same case when we look closer, which is why we
can often put many pounds into a scale without the balance turning to this side, and
another time the hundredth part of a goose is enough; it depends on whether or not
there is much on the opposite balance, the equilibrium is already fairly established or
not. But who will say that the many pounds worked nothing? They certainly help to
bring the finite rash to their side, when it has to be on their side. Punishment and a
sense of conscience should be justified by this view, but rather they glare brightly into
the light of the superfluous. The consequence of a decision of the will to evil should
only ever be that in order to make the decision easier in the same direction in the
future. The retreating force of guilt and punishment finds no possible place here. The
evil will has only consequences, which worsen it more and more, none that could
improve it. Now consider, what one says, that all the bitter cross and suffering, which
God has imposed on man as a result of his sins, should also be in vain to turn man for
the better. Of course, one does not say it. One hides the implication. According to our
above-mentioned version of determinism, punishment and the consciousness of guilt
may be of some use in improving man; After us, we have the evil consequences of
previous evil reasons, which sooner or later will necessarily occur, but which now
also bring with them a necessary success or necessary contribution to the success of
the one-time abolition of these evil reasons. According to this view, it is just the
necessary consequences of evil reasons, for this necessity is not denied, but which
does not bring with it any necessary success for the betterment of these evil reasons,
for the free will remains indeterminable by everything that is not itself and that is
neither guilt nor punishment. Both should be able to accomplish nothing more than
an opportunity to consider the consequences of evil; If, however, they were able to
promote a rash in the direction of the good in this consideration, then it would explain
that what precedes the will and what is outside of the will determines the will itself,
that man is of the past, not in his will Moments, for punishment and guilt do not
depend on his will, and it would only be necessary to strengthen the punishments in
order to strengthen this provision; but that would be quite deterministic; or at least so
far deterministic that one obviously sees that there is nothing left in the remnant that
one wants to save. According to this indeterministic view, it is the weak child, to
whom the chief and heaviest responsibility is charged for his whole future life, indeed
for his eternity. Because the first self-decisions of the child are the most important,
because they become binding for the later. Education is not essential here. The child
is supposed to do his later character himself. If this view wanted to admit an
influence of education on good and evil, it would thereby annul itself. In addition, the
tendency of this view is in fact to present the influence of education at a rather low
level.4 According to this, the best education can change only proportionally external
in man, and that which the accident of his will determines to hell can not wrest from
it. It is always left to the freedom of the will whether he himself wants to accept the
best suggestions, motives for the good, which are presented to him. But if it
does, why choose the best ones? Thus, this view proves its practical uselessness,
since no practical consequence can be given. And it remains a hard task to make the
assertion that in regard to the moral direction of man in later age, nothing matters,
how man as a child has been guided by others, whether he has been accustomed to
obey good commandments, his desires to tame, to submit to the order of human
society, to have been taught religion, or to influence upon him from childhood on
influences of opposite character; and yet this must be indifferent, if, in the first
decisions and, as a consequence, the later dependent on them, lies in the
indeterminable freedom of the will, whether he wants to take on the leadership or
breeding that has become him, or whether he wants to harden it. It is true that some
children are more stubborn than another; but a no less difficult task is to uphold the
assertion that the child, by his first volitional decisions, hardened himself; that the
different innate temperament which already shows itself in the child, when it is in
diapers, does not contribute to the determination of his later volitional tendencies. It
contradicts this view so much not only of all unbiased, but also in-depth
consideration, that indeed this view, if it goes into anything deeper, finds itself
involuntarily compelled to go back further or further. And so it comes to decisions of
man either before, or even beyond the sphere of his present being, whereby certain
directions are to be implanted in the will, which already determine the child. Here
comes the so-called intelligible or transcendental freedom, which Kant, Schelling,
and Muller have each grasped in their own special way, although Schelling's
conception is actually more of a deterministic one. We do not want to lead the reader
into this dark area, where the question of freedom becomes completely impractical,
the most important difficulties unresolved, and the others merely pushed back into
darkness. More details can be found in Muller's writing about sin. which Kant,
Schelling, and Muller have each grasped in their own special way, although
Schelling's conception is actually more of a deterministic one. We do not want to lead
the reader into this dark area, where the question of freedom becomes completely
impractical, the most important difficulties unresolved, and the others merely pushed
back into darkness. More details can be found in Muller's writing about sin. which
Kant, Schelling, and Muller have each grasped in their own special way, although
Schelling's conception is actually more of a deterministic one. We do not want to lead
the reader into this dark area, where the question of freedom becomes completely
impractical, the most important difficulties unresolved, and the others merely pushed
back into darkness. More details can be found in Muller's writing about sin.
4) Cf. Müller's writing on the sin Th. II. P. 84.
The ordinary, unclear view is often frightened by determinism because of a
circumstance that would rather frighten it before indeterminism in its usual
form. According to the first, nothing depends on man himself; He thereby becomes a
passive tool of foreign powers. But precisely in the sense of determinism, man is
himself, his very innermost being, whatever he wants; It only wants to do what it
wants with a necessity founded on itself, that is, on its whole previous existence, and
even on what externally conditions man, his being always participates as a
factor; therefore, the same occasions determine one person quite differently than the
other. The whole plant, which man perceives as the basis of his being,
everything, what has further developed by learning, reading, hearing, experiencing,
educating, every, even the smallest, destiny, which has passed into life in the course
of life, cooperates according to determinism to determine its present will, and is
called this in other words, his entire former human being? But according to ordinary
indeterminism, there is nothing in it of all that determines the will, as far as it is free,
and yet the essential of the will is its freedom; The meaning of the view goes to it, the
will for its free side out of this causality, and thus out of the human being itself Does
determinism work together to determine its present will, and does not this in other
words mean all of its previous human being? But according to ordinary
will for its free side out of this causality, and thus out of the human being itself Does
determinism work together to determine its present will, and does not this in other
words mean all of its previous human being? But according to ordinary
will for its free side out of this causality, and thus out of the human being itself to
solve. Thus, the free will hovers like a strange uncanny power over all that man is
and what works on him.
The free decisions of will, on the basis of which, according to the prevailing indeterministic view,
the most important thing should depend on man, are fundamentally quite accidental in nature, since
no underlying or general reason is allowed, and therefore the will decides for good or evil. To be
sure, one seeks to reject this accusation of chance by saying that the will sets its own reasons, its
motives; this or that offers him stimulating from outside; but whether he wants to take it as a motive
is entirely up to him. However, if he acts according to self-created or chosen motives, he is not
acting by chance.
This may be true, man's actions may no longer be called by chance, but his will decisions, and
that's what matters. In such a way, chance is only transferred from the action into the core of the
will itself, for it remains purely accidental to what extent the free man sets himself this and nothing
else as a motive, or accepts as a motive, because no with some related reason for one or the other is
admitted.
Now it must not be denied that in everything that can be said against the usual
modes of interpretation of indeterminism and for the above conception of
determinism, something in us nevertheless opposes the assumption of a pure
determinism. It may be asked whether this is not due to the fact that determinism is
usually conceived and presented from the most unfavorable point of view, and
therefore, of course, appears in the most unfavorable light. For, according to the
ordinary version of determinism, just as well a predestination of certain persons takes
place to eternal hell, as other to heaven, whereas no will of man can help
anything. And this must of course result in moral nonchalance and gives a sad view
of the world order. That for the better, The determinative factor of our view is not
included in ordinary determinism. But determinism acquires a very different
character if it is grasped in the above sense. And if we see how many peoples can
tolerate themselves with a very crude determinism, without finding anything that is
reluctant in it, even as the Turks in life make it stricter themselves than are
commanded by their religious rules (see below), it can be thought that a determinism
purified in the above sense must find it even easier to find entry; and the less will the
evil consequences be with him, which, however, he has in his rude form among these
peoples on some side, while he also has the good of the other to produce a composure
and submission to the fate of them, which is often to be desired. Of course, this
version and resignation must only increase if it is not based on both the idea that there
is nothing to change but what happens, so it must be good again. Also, as
compensation, it should be noted that if ordinary indeterminism does not carry worse
consequences than ordinary determinism, it is only because it is practically never
consistently asserted, because one is still able to determine the will for good and evil
recognizes anything other than the will itself in the practical, even though
theoretically it could not be admitted after a clear development of the view. there is
nothing to change but what happens, it must be good again. Also, as compensation, it
should be noted that if ordinary indeterminism does not carry worse consequences
than ordinary determinism, it is only because it is practically never consistently
asserted, because one is still able to determine the will for good and evil recognizes
anything other than the will itself in the practical, even though theoretically it could
not be admitted after a clear development of the view. there is nothing to change but
what happens, it must be good again. Also, as compensation, it should be noted that if
ordinary indeterminism does not carry worse consequences than ordinary
determinism, it is only because it is practically never consistently asserted, because
one is still able to determine the will for good and evil recognizes anything other than
the will itself in the practical, even though theoretically it could not be admitted after
a clear development of the view.
Among the nations that pay tribute to determinism are, in particular, the Turks, the
Mohammedans in general, the Hindus, the Chinese, the American redskins. Here are
some references:
"The fatalism of the Moslemin contains the following three general sentences:
l) Predestination refers only to the spiritual condition of man; 2) does not
concern the whole human race; but only a part of the mortals who, even before their
birth, were destined to be among the elect or rejected, and have no relation
whatsoever to the moral, physical, and political state of man, who in every act is his
has free will. Anyone who denies free will is believed to be unbelieving and worthy
of death. Thus the mufti at least explain the doctrine, as, on the other hand, the whole
nation almost adheres to the principle of immutable destiny, which is decided in the
divine counsel and leaves little to the free will of man even in bourgeois and moral
acts. "
(Flügge, "Gesch. Des Gl. An
Unsterbl." II. P. 299.)
In the lawb. Menu's (by Hüttner) p. 7 the following passage
can be found (chapter 7):
"28. And as often as a life-soul gets a new body, it automatically keeps to the
occupation which the supreme Lord first instructed it.
29. If He (God) formed a being harmful or harmless, harsh or mild in the
creation, unfair or just, false or true, it naturally assumes the same quality in his
subsequent births.
30. Just as the six seasons take on their mark at the proper hour of themselves,
so each entrusted mind has its acts naturally joined. "
A man of observation tells in the Travels in Europe, Asia, etc., p. 823 the
following example of the fatalism based on the fatalism of the Hindus: One of his
acquaintances traveled with his people past a thicket. A tiger suddenly jumped out
and seized a small, loud boy. The Englishman was beside himself with terror and fear,
the Hindu quiet. "How," says that, "can you stay so cold?" The Hindu answered, "The
great God wanted it that way."
"Even the most outrageous crimes committed by the Chinese excuse them for
seeking the reason for them in an inescapable predestination of the deity." They say
of the vilest villain that he is a deplorable person, but he can not help it decided on
him. " (Beseler's Miss. Mag. 1816. p. 328 from Brother's Miss. Anecd.)
"Above the Great Spirit (of the North American savages) stands the immutable
fate, which the Iroquois call Tibariman first, and that which this one can not change."
(Klemm, II., Pp. 158.) In the same way, the Hurons are the great Spirit Tharon
Hiaouagon originated in the time and comes from a grandmother, the evil goddess of
death Ataentsic, which brings all the downfall.The grandmother is also nothing but
fate, because the reasons of things are called grandfathers or grandmothers. " (IG
Miiller, Theologian, Stud., And Crit. 1849, p.
In the meantime, if man has a choice, he may still prefer not to be absolutely
compelled to have his destiny not absolutely predetermined. But now we are
confronted with the contention that we are not even bound to see the whole view in
that deterministic view. If all men are absolutely determined to be good, then the
greatest possible freedom can develop on the way to do so; and when they have
become firmly in the good, good is not of the kind that makes man unfree, but, by
relieving him of the power of lazy habituation and the compulsion of desires, makes
him, in a certain sense, freer; he may at last be fully bound, good to act with good
intention, but on this necessary foundation may still have the greatest freedom,
Finally, however, we see that the practical interest is not so great as to induce us to
favor the side of complete determinism or indeterminism; if only in both cases the
essential definite predetermination for the good is retained.
It may be said that if, in both views, the good in man is a forced one, then the value
of being good falls away. But apart from the fact that necessary and forced two
things; how in man something is, which also drives him by nature to good, but only
comes into conflict with other impulses; I mean that if a person is compelled by
divine punishment to feel or believe that he can not attain eternal salvation in the way
he has hitherto, his improvement is worth no less, if only a real improvement. The
value of the good does not depend on its dependence on a will determinable by
nothing but self-determinate will (which is basically an empty pseudo-concept), but
the good has a real content, a real fortune, that retains its value, as it has arisen. The
will, the attitude, must assume a certain quality, so that a man may be called
good; but whether this property is necessary or not necessary does not change the
nature of goodness. Of course, everyone is free to associate the notion of goodness by
arbitrary definition with the notion of freedom, which could have spurned good for
all eternity; but the concept of goodness in life and the means of education for good
do not care. to associate the notion of goodness by arbitrary definition with the notion
of freedom, which could have spurned good for all eternity; but the concept of
goodness in life and the means of education for good do not care. to associate the
notion of goodness by arbitrary definition with the notion of freedom, which could
have spurned good for all eternity; but the concept of goodness in life and the means
of education for good do not care.
D. Basic view of the relationship between body and mind.
The Vol. I. Ch. VI. in their most general outline developed view on the relationship
of body and mind or body and soul recapitulates, explains and implements something
closer, as follows:
In the following a) exposition I first of all seek to clarify the meaning of the view as clearly as
possible; in the subsequent b) comparing to develop its relationship to other views, which
contribute to the clarification of its meaning themselves and the general scientific consequences
thereof indicate in c) justification and probation finally by combining the part-setting already under
a) and b) the reasons given, which binds us to this view.
a) Presentation.
But the expression of meaning depends much more on the composition or sequence
of signs and their simple combinations, words, than on the nature of the elementary
signs and words themselves, so that a very different meaning is expressed with the
same elements according to their composition can. Ie. The same physical elements,
according to their combination and movement, can carry a spiritual of very different
kinds. The fundamental relation between externally appearing correspondence and
the spiritual sense which appears inwardly can be expressed in such a way that
basically only one and the same thing appears in both; but it appears different
precisely because it appears to itself internally, and to another externally to
another; every thing seems different,
The appearance of the solar system takes z. For instance, from the sun, from the central point of
view, rather than from the earth, the peripheral, there is the simpler appearance of the Copernican,
here the more intricate of the Ptolemaic world-system; both phenomena always coincide as in
preestablished harmony, every Copernican view from the central point of view necessarily and
essentially belongs to a Ptolemaic one of the peripheral, both of which change exactly in connection
with the appearance of the soul and the body; and yet they always remain different according to the
different point of view. Basically, in this example, we are only dealing with two different external
points of view, because whoever stands on the sun, is still so well out of the sun and the other body
of the solar system, as who is on a planet; but for this very reason the difference between the two
external manifestations can not be so great here as when, as in the difference between the mental
and the bodily appearance, the contemplating being coincides once with the observed immediate
self (which gives the true central point of view ), and hereby wins the spiritual self-manifestation, at
another time faces the one considered, and hereby gains the material appearance of the other. At the
extreme of the difference of the viewpoint also depends an extreme of the difference of the
appearance. but for this very reason the difference between the two external manifestations can not
be so great here as when, as in the difference between the mental and the bodily appearance, the
contemplating being coincides once with the observed immediate self (which gives the true central
point of view ), and hereby wins the spiritual self-manifestation, at another time faces the one
considered, and hereby gains the material appearance of the other. At the extreme of the difference
of the viewpoint also depends an extreme of the difference of the appearance. but for this very
reason the difference between the two external manifestations can not be so great here as when, as
in the difference between the mental and the bodily appearance, the contemplating being coincides
once with the observed immediate self (which gives the true central point of view ), and hereby
wins the spiritual self-manifestation, at another time faces the one considered, and hereby gains the
material appearance of the other. At the extreme of the difference of the viewpoint also depends an
extreme of the difference of the appearance. and hereby wins the spiritual self-manifestation, at
another time faces the one considered, and hereby gains the material appearance of the other. At the
extreme of the difference of the viewpoint also depends an extreme of the difference of the
appearance. and hereby wins the spiritual self-manifestation, at another time faces the one
considered, and hereby gains the material appearance of the other. At the extreme of the difference
of the viewpoint also depends an extreme of the difference of the appearance.
Regardless of the meaning of Scripture, it has nothing in common with the outward
appearance of Scripture, yet one opposed to Scripture can guess the meaning of the
outward appearance of Scripture once it has learned it; but they misinterpret it if he
did not learn it; and as with the meaning of the ordinary it is with that of the nature
writing. A lower and higher sense can be expressed by characters of the same kind,
only in a different composition or sequence, and accordingly it is with the lower and
higher spiritual which is the meaning of natural writing.
The view of our ordinary writing or language can, in fact, serve very well from the outset to
invalidate the objection (later to be taken into account again), as only the lower spiritual, sensuous
(the soul-sphere in the narrower sense of many philosophers) could one find such an adequate
expression in the corporeal, that one essentially changes with the other and in accordance with the
same, whereas the higher spiritual does not necessarily go hand in hand with bodily changes. If,
however, the most sublime thoughts can not find their objective expression in individual letters,
sounds, but in the order, sequence, and indeed the whole multiplicity of human knowledge is
externally expressible, then one does not see at all. why such an expression in our body by order,
sequence of material elements, movements, and their changes should not be able to find, for in this
way nature still unspeakably more and varied and graduated means are at disposal than in us the
means of writing or language. With 25 dead letters on dead paper, all the works of the poets and
philosophers are written outside, why should not those works still be with the infinitely more
numerous, more living brain-fibers and their living movements, whether currents or vibrations, and
the changes of the same and higher changes of these changes originally written inside? And could
the writings of the poets and philosophers themselves be the higher thoughts on which they
depended to awaken in others again, if they can not reestablish a similar order and sequence of
changes in the reader's brain, than that is, to which the thoughts of the poet and philosopher himself
were tied? First of all, there is only the effect of the material signs on the material brain, which, of
course, must already be prepared in order to receive a given effect; therefore, an animal does not
understand the writing a human understands, a child does not understand that which a grown-up
understands. this, of course, in order to receive a given effect, must therefore already be
prepared; therefore, an animal does not understand the writing a human understands, a child does
not understand that which a grown-up understands. this, of course, in order to receive a given effect,
must therefore already be prepared; therefore, an animal does not understand the writing a human
understands, a child does not understand that which a grown-up understands.
Of course, one may disgrace this view by presenting the brain as a crude lump, with which the
mind must be ashamed to study much; but can not one also understand his wonderful structure
differently? Can the divine reason, which was part of his creation, not be further expressed in it?
It is said that the brain of animals seems too similar to that of man to believe that the
difference of their mental faculties depends essentially on the difference of their organization. But
can not two harps even look the same, and yet only on one side can a piece of higher expression be
played, as long as the other's strings are in unison or not at all tuned? Should it be easier to see the
unspeakably finely developed stringed instrument of the brain than the harp, which matters in the
mental game?
By linking the higher to the material expression no less than the lower, the sensuous, of the
self-appearance, one does not throw it together with it, just as one throws the top of a pyramid
together with the base, if one rest them on the same ground by means of it on which this rests, and
recognizes the direction to the top right from the base. How to understand this will be clear enough
from the later discussions.
Let's go from picture to picture: If we imagine a person who thinks, feels, another
who looks into his brain, his nerves, can not perceive any of his thoughts and
feelings. Instead, he becomes matter and all kinds of subtle material movements 5)But
if he can not directly perceive such movements externally, he will be able to infer
such externally perceptible (even if only scientifically related) movements. These
movements with the underlying matter present the letter, the word of the thought, of
the sensation, but a word that is naturally connected with it. On the other hand, he
who thinks, perceives externally nothing of these physical movements and underlying
matter of his brain, his nerves, because he can not confront himself, but only
thinking; he has sensation for himself as the meaning of that expression , The brain
and the nerve with the movements in it appear as thought, sensation,
5) Forthe sake of brevity, I do not always add, "and changes of motion" (though it may be chiefly due to such),
since changes in motion itself can be subsumed under the concept of higher order movements.
This way of thinking may seem very materialistic at first sight; but it is not; for as
little as the thoughts appearing inwardly can run in any other way than the externally
appearing movements in the brain to which they are bound by the identity of the basic
being, by virtue of the same identity the movements in the brain may run differently
than the thoughts to which they are bound are. The thoughts are not one-sided
products, the consequences of material movements, but the material movements,
which are capable of carrying thoughts, can themselves only follow from those which
are capable of carrying such things, and so backwards into the indeterminate. Only a
thoughtful movement can again produce a thoughtful movement; so spirit does not
flow out of matter after us. If dead writing creates a thought in someone, it can only
be heard, if it starts with a thoughtful movement, and yet has a higher thoughtful
connection, in which we all are at once comprehended in writing, and works into a
thought-bearing brain. Even the first establishment of the brain itself, which makes
man capable of such high thoughts, could only flow out of a material order which is
capable of more general and higher thoughtful movements (cf I, Chapter XI, M), they
had to to be active in the creation; otherwise, of course, it became the raw lump, the
mere ballast of the spirit, for which it is so often held. The essential interrelation of
material and spiritual, arising from the identity of their foundational nature, leads to
other conclusions, as the one-sided conditionedness of the spirit through matter, in
which the materialist stands still. This proves itself everywhere by present writing
itself, which is based on the basic view discussed here. In the first part of it, ideas of
God are founded on this view, which may be the most worthy of support, and in the
following the hope of a future life can be based on it, while the materialist in his view
is always only the denial of a God who deserves this name, and has founded a
hereafter.
The spiritual can not be freer in any way through the here established identity of his basic
being with the material than he thought loosely. For in which one may seek also the essence of
freedom, in that the spirit also has its expression in the body, its freedom can not be limited; Of
course, the bodily aspect will also include the expression of freedom. In fact, everywhere one
admits that the freedom of the mind brings about changes in the sphere of the corporeal, and only
means that they follow them in succession. This only changes for us in so far as it directly involves
them as their expression. Whether one or the other can not be comprehensibly decided by
experience; and the last is at least as sensible as the first, yes, in my opinion, if one overlooks the
implications and contexts of both assumptions, more reasonable than the first. (See Vol. I. Chapter
IX)
In the meantime, if our view is by no means quite materialistic, it has a very materialistic side,
which, however, complements a quite spiritualistic side (see b). But hereby it is neither materialism
nor spiritualism, whose essence is based on its one-sidedness.
Some of them have reason to believe that our thoughts and sensations, and the
material brain and nerve processes that accompany them, do not necessarily resemble
each other. After all, neither of them cares much; one is not to be thoroughly related
to the other , But, according to us, the difference of the appearance is explained at the
same time as the illusion that a different being is involved, quite simply from the fact
that he who looks at the brain process from the outside or opens it from the external,
as if he saw it externally, the nature of the thing after not having the same appearance
of it, or being able to infer from the interrelation of the facts which it possesses
externally, which the brain has directly from itself in its inner central position. So one
thinks now to have another being before him, as it appears in itself. But since crude
observations or conclusions teach that the material process of the brain (which
appears externally) and the mental state (which appears inwardly) change in a certain
context, we now see two beings, somehow united, in ignorance the identity of its
foundational nature, it may well be in one respect independent of the other; on the
other hand, according to us, the ability to appear spiritually, psychically in a certain
sense to oneself is essentially interchanging with the ability to appear bodily,
physically, to another in a definitely associated way, in a certain way, of course, only
with a definite outward standpoint and certain constitution Sense of the perceiver,
So far as the mental process in man as a whole is not merely related to the brain
and the nerves, which we will examine first, we would have to understand our idea in
more general terms than before: they are basically just the same processes, on the one
hand as bodily organic, from the other as mental, psychic can be understood. As
bodily processes they represent themselves to someone who, standing outside these
processes, looks at them, or opens them out from what is seen under the form of the
externally perceptible, as the anatomist, physiologist, physicist does; Such a person
may begin as he pleases; he will not be able to directly perceive the slightest of
psychic phenomena in the other. On the other hand, these processes are again
represented as mental, as common feelings, sensations,
One can specify the physiological conditions which are experiential in that man appears
somewhat objectively as a body (not merely a subjective bodily sense of belonging) further than
what is done here, and make many of the later discussions without the expression The difference
between the objective appearing corporeal and the spiritual depends on the external and internal
point of view, and therefore needs to be changed. And since the general considerations which we
must first make are not modified by this specification, we first abstract it, in order to add the more
precise details of this specification at the end (with addition 1), so that the object is not entangled by
special features which now can still be put aside.
If we take our view under a general expression, we will be able to say:
Body and mind or body and soul or material and ideal or physical and psychic
(these opposites are here used in the broadest sense as equal) are not in the last
ground and essence, but only in the point of view of the view or consideration
different. What appears to itself to be spiritual and psychic on the inner point of view,
is able to appear to an opponent by virtue of its external standpoint only in another
form, which is precisely that of bodily material expression. The difference of
appearance depends on the difference in the viewpoint of the view and those on it. In
that sense, the same being has two sides, a spiritual, psychic, insofar as it is capable
of itself, a material, bodily, if it can appear in another form to another than itself,
In the external sensory perception, a spiritual self-manifestation of the lower kind
always touches or coincides with the material appearance of another. The sensuous
self-manifestation which is stimulated in me by another betrays at the same time the
existence and activity of this other, and applies to me as its outward appearance. I can
thus find spiritual or physical, psychological or physical in the sensory perception, as
I want; it only depends on the direction of the view. In fact, when I look around, I can
regard the phenomenon that is in my sight as a self-stimulated external appearance by
placing it in the uniform self-appearance of my whole being, thus finding it further
determined as my intuition , Sensation, which is a lower spiritual process, but also as
the material manifestation of external nature grasped only by my mind, considering
the individual in relation to the other details of it. Both phenomena coincide,
therefore, in one, because we know and have no other way at all, as something else
can appear to us, than by means of an excited self-manifestation of our mind. One
represents the other. However, we do not count the self-appearance that stimulates the
thing in us as the thing itself, but seek something else as a peculiar substance behind
it, which stimulates it in us, and what then (for itself or in connection with another )
may be subject to a self-manifestation of a different kind than we have from it. We
then set this self-appearance of the thing as its soul against the self-manifestation
which it stimulates in us, and through which we hold its body characterized. The
difference of the spiritual self-appearance and the material appearance of another,
which disappears in the sensory perception for a point of view, merges into one, thus
immediately emerges glaring again, if, as in the juxtaposition of the spiritual and
corporeal relation always happens, and therefore, even when discussing their
relationship with us, it is always presupposed that what appears to be an inner attitude
thinks from an external standpoint at the same time. Should somebody, while I look
at nature externally and gain an inner self-expression, which, for me, coincides with
the appearance of external nature, can look into my eye and brain, and can trace the
processes of vision that go before it (and if it can not do so directly, it is able, up to
certain limits, to be seen externally) He sees them, though sensual, in a quite different
form by virtue of his outward standpoint than they appear to me in my inner
viewpoint. In my view, my active nerve might appear to me in the form of mountains,
lakes, trees, houses, and he would see a white mass of nerves, and all sorts of currents
and vibrations in them, if he could avail himself of sufficiently sharpened aids. And
only this is called active nerves. But also the nature, which I see externally in the
form of mountains, lakes, trees, houses, On the whole, it can appear in a different
way than I see it on my external point of view, as well as my brain and optic nerve,
which someone sees externally in the form of a white, vibrating mass of nerves,
appears otherwise inwardly in another way But then we no longer need the name
brain and optic nerve for the appearance. Thus, the dual standpoint of contemplation
always makes the appearance different, and we always distinguish the spiritual, the
psychic and the physical, the physical, according to whether we conceive of the
phenomenon as our own inner self-appearance or as the appearance of another. Yes,
when there may be cases where it becomes doubtful, whether to speak of spiritual,
psychic, or physical, physical appearance, there will always be cases of doubt,
If one sees a part of his own body, then it is only with other parts of his body, that
is, by virtue of a juxtaposition of the perceiver and the perceived, which enters into it,
and over which the whole reaches out in a higher self-appearance. Here, too, the
appearance of the corporeal and the physical is only there for something other than
the self. The leg appears as bodily not for itself, but for the eye; but the sensation
which it stimulates in this organizes itself into the self-appearance, the consciousness
of the whole, to which the eye belongs at the same time as the leg; indeed, it can only
exist as part of such a more general self-appearance, just as the eye can only exist as
part of a more general body. The leg, as long as it belongs to the body, also
contributes in turn to the general feeling of the soul, herewith to the self-appearance
of the whole. Thus the whole of the parts of our body contributes to our universal
self-appearance; But special sensible determinations can be called forth just as by the
external position of certain parts of the body (of the sensory organs) against the rest,
as against external nature (to which our body itself belongs), which always remain
subordinate to the self-appearance of our whole. ie fall into our soul. This is already
Bd. I. Ch. XI. J acted; and it may be that explained here closer with the employed
there, as perhaps the object for the first sight has something difficult. But special
sensible determinations can be called forth just as by the external position of certain
parts of the body (of the sensory organs) against the rest, as against external nature
(to which our body itself belongs), which always remain subordinate to the self-
appearance of our whole. ie fall into our soul. This is already Bd. I. Ch. XI. J
acted; and it may be that explained here closer with the employed there, as perhaps
the object for the first sight has something difficult. But special sensible
determinations can be called forth just as by the external position of certain parts of
the body (of the sensory organs) against the rest, as against external nature (to which
our body itself belongs), which always remain subordinate to the self-appearance of
our whole. ie fall into our soul. This is already Bd. I. Ch. XI. J acted; and it may be
that explained here closer with the employed there, as perhaps the object for the first
sight has something difficult. This is already Bd. I. Ch. XI. J acted; and it may be that
explained here closer with the employed there, as perhaps the object for the first sight
has something difficult. This is already Bd. I. Ch. XI. J acted; and it may be that
explained here closer with the employed there, as perhaps the object for the first sight
has something difficult.
As in the small body of man, it is then also in this relation in the larger of nature
(Bd., I, chapter XI, J). In this way, creatures confront an external world, giving for
them and through them the material appearance of the world for God. The spiritual
side of the world lies in part in the self-appearance of the whole world, partly in
subordinate relations, in the self-appearance of the individual creatures belonging to
the world; but this is by no means completely covered by the sum of these, since not
only the sum of the individual beings, but the totality of their individual self-
appearances, but also their combination, belongs to an upper interconnecting self-
appearance. We refer to this in more detail to the discussions already plowed in the
first volume (loc. Cit.).
Since we stand against much by nature only on the inner, against another only on the external
standpoint, but always have to acknowledge the existence or the possibility of the other standpoint,
we have to complete it in the imagination and in the end (in so far as not instinct or revelation
should spare the conclusion, which possibility can remain open here after all), which is denied us by
our natural position, with which we receive the imagined and developed to the really perceptible
physical and psychic. I can not look into my own brain, even from another Living Brain, outwardly,
but in my mind put myself in the position of outward seeing, reveal how it looks and goes; I can not
see in another mind, I can not immediately know God's purpose; but in the idea of putting myself in
the position of the self-manifestation of another man or of God, of opening up or trying to discover
what another person thinks, for example, of God for purposes. To be sure, all that we have just
inferred remains merely conjecture, probability, hypothesis, so long as we do not succeed in proving
it by immediate experience, but we count the hypothetical or developed physical and psychical as
equable or tangible put it under the category of the same, insert it in the context of it, arrange the
experienceable itself according to it, as long as it fulfills the following three conditions: l) that, if
not directly experienced or experienced, but with the form of externally or internally experienceable
and in contradictory connection with it is conceivable; 2) that it is inferred from the interrelation of
the experienced and the rules that prove themselves in experience; 3) that its acceptance, by
supplementing our field of experience without contradiction, does not contradict our practical
interests, but rather enters into them compatible or beneficial.
There is much in the physical and psychic areas, which, while conceivable as abstraction,
does not exist as abstractly as, for example, Speed, number, force, change, manifold, unity, order, all
general categories of reality in general. The same applies to the consideration of the tangible or
openable reality in the physical or mental realm, as it appears to be abstracted from one or the other
or as related to one or the other.
These provisions are basically nothing but explanations that we take the relationships in these
relationships just as they are taken throughout life.
We have reason to believe that the outward form and actions of a human being,
which are directly subject to our external perception, represent, in part, only the outer
boundaries of an internal organization, and partly the consequences and expansions
of internal movements, with whose changes the relations of the soul directly change.
and which in so far as can be regarded as their immediate expression, on the other
hand, the externally appearing does not show this fixed relation to the spiritual self-
manifestation of man. Hereafter an inner and outer expression of the phenomena of
the soul can be distinguished; and science must strive to ascertain the inner, which,
however, can only be inferred by reference to the external. This consideration does
not contradict the general view that all bodily things have a definite relationship to
the spiritual; For what appears externally to man, which does not betray any definite
relation to his particular spiritual, yet belongs to the inner essential expression of that
spiritual which belongs to the whole of nature, and will have its definite relation to it.
In the self-appearance of the spiritual one distinguishes higher and lower stages, of
which the sensible sensation is considered the lowest; yet it shares with the highest
spiritual character of the self-appearance. For, even if it can not be said that it appears
for itself, it falls into a more general self-manifestation, subordinates itself to and
underlies one. Now it may be asked, how is it possible for sensuous sensation to
express itself in material processes of the nerves and the brain and in connection with
it, that the higher spiritual also does it; will it not differ in the very fact that it rises
independently of this? But insofar as the higher spiritual can not be without a
sensuous or symbolic basis (cf., Vol. II, Chapter XVII), in references, Conditions,
changes of the sensuous or emblematic, it remains bound to the bodily and its
changes. Now that the sensuous element of self-appearance belongs to the individual
of given material processes, the higher spiritual expresses itself in such an order and
sequence of events that, in accordance with the greater height of the spiritual
references, relations, changes of higher order, take place in these processes , or
expressed in abstract terms, expresses itself in these relations, relations, changes of
higher order. So, rather than being relative to the proportions and changes of the
corporeal, as many think, it is kind of interchangeable with the fact that, should the
bodily functions once assume a uniform course for a while, it would have to be silent
during this time. In a word, the higher spiritual life is bound to a higher bodily life,
and vice versa, but not away from bodily life; Accordingly, a higher increase and
development of bodily organization is also necessary in order to be able to survive
than a mere lower spiritual life, and vice versa. This confirms the experience
perfectly.
One can say that order, sequence, relation, change is nothing material; Thus the
higher spiritual does not express itself in something material. But order, sequence,
relation, change is nothing real at all, if not in the real material or spiritual realm; but
these categories are in fact applicable to both the material and spiritual realms; and an
orderly material process always remains a material process, and the nature of a
material process can always be characterized by speaking of the relationships and
changes in the movements that precede it, without our mental comprehensibility of
these relations making them spiritual when they are in the material sphere. Here is the
above remark. For themselves, order, sequence, ratio, Change abstracta; but also the
corresponding higher spiritual is in itself an abstraction, realiter only in relation to the
lower or in relation to the lower itself. Just as the lower spiritual expresses itself in
the particular material process or in a single material process, so does the higher in
what can be grasped in the context of such processes or processes as higher order,
higher relation, higher relation, higher change.
It would be indispensable to deduce, from the parallelism of the spiritual and the
physical, grounded in our view, the task of specifying, for each particular body, of
every particular movement in nature, a peculiarly particular spiritual, rather, the most
general experience show that a distinguishable multiplicity of the material can
coalesce into a simple unity of the spiritual; many nerve trembling into a sensation,
very complex brain movements to one thought, both brain hemispheres to one
thinking. The material appearance is subsumed in the self-appearance so to
speak. The soul has a simplifying power. The spiritual is not everywhere simple, but
everywhere simpler than the material in which it appears to itself. Just as a
relationship is always simpler than numbers, the ratio of which represents how a
word of many letters can have a very simple meaning, the spiritual is simpler than the
material in which it expresses itself. But as there can be higher relations, for which
lower conditions again form the substance, and the meaning of a whole speech can be
composed of the meaning of several words, the spiritual is not necessarily simple; it
is only simpler than the material, the meaning of which it represents, and the higher
spiritual simpler than the lower, which is subject to it, in the relation of matter to
it. Only the task can therefore be deduced from our view, from every body and every
movement, either by what kind of spiritual it belongs to itself, or by which
greater, Spirit-bearing wholeness helps to constitute it. For what forms no such whole
for itself will always enter into one.
The general point of view of our view would be z. For example, we can not
prevent the whole of the gravitationally dependent movements of the cosmic bodies
from bearing a single, indistinguishable, consciousness or basic feeling in the divine
spirit, or even something unconscious, ie indistinguishable (in the sense of the
unconscious Bd. VII) to contribute to his phenomena of consciousness and to help to
constitute them. The nature of the individual movements, which contribute to an
identical phenomenon of consciousness, is therefore not yet indifferent; for the whole
phenomenon of consciousness experiences itself through the change of the individual
influence. It can be explained in this way: every kind of smell is a simple
sensation; but every smelling substance is a compound substance; If only a single
constituent of the smelling substance changes, then the whole simple sensation
changes with it; although a slight change in composition may not change much.
According to this principle, the contribution which the fixed institutions of our
organism and the world supply to consciousness must be judged (although there is
nothing absolutely immovable). In vain one would ask what corresponds to these
fixed institutions special spiritual; nothing at all. But the connection between the
mobile and the fixed gives the mobile itself direction and form that could not exist
without this connection. Thus one must grasp the movable only in connection with
this festival as a basis for the spiritual; or, although special movements may serve the
particular characteristic of the spiritual, do not forget that they can only be what they
are through their connection with the feast, and thus do not exclude the feast itself
from the expression or bearer of the spiritual.
The foregoing considerations explain why there is a reason to contrast the spiritual
as a simple matter with the material as a manifold, although in fact they only justify
doing so in a relative sense. There is much spiritual, which is not easy, but always
easier than the corresponding physical. It further explains how far the soul, the
spiritual, can be considered as the bond of the body, of the corporeal. Finally, there is
the rational reason why the material in relation to the spiritual can be regarded as the
lower, the basis, the substratum, the seat of the same; for, like a basis, it concludes
only a relation below, which already asserts itself within the spiritual from the higher
to the lower. Even the higher spiritual is always easier than the lower one, which
stands in relation to the substance. The spiritual in such a way sits down, as it were,
on the broad surface of the corporeal, and in doing so he makes his way from the
lower to the higher.
From this it is also evident how the same material can carry a lower and higher
spiritual at the same time, in that the higher center of the lower rests upon it. But the
material must be organized differently in order to carry a high spiritual rather than a
lower spiritual, for a higher order, as we called it; it must not be itself a manifold, but
also include a multiplicity of relations, which again include such ,
It can not be explained how something (as bodily) can appear to another manifold than to itself
(according to its spiritual side), because it remains a basic fact, but explains as follows. Contrast one
system of five points to another system of five points, and each feels the whole conjunction of its
points in one, so that the different number and arrangement of points merely carries a different
strength and nature of the simple sensation. Now, one system is not as well connected with the other
system as each is in itself; for we presuppose both as two different systems; Thus the connection of
the other is not felt to him just as much as to himself, but it is affected by every aspect of it as well
as by a detail.
A similar consideration as on the simultaneous or spatial is to be applied to the
successively temporal. We can not demand that the peculiar peculiarity of a mental
process be specified for every particular moment of a material process; but it also
summarizes some of the successive temporalities of a material process into a simple
spiritual unity. Facial and auditory sensations in us are stimulated by processes of
oscillation, and so the material changes which are subject to them in us may
themselves be of an oscillating nature; but we do not feel any oscillation, but the
oscillation of matter for us is summarized in the continuous simplicity of a
sensation. Every moment of the oscillation is different from the other; but we feel
nothing of these interrelated changes, but rather the whole context of the same in
one. Thus, the states of sleep, into which we may temporarily fall, are viewed from a
double point of view as carriers of consciousness. Once, for example, when our
sleeping body enters into the conscious whole of the system of nature, with whose
conscious movements we have definite and determinative relations; the sleep of the
people on one side of the earth is connected with the waking on the other side in
communal condition; second, because our sleep itself is pre-requisite for our
guards. We would not be able to keep our watch if we had not slept like this, and thus
our state of consciousness would be supported by these processes of matter, which
were, of course, unconscious for them. Thus, the states of sleep, into which we may
temporarily fall, are viewed from a double point of view as carriers of
consciousness. Once, for example, when our sleeping body enters into the conscious
whole of the system of nature, with whose conscious movements we have definite
and determinative relations; the sleep of the people on one side of the earth is
connected with the waking on the other side in communal condition; second, because
our sleep itself is pre-requisite for our guards. We would not be able to keep our
watch if we had not slept like this, and thus our state of consciousness would be
supported by these processes of matter, which were, of course, unconscious for
them. Thus, the states of sleep, into which we may temporarily fall, are viewed from
a double point of view as carriers of consciousness. Once, for example, when our
sleeping body enters into the conscious whole of the system of nature, with whose
conscious movements we have definite and determinative relations; the sleep of the
were, of course, unconscious for them. from a double point of view as a co-carrier of
consciousness to consider. Once, for example, when our sleeping body enters into the
conscious whole of the system of nature, with whose conscious movements we have
definite and determinative relations; the sleep of the people on one side of the earth is
connected with the waking on the other side in communal condition; second, because
our sleep itself is pre-requisite for our guards. We would not be able to keep our
watch if we had not slept like this, and thus our state of consciousness would be
supported by these processes of matter, which were, of course, unconscious for
them. from a double point of view as a co-carrier of consciousness to consider. Once,
for example, when our sleeping body enters into the conscious whole of the system of
nature, with whose conscious movements we have definite and determinative
relations; the sleep of the people on one side of the earth is connected with the
waking on the other side in communal condition; second, because our sleep itself is
pre-requisite for our guards. We would not be able to keep our watch if we had not
slept like this, and thus our state of consciousness would be supported by these
processes of matter, which were, of course, unconscious for them. the sleep of the
were, of course, unconscious for them. the sleep of the people on one side of the earth
is connected with the waking on the other side in communal condition; second,
because our sleep itself is pre-requisite for our guards. We would not be able to keep
our watch if we had not slept like this, and thus our state of consciousness would be
supported by these processes of matter, which were, of course, unconscious for them.
Of course, that it must be so is not inherent in the conceptual premisses of our view,
but only in the factual one. But we do not derive anything in itself from the concept,
but the conceptual aspect of our view is itself to be interpreted only in the sense of the
generalization of the fact, otherwise it leads to false conclusions.
Some of the above conditions are well explained by arithmetic series of numbers.
In the first-order arithmetic series:
l, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ....... (a)
There is a multiplicity of visible members which invisibly have the constant (arithmetic) relation or
difference l between them. The multiplicity of the visible members of the series shall characterize
the bodily multiplicity of an organism, the invisible difference everywhere, whereby the members
of the series connect, the law of the series characterizes the soul or the spiritual that governs the
body, which is externally invisible to that Body is omnipresent heard, the secret volume forms the
same. There we have a simple spiritual to the manifold of the physical.
If there is no simple soul, then the soul always has the character of simplicity in relation to the
body, and this is expressed in any case in the scheme. But instead of thinking of a simple soul, one
can also think of a simple sensation that is subject to a composite bodily process.
The rows
l, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 ....... (b)
l, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 ..... (c)
differ from the previous only in so far as there is another
constant relation relation, respectively 2 or 3, instead of
previously 1, therein. In them, too, something identical is
constant, except that it is different for different series. Thus,
a body of different composition can carry a different kind of
soul, or a differently modified physical process, with a different
kind of feeling, which, however, always remains simple in these
simple cases, as long as we regard the identity of the relation
throughout the series of numbers as a representative of it that
nothing can be distinguished in the soul of the body or the
sensation of the bodily process presented by this series.
In order to obtain a different kind of soul or sensation, according to the scheme the whole
body or bodily process of sensation must become different. And so it confirms the experience as far
as we can do it.
If one looks closer, one finds in previous schemes one of the greatest miracles expressed in
the relation of the soul to the body. The body is another from place to place; now one might think
that the soul which dwells in this body, in so far as it is thought of in a fixed relation to it, would
itself become just as different according to this difference; on the other hand, the soul can grasp in
an identical way through the greatest bodily diversity, and thus shows itself independent of the
individual constitution of this manifold; on the other hand, its nature is essentially related to the
total relationship of the bodily variety.
The same thing that applies to the relation of the soul, of the spirit to the body, can also be
transferred to the relation of the spiritual to the bodily event; if we represent the individual visible
numbers as successive moments of bodily events or as successive bodily states of the same
individual.
For example, consider B. the number series
l, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ....
Thus by every later number one can express a different physical
state than by any previous one. Now, for the first sight, it might
seem that the individual can not find himself in the later
realities; Every number is different. But since each number flows
in the same way from the former, and the soul is represented by
the law or proportion of the progress, the same soul remains, and
the whole series of numbers retains the same character.
The schema has hitherto been presented only in its simplest, most undeveloped form, by
which only the most general conditions can be covered, including the simplicity of the spiritual with
respect to the bodily variety. In the meantime, at least for our soul, this simplicity is only valid in a
relative sense. We distinguish many things in our soul, in our spirit. It now seems difficult for the
first sight to find in the schema this peculiar relation of inner multiplicity of the mind at the same
time as the unity of the unity of the body. Nor can it be found in the undeveloped scheme. But the
principle of number series implies this representation in the most natural way; by finding higher-
order rows,
Take z. B. a so-called second-order series
l, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22 .... (A)
Thus, the differences between the successive numbers are no longer
constant, as in the previous series, but rather form the series
themselves
l, 2, 8, 4, 5, 6 .... (A ')
Through the series of these invisibly conceivable differences,
which are secretly enclosed in the visible series, we thus receive
a manifold mental being, which is borne by the bodily variety of
the visible series A; but the numbers of the spiritual series A
'approach in their sequence of identity more than those of the
physical series A. But the series A' only expresses a lower
spiritual and closes itself in a higher identical spiritual
relation; for if one takes their differences, they are
constant. The same corporeal series A thus carries at the same
time lower and higher spiritual, whereby the deviation of the
numbers from each other, which serves as measure of the manifold,
still exists in the series of the lower spiritual A ', although
less than in A; in the highest spiritual, the constant difference,
but disappears. Here we have a soul of a higher degree against
that which is carried by the first-order corporal orders a, b,
c. The higher developed scheme also represents a more
sophisticated soul. In all lower and higher souls there is a
spiritual unity, something identical, which goes through
everything; but in the lower souls nothing is different, the
lowest in it is at the same time the highest; Everything agrees on
this in an indiscriminate sensation, this is the soul-unity
directly immanent; or, in fact, we can only represent simple
sensations by the simplest scheme, not a unity of different
sensations as found in a soul; but in the higher level souls or
souls at all,
Other examples of second order series (where only the second level differences are constant)
are:
l, 5, 12, 22, 35, 51, 70. , , , (B)
1, 6, 15, 28, 45, 66, 91. , , , (C).
The former concludes with the constant difference 3, the latter with the constant difference 4.
There are ever so well infinite number of different ranks second as a first-order possible 6) if
we call such always second-order series, where the differences the second stage are constant, and
also the constant difference may take various values depending on the nature of the series , In the
same way, however, series of arbitrarily higher order are possible, where only the third, fourth, fifth
differences, etc., are constant, 7 and which represent bodies (or processes) carrying souls (or
processes of consciousness) of even higher degrees, in which build spiritual relationships through
relationships, yet always finish in something identical.
6)One can form second-order series, inter alia, by multiplying the members of
two series of first order (eg, b and c, see above), which are placed one below
the other, with each other, or else by If one squares the members of a series,
then 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 86, 49 .... consisting of the squares of 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6, 7 are
a series of second order.
7)One obtains z. For example, such as when one raises the numbers of a series
of first order relative to the cube, to the 4th, 5th power, etc., or multiplies the
subordinate members, respectively, of 3, 4, 5 series of first order with each
other.
If we generally need the higher numerical references to

represent the higher spiritual, we see that the higher spiritual
can not exist anywhere independently of the lower spiritual and
corporeal; on the contrary, its existence and its life are linked
only to its relations, while at the same time regulating and
controlling it.
The identical or the unity of consciousness in which the spiritual connections are concluded
is, according to the schema, as complete in the deepest sensuous beings and processes as in the
highest, but in the highest it assumes a higher significance she builds herself up above low relations.
If we compare the numbers of the higher-order series, which represent individuals with the
possession of a higher spiritual, with the numbers of the lower-order series, we find the higher and
lower series formed of similar material, and no other difference between them than that those ranks
appear more complicated in their form than these. Thus, the bodies of spiritually superior
individuals are made of the same material as those of the spiritually profounder, those of man of the
same material as those of the animals, and their organic processes are reduced to material
movements in one and the other, but there is a greater involvement There is no law of bodily
organization and movement that is so readily apparent.
Instead of arithmetical series, in previous schemes, with some advantages for the
representation of some relations, geometrical ones can be used; but I preferred the simplest thing
here; Incidentally, I am far from believing that all relations of mind and body can be correctly
represented by series of one kind or another, of which the opposite is decidedly taking place. A
more completely correct (direct, not merely schematic) mathematical representation of the relations
of body and soul seems rather to be based on the principles to be mentioned at the end of this
beginning under Supplement 2, which are at the same time those of a mathematical psychology; but
these do not allow so simple presentation and application, are not quite clear. And if one does not
go beyond the right limits with explanations by means of the scheme of series, the same always
remains very well suited to explain precisely the most general and important relations of body and
mind, lower and higher spiritual. After all, the non-drivenness of setting up changes in the higher
spiritual without corresponding changes in the physical is especially good.
In order to relate the schema to our general view of the relation of mind and body, it would be
useless to regard the visible series of physical numbers as the essentially independent fundamental
beings, and the invisible relations as one dependent on them; this would be quite materialistic. In
reality, the differences of the basic series are so real, only externally invisible and different-like
numbers than the numbers of the basic series itself, and the basic physical series can just as well be
regarded as a function of the series of mental differences and vice versa.
In the same way, one can not put it as if the basic physical series and the associated series of
mental differences (with all the higher differences which it still includes) are two different things in
relation to one another in relation to their independence, the first merely with the The faculty of
appearance for another, the other endowed with the faculty of self-expression; but their difference
depends only on the fact that one and the same fundamentally inseparable fundamental being at any
rate appears to someone other than himself in the form of the basic physical series, otherwise to
himself in the form of the series of mental differences. At first, the mode of appearance is
essentially determined by the relations of the appearing basic being to something external, which
relations of self-appearance as such do not concern in the last case, by the own inner relations of the
basic being, which again do not affect the appearance for others as such, although both conditions
change in exchange-dependence. Hence the appearance of different numbers in both series; if
numbers always serve to express relationships; but also the continuous relationship of the same.
b) comparison.
In the ordinary view the body and the soul are two essentially different things, even
in some kind of opposition, or at least two separate sides of the same basic being with
opposite determinations. It is not disputed that our view is not the usual one, but it
can be closely related to the last version of it. In fact, as much as our view of body
and soul seem to go together from one side to the other, they are so different from
each other afterward. For the ability of the same basic being to appear to another as
itself is something quite different in itself from the capacity to appear to oneself, and
both modes of appearance for the different standpoint are no less different. In the
bodily mode of appearance, the nature of another as well as the self is also
essential; for it changes as much with the nature of the other as with the nature of the
self. And so it can not do any harm to us, if we still regard soul and body as usual as
two distinct sides of the same being, since the fact that the same being permits a two-
sidedly different form, from the inside and from the outside , even as a two-sidedness
of its nature can be regarded. Indeed, they can still be grasped as something
antithetical, except that we have now become aware, it is only a contrast of the
standpoint from which they appear, and a difference of the beings to whom they
appear, not an opposition in or to substance of the being itself, this seems to be the
reason for the different phenomenon. And here lies the chief difference of our view
from the ordinary, when she conceives body and soul as two sides of the same
being. The ordinary view sees it as if this difference already existed without regard to
the difference of the standpoint of the contemplation and the contemplating in itself,
whereas it appears after us only through the latter disparity.
The essentially essential or too sharp separation of the material and the spiritual,
which takes place in the ordinary view, stands as another extreme contrary to the
almost more untenable identification or mixture of both, which often occurs in
science. In fact, the essential identity (which the philosophers usually recognize
somehow, albeit from other points of view, as our own) of what is underlying the
spiritual and the material can not mislead us to want to identify the spiritual and the
material, since this is identical One appears as spiritual and material in any case in
opposite relation; and henceforth to call one way or another, otherwise an incurable
confusion of language and concepts arises. Now, when the principle is added,
everything in nature,
Here are some examples in this regard:
G. says (N.Jen., Literat., 1845, No. 64, p. 258): "Nature is a system of thought
which God has pointed out from himself .... God did not find and find matter in
creation but his thought creates and forms at the same time matter, or rather thought
is at the same time its realization, matter. "
But I mean that material nature can never be conceived as a system of thought,
thought never as matter, because language does not regard thought and matter as
synonyms for the identical one, which is subject to both, but as words of discernment
for it, as the case may be appears itself or appears in external manifestation (realized),
appears on the inner or outer standpoint, has formed. Otherwise, I would also have to
explain the concavity and convexity of a mathematical circle for the same, because
both differ in fact only from the standpoint of consideration within or outside the
circle; the underlying essence, the mathematical line, is the same in both cases; but it
is good that we have two words for the double phenomenon,
8) The above picture can at the same time well explain the possibility of
different, indeed in some way opposite, appearance of the same essence from a
different point of view; although the point of view within the circle is not yet a
true inner view of the circle, which would rather coincide with the place of the
circle itself.
At the philosopher's meeting in Gotha (Sept. 23, 1847),
Professor U. lectured on the nature and concept of logical
categories. A certain H. remarked against this lecture: "According
to the lecturer, there is something else in things than the thing
itself: oxygen is not oxygen, but thought of God, but he may well
know how oxygen and hydrogen can be thoughts Both are just oxygen
and hydrogen, and interpenetrate with each other: to become water,
only this interpenetration, but no thinking, etc., should be
involved. "U. declared himself against this as follows:" By
speaking, his opponent immediately refutes what he speaks He
claims that oxygen is not thought but oxygen. if he himself must
have an idea of it, he must think of oxygen in the wider sense of
the word. The name oxygen is only the name of an idea, of a
thought, or, if you wish, of a (imagined) image in which
everything contained in the thing itself is contained; and only
because human conditioned thinking is merely a representation
(reflection), not an original, is the real object different from
the human thought of it. Or is human speech nothing but air
shaking, thinking nothing but nervous affection or a digestive
process of the brain? But then it seems that it is difficult to
see why so many congregations, like the present one, are sitting
here throwing empty shots at each other or affecting their
nerves. All value, all interest of the spiritual life and thus of
existence in general ceases. If, on the other hand, a thought were
grounded, and if Mr. H. were able to think of oxygen, hydrogen,
etc., then it would be difficult to see why oxygen should not be
the thought of an absolute, unconditioned, and therefore creative,
thinking thought, and in this thought the thing itself is its
existence "(Fichte's Zeitschrift für Philos, XVIII, p. s journal
for philos. XVIII. P. 313.) s journal for philos. XVIII. P. 313.)
I must confess that H.'s common sense here seems to me to be more right than U.'s
philosophical. After all, let oxygen be subject to a thought of God; Although I by no means believe
that what appears externally to us as oxygen really corresponds to a special thought in God as self-
appearance, oxygen as such is always only a physical one, because it exists only for the external
appearance. And that oxygen can be thought of by us, does not make it a thought, otherwise we
again cancel the difference that language makes to the great advantage of clarity between thought
and body.
On the other hand, in the light of our opinion, we have to oppose the not uncommon remark
in modern materialistic naturalists that thinking is in itself a function of the brain, such as gall
secretion a function of the liver, digestion a function of the stomach. That is to confuse the points of
view. The secretion of the gall is a function of the liver, which, from the point of view of the natural
sciences, is as good as the liver itself; But thought is a function which does not belong to
observation at all from an external point of view. Only the movements in the brain that are subject
to thinking, and any associated secretions and secretions, can be called a function of the brain in a
similar way as gall secretion is a function of the liver. This may seem to come down to one
thing; but it is the clear separation of what belongs to two different points of view, a far-reaching
clarity in general.
The ordinary view has different expressions for the relationship between body and
soul, such as that the body is the bearer, underlay, seat, shell, organ, condition of the
soul. We will still be able to use these expressions without danger, with the advantage
that we will be able to relate ourselves to the usual understanding in the presentation
of technical conditions, if only we understand them in the sense of our basic view, or
if necessary, those which directly reject it , translate.
The bearer, the substratum, the seat of the spiritual is the bodily one whose state and changes are
interdependent with those of the spiritual, or whose outward appearance belongs to the self-
appearance of the spiritual. On the rational reason of these expressions s. above under a)
The corporeal is the external shell of the spiritual, insofar as the bodily appearance never
gives the self, but only its outward appearance for another, which, however, also follows the form of
the self, like a shell according to the form of the content. To be sure, the notion of a shell is usually
associated with the notion that it could be discarded without harming the being who was clothed
with it, an idea which seems inapplicable to the relation of the body to the spirit, but in In fact, the
fact that the same individual soul, the same individual spirit, successively changes the body during
life, from which conclusions can be drawn for what happens at our death. The self-appearance of a
soul thus always has a bodily covering in appearance for other, but not necessarily always the
same; it necessarily changes the way of the self-appearance with leaving the former cover; but
insofar as an identical basic reference can be sustained by different envelopes, not necessarily the
individuality attached to it. This will be further discussed in the following parts of this document.
The body is the organ or instrument of the soul, insofar as the soul alone can act
externally; because in itself it remains self-evident.
The body is the condition of the soul, of the spiritual, insofar as a given mode of self-
appearance can take place only in accordance with the ability to simultaneously appear in a given
way for another. But the body is not a one-sided condition of the soul, but is interdependent with it,
its appearance dependent to the same extent on the self-appearance of the soul as on the other side.
The ordinary view suffers from the peculiarities of many difficulties and
incongruences, some of which stems from its being determined by various
philosophical and religious views, without being aware of their incompatibility, partly
with the nature of things, partly with themselves to become. According to the
ordinary view, bodily things intervene alternately in the spiritual and the spiritual in
the physical; but not everywhere, as both partly run their course; The spiritual is soon
to follow the bodily, soon to follow, and vice versa. But it is sometimes difficult to
explain how two beings, by their very nature, as alien beings, (in so far as the
antithesis of the essence is still held firm), can work on each other, a difficulty who
sought to use both the one-sided materialism as spiritualism in his favor, partly which
principle for the so irregular appearing interchangeable intervention takes
place. According to us, heterogeneous beings do not interact with each other at all,
but there is basically only one being, which appears different on different points of
view, nor do two mutually independent causal connections intersect irregularly, for
there is only one causal connection in one substance, in two ways, that is, from two
points of view, traceable. Thus the difficulty and inconsistency of the ordinary view
are met, without falling into the one-sidedness of the monistic systems, since one can
change the point of view of contemplation at will. I'll come down to it. partly what
principle for the seemingly irregular interchangeable intervention takes
change the point of view of contemplation at will. I'll come down to it. partly what
principle for the seemingly irregular interchangeable intervention takes
change the point of view of contemplation at will. I'll come down to it. According to
us, heterogeneous beings do not interact with each other at all, but there is basically
only one being, which appears different on different points of view, nor do two
mutually independent causal connections intersect irregularly, for there is only one
causal connection in one substance, in two ways, that is, from two points of view,
traceable. Thus the difficulty and inconsistency of the ordinary view are met, without
falling into the one-sidedness of the monistic systems, since one can change the point
of view of contemplation at will. I'll come down to it. According to us, heterogeneous
beings do not interact with each other at all, but there is basically only one being,
which appears different on different points of view, nor do two mutually independent
causal connections intersect irregularly, for there is only one causal connection in one
substance, in two ways, that is, from two points of view, traceable. Thus the difficulty
and inconsistency of the ordinary view are met, without falling into the one-sidedness
of the monistic systems, since one can change the point of view of contemplation at
will. I'll come down to it. for there is only one causal connection which can be traced
in one substance, in two ways, that is, from two points of view. Thus the difficulty
will. I'll come down to it. for there is only one causal connection which can be traced
in one substance, in two ways, that is, from two points of view. Thus the difficulty
will. I'll come down to it.
The parallelism in the process of the corporeal and the spiritual that arises is
reminiscent of Leibnizian preestablished harmony, except that it rests on very
different grounds than these. After us, as according to Leibniz, when something is in
the spirit, something is correspondingly in the body, without it being possible to say
that one has evoked the other. But if, according to Leibniz, the soul and the body are
like two watches, fitting together, but quite independent of each other, never
diverging from each other except by virtue of their good arrangement by God, then it
is, after us, one and the same clock, self-evident Its course as a spiritually moving
being and an opponent as a gear and drive of material wheels appears. Instead of
preestablished harmony, it is the identity of the basic being, what makes both
phenomena matching. It does not require God as an external master craftsman, but
God himself lives as a master craftsman in his watch, nature.
For the rest we may say in general that, in spite of the empirical character of our
view (since it is in fact based entirely on empirical probation, of which under c.,) It
unites the most disparate philosophical directions among itself, and at the same time
gives the highest priority Point of view to the hand, from which their relation to each
other becomes clear.
It is quite materialistic from one side; for the spiritual must thereafter change
everywhere, in proportion as the corporeal changes, in which it expresses itself; in so
far as it appears as dependent on it, as a function of it, yes, it can be completely
translated into such; but from the other side she is quite spiritualistic and
idealistic; for nothing material exists for itself, as such it has an existence merely for
the mind, as an expression of something spiritually self-evident for another mind; is
in so far quite a function of the spiritual and the relation of spirit to spirit. All nature
dissolves into self-evident spirit, because even the appearance of something else
becomes reality only in the self-manifestation of this spirit. It is in the very nature of
the view that, depending on the point of view, Purpose and context of contemplation,
which can set the spiritual or the corporeal as the sole or the priory for the
contemplation, except that one does not set it as the sole for the reality. At any rate,
for a purely materialistic view, one puts oneself consistently on the outer
viewpoint. There is no talk of God or Spirit, but only of matter and its forces,
movements and their laws, circumstances, changes. Material processes in the brain
trigger the movement of the arm or other material processes in the brain during the
process of thinking and thinking. A pinprick, a ray of light into the eye, does not
stimulate sensation, but material nerve processes, which, after all, may carry
sensation; but because only from the standpoint of self-expression can such be
perceived does not concern us on this point of view, where we always put ourselves
outside the thing. When two talk to each other, it is brain vibrations that communicate
through vibrations of the vocal cords and eardrum and air vibrations in between; and
in this viewpoint one can ask for the causal nexus in which these processes of motion
stand, without any regard for the way in which they themselves appear
spiritually. But just as everything can be considered in spiritual Nexus, without
inserting physical. In doing so, one consistently sets oneself on the inner point of
view, that of the self-appearance, if not directly, on the end. There are only intuitions,
sensations, thoughts, feelings, intentions, purposes, mind, and God. The will does not
consider material movements and their material consequences, but that which the
mind of the willing and the spirit of the world feels in these movements and
consequences, the feeling of the will itself, the feeling of success or obstacle in
execution; the intervention in the purposes and purposes of a higher mind that fills
the world that reaches out beyond us. If we receive suggestions from nature, it is the
spirit of nature that stimulates ours. Because, of course, not every individual
corporeal corresponds to a single, spiritual one, we can not, remarkably, set the task
of translating every single physical stimulus with which nature acts upon us into
something just as individual, but the suggestion which we experience through this, to
be included in more general determinations of the World Spirit. A wave of light
emanating from the sun, stimulates a thousand human eyes and flowers at the same
time and in a coherence, and this widespread wave of light carries in the divine spirit
certainly for itself or in connection with other something that does not splinter just as
that wave, but only in the various people and flowers according to specification
mentally specialized in the process specially stimulated in them. Every external
stimulus thus contributes to something spiritual in nature, although it does not
necessarily carry it on its own and, in this case, can only be utilized on the spiritual
side of contemplation in connection with another. rather, it is only in the various
human beings and flowers that it is spiritually specialized in accordance with the
process that has been specially stimulated in them. Every external stimulus thus
contributes to something spiritual in nature, although it does not necessarily carry it
on its own and, in this case, can only be utilized on the spiritual side of contemplation
in connection with another. rather, it is only in the various human beings and flowers
that it is spiritually specialized in accordance with the process that has been specially
stimulated in them. Every external stimulus thus contributes to something spiritual in
nature, although it does not necessarily carry it on its own and, in this case, can only
be utilized on the spiritual side of contemplation in connection with another.
Thus our view can be arbitrarily conceived and consistently developed as monistic
in the materialistic or spiritualistic sense; only with the support that only one side of
it is conceived and developed. At the same time, however, in identifying the
substantial basis of the corporeal and spiritual, it coincides with the conceptions of
identity, except that it grasps the relation of the corporeal and the spiritual to one
another and to the one substance differently than the previous views. Even the Stoics
thought that God and nature were identical in their basic nature; The same substance
was considered to them as matter according to the side of their suffering changeable
faculties, and to God as the side of the active, ever-evolving power. The whole nature
was accordingly divinely inspired for them; the stars are still particularly individual
(see Vol. I. Chapter XIV). We share the most general point of view as the main
implications of their view; only the point of view of the distinction between matter
and spirit changes in us.
From a certain point of view, our view appears completely Spinozistic, indeed can
appear as pure Spinozismus 9) Spinoza's view, like ours, allows the dualistic,
materialistic, and spiritualistic conception of the realm of existence, by giving the
identical one being (substance), once as bodily (under the attribute of extension), then
again as spiritual (under the attribute of thinking). grasping and persecuting, but
linking both modes of perception through the substantial identity of the basic
being. If man wants, then, according to Spinoza, this process can be considered under
the attribute of thinking, ie, as a psychic, but just as a physical one, or under the
attribute of extension, by assuming physical change, which is presumably in the will ,
reflected. The soul is necessarily the more perfect, the more perfect the body, because
body and soul are always substantially the same, only different for the
consideration. A certain soul can once and for all only be made up of a particular
body. For the influence of the corporeal on the spiritual, Spinoza substitutes for each
other, as in Leibniz, only because of their essential identity, as with us. Every area has
a purely causal course.
9) With Schelling's identity theory, however, I can at least find no clear points of contact; because his whole
view seems fundamentally unclear to me; although it was a work rooted in Schelling's view (Oken's philosophy
of nature) that, through its titanic boldness, at first pushed me beyond the vulgar view of nature and for a while
in its direction.
In all this, we completely agree with Spinoza. But this is essentially different:
Spinoza thinks that the causal course in each area can not be persecuted only for
itself, but also persecuted for itself; According to him, there is no encroachment of
causality from one area to another, but according to us by virtue of the possible
change of attitude. The spirit, according to Spinoza, has no influence on the body, nor
the body on the spirit; both are always only with each other, causally independent of
each other. Accordingly, Spinoza has no teleological view, which makes the order of
the material world dependent on intellectual intentions, but rejects them in principle,
and must, since there is no principle of the transition between his attributes (that of
the physical and the spiritual), except the most general by the concept of
substance; on the other hand, in our case, the teleological consideration in principle
finds a scope far beyond what is usually assumed.
For as good as one can always place oneself on the inner, and as well as one can
always oppose things on the outer standpoint, so well can one also change with the
standpoint of contemplation, in consideration of the cause, to stand on the inner
standpoint, in consideration of the Follow on the outside, and vice versa, and thus
pass from spiritual cause to material consequence, and vice versa; without therefore
denying the other side, which always finds itself in the implementation of one point
of view in the other. Indeed, since we stand against some things of nature only on the
inner, against others only on the external standpoint, so this change between the two
standpoints is for us the natural, self-sufficient, inference and hypothesis-saving; the
point of view changes so to say by itself, by following or experiencing the work of
our spirit into the outside world or the action of nature in our mind. If a needle stings
me, then I stand by nature against my sensation on the inside, against the needle and
the whole nature in which it is contained, on the external standpoint. Only driven by
higher scientific and religious needs, and partly by complicated mediations, can we
find to the thought processes in us the brain processes, to the processes of nature
outside the divine spiritual processes; Of course we should do it in the interest of
those higher needs; but, in finding them, we do not consider the conception of things
to be inadmissible from the natural, immediate point of view, as Spinoza does, which
with the teleological is forced to reject the natural view. From our point of view the
natural view can not be stunted by any scientific ones, as, on the other hand, they can
not be mistaken in their consequence by them. I'll come down to that.
If Spinoza does not keep up with us in this respect, it is because of his ignorance of
the circumstance upon which the difference of the physical and spiritual attributes
(after us, the physical and mental appearance) is based. In fact, Spinoza not only
leaves the reason why the identical One may appear so different, once as corporeal,
then again as spiritual, not unexplained, but lets him almost misunderstand it, in the
sense of the most ordinary way of representing the difference of attributes on the
other hand, regardless of the difference of his point of view, he presents it as existing,
and accordingly can not regard it as abolishable by the change of standpoint, as is the
case with us. According to Spinoza, therefore, the materialistic and spiritualistic
approach, both carried out unilaterally, are the only ones that are admissible,
according to us they are permissible, as scientific necessary and valid, but not the
only ones that are possible, and not only possible, not even accessible. They are
mediated by a third way of looking back and forth between the two, as it brings with
it the changeability of our natural point of view.
Trendelenburg has in a recent treatise "On Spinoza's Basic Thoughts and Its Success, Berlin
1850," (from the writings of the Berl. Akad.) Ingeniously discusses the weak points of Spinoza's
system. The polemic against him may on the whole be apt, but not valid, if he holds the view of
identity refuted altogether, and if he keeps the materialistic, teleological, and identity views
mutually exclusive. For the way in which the identity view is presented here is not affected by his
objections, and the possibility of including the other views is how more will emerge from the
persecution.
To the preceding three points of view, the materialistic, spiritualistic, and changing
viewpoint, there is a fourth, which can be regarded as grounded in Spinozism,
although Spinoza gave it no development, a higher connecting one of the first two,
which consistently implies Tracing the relationship of the spiritual to the physical,
shows how God belongs to nature, nature belongs to God, how phenomena for the
inner and outer point of view belong together; whatever function the spiritual is from
the bodily and vice versa in the whole realm of existence. Admittedly, even if the first
two ways of looking at things have not been developed and developed in full
consistency until now, because they have not even recognized the pure task of the
same,
In the field of this fourth approach, I count the problem of a mathematical psychology, as I shall
explain it in the end, under Supplement 2.
The insight into the relationship of the four ways of observation seems to me of
great importance. In general it is believed that what one attributes to the nature of
forces and effects is withdrawn from the mind, and what one attributes to the spirit is
to be taken from nature. Since neither nature nor mind can and will be rendered futile
and powerless, one makes half concessions to one side and the other, and the quarrel
does not stop as far as they have to go. Since one establishes only one way of
following the connexion of things, because one does not know the secret of doubling
through the twofold point of view, in order to do enough in one connection to mind
and matter one always puts one between them others, and so neither science is free
from what actually belongs in the spiritual context, to keep, vice versa; however, any
such intervention will be a gap, restriction and disturbance in the field of the science
concerned. According to most philosophers, ideas are supposed to dominate or even
replace natural forces, even if they are only a connection within nature itself; and the
physiologist fills the gap of his observations in the brain with spirit, as if it were a
real gap in the body, but the psychologist believes in his discussion of the mental
transmission also on the physical part as ballast and partly as a lever for the mental
movement with respect and to be able to explain from it many things that could not
otherwise be explained, despite the fact that his point of view was to seek out the
causes of inner inhibition, such as the promotion of the spiritual itself, only in the
spiritual. still vice versa; however, any such intervention will be a gap, restriction and
disturbance in the field of the science concerned. According to most philosophers,
ideas are supposed to dominate or even replace natural forces, even if they are only a
connection within nature itself; and the physiologist fills the gap of his observations
in the brain with spirit, as if it were a real gap in the body, but the psychologist
believes in his discussion of the mental transmission also on the physical part as
ballast and partly as a lever for the mental movement with respect and to be able to
explain from it many things that could not otherwise be explained, despite the fact
that his point of view was to seek out the causes of inner inhibition, such as the
promotion of the spiritual itself, only in the spiritual. still vice versa; however, any
such intervention will be a gap, restriction and disturbance in the field of the science
spiritual. however, any such intervention will be a gap, restriction and disturbance in
the field of the science concerned. According to most philosophers, ideas are
supposed to dominate or even replace natural forces, even if they are only a
promotion of the spiritual itself, only in the spiritual. however, any such intervention
will be a gap, restriction and disturbance in the field of the science
spiritual. Limitation and disturbance in the field of the science concerned. According
to most philosophers, ideas are supposed to dominate or even replace natural forces,
even if they are only a connection within nature itself; and the physiologist fills the
gap of his observations in the brain with spirit, as if it were a real gap in the body, but
the psychologist believes in his discussion of the mental transmission also on the
physical part as ballast and partly as a lever for the mental movement with respect
and to be able to explain from it many things that could not otherwise be explained,
despite the fact that his point of view was to seek out the causes of inner inhibition,
such as the promotion of the spiritual itself, only in the spiritual. Limitation and
disturbance in the field of the science concerned. According to most philosophers,
promotion of the spiritual itself, only in the spiritual. According to most philosophers,
promotion of the spiritual itself, only in the spiritual. According to most philosophers,
promotion of the spiritual itself, only in the spiritual.
Not that the physiologist should not take into account the moving mind and the
psychologist the externally stimulating nature and the own physical organs of
man; no doctrine can and should be isolated from the others so as to forget the
connection with the others; but then there should only be points of contact with the
other, not one's own bond, the content of the doctrine itself. But after us the natural
scientist as such needs nowhere else to tolerate the intervention of spiritual principles
in the area which he treats, even to cross over into the spiritual realm. Science can
now enjoy a full connection; it now has the legitimacy of colliding with the purest
materialism to which it has always shown the tendency, without ever daring to do
so, and they have ever been allowed to follow it, and ever allowed it before, as long
as spirit and body seemed to be fighting for it, as we now believe them to be. Now, as
we know, natural science gives the whole, but it is only from one side, from one point
of view, and what it misses is not lost, but finds itself on the other side, and on the
other side, the more pure. Where, instead of the material middle link, a spiritual
enters the immediate experience, we know that it is only because we stand against it
on the inner point of view, and do not let ourselves be mistaken; we push away, and
close the gap with matter through the inference. It is badly fitting for science, which
only has a general point of view, To consider the contingency of the particular
position against this and that as the authoritative limitation, and to accept such
contingency; since this accommodation is spared by the spiritual appearing on
another standpoint in its own unlimited right.
For is it that with the pure natural science all events in the world, even the
departure of thought, have dissolved or translated into material process, the spiritual
doctrine limits their field, stunted? No, rather, it is brought to the same completeness,
purity, consequence, and the same connection by the fact that nowhere is the mind
interposed between matter; conversely, matter nowhere intervenes between the
mind. The realms of the spiritual and the material are scientifically detached from the
mutual entanglement, in which they are usually grasped in accordance with our
natural point of view; in principle, they are purely exposed; each one is purely self-
centered and opposite to the other as something foreign. The spiritual doctrine can
accomplish in itself, as before the doctrine of nature; in that the conclusion must
everywhere be supplemented, wherever the quality of our point of view and the self-
manifestation fails, to exclude the interior as above. All material things can be
translated into spiritual things, if not individually, but in connection with other
things; and a coherent spiritual doctrine gives only this translation. Where it is
impossible for us to find this translation already, because, we know, it is not the fault
of the thing, but the error of our knowledge, and the task remains. But we are, of
course, only too inclined to confuse the limit of our cognition of things with a limit of
things. In addition, it is necessary to exclude the interior as above. All material things
can be translated into spiritual things, if not individually, but in connection with other
things. In addition, it is necessary to exclude the interior as above. All material things
can be translated into spiritual things, if not individually, but in connection with other
things. To find this translation already, because, we know, it is not the fault of the
thing, but the error of our knowledge, and the task remains. But we are, of course,
only too inclined to confuse the limit of our cognition of things with a limit of
things. To find this translation already, because, we know, it is not the fault of the
thing, but the error of our knowledge, and the task remains. But we are, of course,
only too inclined to confuse the limit of our cognition of things with a limit of things.
But now that the pure doctrine of nature and the pure spiritual doctrine have
confronted each other so strangely, so repugnantly, so independently, does this cancel
their relation? No. It breaks forth elsewhere from our basic position of the thing, in
two ways, partly in natural change, partly in the scientifically coherent pursuit of both
one-sided views, which opposed each other before. Yes, one may ask whether a pure
realization of the materialistic and spiritualistic conception will be practical
everywhere; but theoretically possible, it will always stay. It will be continued
everywhere so far as it really promises to be practical; without finding a limit in the
nature of things. Actually, theoretically, she could never have become anyhow;
Our juxtaposition of the possible betting views differs somewhat from that
which Trendelenburg has given, but it seems to me, sharper and more exhausting. He
states only three; We believe that substituting the given four for it, or even adding it
to completeness, no less from our principle, should be an exhaustion of the possible
and actual ways of looking at things, although these two have no lasting
justification. In fact, the twofold one-sidedness, the combination and the change of
points of view, adds the distinction and the confusion or confusion of them; and also
on this basis are considerations of factual potency. The distinction between the points
of view characterizes the original, natural view, in that man does not initially realize
that he is changing his point of view in the transition from the physical to the
spiritual, and thus makes no definite distinction between the physical and the
spiritual. The soul is a material touch to him, the names of all soul activities are
borrowed from bodily activities, something that is still revealed today, partly directly
in the words, partly by reference to their roots; the governance of nature is identified
with divine governance; everything lives. The confusion of points of view, however,
characterizes the common view, for that is what I want to call it, that is, the dominant,
unclearly mingled with philosophical views,
All in all, the following possible ways of following the whole area of existence
arise from our basic view.
l) The materialistic (purely scientific), where one considers only the material
side of the world, always on external view only.
2) The spiritualistic (pure humanistic), where, always on an internal point of
view, one considers only the ideal or spiritual side of it.
3) The linking (natural-philosophical) where, combining both viewpoints, one
follows the material and the ideal side in a consistent relationship to each other.
4) The changing (natural), where one changes the point of view, between the
material and the ideal side goes back and forth, to call natural in so far as the change
of position in the consideration of the natural position of the observer, according to or
unconsciously asserted itself This analogy happens without reflection.
5) The non-discriminating (originally primitive), where a certain difference
between what appears on the inner and outer standpoint, that is, between the spiritual
and the material, has not yet been made.
6) The mixing (common), where the points of view are mixed without reflection
or out of conceptual uncertainty, confused, confused, and accordingly unclear and
contradictory ideas about the relationship between the material and the spiritual arise.
The first three of these are to be regarded as purely scientific; the last three are
those of life; but so that the fourth tolerates a scientific treatment, the sixth often
usurps them; the fifth represents the common starting point of all others. The
naturally changing has, in particular, the meaning that it provides the basis of
experience for the others, and presents the fruits of others to practical use; the
connecting one, at the end, gives the general possibility of passing from one to the
other; the materialistic and spiritualistic, concluding observation, are one-sided
mediators between the two. The common view swings indefinitely between the others
now and then.
On the whole, I believe that by these six considerations, the possible cases are
exhausted for the underlying point of view of their distinction: always outward,
always inner position, combination of both, alternation between both, identifying
both, mixing and confusion of both.
c) justification and probation.
In the last instance, we may regard the whole of the above view as a generalizing
expression of experience, and in a sense only as an explanation of the usage of
language.
In the first sense, we say: It is the general fact of experience that when we perceive
something as bodily, material, physical, physical, we either really or in the
imagination oppose it wholly or with an organ specially set up for perception find
asked; but if as spiritual, psychic, on the inner self-manifestation.
In the last respect we say: one calls something bodily, materially, physically,
physically or mentally, psychologically, as it appears or appears to someone else, but
so that even the last expressions, appear to themselves and others, according to the
linguistic usage to the experience, although a certain fixation of the various phrases
permitting language usage is necessary for scientific consistency.
It may be said that, in the sense of experience and the use of language, the spiritual
as the self-evident is confronted with the material as that which appears for others, it
does not follow that it is the same being, itself and that other than itself appears or
can appear. It could indeed be that it is another being, to whom the faculty of self-
appearance, and another which possesses the power of appearing other than itself. So,
after all, our minds could relate to the processes in our brain without reference, and
the natural processes could be related to immanent spiritual processes without any
relation, for example by For example, the self-appearance of our mind is not subject
to the same essence as the external appearance of the brain.
In fact, conceptually, there is no need at all to impose the same essence on the
spiritual self-appearance and the material appearance of others as we do. But the
experiences, as far as they can be made at all, are of the kind that the factual relations
of the spiritual and the physical are expressed in the shortest and most significant and
at the same time most compatible with a consequent use of language, when we say
that it is the same thing that regards itself as spiritual and to another as a material
object appears. It must be added, however, that there is nothing else to derive factual
things from these words, they are to be understood as lying in the sense of the earlier
explanations.
But the basic facts and points of view on which I am based, are summarized and
recapitulated, are the following:
l) It is a general fact that one and the same thing appears different from different
points of view and for different things on it, that is, the different appearance of the
corporeal and spiritual belonging to each other, since in fact we always have a
different or external one or inner viewpoint of consideration for these various
phenomena.
2) If one does not want to postpone the difference of physical and mental
appearance, but rather to maintain a difference of essence or a difference in essence,
as is so often the case, it would have to take us miracles that the mind of his peers is
the least known He can not, or even at all, be able to recognize immediately, whereas
he can recognize himself as spirit. It should afterwards be thought that he should most
easily and immediately become aware of the other mind, which belongs to the same
domain with him, and shares his nature. Instead, he perceives only material bodily
signs of the other spirit, something that seems so alien to the nature of the mind, the
mind matter. But after us, that goes without saying. What we see of a strange
spirit, can not look to us as it appears to us; not only did it belong to the same object,
but also to the same standpoint of its contemplation, and to the same contemplative
being; and what makes the external point of view altogether different from the inner
one is precisely the appearance of the body instead of the spirit.
3) The immediate manifestation of every spiritual, physical, is only one, because
only an inner viewpoint, which is possible for the coincidence of the subject with the
object of the conception, whereas the same thing may appear very different in
different physical terms, because of very different external points of view on the other
hand are possible, and on these external points of view different beings can stand.
4) There is a factual parallelism of the physical and the spiritual, which becomes all
the more evident the more one follows it with conclusions based on facts. This
parallelism, which induced Leibniz to think of a preestablished harmony of the
physical and the mental 10 , is, in our opinion, self-explanatory on the basis of its
identity, or rather, it can be expressed in the least and most rapid manner according to
the manner in which it asserts itself To describe in such a way that it is said that the
physical and mental appearance is subject only to a double view of the same essence.
10)It is not unknown to me that Leipniz's system is ultimately idealistic, but the corporeal finds its place in the
confused idea of another spiritual.
5) The material and the spiritual stand in a causal and causal connection, which is
easier to interpret from the point of view of substantial similarity than the uniqueness
of what is subject to both; since, even in the realm of the material as well as the ideal,
opposites can work on each other for each other, but only on the basis of a common
ground. (For example, the effects of opposing electricity on each other are always
shared by electricity.)
6) To be sure, our view of an exact point of view always remains as far as
hypothetical, as can never be proved directly by experience, and in part that what
appears to itself as a thinking, feeling, soul, with what appears externally as the
physical support of it that one and the same being is, in part, that the externally
perceived nature is a self-feeling, conscious being; but the impossibility of this direct
proof is itself an inference of our view, and may in so far contribute to serve as
confirmation, insofar as a being or organ, as a whole, is subject to the self-appearance
on an inner point of view, not at the same time opposed to the external can and vice
versa, Consequently, the pure coincidence of both modes of being in a being or organ
can never fall directly into experience. On the contrary, the purely spiritual and bodily
appearance of the same being or organ necessarily always appears as something
brought together from two points of view, which simultaneously favors and explains
the emergence of dualism.
7) The fourfold and equal possibility, once the whole area of existence as material,
another time as spiritual being, a third time in changing or sequential relationship, a
fourth time in constant interrelation, which the conflict of materialism, spiritualism,
the natural and identity Conditionally conditioned, calls for a link and reconciliation,
which is completely found in our view and only in our view. To this end, our view
includes the Uransview of the peoples, which did not yet materially and materially
differ, and gives the clarifying point of view for the multiple views in which both are
confused.
8) The same view is well suited to our practical interests, as evidenced by the
inferences themselves, which are based on it in this document.
I do not say after all that, by contrasting the spiritual with the self as the self-
appearance of the material as that which appears other than itself, we also have
grasped the identical basic being itself, which is subject to its mutual appearance,
insofar as we still are a being want to look behind their appearance; it is just a relation
denoted by it, which allows us to orient ourselves in the realm of phenomena, and
gives a principle to put tasks at the end where the observation breaks off. Our view
requires that bodies everywhere be sought to the spirit and mind everywhere to the
body, even though we perceive only one of the two by virtue of the one-sidedness of
the standpoint; and in the presupposition of this, as experience has shown, never fully
to prove continuous coherence even the most satisfactory principle of the connection
of all things. But what does body and mind apart from what they appear or appear as
appearing, they can not say. If one wants to give more than our opinion in this regard,
one may see whether one finds it in other philosophical representations; I do, of
course, obtain words that, by giving the appearance of leading deeper, only lead to
deeper darkness. whether one finds it in other philosophical representations; I do, of
deeper darkness. whether one finds it in other philosophical representations; I do, of
deeper darkness.
Addition l. About the closer physiological conditions of the objective physical
appearance.
We must distinguish the objective bodily appearance, which allows us to accept
something physical beyond our perception, whereby a human being or our hand, our
leg, appears as something outside our perception of it, apart from merely subjective
bodily feelings (common feelings). like pain, well-being, hunger, thirst, heaviness,
exertion, weakness, frost, heat, by which we may well be reminded that we have a
body, but that we do not ourselves bring it to the objective appearance. Indeed, if we
had not otherwise seen and felt the body outwardly by eye and touch, we would never
come to attach to those feelings the notion of a body that still exists beyond those
feelings; we would always be subjective,
For the development of subjective bodily feelings belongs, as already recalled,
for man in general only a certain active relation of the nervous system to the rest of
the body in which it has grown, and thus always a counterpart of one body part
against the other. Neither the nervous system nor the bare body could give it. But to
the emergence of the objective appearance of the corporeal, corporeal, whereby this
appears in relation to the spiritual interior as something outward, the juxtaposition of
the body parts must fulfill special conditions, as it really does in the juxtaposition of
the external sense organs against the rest of body and nature and a thorough
consideration accordingly becomes the external point of view, which regards the
body as something objective, the soul external, must also demand the fulfillment of
these or equivalent conditions (to be discussed in more detail) everywhere. Where
from the external point of view and from corporeality to the spirit has been
mentioned, therefore, the fulfillment of such conditions always tacitly presuppose.
What are these conditions? However, they can be specified.11) The following
remark can lead us to this:
Looking out into an area, when we turn our heads or eyes, or touch an object
with our finger, the facial sensation, tactile sensation in connection with our
movement changes. When we have headache or hunger, these sensations do not
change in relation to our movement. They continue to walk with us as we move; and
so we also count them among us, those who are moving, they do not oppose us or
give them any cause that would oppose us; on the other hand, those first sensations
are objectified or interpreted as if they depend on external objects in relation to which
we move, and which we then characterize by this sensation itself.
On this subject, in particular the discussions of EH Weber in the article
11)
"sense of touch and common sense" in Wagner's physiolog. Dictionary on. Pp.
481 ff., Or in the particular reprint of this article (Braunschweig, Vieweg.,
1851) p. 1 ff. As far as I know, the subject matter here for the first time has
been thoroughly and properly discussed in the ways of experience.
To be sure, I also objectify a smooth mirror surface over
which I run my finger, in spite of the fact that the tactile
sensation does not change here, as does a bird passing by my
still-held eye, where a change of sensation occurs without my
movement; yet the feeling of objectivity here is always based on
experiences which we otherwise made with changes in facial and
tactile sensations according to the movement of the sensory
organs, and we interpret those experiences according to their
connection with the totality of our experiences in this way (since
no other without contradiction Interpretation by reason or feeling
is possible), that the mirror everywhere has a similar quality and
the bird moves instead of ours. We can always go over the mirror
with our finger to move the still-held eye again, then the change
of the sensation with the movement immediately asserts itself
again; and so we immediately objectify everything that appears to
us through face and feeling.
That this viewpoint is valid is confirmed by the fact that under the external senses it is only
face and feeling, which clearly awakens the idea of objective corporeality, because only in these
senses does a clear change of sensation with movement of the sensory organs in relation to the
objects entry. In fact, sound and smell change only very roughly when we turn our ears and nose
against the resounding and smelling object otherwise. But it is the case; Therefore, we also receive
the general impression of objects outside of us by ear and nose. As we move around an object with
our ear or nose, the sound sensation or sense of smell would be modified as if we were moving our
eye or finger around it, not only would we hear or smell the form of a body as well as we could see
or feel, but it would also become clear, while now only vaguely, confronting us. The tongue gives
us, according to this principle, clearer objective perceptions when it acts as a tactile organ, for when
it acts as a taste organ. Because it tastes only the dissolved and can not be so displaced against the
dissolving network, as against the teeth and the palate. Taste sensation therefore appears more as
something subjective; and only that we also feel the taste of the body with the tongue makes it
appear to us objective. However, a strict boundary between merely subjective bodily feelings or
sensations and the objective appearance of the physical can not be drawn,
If hearing, smell, and taste in themselves contribute only vaguely to the objective appearance,
we objectify the sounding, the tasting, the smelling in its connection with the visible and
palpable. The violin is an objectively sounding, the orange an objectively smelling and sweet body,
because we experience sound, smell, taste here in clear connection with what is visible and
palpable.
In any case, one sees that in order to gain the appearance of objective corporeality, the
possession of sensory organs is necessary, which can move against the objects (by themselves or by
virtue of the movement of the whole body). Of course, then, it does not prevent anything from
perceiving parts of one's own body through such sensory organs. The free mobility of our eye, of
our organ of touch and of our tongue (as a tactile organ for food), of the free mobility of the whole
human being, of the whole world body against each other, acquires a new important meaning from
this point of view. But let us suppose that the world was at first a single primitive ball in which no
mutually mobile masses had yet divorced, so at first there was no appearance of objective
corporeality; nature, as the epitome of such, did not yet exist in opposition to the spiritual being,
though there could be subjective bodily feelings. Everything appeared only under the form of self-
appearance, and the appearance of external bodies did not occur until then, when bodies against the
body were really moving in the world. Nature came out of the mind in the same moment, when
from the primordial ball, moving world-balls, carrying primeval creatures, or after our own
primeval creatures, emerged; rather, it did not appear objective as nature, only subjectively as soul,
spirit. Yes, if such a divorce had never occurred, were there still no separate, mobile world-bodies,
creatures, sensory organs, then a distinction of nature and mind, body and soul as two disparate
beings could never have occurred. A pure idealism, Spiritualism would still be the only possible
system today, and the world may have started it. These reflections enter into those which we have
already set up earlier (vol. I, chapter XI, M) on the creation of the world.
If the above considerations are valid, then the objective bodily appearance can only come
about with the help of a faculty of combining, in the memory (albeit unconsciously), the earlier and
later impressions gained in the course of the movement, which already is no longer purely sensual
assets. Also, we characterize each body as such by a set of properties that we associate with it only
from the memory of previous sensory experiences. Now that the plants have neither organs that they
can move freely against the objects; they are likely to have a combined memory, they will only have
subjective bodily sensations, which agrees with our considerations in Nanna, p.
It is easy to see that this whole exposition of the conditions under which something appears
objectively corporeal stands on an external standpoint. It is just a representation in the sense of
science. For by saying that one part of the body has to move against the other, so that the
appearance of objective corporeality takes place, that is, to follow the conditions of the appearance
of the body entirely within the realm of the physical itself, I place myself in the same external
viewpoint of contemplation, which I at the same time thereby characterize. In the meantime,
translation into a conception from the inside is easy. We feel that we are moving or parts of
ours; and feel that certain sensations change in connection with it, others do not. We objectify these,
not those.
Furthermore, it is not to be overlooked that the confrontation of a movable body part against
others in itself is not yet sufficient to give the appearance of objective corporeality. A dry ball wants
to spin as it would, it would not gain any appearance of a body world. It must be properly organized
to have a sensation that changes according to the nature of the impressions. Their mobility and the
related change of sensation then only bring with them that they also objectify, with which only the
appearance of objective corporeality arises. In the meantime, everything that is not organized, to
feel for itself, is in our opinion part of such a larger whole.
Addition 2. Brief Explanation of a New Principle of Mathematical Psychology
For reasons whose discussion would lead too far here, I consider the Herbartian principle of
mathematical psychology to be ineffective. If such a thing is possible at all, and I believe that it is
the case, it will, in my view, be based on the fact that the material phenomena to which the psychic
are attached are taken into account as a direct attack on them allow the calculation and a certain
measure, which is not so in the case of the psychic, although in itself nothing prevents the material
phenomena, which are subject to given psychic, as well as a function of them to consider, as the
other way round. In any case, it is more important to have the feeling of psychic phenomena, which
is not in itself divisive but always indeterminate, characterized by a within the limits of the certainty
of this measure, it is fitting to characterize the relation to the definite measure of the pertinent
physical phenomena, and thereby indirectly to ascertain the determinateness, rather than to do the
opposite, and to make the determinate dependent on the indeterminate. For this, however, it is
necessary that the fundamental relation of the physical and the psychical should no longer be
established in general, as has hitherto been the case in previous considerations, when it was only a
question of the most general basic point of view, but on the basis of this statement also a definite
one mathematical dependency relationship between them, which, in the absence of a direct and
precise measurability of the phenomena in the psychical field, but an empirical proof for borderline
cases, Change and turning points, increases and decreases, preponderance and defeat, over- and
subordination of mental phenomena adds what can be judged without accurate measurement but
exactly by feeling or in consciousness; and that the calculation based on the principle of this
dependency could draw the quality of mental phenomena in a similar sense to the field in which
computational physics drew the quality of colors and tones, in a related way. This would also give
us a solid scientific basis for the whole fourth view of the area of existence that we have
established. what can be judged without exact measurement yet exactly by feeling or in
consciousness; and that the calculation based on the principle of this dependency could draw the
quality of mental phenomena in a similar sense to the field in which computational physics drew the
quality of colors and tones, in a related way. This would also give us a solid scientific basis for the
whole fourth view of the area of existence that we have established. what can be judged without
exact measurement yet exactly by feeling or in consciousness; and that the calculation based on the
principle of this dependency could draw the quality of mental phenomena in a similar sense to the
field in which computational physics drew the quality of colors and tones, in a related way. This
would also give us a solid scientific basis for the whole fourth view of the area of existence that we
have established.
In fact, I believe I have found such a relationship of dependence, which at least, as far as the
matter can be judged so far, meets these requirements. It is this:
Let us measure the strength of bodily activity, which is subject to a spiritual, in a given place
and at a given time through its living force b (understood as living force in the sense of
mechanics) 12) , and call its change infinite small part of space or time, db , the corresponding
change of the intensity of mental activity to be estimated by the feeling or consciousness is
not proportional to the absolute change of the living force db , but proportional to the relative
change , hence by or k once and for all l, by expressing yourself.
what follows we speak only of the living force, which results from the
12) In
relative positional changes of the parts of the sentient system; because z. For
example, our continuation through the movement of the earth, or a balloon-
topped elevation, does not affect our sensation.
If the living force of a material element is given at a
definite time and place, summing up a continuous series of
absolute increases, it will be able to reach the living force of
any other element (or element) in any other space and time ; by
corresponding summation but the associated relative increments, ie
by the integral
to the mental or psychic intensity of the element concerned 13) , whereby the spiritual
intensity of the initial element must be regarded as known by serving to determine the
constant of the integral. This results in the sought mental intensity g of the second
element
.
where b denotes the value of b for which g = 0, as long as, according to the formula
itself, the zero value of g can not occur at the zero value of b, which is connected
with important inferences.
The mental intensity of an element is a mathematical fiction, which has no
13)
other meaning than to lead to the calculation of what belongs to a connection, a

system of elements; since a sensation of appreciable magnitude can neither
belong to an infinitesimal space nor time.
In short, though quite understandable, one will be able to say
that the psychic intensity is the logarithm of the associated
physical intensity, progressing in arithmetical proportions, if
these are in geometric; With what form of psychic function the
circumstance may itself be connected, that we know of psychic
intensities only an increase and decrease, but not a how many
times.
In order to have the psychic intensity that operates within a certain space and time, b is to be
determined as a function of time t and space s , and (in so far as discontinuity conditions permit) the
integral
within the limits in question.

Insofar as momentary sensations are not distinguished, but that a certain period of time is
always summed up in sensation, and that even a certain extension of the underlying process belongs
to every simple sensation, the measurable strength of a simple sensation always becomes an integral
of the form (3). while the value of g in (2) expresses only the elementary that is not particularly
distinguishable, which contributes to it; although a comparative consideration of this elementary for
many sensations allows many conclusions. 14)
Assuming that the sensory stimuli produce a change in our sensory instruments proportional
to their living force, which is probable at least in light and sound vibrations, one deduces from (2)
and (3) without difficulty, as it happens, that the strength of the light and sensation of sound
increases in much weaker proportions than the physical strength (living force) of light and sound
itself, as can certainly be judged without definite measurement, and that, crucially, one can no
longer distinctly distinguish the gradations of higher light intensity , Even the reflection of a
candlelight seems almost as bright to the eye as the reflected light itself, in spite of the fact that it is
actually far weaker (the pupil change does not explain this by far, It is also possible to envisage
lights of various intensities at the same time.) The comparison of the physical strength of the fixed
starlight with the psychic estimation of its strength (with stars of the first, second magnitude, etc.) is
especially illustrative. Also, under the above assumption (by a slight calculation), the not less
empirical circumstance flows from the formulas that a sensory stimulus can be weakened by
sufficient distribution, without changing its living force as a whole, yet for the sensation to the
imperceptible; a very strong sensory stimulus through moderate distribution, but rather a greater
sum of sensation. and especially illustrative is the comparison of the physical strength of the fixed
starlight with the psychic estimate of its strength (for stars of the first, second magnitude,
etc.). Also, under the above assumption (by a slight calculation), the not less empirical circumstance
flows from the formulas that a sensory stimulus can be weakened by sufficient distribution, without
changing its living force as a whole, yet for the sensation to the imperceptible; a very strong sensory
stimulus through moderate distribution, but rather a greater sum of sensation. and especially
illustrative is the comparison of the physical strength of the fixed starlight with the psychic estimate
of its strength (for stars of the first, second magnitude, etc.). Also, under the above assumption (by a
slight calculation), the not less empirical circumstance flows from the formulas that a sensory
stimulus can be weakened by sufficient distribution, without changing its living force as a whole,
yet for the sensation to the imperceptible; a very strong sensory stimulus through moderate
distribution, but rather a greater sum of sensation. but for the sensation to the imperceptible can be
weakened; a very strong sensory stimulus through moderate distribution, but rather a greater sum of
sensation. but for the sensation to the imperceptible can be weakened; a very strong sensory
stimulus through moderate distribution, but rather a greater sum of sensation.15) Further, from a
known proposition, it is of greater benefit to the power of the phenomena of consciousness to use
the same quantity of living force distributed in several equal and equivalent organs (for example, in
two equal halves of the brain) in several unequal and unequal ways; according to which the
symmetrical composition of man and many animals of similar parts would have another use
than that of the representation of the parts through each other.
14)It is still questionable whether the combination of movements belonging to
one and the same sensation does not have to take place under a condition other
than the continuity of the underlying matter in space, and if, then, the
integration over different material elements is from the point of view Such
continuity can extend when it is necessary to unify that which belongs to the
same sensation. It would be possible to think of another principle, where
integration in relation to space would no longer be valid, as provisionally
assumed. See a note below, which further explains this remark.
15) A mere ball of lead in one hand seems to us heavier than a similar lead ball,
placed in a light box on the other; notwithstanding the weight of the box is still
here; because the pressure will eventually spread more. Very dilute staining is
no longer recognizable when spread over large areas. If, however, a light that is
already so bright that a halving of its intensity brings no noticeable weakening
for the sensation to the double space, it noticeably arouses the double sum of
sensation.
Naturally, the greater intensity of a consciousness phenomenon
or of the whole consciousness corresponds to a greater positive
value of the integral measuring this intensity, which also demands
a greater value of the living force entering into it; The moment
when consciousness just awakens or sinks into slumber, which is
called the threshold of consciousness, corresponds to a zero value
of the integral and a certain lower value of the living force,
namely b = b in formula (2), where it is merely is concerned with
the momentary psychic intensity of an element, while in formula
(3), which belongs to a whole process of sensation, the values of
b within the interval of integration are partly over, partly
under bcan lie, as it overlooks without difficulty. However,
experience can also bring consciousness down below its threshold,
ie, sleep, unconsciousness deepen more and more, in such a way
that a reawakening becomes more and more difficult, it demands
ever more positive stimulation in the sense of the earlier
conscious activity, only the Threshold of consciousness to reach
again. If the increase in consciousness above the threshold
corresponds to a positive value of the integral in question, and
the threshold itself to a zero value, the sinking of the
consciousness below the threshold must correspond to a negative
value of the same. For here it is first necessary to fill out a
defect in a certain sense before the zero value is reached; this
is the character of negative sizes. In fact, the integrals (2) and
(3). thereby,16)We can see how in the periodic nature of our
organism, which is subject to the laws of antagonism, both the
whole soul and individual phenomena of consciousness or
conceptions may soon be under, sometimes over the threshold of
consciousness without the standstill of the associated movements
taking place only slowing down (the movements in our brain
actually go on while we sleep), and how the consciousness
phenomena themselves can thereby come into active
interrelation. As the living force for certain phenomena of
consciousness sinks, it rises antagonistically for others, but
naturally it will be inclined to rise in connection with
psychically coherent phenomena of consciousness, to which a
physical connection is necessarily subject. From a general point
of view, one immediately overlooks the way in which certain
sensations or representations repress themselves, but others also
can arouse, be able to follow suit, and I believe that our theory,
though not intentionally tailored, is at least as favorable in
this regard for the representation of the facts presented by
Herbartsche, who has placed their hypotheses mainly on the
representation of them, and indeed those which are most directly
related to the nature of our organism; if, by the same token,
examples of fruitful or illustrative application to experience
will only be possible if we have the experiential foundations for
this more in our power than now. how certain sentiments or ideas
are repressed, others may be induced to follow, according to
circumstances, and I believe that our theory, though not
intentionally tailored, presents in this respect at least as
favorable general conditions for the representation of facts as
Herbartsche which has placed its hypotheses chiefly on the
representation of them, and those which are most directly
connected with the nature of our organism; if, by the same token,
this more in our power than now. how certain sentiments or ideas
are repressed, others may be induced to follow, according to
circumstances, and I believe that our theory, though not
intentionally tailored, presents in this respect at least as
favorable general conditions for the representation of facts as
Herbartsche which has placed its hypotheses chiefly on the
representation of them, and those which are most directly
this more in our power than now. by circumstance, and I believe
that our theory, though not intentionally tailored, presents in
this respect at least as favorable general conditions for the
representation of facts as Herbartsche, who has placed their
hypotheses primarily upon representation of them, and those with
the nature of our organism in the most direct connection; if, by
the same token, examples of fruitful or illustrative application
to experience will only be possible if we have the experiential
foundations for this more in our power than now. by circumstance,
and I believe that our theory, though not intentionally tailored,
presents in this respect at least as favorable general conditions
for the representation of facts as Herbartsche, who has placed
their hypotheses primarily upon representation of them, and those
with the nature of our organism in the most direct connection; if,
by the same token, examples of fruitful or illustrative
application to experience will only be possible if we have the
experiential foundations for this more in our power than
now. which has placed its hypotheses chiefly on the representation
of them, and indeed those which are most directly connected with
the nature of our organism; if, by the same token, examples of
fruitful or illustrative application to experience will only be
possible if we have the experiential foundations for this more in
our power than now. which has placed its hypotheses chiefly on the
representation of them, and indeed those which are most directly
this more in our power than now.
16)Therefore, that waking and sleeping respectively correspond to positive and
negative mathematical expressions, it is not necessary to conceive waking and
sleep as a positive and negative state of consciousness, since rather the
mathematical opposition of the positive and the negative in geometrical and
real contexts everywhere Contrast of the real and the non-real (imaginary)
denotes where nature, in substance, the reality can be grasped only in one
direction. This applies z. B. From the radius vector in the system of polar
coordinates, this also applies to the living force b ,which in reality does not
allow negative values opposite to positive values. And so the opposition of the
signs to guards and sleep, or heightened consciousness and deepened
unconsciousness, should not be interpreted as the opposition of positive and
negative consciousness, but as the opposition of a real and not-real
consciousness, but so that the absolute value indicates the negative magnitude
whether the distance from reality is greater or less. Whether this is the case is
not indifferent to the connection and development of the actual phenomena of
consciousness itself, since their easier or more difficult recurrence depends on
it when they have sunk below the threshold of consciousness, and there,
according to the real connection of conditions (Law the conservation of living
power) small values of b, hence sleep states here, generally balances with great
values of b , waking states elsewhere, from above more.
That antagonism, indisputably dependent on the law of the
preservation of living force, which manifests itself in our narrow
organism and extends from the body to the soul, will undoubtedly
be expressed in the world or the other organism to which our
organism itself is incorporated, indeed between himself and the
rest of the world, with which he is related to a community
system; in which many reflections can be made, which enter into
the general views of this writing.
Attention is a psychic faculty grounded in the self-activity of our soul, which is
evidently connected with a physical faculty grounded in the self-activity of our
organism, and amplifies the living force in some sense, for certain physical-psychic
functions at the expense of others, and thus succumbs the stated principle.
The places or times when the change of mental intensity, ie , becomes zero,
correspond to the general maximum or minimum values of the living force b and the
integral (2). If we are dealing with periodic or oscillating movements, and the
processes of the organism that supports our soul, as well as the sensory stimuli of the
face and hearing, are generally of this nature, such maximum and minimum values
occur by themselves periodically or at intervals. The number of such periods or
intervals in a given time or space determines experientially (and all basic relations are
to be built on experience or confirmed by it) merely a quality of sensation, without
the individual periods, intervals or individual moments themselves being
distinguishable in the sensation fall (if not discontinuities, of which subsequently fall
between); the soul has, as we express ourselves elsewhere, a simplifying force; draws
together the physically vast, compound, from the external point of view only under
the form of the manifold, into a simplified self-appearance. This is to be regarded as a
basic fact.
Not only can periodicity be different in tempo, but it can also be simple or
complicated, smaller periods can be built into larger ones, rational and irrational,
lower and higher relative relations between periods occur, after which the quality of
the sensation changes and Conditions of various kinds can enter between the
sensations, whose relation to the circumstances of the periods is yet to be
discussed. The principle of the coexistence of small oscillations is indisputably of
great importance for the coexistence of psychic states.
Insofar as the height of the notes permits an analogous gradation, as the strength,
the soul also undertakes this comparison according to the same principle as that of the
strength. Experience has shown that the perceived pitch does not depend on the
inverse ratio of the duration of the oscillation or on the frequency of the oscillation,
but on the logarithm of this ratio. The next and second octave above the root note
does not appear to us again and four times as high as the fundamental note, regardless
of the number of oscillations is twice and four times as large, but the statement of the
feeling is that each octave at the same interval from the other which corresponds to
the logarithmic ratio. This has already been discussed by Drobisch in the treatises of
the Jablonowskische Gesellschaft (1846), p. 109. Why do not we also compare colors
to the height like tones? This remains puzzling at the moment.
In the near future attention is paid to the discontinuity relations of the

psychic intensity change , which occur when the living force b becomes zero or
assumes leap values, thus also a discontinuity in the psychic intensity values
and the integral (3) occurs. As long as continuity takes place in this respect, as within
a vibration, we distinguish (notably) the psychic intensity of the individual points and
moments not individually, but the sum of the continuous values of g, which fall into a
vibration, measures in one the intensity of the Sensation during the duration and in
the extension of the vibration; and the whole intensity sum of the sensation within a
given time and space interval is obtained by summing the sums which belong to the
individual vibrations. For in tones of different heights and lights of different colors,
the partial sums which belong to the individual vibrations differ not only in the
strength of the movement, but also in the extension of the periods; so indisputably the
difficult comparability of the strength of tones of different heights and lights of
different color depends on the sensation, as long as the comparison becomes more
complex. But now occurs discontinuity of and hereby a difference of strength is

felt. Thus, when a second note, albeit equal to a note, is played, the new vibration
joins the former, b and g suddenly take on a different value, and we feel the
difference of strength 17).
With regard to the interpretation of the discontinuity relations, many things
17)
remain doubtful. Two world bodies z. B., which determine each other by
attraction to movement, are discontinuous in space but the conditions , the
two belong at the same time, therefore, are not discontinuous in size, but
remain, though the masses of the world-bodies are equal or unequal, always the
same throughout the duration of their motion. As the periodicity of their
movement also coincides, in my opinion, regardless of whether they are
separated in space, their sensation would be bound up with an identical
sensation, not two separate sensations in strength and quality, if at all here to
accept sensations. The soul does not care about spatial distances, unless
otherwise essential differences are carried along. Effects by a uniform agent
continue, e.g. As a nerve or brain fiber, so there is always for the successive
parts not identity, but continuity of Therefore, no distinction should be made
here in strength, even if the parts of it are discreetly thought of in terms of
atomism. For various organisms there may exist such incommensurability of
the relations of motion that identity or continuity from nowhere persists for
a finite time for the same parts between them. But if one wanted to maintain
the independence of the strength continuity of the value of In successive
parts of space, this would only be possible with a truly continuous space filling,
which is not favorable to today's exact physics, and in general is less
favorable. But the subject still deserves consideration, as many difficulties of
contemplation are present in our view. Zero values of b also appear to be a
difficulty, provided in linear oscillations at the boundary of each oscillation it
becomes discontinuous, so that the vibrations should be distinguished in
individual paragraphs. Perhaps this is to be countered by the consideration that
there are absolutely absolutely rectilinear vibrations in nature probably
not. Perhaps, however, the conditions of discontinuity also demand a somewhat
different conception than they have found here.
Let us imagine (unnoticed by the majority of the dimensions)
the points of a sensory system in order, laid out in a straight
line or plane, and the magnitude of the living force which comes
to them, by the height of ordinates erected at the points in
question; In other words, the living force of the whole system is
generally represented by the shape of a line or a wave whose shape
changes in accordance with changes in the living force. On the
main shaft, which is the living force of the main motions of the
system, small ripples or waves can arise due to special
interactions of individual parts of the system or external
influences.18) These smaller ripples or wave-trains may enter into
very different relations to the main shaft and to each
other; z. For instance, above or below the threshold of the
special consciousness, by virtue of which they detach themselves
from the main wave, while the principal wave is in an opposite
state, showing different periods in relation to the main wave and
to each other, carrying higher-order discontinuities, and so on
the possibility or foresight of being able to represent many
important psychic relationships.
18)It is not disputed that the vital force of these ripples, to which particular
sensations belong, must also be specially taken into account, and not treated
together with the vital force of the main wave, where it is not the general
strength of consciousness at all, but the strength of that specific one Sensation
on the basis of a given state of general consciousness.
For example, the difference is that we see nothing because our
attention is not focused on what is visible when light hits our
eye, or black sees which sensation can be very intense, even
though it corresponds to a lack of light excitement. We see
nothing in the first sense, when the main wave of the living force
with its associated consciousness, which belongs to our organ of
the face as a member of an ensouled whole apart from external
stimuli, is under the threshold of consciousness, and if there are
ripples by the influence of light on it they are thereby depressed
below the threshold of our general consciousness. Black we see
when the main wave is above the threshold, the more intense, the
higher it goes, but it lacks ripples by light excitation on
it. This can be transferred to other senses. In this way, nothing
is differentiated by the lack of attention and the sense of
stillness, when attention is awake in the area of hearing, but no
sound stimulation takes place. It is also well explained by the
not infrequent case that we physically hear someone else's speech
but do not immediately hear it psychologically; but this can still
be done later, if we later turn our attention to what we have
heard, by raising the living wave of inner auditory activity, with
the ripples awakened on it, which was only below the threshold,
over the threshold. but no stimulation by tones takes place. It is
also well explained by the not infrequent case that we physically
hear someone else's speech but do not immediately hear it
psychologically; but this can still be done later, if we later
turn our attention to what we have heard, by raising the living
wave of inner auditory activity, with the ripples awakened on it,
which was only below the threshold, over the threshold. but no
stimulation by tones takes place. It is also well explained by the
not infrequent case that we physically hear someone else's speech
but do not immediately hear it psychologically; but this can still
be done later, if we later turn our attention to what we have
heard, by raising the living wave of inner auditory activity, with
the ripples awakened on it, which was only below the threshold,
over the threshold.19) In general, this principle allows multiple
applications. This is the only way to explain how pressure can be
felt at all. When I press an object with my finger, I have a
sensation of it, without, however, it seems that the pressure can
create or increase a living force in the body. But it can change
the wave of living force that belongs to the finger, and as long
as that wave is above the threshold of consciousness, this change,
whether it goes into positivity or negation, will be felt as
well. It is undeniable that it is a negative change in the
fundamental wave that occurs here. For in a sense we feel the
slightest touch, the tickling, the strongest, in so far as the
underlying wave is the least diminished; she grasps the weakest
change with the greatest sensitivity; on the other hand, if the
pressure is strong, the strong change with reduced sensitivity is
understood. The more the pressure increases, the more he blunts
the sensitivity to himself.
19)In the meantime, I confess that the auditory organs have difficulty in
explaining, by means of the above principle, how one individual can be heard
by attention from a mixture of several tones, assuming that every fiber of the
auditory nerve sounds at the same time in all tone sensations, all the same
sensation mixture repeat. The strengthening of the main wave by attention will
then have to increase all the sound-waves at the same time over the threshold
of consciousness to the same degree; on the other hand, the difficulty
disappears if one assumes that the division of the auditory nerve into fibers
(otherwise difficult to interpret teleologically) has the advantage of presenting
different fibers to the conception of different tones. And it is undisputed that it
is still an open question, whether this is true or not. Would not it be so
Higher mental activities are undoubtedly associated with
higher-order conditions of motion or change in a way that needs to
be discussed in more detail. Here is still a large field of
possible assumptions open. Differential quotients and
discontinuities of higher order, relations between ratios,
logarithms of logarithms, the multiplication of the constants with
integration of higher differentials offer at first sight a rich
substance of possible application here; as, for example, the
difference of the higher spiritual phenomena themselves will
demand a different expression. In any case, from a general point
of view, it is overlooked that our principle, in the presence of
such relations, includes the possibility of explaining the
construction of higher mental activities over lower ones,
To suggest a possibility above, one might think of attaching to the
expression a similar meaning to higher phenomena than to the
expression for lower ones; then, for the elementary intensity of the higher
phenomenon, where b, the value of b for the zero value of the

integral is obtained. Some things can be explained well afterwards. But I think it
better not to develop immature and uncertain considerations here. And it is also
common ground to think of higher relationships between the periods of movement on
which the quality of the sensation depends.
The following points are more closely summarized by the previous theory,
according to the state of their previous training: How it is connected, that the mental
functions always go on the whole parallel to the physical and show correlated
changes and turning points, but not the absolute Size of physical activities done
proportionally; - why, in particular, the increase of sensation behind the increase of
the sensory stimulus remains in arrears, and distribution of the stimuli, without
change of size as a whole, is able to diminish the sensation to the imperceptible; -
why the mental functions always appear simpler than the underlying physical ones,
without being simply simple; how sleep and waking of the mind are connected with
that of the body; - why, in particular, sleep or the sinking of individual mental
activities below the threshold of consciousness does not correspond to the standstill
of the associated bodily activities, but only to a lowering of the same; - on what
circumstance the deepening of sleep and unconsciousness is based; - how the sinking
of certain mental activities below the threshold of consciousness may carry the
elevation of others above it; - how the quality of sensation can be related to
quantitative determinations; - as tension or relaxation of attention, as a function of the
main wave of the living force peculiar to our organism, may raise or drop below the
threshold of the general consciousness the ripples produced by external sensory
stimuli;
It is indisputable to show that, despite the impossibility to accurately measure
the intensity of psychic phenomena (of which one has always borrowed the main
objection against the possibility of mathematical psychology), the application and
comparability of our theory to experience is of the most general and important
phenomena is possible, and even some very special phenomena are already hit
directly by it. But this theory is still in the first rudiments, a child in diapers; so more
can be expected of it; but also, of course, that it is possible for the child to return in
this form. For I can not say, however, that this theory is already certain; there is
still no Experimentum crucis,as exact science requires; the general agreement with
the facts can only give a favorable prejudice to them. There are still many difficulties
that I have yet to overcome, such as are easy to grasp in such a young theory, but
which are not of the kind that they were opposed to a possible solution in
themselves. I may reserve a closer discussion to another place; In the meantime I
wished by these brief hints to encourage others to pursue the same subject, since
some things which seem to me still difficult may be more easily overcome by others,
or perhaps the principle or development of the principle after one side or the other is
happier in another as is taken by me. I believe that,
XX. Overview of the doctrine of the things of the sky. 1)
1) In the sense of the inherent, if not ordinary, view of the earth, which allows
everything to reckon with it, which is held together by the gravity around its center,
that is also water, air, people, animals, plants (II) the earth as well as our body a
system through continuity of matter, as in intimately connected purposes and
functions, which is divided into a manifold of particularly distinguishable regions and
parts, and a never resting, again divided into a manifold of periods and cycles Great
development epoch unfolds through a continuous play of activities, into which
division of parts and activities our body itself enters into its activities only in a
subordinate manner (III, XV, B. ff.).
1) The Roman numerals below refer to the sections under which the objects are treated.
2) All points of similarity and difference between us and the earth at all considered
(III), the earth agrees with us in all points, which according to some view on the
relation of body and soul as essential marks or hints of a soul-special in materiality,
while the no less striking differences between us and the earth all unite to make the
earth appear as a being living, more independent and individual in a higher sense,
than we ourselves are, whereas our own Life is full of abundance and depth is at a
disadvantage, our own independence very much resigns, our individuality is only
very subordinate. This is explained in detail in detailed discussions (III, IV).
3) As our bodies belong to the larger or higher individual body of the earth, so our
spirits understand the greater or higher individual spirit of the earth, which in general
understands all the spirits of the earthly creatures in subordination, just as the body of
the earth comprehends all the bodies of them. But the spirit of the earth is not merely
a summation of the earthly individual spirits, but the all-comprehending, uniform,
higher, conscious connection of them. Our individuality, independence and freedom,
which can only be grasped in relative terms, do not suffer because we belong to them,
but rather find root and reason therein, in that they only retain the relation of
subordination to it.
These ideas are (from I to VIII) explained in more detail from different points of
view, also (VII, VIII; tries to enter into the psychology of the higher spirit a little
closer.
It is recalled that we are already accustomed to speak of a spirit of humanity
linking our spirits, and how the view of the spirit of the earth is but an expanded and
more valid version of this conception. If the idea of the spirit of humanity is to gain
support, it necessarily passes over into the spirit of the earth. (Vol. I. chapter IV, VII,
VIII.)
4) What applies to our earth, which itself is only a celestial body, is analogous to
the other stars. They are all part of individual inspiration; and thus form a kingdom of
higher and higher heavenly beings. It is shown (especially VI) that from the physical
as well as the spiritual point of view the stars are well suited to the demands which
we can give to superior beings, and it is recalled that not only the naturalistic faith of
the peoples everywhere in the stars is higher Divine beings see (I, XIV), but even our
belief in angels has taken its first exit from the belief in the higher animated nature of
the stars, so that our view is reduced only to the naturalistic beliefs (VI).
5) As all stars belong to the material side of nature as the epitome of all corporeal
things, so all the spirits of the stars belong to the spirit which belongs to the whole of
nature, ie to the divine spirit. But they lose so little their individuality, relative
independence, and freedom from belonging to it as they do our spirits, because they
belong to the spirit of the earth; but find only their supreme bond, their highest
conscious connection in it (II, VI).
6) The divine spirit is a united, highly conscious, truly omniscient being, which in
itself carries all consciousness of the world, and herewith also the consciousness of
all individual creatures in higher references and the highest unit of consciousness,
whose relations to his individual beings and to nature are discussed in greater detail
(XI). In particular, it is shown that the evil in the world does not blame God (XI, G),
and his attachment to the nature of his dignity, height, freedom is not able to do
anything (XI, O). The proof of the existence of God is once guided by theoretical (XI,
B), another point of practical (XIX, A) viewpoint.
7) As little as the earth is a divisive intermediary between our body and nature, but
rather as it is incorporated by it into nature itself, so little does the spirit of the earth
form a dividing link between us and the divine spirit; Rather, it is the higher
individual mediation through which our mind, along with other earthly spirits,
belongs to the Spirit of God. It is shown (Vol. I, Chapter XII) how this idea fits into
our practical interests.
8) The intimate relationship of the divine spirit to the nature and the inclusion of
our spirits in the divine spirit only apparently contradicts the prevailing ideas, only
insofar as they contradict themselves. It shows how we can only gain by a clear and
full response (XII).
9) The universal mediation by the Spirit of the earth to God does not replace the
special mediation by Christ. Rather, the spirit of the earth, even after the highest and
best relations, requires a mediator to God, who will participate in Christ, and at the
same time become part of humanity. The points of view under which Christianity
appears in our doctrine are even more thoroughly discussed (XIII).
10) The supreme law of the world (XI, B, XIX, B), the relations of necessity and
freedom (XI, B, XIX, B, C), the relations of body and soul (XI, p.225, XIX, D) , the
mode of creation of the creatures (XVI) are discussed in more detail from a general
point of view.
About the things of the hereafter.
Foreword.
The following doctrine is, according to its most general features, already very
recently of me in a small writing 1) which some friends have acquired in their time,
except that it has been developed here on a broader basis, with more weighty
consequences, and with a more valid version and position of some special points. It
may well be that the suppleness and freshness of that first account assert a formal
advantage in relation to the richer but wider present ones. But I would not let her
have this broader embodiment if she could not have become deeper, especially by
reference to the reflections of the preceding doctrine of the things of heaven, and not
the conviction that doctrine such a deserved, by gaining more binding reasons for it
and the continuing experience of their living effect on the mind the longer the more
would have strengthened.
1) The booklet about life after death, by dr. Mises. Leipzig. Voss. 1836th
To be sure, I can only give the following as rational possibilities, reasonable in so

far as they are coherent in themselves and connected with the facts, laws and
demands of our present life, and even find positive support in them. There is no need
to demand evidence in the sense of mathematics and physics. One wonders whether
among the conceivable possibilities the most probable, at the same time most
compatible with our knowledge of the nature of things, our just hopes and practical
demands as substantiated by Christianity itself, are met here. I say, whether the most
compatible at the same time. For, of course, the naturalist will find little binding in
the reflections of this Scripture if he does not acknowledge the demand of an eternal
life at all; but is it the case Thus he will not be reluctant to see that this demand,
which is not satisfied by stopping in his usual way, is here satisfied by an extension of
it. For the theologian, on the other hand, everything that I shall say here, if he sets an
axiom from the beginning, that the transition from this world to the hereafter can only
be made in a supernatural way, is probably the light of faith, but not of knowledge on
the other hand, he can accept a doctrine from other views which, in support of his
demands for faith, also gives him some knowledge weapons. However, this doctrine
in itself can not be compelled by so much as the previous one, but only to meet needs
which, of course, are compelling enough. those who are unable to satisfy themselves
by standing still in their usual way are satisfied here by an expansion of the same. For
the theologian, on the other hand, everything that I shall say here, if he sets an axiom
from the beginning, that the transition from this world to the hereafter can only be
made in a supernatural way, is probably the light of faith, but not of knowledge on the
other hand, he can accept a doctrine from other views which, in support of his
which, of course, are compelling enough. those who are unable to satisfy themselves
by standing still in their usual way are satisfied here by an expansion of the same. For
the theologian on the other hand, everything must seem vain, what I will say here if
he is from the outset as an axiom, that the transition from this world to the hereafter
can only be done on a supernatural way, arguably the light of faith, not of knowledge
on the other hand, he can accept a doctrine from other views which, in support of his
which, of course, are compelling enough. For the theologian on the other hand,
everything must seem vain, what I will say here if he is from the outset as an axiom,
that the transition from this world to the hereafter can only be done on a supernatural
way, arguably the light of faith, not of knowledge on the other hand, he can accept a
doctrine from other views which, in support of his demands for faith, also gives him
some knowledge weapons. However, this doctrine in itself can not be compelled by
so much as the previous one, but only to meet needs which, of course, are compelling
enough. For the theologian on the other hand, everything must seem vain, what I will
say here if he is from the outset as an axiom, that the transition from this world to the
hereafter can only be done on a supernatural way, arguably the light of faith, not of
knowledge on the other hand, he can accept a doctrine from other views which, in
support of his demands for faith, also gives him some knowledge weapons. However,
this doctrine in itself can not be compelled by so much as the previous one, but only
to meet needs which, of course, are compelling enough. but he does not tolerate
knowledge, whereas in other views he may be welcomed by a doctrine which, in
to meet needs which, of course, are compelling enough. but he does not tolerate
knowledge, whereas in other views he may be welcomed by a doctrine which, in
to meet needs which, of course, are compelling enough.
Incidentally, in this whole doctrine one pays less attention to the individual than to
the totality of the points of view, which often have to be replaced and supplemented
by their harmony, which in detail remains inadequate; and put more emphasis on the
basics than on the specific execution of the view. Each redesign starts with uncertain
grips; but without their precedence, safety would never come. But one should also be
wary of remaining with limited points of view in a region which, by its very nature,
demands going beyond the ordinary limits of contemplation. Those who want to find
their way beyond the here and now can not possibly focus on what lies at their feet.
I think after all, there is a beginning here with a new way, and more than one does
not have to demand at first. I hope to convince individuals of the thoroughness of the
fundamentals of these views; they will then help to lay the foundation and build it
further and rectify the fault, and restrain it to Rasche, and abolish that which is too
high, that the enterprise may become more suitable and worthy to awaken also more
general conviction. For no matter how much it demands help in all these
relationships, no one can feel better than me.
XXI. About the importance of human death and the relationship of

the future to the present life.
What about human death?
Will not the spirit of man, as the product of a higher spirit, be withdrawn in death in
its universality or unconsciousness, as it had first become individualized out of it?
It's the same with the products of our own mind. Our thoughts emerge from the
unconscious, to extinguish them again. Only the whole spirit has continuity in the
volatility and transience of the individual, what comes in and out of it.
The body of man also dissolves in death into the universal body of nature or the
earth, as he had first individualized out of it. His little body melts, the big one
remains. But the spirit is not carried away for nothing; He also has to share his fate.
How can there still be doubt, where everything is right on all sides?
It is the old question and the old questioning of what arises here against our future,
regardless of whether we want to think of our dissolution in a spirit and body of the
earthly or in God, for as we melt in one, we melt in the one others.
But so threatening is the question and concern over our heads, and so intertwined is
the fate of man and the earth, that in truth it would only be a sadly half-work, if we
did not want to, after we save the soul of the earth sought, now also the human soul to
seek to save those concerns.
And it is precisely this, which seems to others so dubious, it should save us. That
the human spirit is the product and moment of a higher mind seems to bring danger to
many. But for us it is precisely because he is and remains in a higher and highest, all
security. If the human soul is not already carried in the bosom of a self-living spirit,
and the human body belongs to a self-living body; in fact, I do not know where space
and place shall be for the future life of man, having given up his present mode of
existence; death deprives him of the conditions of life as a whole, with the conditions
of his life up to him; but if the earth is alive and in a broader sense the world around
us, we are already partners in their lives, without blurring to lose ourselves in it, death
soon appears only as the breakthrough from a lower narrower to a higher sphere of
life of the mind and body of which we already are members, and our narrow lower
life itself only as the seed the higher beyond. Well, of course, when the seed bursts,
the plant spreads; The plantlet thinks at the moment that it melts after it has been
folded tightly in the seed-kernel for so long; but how does it really dissolve and run
away with other plants? Rather, it wins a new world. and our narrow lower life on
this side only like the seed of the higher beyond. Well, of course, when the seed
bursts, the plant spreads; The plantlet thinks at the moment that it melts after it has
been folded tightly in the seed-kernel for so long; but how does it really dissolve and
run away with other plants? Rather, it wins a new world. and our narrow lower life on
this side only like the seed of the higher beyond. Well, of course, when the seed
bursts, the plant spreads; The plantlet thinks at the moment that it melts after it has
been folded tightly in the seed-kernel for so long; but how does it really dissolve and
run away with other plants? Rather, it wins a new world.
What so many err is an indispensable analogy. If the human spirits are products of a
higher mind, as are our thoughts of ours, now also death is to be compared with a
withdrawal of these thoughts into the unconscious, as birth with an emergence from
the unconsciousness of this spirit. But I mean, there is nothing in between.
Thoughts are spinning on thoughts; one gradually flows into the other; for one to
come, another must go, and as he goes, the other comes from him; and, like the
thought spiritually, the physical impulse that may carry it flows into that of the
following thought. Nothing breaks suddenly. It's a quiet walk, a passing away.
But death is a sudden being, abruptly cutting off an earlier state, breaking off, not
hitting, a bridge to relatives, not trailing off your spiritual thread, but tearing it short,
breaking its body to it, abruptly at once. Off is the old condition. That's all. At least
that's how it seems.
It is no different from death with the birth. Does not every human spirit enter the
spirit world as a peculiar new event, which can not be calculated in its own way, as a
new beginning, partly as an imprint of former spirits, but not spun out of it? Every
spirit is like a new miracle. Now the old spirit world is only spinning in with its old
knowledge, beliefs; but the old spirits are not the stuff from which the new came. Of
course, the Father's and the Mother's Spirit are necessary as a cause for development,
as a tool, if you will, in a Greater Hand; yet do not go over in the child's mind, nor go
out as the child's mind awakens. It is not at all directly related, like cause and
consequence, but only far away in a higher order, that spirits come, ghosts go,
So the picture fits little in all directions; but another is at command, but of course
only one picture, and that therefore can not fit at all. But even if it suited just a little
better than that, why let that hope for a hereafter still wither away, as if there was no
way out? In fact, what we bring fits more.
Open your eyes, suddenly there is a picture in it, from nothing to explain what has
been in your mind so far, a new beginning from which many things can
become; What can not be developed by the new image in your mind? how can it stir
up your whole inner world, not unlike a newborn human the whole outer world. In a
certain respect, though, it will always be an imprint of already taken pictures, as
every newborn human in a certain respect repeats only earlier ones, yet it is a new
imprint, is not a continuation of the old, and never quite resembles the earlier
one. Your soul-living body must give up its juices, powers, and sensibilities, to shape
and preserve the image bodily in its womb, just as the body of the earth must give up
its juices, powers, and sensations. to shape and sustain a new person in his womb. Of
course you do not manage to create the image in yourself; the world that surrounds
you throws its image into you; and thus the earth alone could not create a man; God
who surrounds her throws his image into her. For not only is man a scion and picture
of the earth, but he is a scion and image of the whole world of the God-begotten,
though first of all the earth. You also look at yourself in every new picture, so the
earth looks at each new child. The new image in you is like a new child on earth, a
new earth child is like a new image in you. Only that, of course, as a child of the
earth you are more and more important than a picture in you, because also the earthly
world in which you step as a child,
I mean in truth, man's first bodily spiritual becoming, entering the great physical
spiritual kingdom of the earthly world through God's creative agency, thus beginning
a new series of destinies, not explained by anything in the same kingdom, much more
resembling such first becoming, Entering a new bodily spiritual image into your little
kingdom of the body and of the spirit, with which also a new series of destinies,
explained by nothing in the same kingdom, is begun, than the emergence of one
thought from the other. The circumstance may well compare itself to the fact that the
image in you, like the child on earth, begins to be something purely sensuous, but it
soon enters into higher spiritual references; Memories, concepts, ideas seize and
immediately enthuse in a higher sense.
But how do we compare dying?
Beat 'to your eye! Suddenly the picture fades, the bright, warm one, suddenly
disappears, does not change into any other; The juices and forces that thrust
themselves into the eye from all sides, making the image the bearer of sensation, flow
back into the general body. Who can still find something of the picture in the whole
body? It's all out. So your death is, suddenly, hitting, breaking off, like the eye-
lift. The night of death at once draws a veil before all intuition that the higher mind
has gained so far through you; It fades, the bright, warm, and like the individualized
bodily picture in your eye flows again into the larger body, which first gave birth to it,
so your individually formed body again into the greater body of the earth, to which
only juices and powers were given ,
As true as it is when the eye is blamed in the life of the picture, so true will it be in
death at the ointment with you. So true; Yes sure; but not true. And will you believe
in your future life, when behind the life of that image a second, a higher, a freer, a
more boundless, a bodiless, or a free bodily, bursts out, as you would of your future
life? What happens to the image in you, why should not this happen to you in a
greater one than you; is it just happening in a larger sense?
If I close the eye, and the sensual image goes out, does not the more spiritual of
remembrance awaken instead of it? And if the present moment of intuition was quite
clear to me before, I saw everything bright and strong, but only what was there and
how it came about, now the memory of everything that covered the duration of my
intuition begins in detail probably less bright, altogether more alive and richer, self-
sufficient to live and weave in me and to associate with everything else that has been
remembered by earlier intuitions and other senses.
Now, if I close the eye in death, and my sensuous visual life goes out, will not then,
instead of it, be able to awaken a memory life in the higher mind? And when he saw
everything bright and strong through me in the life of intuition, but always only what
was there, and how it came about, the memory of everything that encompassed my
intuitive life does not now become less bright in general livelier and richer, self-
sufficient to begin to live and weave, and to relate and communicate with the memory
circles that he gained through the deaths of others? But as true as my life of intuition
was that of a self-indulgent and discriminating being, so true is it still the life of
remembrance.
For, in the use of analogy, let us not forget the differences which are attached to the
fact that we are already very different in the intuitive life of the higher spirit than our
intuitions in us, and the higher mind itself something higher than we are. From the
unequal follows just as unequal as from the same like. Our memories are only
dependent beings, driven by the stream and again in it, without knowing about
themselves and what they are doing. But that's why you will not be the same one
day. For since you are already here, knowing what drives you and what you do, it will
also be the case in your memory life. You are only remembrance, if you remain
mentally behind the destruction of your present sensual existence, but more as a
memory, if that which leaves you mentally is more than what remembrance leaves
behind. Our memory, too, reflects the essential peculiarities of what it grew out of. So
the memory that arises from you in the higher mind. Your most peculiar, your
individuality, can not be lost, it also persists in remembering. If the perceived picture
were already self-contained in you, self-conscious in the same sense as you are
below, its memory in you would be the same. And so it is everywhere else, the side of
the differences next to the side of the coincidence in the eye, and not to look for what
weak and puny and tight in you, even in the larger mind.
Of course, my close mind can not, of course, carry so many memories or areas of
memory at once in consciousness than the larger mind, because it can not at the same
time carry so many intuitions or spheres of vision in consciousness. So, just as the
memories are repressed in my mind and always appear in consciousness only after
each other, it will not be in the higher spirit, because it is not so with the intuitions; as
well as in thousands of different human beings, there are a thousand different spheres
of clear and independent existence in each other, as well as a thousand areas of
memory with each other. One does not always need to wait, in order to come into
consciousness, to wait for the other to die down in the consciousness of the higher
spirit,
You have only two eyes to strike, and if they are closed, everything is for your
intuition until you open them again; with that you help yourself to gain new views; he
has to slay the eyes of all men, keeps a thousand open when he strikes a thousand,
and instead of ever reopening those slammed in death, he opens a thousand new ones
in other places, so he helps himself, and thereby wins much higher Always meaning
new views for you, while at the same time processing the memories of the former in
the intercourse of the otherworldly spirits. Every new pair of human eyes is a new
bucket pair for him, with which he draws particular attention in a special way, even
from the old draws in a new way; you are merely a bearer of such a bucket pair in
your service; have you got enough for him, so he calls it carrying you home, puts the
lid on the outside of the buckets, so as not to spill anything, and opens them inside his
house; Now it is necessary to continue to use the creature. But he does not dismiss
you the servant. If you have carried it home, you must now also do it inside; because
he does not need you outside; but inside you are now helping him to process what
you have created. There stand a thousand workers, who, like you, carry yours home
to him, and work their hands in the house of the same spirit; only now quite knowing
what it is. How much nearer are they now, for they gather the full buckets from all
sides, than when they drew them out on all sides to scoop them, and always met one
only the other, and they wondered whence, where, and wandered around the still
closed door of the house, which opens only in death. What is your reward? How good
is the Lord! All that you carry home and what you accomplish with the work of the
higher spirit is your reward; he keeps nothing to himself, he shares it with you so that
he has it all and you have it completely, because you yourself are whole. Now make
sure you bring good things home to him; you carry it home.
But let us not lose ourselves from one picture to the other, but still envisage a few
things in which the picture, which hitherto seems to be subordinate to our reflections,
in part seems not to strike, in part does not really strike.
Remembrance in us appears in a certain way merely as a developmentless echo of
intuition, which can gain nothing more from what is given once and for all in
intuition. Should our future life be nothing but such a developmentless reverberation
of the present? But remembrance can develop only insofar as intuition does not do
so; but we are already developing here; so will our memory develop; she takes with
her the powers of what she is born of. And yet, who says that our intuitions and
memories do not develop? Rather, what does not everything in us evolve from our
intuitions and successive memories? Man is born as a sensuous system of intuition
and closes as a higher idea-being.
Much of what we have seen does not particularly come back into our recollection,
only this and that, however, that everything contributes to the further development of
our psychic life, for there is nothing without an after-effect in us. If, for example,
many people do not reappear in the recollected realm of the higher mind; only these
and those that only help others in general to further the life of the higher mind? So we
would have come back to the blurring of spirits. But this is the only reason why many
intuitions in us do not particularly come back into the memory, because even as
intuitions they are nothing so special as we are, and our whole intuitive life is a
river. But every living life forms its own flow, and thus every memory life will form
its special river, and the various rivers of memory will flow together into one another
as little as that of intuition. That, too, is related to the height and breadth of the spirit
above us. He is a stream area, but each one of us is just a stream, looking at as well as
remembering.
What little strikes in the image of individual intuitions of the same sensory realm, is equally more
apt in the image of the whole senses, because this more closely approaches the matter
itself. Although much of the individual seen and heard in the memory may become blurred, the
whole range of memories of seeing and hearing does not blur in us in such a way because the senses
of seeing, hearing itself flow more than particular streams, for the waves of the individual Seen,
heard in it. But now, all the more and in an even higher sense than the different senses of a human
being, are the whole senses of different people to be regarded as different streams. So also a lot of
individual things that we encounter in our worldly sensory life may not reappear in our
otherworldly memory life,
The comparison of the different human beings with whole sensory spheres of the higher being
is in general better for some relations than the comparison of them only with images of the same
sensory sphere, but the last comparison is not only often more convenient, but also better for other
relations, partly considering large numbers and spatial relationships of the people, reflected in the
quantity and spatial relationships of the visual images, and partly in the species conformity of the
people, which is reflected in the similarity of the views of the same sense, but in which the real
confrontation of the people is not so reflected , 2) Here just the other turn of the comparison begins
to become more valid. Therefore one will soon prefer the one, sometimes the other, as the point of
view of the comparison itself brings with it, or, if one prefers to keep to a single turn, as happens by
us, the principle of the inference of the unequal in the interpretation of the picture, by remembering
that without its help no picture, no analogy, can be properly interpreted and traceable, while, with
the help of it, one can also draw from it in itself only half-fitting analogies can make use.
2)The real juxtaposition of beings is not in conflict with the similarity of their
species. Two rivers of like-like water may, in reality, be more special than a
wave of wine and water in the same river.
My memory is weak, pale, held against intuition. Will my future life be the same as
the present one, since the higher mind takes me back to it after the intuitive life? But
is it not another, whether I weak man remember only the superficial intuition of my
eye, or whether a higher being takes in my whole full man? that will also give a very
different fuller echo, and I will be this echo. So do not miss, after the weakness of
your present memory, the weakness of your former memory life.
The massive, palpable of your present life may, of course, disappear in the future,
your body can no longer be grasped with hands, it can no longer walk with heavy
feet, it can no longer carry and move loads, as here; all this lies in the grave, lies
behind you; In all this, your future life may really be more powerless and powerless
than your current one. For it is indisputable that the relation of sensuous weakening,
which exists in us between intuitions and memories, will also be reflected in the
higher spirit between our intuition life and memory life; the analogy will suffer no
break; and so our future life of memory may seem light, light, airy, and outwardly
incomprehensible to our present heavy, fat, full-bodied life, which can be grasped
with coarse senses and grasped only by such senses; instead of heavy, vivid figures of
the body, light, free, movable forms of memory may walk in the head of the higher
mind; we will come to that in the future. But it is not only necessary to take into
account this sensual weakening of our future memory life against our current life of
intuition, but also the increase of our future memory life against our present memory
life, an increase which is connected with that weakening itself.
In fact, the very same circumstance that makes our previous life of vision pale,
becomes powerless and colorless, is what will make our hitherto pale, powerless and
colorless, indistinct memory life bright, strong, vividly colored, full, definite, The
abolition of our worldview this life into the otherworldly memory life itself. The life
of intuition does not go down in death, rather it opens, is lifted into a higher life, as
the life of the caterpillar, the doll does not set when the butterfly comes out, but in the
Butterfly itself is raised only to a higher, freer, lighter form. As caterpillar doll life, of
course, it no longer exists. Direct considerations are tied to analogical ones.
Look, even now, the more firmly all my senses close before the outer, the more I
withdraw into the obscuration of the outer, the more alert the memory life becomes;
the long forgotten becomes my memory again. Death, however, does nothing other
than to shut the senses firmly, forever, so that the possibility of reopening is
extinguished. So deep is no eye-closure in life, so bright can not be the awakening of
memories, as it will be in death. What the eye-closure in life only temporarily,
superficially does for a purpose, for a short day, that does the last deepest eye-closure
for the whole of your senses and in relation to your whole body and life, does it in
relation to a higher spirit and Be, while the eye-closure in life it only done with the
picture in the eye to you. All the strength that divides between your present-day
visual life and memory life falls to your memory life alone in the hereafter, because
only for this reason is your present memory life so weak, because the illustrative life
down here is the greatest part of the power which is used by the higher spirit ,
claims. But if this view of the world is completely dead, even if a new one has
become quite impossible, every old memory will become possible again in
memory. A full remembrance of the old life will begin when the whole old life is
behind, and all memory within the old life itself is but a small pre-concept of it. for it
is only for this reason that your present memory life is so weak, because the
illustrative life here claims the greater part of the power which is used by the higher
spirit. But if this view of the world is completely dead, even if a new one has become
quite impossible, every old memory will become possible again in memory. A full
remembrance of the old life will begin when the whole old life is behind, and all
memory within the old life itself is but a small pre-concept of it. for it is only for this
reason that your present memory life is so weak, because the illustrative life here
claims the greater part of the power which is used by the higher spirit. But if this
view of the world is completely dead, even if a new one has become quite impossible,
every old memory will become possible again in memory. A full remembrance of the
old life will begin when the whole old life is behind, and all memory within the old
life itself is but a small pre-concept of it.
What we now live in memories and higher references to them is, so to speak, only a
slight breath that rises above our present visual life, as a soft vapor hovers invisibly
above the generating water, as forerunner into the same sky-blue, where all the water
in the end wants. Destroy, but destroy the water, hunt it in all airs, for, of course, truly
annihilate, you can destroy it as little as a man, seemingly just as well, in a word
transform it completely into steam, like vastly more extended, more powerful effects
will this vapor be able to produce, in which all the water has invisibly raised itself,
when it only raised itself from its surface, as well as much more extended, more
manifold, in particular, imperceptible, in the whole more powerful effects than the
water itself, that changed in it. In clouds, dawn and sunset, rain, thunder, lightning, in
its new higher, freer, brighter, easier, clearer state, it can now play the most important
role in the household of nature, while you may even foolishly think that it is because,
you can not grab it with your hands, or draw it into a special glass.
Just do not compare this, which is not comparable. The vapors of the water and a uniform
being; but the water is already, how should it not be the steam? Man here below is not a uniform
being, how could that be what comes from him? The steam that comes out of the water soon flows
with the steam of all other water. But even the water itself, where the steam comes from, flows with
other water, which you bring to it; is not something individual. The human being from whom the
otherworldly spirit comes, but does not run away with other people, which one brings to it remains,
among all the influences that may encounter him, an individual. So what is basically unequal,
expect again the corresponding uneven sequence. But that the vapors are easier and freer to meet
than the waters, that they have a common scope of activity over the waters that feed waters, as they
are fed by them; From all this we shall find the corresponding in the relations of the hereafter and
the here in the progress of contemplation.
It is undeniable, however, that such distant images can only serve as an incidental
explanation.
So think, then, that after the last closure of the eye, the total destruction of all
intuition and sensation in general, which the higher mind has hitherto won through
you, not only the memories of the last day awaken, but partly the memories, partly
the capacity for memories to your whole life, more alive, more coherent, more
encompassing, brighter, clearer, more intelligible, than ever awakened, for you were
still half trapped in mindsets; for, as much as your narrow body was the means of
drawing on this earthly sense-perception and processing it earthly, it was the means to
bind you to this business. Now is the creation, collecting, transforming in the sense of
this world; the bucket carried home opens, you win, and in you the higher spirit,
suddenly all wealth, you put in gradually. A spiritual connection and echo of all that
you have ever done, seen, thought, achieved in all your earthly life will now be
awake and bright in you, well you, if you can rejoice in it. With such illumination of
your whole mental construction you will be born into the new life, to work with
brighter consciousness henceforth on the higher mental construction.
Already in the present life every human should, at bedtime and on awakening,
when everything around him is dark, meditate internally, what he did right and wrong
in the past day, what to continue, what to leave in the following. But how many do
it. But now death, in falling asleep for the previous life and awakening to the new
life, involuntarily urges us, whether we like it or not, to remember not only one day,
but the whole circle of our previous life, and the thought, what now to continue and
to let go in the new life; and powers, which only appeared in a dark admonition, will
then begin to appear loud and compelling.
Not, though, that in the hereafter it should only remain with the memory of this
world. On the contrary, the hereafter will also have its further development. We have
already said it. But the memory of this world will first of all only be that through
which death saves our conscious part to the hereafter, and in which we find the basis
for our further development in the new life; we'll raise that. In any case, the memory
of the old life forms the starting point of the new life; but now offers further
progression dar.
But memory itself can be understood in a broader sense. With the memory at the
same time, what is called in the narrower sense, everything that is built up in the
hereafter on the basis of memories, which has already built itself up here in us
through the memories, together with the higher-building faculties themselves, will be
abolished same relationship with the memories become clearer, clearer. So it is, too,
when we temporarily close the eye to the outer in life. The reflection, the insight, the
higher thought, the imagination, the foresight, begin to play a vital part in us. How
much more will it be if we shut it forever? In this way, we also include in our
memory life all this higher things; the expression remains always well suited, the
ratio of this whole higher life,
Some people, who believe in a future life, are just that the memory of the present
will reach over if they do not want to believe. Man is made new, and finds himself
another in the new life, he knows nothing of the former man. You break off even the
bridge that leads between this world and the afterlife and throw a dark cloud
between. Instead of the fact that after us man should regain himself completely and
completely with death, yes, as completely as he never had in life, they let him lose
himself completely; the breath that rises out of the water, instead of foreseeing the
future state of the whole water, and at the same time removing the finally dwindling,
vanishes with the water at the same time. Now it should suddenly be there as new
water in a new world. But how was it? How did it go? The answer they owe us. So
it's easy to believe it.
What is the reason of such view? Since there are no memories from a previous life
reaching into the present, it is not to be expected that such from the present into the
next will pass over. But let's stop deducing the same from unequal things. Life before
birth had no memories, no memory, how reminiscences of it should reach into the
present life; the present has developed memories and a memory in itself, how should
memories not reach into the future life, and not increase, if in the future life we can
expect an increase of what has increased in the transition from the past to the present
life , True, death will be the second birth into a new life; we want to follow even the
equation points; but can everything therefore be the same between birth and
death? Nothing else is the same between two things. Death is a second birth, but the
birth is a first. And should the second throw us back to the point of the first, rather
than a new start on us? And does the section between two lives necessarily have to be
a cut? Can not he also insist that the narrowness suddenly expands into the distance?
After all, why still anxiously look at the death of the body in death, as if it were
done for you? Does the spiritual memory still need in you the same narrowly
circumscribed bodily image as the embodied carrier, as the sensuous intuition,
indeed, can it retain such close support in its greater freedom? Why should the higher
mind still need for its future spiritual memory life the same close solid physical form
as the embodiment that he needed for your sensory life, yes, how could he need it, if
your future life is all the freer than your present life should be? Have not you always
spoken of a departure of the bondage of corporeality in the hereafter? You already see
such a small thing reflected within you, without the spiritual, which is attached to the
bodily, is lost; why not look for the corresponding only in a higher sense in a higher
one than you, since you see not only something narrow in your body, but your narrow
body itself melting in the larger body? If, with the dissolution of the material image
in your body, the spiritual of the picture does not dissolve in your mind, why should
your spirit dissolve in the larger body with the dissolution of your body in the larger
body, why not all the more freely exist for him? but you see your narrow body
melting in the larger body? If, with the dissolution of the material image in your
body, the spiritual of the picture does not dissolve in your mind, why should your
spirit dissolve in the larger body with the dissolution of your body in the larger body,
why not all the more freely exist for him? but you see your narrow body melting in
the larger body? If, with the dissolution of the material image in your body, the
spiritual of the picture does not dissolve in your mind, why should your spirit
dissolve in the larger body with the dissolution of your body in the larger body, why
not all the more freely exist for him?
In a similar way, St. Augustine writes to Evadius:
the dream escaped, but he thought so far as to think about a dream. On another night, behold,
the same youth appeared again to him, and asked if he knew him? He replied that he knew him
well, whereupon the boy kept asking, how did he know him? Gennadius could give an exact
answer, could tell the whole dream, the songs of the saints, without offense, because everything was
still fresh in his memory. Then the boy asked him if he had seen what he had just said while
sleeping or watching. In his sleep, he answered. You know it very well and have kept everything
well, said the youth; it is true, you have seen it in your sleep, and know what you see now, you also
see in sleep. Now the teaching youth spoke: Where is your body now? Gennadius: In my
bedroom. The young man: But do you know that your eyes are now closed to your body locked and
idle? Gennadius: I know it. The young man: So what are those eyes with which you see me? Then
Gennadius did not know what to answer and was silent. As he hesitated, the youth explained to him
what he wanted to teach him with these questions, and went on: How the eyes of your body, when
you lie in bed and sleep, are inactive and ineffective, and yet those eyes with which When you see
me and perceive this whole face, you are true, and after death, when the eyes of your body are no
longer active, you will still have a vitality to live and a sensibility to feel. So do not let yourself be
in any doubt as to whether there is another life after death. Thus, the credible man testified to me,
doubtless. And who taught him otherwise than the prudence and mercy of God? "(Augast, Epist.,
159. Edit., Antwerp, I., p. 428. Here from Ennemoser, Geschichte der Magie., P.
Although you do not want to be completely without a body even in the
hereafter; only the rough, heavy you want to drive. Can anyone ever really miss the
soul of a physical bearer? Will not my memories be borne by something bodily? How
could they falter if the movements in my brain falter, get messed up, if the order of
my brain is disturbed? It is true that they are carried by something bodily, but what
they carry is only just not collected in such a close picture, reaches freely through
your brain, yes, the carriers of all memories may reach through each other; Think
about how waves in the pond intersect, without disturbing each other; only a freer
interchange of memories becomes through the harmonious co-operation and
confusion of the bodily arrangements and movements, what they cling to,
possible. Nothing can be shown in a single limited space. Could it not be the same
with our bodily existence? We also not one day, without becoming quite lifeless, as
our memories are just as little, but in a freer material mode of existence collectively
fulfill the earthly nature and meet ourselves in it; So, that we seemed relatively
dissected out of the restricting and separating body? And, despite this disguise, they
might still look as styled as they used to, just as the memories of sculpted designs still
appear as they did in the past, despite the fact that their tangible physical form is no
longer subject to them. So we have the spiritual body of which Paul speaks. In the
future, more of this. But now we do not have to save the body, but to save the
soul. Enough, when we see that when a vividly material image is destroyed, a mental
remembrance of it remains behind us, indeed arouses its awakening, the same will be
the case in the destruction of our vivid bodily image in the greater being that sustains
us and bears us , And we must not be mistaken if we do not rightly recognize the new
material basis on which our memory life will once rest. since we do not quite
recognize them even for the more limited remembrance in us. But she is there. But
should anyone at all keep unnecessary a particular material basis for the memories in
us, and there are some who can not undress enough of the spirit already here
below, In this way he will also be able to spare himself the question of a special
material underpinning our future memory life. The general nature is just as good as a
general underpinning, as the brain for our memories. It may not be the future
existence of our soul which is called into question, but the future relationship of the
same to corporeality, in a similar way as it already is the case.
It is indisputable that one can not demand from the here-now side the perceptibility
of states which is brought about only in nature and the determination of the
hereafter. However, since nature does not set very narrow dividing lines, let us
suppose that sometimes even in this world states occur which are much more similar
to those of the hereafter than the ordinary, without, of course, being able to become
those of the hereafter itself this has not happened yet. Especially as we already have
something in us in this world, which only needs to be increased and expanded and
liberated in order to give our hereafter. But we will be able to search and find such
approaches preferably in cases where, by peculiar causes at the expense of the
brightness of external sensory life, the inner spiritual life is awakened to an unusual
degree and rendered capable of unusual accomplishments, especially as these causes
only needed to be increased in order to bring about real death. Such cases do
occur. To be sure, they are always abnormal for our present circumstances, and one
must take offense at the morbid character which they carry for this world, as if they
could therefore not be a sign of future life. If a chicken in an egg should open its eyes
or ears and hear something of the external light shine through the shell, or hear
something of sound, it would also be pathological, and certainly not conducive to its
development in the egg;
First of all, a few examples which seem to me to explain to some extent what I have called the
light of inner intellectual construction with death; although it is undeniable that there are only very
incomplete approximations to what we have to expect with the actual awakening into the other life,
where, so to speak, a larger brain than our present one will take on the functions for us, since we are
still attached to our narrow Have to think of the brain, which, however, preserves its meaning for us
only through the fact that it at the same time becomes the mirror image of the larger and the tool by
which man reflects back into it, and how to contemplate it further.
"After all, we have made some strange observations, when it seemed as if suddenly a
brightness of consciousness spread over a whole realm of imagination." Such an experience was
once known by an English opium eater before the onset of the full narcotic effect of the anesthetic
agent, as if all he had ever consciously sensed were at once spread out before him like a sunlit
place, in the same way a young girl is told who falls into the water before losing consciousness the
same thing had happened. " (Carus, Psyche p. 207.)
"A woman was known to me, who at times suffered from the most severe nervous headache."
When the pain reached the highest degree, he suddenly stopped, and she was in a comfortable state,
which, according to her, with a tremendous memory their earliest years of life was linked.
" (Passavant, Unters. On the life magnetism.)
Excerpt from a report of the pastor Kern in Hornhausen to the Prussian government in
Halberstadt in the year 1733: "Johann Schwertfeger was close to death after a protracted, painful
illness." He called me, took the Holy Supper and looked with joy to death. Soon he fell into an
impotence that lasted an hour, and he awoke without saying anything, after a second fainting that
lasted a little longer, he recounted a vision he had had, and a voice called to him to go back and
Then he should appear before the judgment-seat of God The first words at the time of his
awakening were: I must go away again, but that will be difficult, and I will come again, but not as
soon as before.
"After two days, he fell into a third fainting that lasted four hours, his wife and children
thought him dead, laid him on straw and were about to put on his death-shirt, and he opened his
eyes and said," Go after. " for the preacher, for I will reveal to him what I have learned: as soon as I
entered the room, he automatically raised himself up, as if he had never lacked anything, hugged me
tightly, and said in a strong voice, "What do I have for you! The patient overlooked his whole life
and all the mistakes he had committed in it, even those that had come to him completely from
memory, everything was as present to him as if it had just happened. " The whole story concludes
with the fact that in the end he heard wonderful sounds and saw an unspeakable brilliance of
light, causing him to be blessed. "It is with such joy that I have returned to this deplorable act of
misery, in which everything disgusts me, when I learn something better, and I do not want to mix
the heavenly taste with earthly food and drink, but wait until I return to it my peace come. "
"It was strange," continues the preacher, "that the disease left him, because after the last
fainting he was strong, fresh and healthy and free of all pain, since he could not move a limb before
dripping, cloudy, and deep in the head, were as bright and clear as if they had been washed with
fresh water, and the face was like a youth in its prime. " Meanwhile, the patient predicted that he
would die after two days; as well as arrived. (Passavant, Unters., Lebensmagnetismus p. 165.)
It has been noticed several times, too, that recollections of death sometimes recur long-lost
memories.
In somnambulistic states, many things occur which can be referred to here, but which, to
some extent, fit into the context of later discussions.
"In conditions (magnetic clairvoyance) it was revealed, among other things, that the soul
hardly lost a single word, hardly a thought from the memory, she sees everything that she did, and
what happened to her as long as she was in the body "In clear light, around and beside oneself, as
soon as it awakens inwardly, and in this way man manifests himself in his true free, unrestrained
power of thinking, of feeling, of mental apprehension and representation." (Schubert, Gesch. D.
Seele II., P. 43).
which occurred a short time before death, the whole past life, with all its rich experiences and
guides, with its thousandfold actions, ghostly juxtaposition and lightning-fast, and in other cases the
history of a whole past seemed as if it were a single significant, only the soul understandable
number or expressed by a single image. If, then, the soul takes this peculiar flight in clairvoyance,
the ordinary course of memory can follow its tracks just as little as a four-footed animal can follow
the flight of the bird. For the succession and concatenation of the seen here is quite another than
there. "(Ebendas. in ghostly juxtaposition and lightning-fast, and in other cases the story of an entire
past seemed to be expressed as though it were a single meaningful number, intelligible only to the
soul, or a single image. If, then, the soul takes this peculiar flight in clairvoyance, the ordinary
course of memory can follow its tracks just as little as a four-footed animal can follow the flight of
the bird. For the succession and concatenation of the seen here is quite another than there.
"(Ebendas. in ghostly juxtaposition and lightning-fast, and in other cases the story of an entire past
seemed to be expressed as though it were a single meaningful number, intelligible only to the soul,
or a single image. If, then, the soul takes this peculiar flight in clairvoyance, the ordinary course of
memory can follow its tracks just as little as a four-footed animal can follow the flight of the
bird. For the succession and concatenation of the seen here is quite another than there.
"(Ebendas. If, then, the soul takes this peculiar flight in clairvoyance, the ordinary course of
"(Ebendas. If, then, the soul takes this peculiar flight in clairvoyance, the ordinary course of
"(Ebendas. II. 46 f.)
"The somnambulist observed by me (Passavant) did recapses into her whole past life, reported
events from her earliest youth (the truth of her statements was proved) and received light especially
about her moral state into the most hidden thoughts, which according to her statement once
everyone will receive in death. " (Passavant p. 99.)
and he now remembered exactly everything that had happened in his life. He described the
genesis of his illness, the type of surgery he had undergone in the fourth year, the instruments that
were used, and he said that without this operation he would have died, but the brain was injured and
the brain injured Illness has increased since then. He further claimed that his madness could be
cured by magnetism, but he would never get his memory again; and success proved the truth of his
statement. "(Ibid., p. Without this operation he would have had to die, but his brain had been injured
and the illness had increased since then. He further claimed that his madness could be cured by
magnetism, but he would never get his memory again; and success proved the truth of his
statement. "(Ibid., p. Without this operation he would have had to die, but his brain had been injured
and the illness had increased since then. He further claimed that his madness could be cured by
magnetism, but he would never get his memory again; and success proved the truth of his
statement. "(Ibid., p.
Even ordinary sleep sometimes presents phenomena that may deserve mention here. Thus the
soul sometimes proves, in the dream, the capacity to develop in a very short time a tremendous
amount of ideas, which we would only be able to develop after a long time in waking. It dreams
z. Someone, for example, has a long story, which, according to its natural course, ends with a shot
or a stone throwing against the window, from which the sleeper awakens. But now it is found that
he has awakened from a real shot or throw against the window, so that there is hardly any other
assumption than that the shot or throw was the cause of the whole dream, and this was composed in
the moment of awakening. This, of course, seems so incredible that, without more thorough
confirmation and investigation of such cases, doubts must be admitted to the fact or conception of
them; but examples of the species have been communicated to me by otherwise credible
persons. The following case is found in the Mém. et Souv. you comte Lavallette TI Paris. 1831.
p. XXVIII. stated:
"One night where I am I had fallen asleep in the prisons, the bell of the palace awakened me
by striking at twelve o'clock; I heard the grid being opened to relieve the sentry, but I fell asleep
again. In my sleep I had a dream (the story of a dreadful dream follows, the details of which fill at
least a five-hour period for the dreamer), when suddenly the grate was closed again with violence
and I woke up again. I let my pocket watch beat, it was always 12 o'clock. So that the terrible
phantasmagoria had lasted only 2 or 3 minutes, ie the time needed to replace the sentry and to open
and close the lattice. It was very cold and the consigne was very short; and the closer confirmed my
bill the next morning.2 c., XXXI. P. 313.)
Many other states and feelings are reported in the case of stupefaction or dead notes, or in the
approach to ordinary death, whereby one could think of it or have thought that an appeal of
otherworldly states is already spreading into this world.
Thus, there is sometimes something of the kind among the very variable psychic states that
the anesthesia of ether carries with it. A student who, under the supervision of Professor Pfeufer,
attempted to inhale with ether, describes the state in which he came into being as follows:
"A sea of sparks of fire whirled in front of my eyes, seizing me with great anxiety and fear,
but for a moment, and I felt nothing of all this, but also of the outside world, of my own body, the
soul As it were, quite isolated and separate from the body, the spirit still felt itself as such, and I had
the thought that I was dead now, but I had eternal consciousness. "All at once I thought that
Professor Pfeufer was speaking the words "Gentlemen, I think he is really dead." Shortly
afterwards, it seemed to me that the blood flowed out of my head, and I would come back to myself
as if I had bent down and the blood was strong after that Head was streaming and one must hold
still for a few momentsuntil one is fully capable of his senses again. "(Henle and Pfeufer, Zeitschr.
1847. Vol. VI., p. 79.)
A person who was able to remember their state during asphyxia (the dead) after reawakening
says of himself: "I had a feeling, as when awakening from a sweet morning dream." Thus is the
moment of death, so it is one of highest bliss. " (Hagen, hallucinations on page 184, after Nasse,
Zeitschr. 1825. H. l., P.
Huffel says: "Not infrequently, unless there are special states of illness such as clouds
covering the sun, the last moments of the dying are exceedingly calm, transfigured, often truly
movingly happy." All anxiety, all restlessness has given way, the last blessing becomes as if from
greater authority and a blissful smile hovers around even when death has already completed its
work, and a dying woman, in whose presence the author found it, slumbered under a chorale which
she stated and a friend on the piano in The same facts compel us to suppose that the first beginnings
of the otherworldly existence sink into the last moments of earthly existence. " (Huffel, Letters
about Immortality, p.
"A father, a man of many education, assured me that he had found in the almost broken eye of
his dying daughter an expression which he will never forget, in which everything has been
transfigured, which is only love, resignation, bliss in itself unite. " (Ebendas, p.
"And one (with worldly mind) I hear once in my death, saying," It's all life from the brain to
the pit of my heart, I feel nothing at all from my brain, I feel my arms, my feet no more, but I see
unspeakable things that I never believed in, it's a different life "" - and then he passed away.
" (Justinus Kerner, The Seer of Prevorst IS 4.)
Let's summarize the previous one briefly.
We said that when a person closes his eye in life and loses his intuition, a memory
awakens within him. Thus, when the human being closes his eye in death and his
visual life dies out, a memory life awakens in the higher spirit. The more firmly man
closes the eye, the senses in life in general, and retreats into the obscuration of the
external, the more brightly does his memory awake; if he now firmly and
irretrievably closes the eye and all senses in death, a much livelier memory life will
awaken for it in the higher spirit, by no longer merely individual intuitions in it, but
its entire intuition in the higher spirit itself is reserved for the life of remembrance
which, however, belongs to him, to man as well as the life of intuition,
Now, however, we have an objection: does not man close his eyes, or even all his
senses in his sleep, without awakening memories? Does not the memory life sink
with the visual life at night at the same time in sleep? And is not death as the deepest
sleep to grasp? Will not our life of remembrance also be darkened in death at the
same time as our life of intuition?
This objection reminds us that there are in fact two cases of obscuring the sensory
life, which are probably different. As long as the mind remains awake as a whole,
there is the first we have considered so far; the life of remembrance becomes all the
brighter, the more firmly the senses close; but as he falls asleep, the second case
occurs, the life of memory sinks with the life of intuition at the same time in the
night. And surely, if the higher mind, which we are on this side and on the other side,
should and could fall asleep to, the remembrance life that the spirits of the hereafter
lead in it would also coincide with the visual life that the spirits of this world lead in
it sink into night, until he awoke again. Let's see if such a case is possible. Certainly,
when we die, The higher mind does not fall asleep on the whole, but remains
awake. It is therefore the first, not the second, case. The death of a human being is
only a partial obscuration of the intuitive life in the higher spirit during his waking,
how we can make sense during waking, while keeping others open; and thus the
condition for the transition of this visual life into a corresponding life of
remembrance is present in him, which, however, no less benefits us as it does, since it
applies just as much to our intuitive life. Death, in a sense, is just as much the
opposite of our usual fall as if a butterfly breaks out of the doll. Because our ordinary
sleep represents the exhausted fortune to gain these worldly senses and to process
them in the manner of this world, always from the new; Death practically lifts it
up. Sleep causes an ever-new relapse into the old life, and the deepest
unconsciousness characterizes sleep, which will revive us most vigorously and
freshest to the old life; death does the opposite. Yes, we can find in the destruction of
the conditions of old life the incentive to awaken to a new conscious life, as indeed
new epochs of evolution are often characterized by the destruction of the old; since
with that destruction the conditions of our survival are not destroyed at all; for the
greater spirit and body in which we live, weave and are, from which we draw all the
conditions of life on this side,
It is true that it does not hinder death, as it usually does, from calling it the deepest
sleep. For, after all, he preserves his points of equation with it, as long as the world-
view- ing life through him is just as forever abolished, as it is by ordinary sleep for a
time; secondly, if he is awakened, but in the next life. The essential difference,
however, is always that ordinary sleep restores the exhausted power to use for the old
intuition through rest, death implements the use of force into a new form of life. The
soul does not lie down in death as in sleep in her old bed, but her whole old house is
destroyed and she is driven into the open space; but now finds in this free space her
new larger house, that of the greater spirit itself, which she had hitherto cherished as
in a narrow chamber; Now, for the first time, she is completely with him, together
with the other spirits of the hereafter, who are no longer cordially shut off from each
other by their bodies as they are now, but all live together in the same great house, as
all memories in the same brain, like all butterflies, which were once closed off by the
doll's pod, flying in the same garden.
A significant difference of death from sleep is also proved by the fact that the
freshest and most vigorous person can die, even if he is not tired of life at all, just as
the most vivid intuition can go out and suddenly be remembered, if not yet tired Eye
is slammed. But sleep requires fatigue, and not just of a single part, but of the whole
man. An old man, of course, will finally become tired of life and longs for death. But
with that, the higher being to whom he belongs has not yet grown tired. If the old
man is completely tired, it is the same for the higher being as for us, if a single organ,
be it the eye, is completely exhausted by a long sight, while we are still awake; then
the need for sleep does not arise for us, but the need to keep the special part, the eye,
permanently in peace, and to occupy some other senses, and to surrender to the
memory of what we have seen, which of course we can only do alternately; but we
know that the higher mind can do many things at the same time in different places,
which we can only do after each other in the same place. Thus, the fatigue naturally
inherent in age in the intuitive life of an individual will only carry with it the need to
abolish this intuitive life, not the memory life of this human being in the higher
spirit; Rather, the memory life itself contains at the same time the resting from the
intuitive life of this human being. So you do not need an intermediate sleep. It is true
that someone can fall asleep in this worldly life and wake up in the following; but it is
not sleep that transports it into the other life; it could only bring it back into the old,
but the overthrow of sleep; and no previous sleep was needed. Whoever hits a bullet
will certainly not sleep until he awakens in the other life. But the rift of the old life
opens at the same time the entrance into the new life. But it may be that, in the
ordinary course of dying, consciousness gradually diminishes until the moment of
transition between old and new life, and disappears altogether everywhere in the
moment of transition itself; but the moment when it fades altogether for the old will
at the same time be where it begins to awaken for the new, just as a string at the same
moment as it ends a vibration, a new one begins; only the moment of repentance
itself can be considered as a standstill. This is different when sleeping; The moment
of sinking into unconsciousness is the beginning of a prolonged state of this kind.
Sleep is a vibration below, like the waking above the threshold of consciousness, but
death does not cause a low vibration in the sense of sleep, but an upward movement
in the sense of one new waking.
As little as we can see an intensification or deepening of ordinary sleep in death; as
little as a deepening of powerlessness or apparent death, such as sometimes infesting
humans. They differ from sleep in that, instead of restoring the exhausted powers of
the soul and the body at the service of this life, there is simply a standstill of it, where
nothing is restored or consumed by power. But death does not content itself with such
a standstill, and insofar differs from these states in other ways than merely
quantitatively. To be sure, it does not destroy the conditions of our life in general,
which, as before, destroy us in a higher, for we are, but of our previous life; does not
make the power that has been used up to our lives, ever disappear from the world; but
even eliminates the possibility of their reuse in the old form.
Very contemptible is therefore the contemplation, which is easily done: since
already powerlessness or numbness makes the person unconscious; how unconscious
does death have to make man, as an even deeper numbing or powerlessness. But a
standstill can not increase; on the contrary, death, when it occurs as a result of the
anesthetic, is a new turn from impotence; and in general it is always questionable
whether from a powerlessness or anesthetic the return to the old or the forward turn
into the new life will take place. The powerlessness or anesthesia is an intermediate
state between this life on the other side and on the other side; and in that, however, an
approach to the latter, because from a standstill of activities the direction can more
easily turn into that of the following life, as if the direction still exists in the sense of
this life; but death is not a continuation of this standstill, but the annulment of it,
which is characterized by the disintegration of our body, the dissolving of the image
in our eye; with which the conditions for the awakening of our memory life in the
higher being are given.
Looking back at the outcome of our reflections, there may still be some
concern. How can one ask, is the higher and the highest being to behave as passively
as we do in the formation of the images that fall within us? Does the higher being do
nothing to God? We thought he was proving to be self-sufficient in the creation of his
spirits. Should our spirits enter into him from the outside, just as our intuitions in us
seem so new to him, as if it were a strange gift? We thought they were meat from his
flesh, leg from his leg.
Our views, too, are flesh-and-bone meat from the leg of our mind. Are they not
quite in it? Are they not quite his job? Despite this, they appear to him as new
births. And so we too will be able to appear in the arising to the higher and the
highest spirit as new births, in spite of the fact that we arise entirely in him, our
intuiting activity belongs to his activity.
From the outside, however, we come to him in truth as a new view of the outside
comes to me when I open my eyes again or judge and a part of my own body, the
bearer of my own soul, his rain and moving to look at it again ; basically, everything
comes from me into me; one part of me creates his picture by working in the
other. And I, the whole man, have it in my power to judge eyes and members
rationally in relation to each other, that the new intuitions always arise in an
appropriate connection and expedient consequence; only that, of course, such things
can arise in me through other than my own body parts and other than according to my
will, because there are other things besides me. But the Supreme Being has nothing
but himself, the rain and the movement of its own parts, in order to gain new images
of its new, living beings through their work on each other, and can do so reasonably
and in an appropriate way. So everything comes out of him through him.
Are we then passive if, in accordance with our view of our past existence and
activity, we always aim our eyes and our limbs in a new and expedient and rational
way, and thereby give us new views? On the part of our receiving sensuality, yes; but
not on the part of our will, our reason, our higher intention. Rather, the re-directing of
our eyes and limbs is itself part of our rational self-acting. And, basically, the image
itself is also produced by the activity of the eye and the rest of the body, except that
the stimulus comes to the eye from the outside. And so the higher and highest world-
being may seem just so passively determined in the birth of new (in the beginning
really quite sensual) souls from his sensuality side, as we are at the birth of new
intuitions in us; yet it will not passively behave in such a way in its higher sphere of
consciousness; rather, from this point of view, in a higher connection, it will
automatically direct the means and order of the new births, as is best for the
connection of the whole. but it is best, according to the highest order, for the
connection of the whole that flows from it; so that, of course, the emergence of new
human beings takes place in the river of natural events; but this is itself permeated by
higher acting consciousness, and only the general direction is certain of it; the single
one, who could calculate that? But least of all, if and where a person should
arise. There lies the freedom of that higher action.
Let us admit that all the images and comparisons in our lives are only weakly and
incompletely enough for the cause of the higher life, but they may well contribute
something to explaining how our inbornness places us in this higher life. The object
always remains difficult, dark. Incidentally, it was only incidental to act here in order
to indicate the connection of the whole view; and another person knows how to
explain it better, we will gladly reveal this attempt to him. But now we return to our
future.
One more thing before and once and for all: we often do not divorce what belongs
to the higher spirit (the earthly) and the highest (God). Why divorce it! What belongs
to that belongs to it; through that we are in it; through this he draws us, and we
remain in him. Only that of the highest mind is fully valid, which of the higher only
relative to us, that its self-manifestation is subject to the whole, not merely larger
region of the world in which we are included.
XXII. Development of the analogy of future life with a memory life
.
Let us be careful, after all, to try to build our hopes for the hereafter and opinions
of the same only on the one image or analogy we have hitherto mostly
envisioned; Who does not know what uncertain ground an analogy grants on its
own? So we will have to look for other fundamentals. But it can only come to us if
we, seeing the previous one a little further, see everywhere only those ideas of the
hereafter that correspond to the dearest and justest demands which we were
accustomed to put to the hereafter from the beginning. If the basis of such a
conclusion always remains too narrow, that the whole construction of the following
considerations to be grounded on it could be considered as certain; well, we will not
give it for it. But, as an outline of the whole view, it may be useful to overlook the
scope, depth, and fullness of our object in one, and to offer provisional probabilities
and possibilities, and anticipate the vaguely fluctuating notion of rational direction,
testing, probation, and correction from another side but deliver a particular
object; whereas, at first, they seek to maintain themselves in their context and with
the starting point of the considerations.
As important as the analogy of the future life with our life of remembrance on this day is to
explain our view, the reasoning of it is in fact not so bound to it, although, of course, any well-used
analogy can also contribute to the justification. But once one has grasped the point of view of our
doctrine, one soon finds that everything is traced back to it from all sides, and so the way can be
taken in very different ways. In the book of life after death, where I first presented this doctrine, the
analogy of our future life with a memory life is not even thought; and in lectures, which I held in
1847 on the same subject, she first took a quite incidental position. In that writing, it was mainly the
analogy of death with birth, in these lectures the direct inference that I will continue to give
(XXVII), whereupon I built the doctrine. All these paths, however, lead to a fundamentally
consistent view of nature and the relation of the hereafter to this world, except that on one side the
development of the doctrine succeeds more easily in this direction, on the other side after that. But
in this work I have deliberately made the analogy of the future life with a life of remembrance the
main basis of the considerations, partly because the doctrine of the hereafter with the doctrine of the
spirit about us, which was presented in the previous section of this work, is most natural partly
because of the concern that has come to the fore in modern times, that the individuality of our
spirits has come from the higher spirit, It must, therefore, be submerged in it again, thereby done
most directly, partly finally, because it is at all very appropriate, explanatory and fruitful, and in a
certain respect something more than mere analogy, provided our life of remembrance in this world
is already the germ and test of our memory life can be viewed in the hereafter; our life on this side
and beyond are therefore really connected in the higher spirit.
A. Relations of the otherworldly spirits to the higher spirit and to each other.
First and foremost, our analogy points to the fact that in the future we shall enter
into an intimately conscious, higher relation to the higher spirit than now. The picture
of intuition always faces the spirit as something external and foreign, in fact it is
indeed, but the memory he feels as much as his, completely in his lap. Thus, after our
death, the higher spirit will also feel that we are in a different way than before, for
now, and in doing so, we will certainly feel that we are his, his self-consciousness,
and our consciousness of him lying apart on the outside. Now, although we already
belong to the higher mind, the higher mind is always like a distant specter behind us,
which we can open up darkly, but we do not feel directly attached to it; that will be
different in the future; there we will more immediately recognize that we live and
weave and are in him, and he in us. We will feel that we have our bottom of life in it,
but also feel that and what we mean for it.
Such a participation in the self-consciousness of the higher mind, not mediated by
the end and for the intellect, but immediate, continuous, and common with the other
spirits of the hereafter, is now just the opposite of rising in its unconsciousness. In the
spirits of the hereafter, he becomes fully conscious of himself, and by becoming
aware of him, they become aware of him in him. In memory and by means of
memories, our mind works and creates itself freely and automatically, whereas it feels
outwardly determined in intuitions. Thus, even the higher mind will become free and
self-effective to work and create with us in the hereafter, and we will feel ourselves to
be its own tools.
First, it is the general spirit of the earthly to which we belong; but as a heavenly
spirit, it is only the unitary mediation through which the totality of earthly individual
spirits is linked in God. In gaining a more immediate, clearer insight into our
unification with and in this higher heavenly spirit, we hereby also gain a more direct,
clearer knowledge of our mode of unification in God, and thus have come closer to
God himself by one level of consciousness. How, then, the otherworldly life has been
grasped as such, which will place the man with higher and the highest being in
intimate, brighter relationships.
However, as we become more immediately and clearer in the hereafter of our
relation to the higher mind, and thus to God, we become more immediately the
relation of the attunement or conflict in which we stand with Him and through Him to
God and feel more distinct than now. Whether we go in the sense of or against the
sense of the Spirit, who mediates with God, whether he will go with or against us
again, we know only through a never quite sufficient understanding, or feel it only in
the always dark and how many times, and how many dubious and half-silent
conscience remarks. These are but weak foreshadowings of the bright insight and the
emotional wealth that we will once bear in this regard.
But it will be the light or the celestialization of our relationships with the higher
and the highest spirit in the afterlife, both a light of heaven, and a burning of hell for
us, and whether one or the other will depend on our merit in this world. For the full
remembrance of our life on earth is what the higher mind takes from us into the realm
we call our hereafter. Memories now fall or dislike according to what appears to be
good or bad, what they remember or from which memory has grown. So we, too, will
be pleased with the higher mind, which takes us in mind, only in accordance with
what we have been in intuition; and as we please him or displease him we are
displeased with him; in that, after his liking or disapproval of us, his inner co-actions
or counter-effects will also weigh against us. The justice, which seems to be
postponed in this world, or does not seem to come to light at all, will be fulfilled there
completely.
In fact, in immediate intuition, sensory experience, much pleases and displeases us
only in the light of his immediate pleasure and unpleasure. Only in the memory life
behind intuition awakens the purer consideration, which of course still can not be as
pure as in a higher spirit, which means the same in further relationships for us,
whether it is good or bad for us as a whole, and then approve or do we reject in
ourselves the things we have seen or happened on a completely different scale than
those of the momentary pleasure or pain which it granted; we ask about its further
consequences in the whole context of our life and being. And the bigger, more
comprehensive our mind, the further we go with it, and the more correct our
consideration becomes. But this is how ' It may also be in the higher and the highest
spirit, only on a higher scale and in greater perfection, because it weighs everything
earthly, the highest even the world, that is, the full means in itself, to balance what we
have for the earthly, the world been. Only after he has taken us from the world of
intuition into the memory-life will he measure us according to the full value which
our existence has hitherto had for him; and no longer the instantaneous pleasure or
displeasure which we draw for him in intuition will be the yardstick of our merit, but
the consideration of what our life on earth stands as a whole for all its relations and
consequences for earthly existence, which the higher spirit presides means meant. But
how he understands his relationship with us,
Woe to us, then, when in the hereafter the memory of a whole lost or corrupted life
suddenly or in ever-increasing power, as the just consideration in the higher spirit
becomes more and more developed, breaks over us, becomes ever clearer and clearer,
like empty or evil it was for the spiritual community to which we belonged, and now
empty or evil for us; since this memory no longer floats weakly, idly, and blurred in
our head, but is fully and fully absorbed in a higher head, more than any earthly
memory can ever do, summarizing all our past lives according to all its relationships,
the basis of all our future ones form our spiritual existence, and our conscious
position to all other spiritual existences and the higher spirit itself will
determine; since all counter-effects are now punishing us, which the higher spirit has
ready for him, who goes against his mind, to urge him with pain, but finally to
redirect his mind. But salvation to him who led a life here in the sense of the higher
spirit; he will find everything in the hereafter ready and adorned to his joyous
reception; and how the remembrance of the sufferings, which we have steadfastly
endured for the sake of a good cause, here already gives us the greatest satisfaction;
indeed, the recovery from suffering itself is a kind of bliss, if we are aware that we
have carried it to the right; it will be there, and in a much higher sense, with the life
of remembrance, which has grown out of a suffering but well-meaning life led down
here.
It is undisputed that these ideas, which are easy to develop further, are only in the
sense of our best practical demands. Later, they will come to meet from other points
of view.
The language by which different people associate with each other, inform
themselves of their inner mental states, is only possible through their memories. It is
only through the association of memories of words that understanding in language
arises. Otherwise it would be hollow sounds. It can be said in this regard that the
various human beings can only mentally function through their worlds of
remembrance; the mere appearance of the figure, the mere hearing of the voice, is not
yet spiritual communication.
Thus, we may also believe that the higher mind of the earthly can mentally
communicate with other spirits of heaven only through its world of remembrance,
and that after entering this world of remembering, we also share in this conscious
intercourse of the higher mind with others to be won by heavenly spirits. In that
sense, we really will go to heaven in a different way with death than we are already in
it. It is true that we will not, as some dream, pass over to other world bodies, for we
remain the earth to which we now belong, but gain a more inward knowledge of the
spirit content of other worlds than now, when we only see their outer face.
Formerly Bd. IS ch. VI. It was shown how the idea of angels is connected with the idea of the
spirits of the stars. Now we can overlook how, at the same time, the idea of the angels is connected
with the idea of our otherworldly spirits from another side, and how the two angelic modes of
perception between which the ideas of the people wavered, so that in later times one prevailed to
relate to yourself. For example, our otherworldly spirits can be regarded as partners in the higher-
conscious essence of a heavenly spirit, Engels, and thus, since they are individual beings of a
subordinate kind, as subordinate angels, serving angels, while the spirits of the stars are upper
Angel, as an archangel, if you want. And they serve the upper angels, to which they belong, not
only in communication with other upper angels, but also as mediators to the people, as will soon
become apparent. But that these subordinate angels are not juxtaposed with the upper, but are
attuned, is only in the sense of the same general view, which does not leave us and all the upper
angels beside God, but sets them up, of which enough has been done in the past.
Memories are inclined to appear in the same contexts and circumstances as the
views from which they are grown; but with the greatest freedom to enter into other
relationships and to connect in new relationships, which is even the purpose of our
memory life. So we may believe that even the bonds through which men are
intertwined with each other in the illustrative life of the higher spirit are not torn at
the onset of their memory life, although the greatest freedom, indeed the greatest
occasion, for altering and developing these conditions , So we will re-establish our
local relations with our loved ones there, and soon it will become apparent that
through the only apparent rift through which death sits between this world and the
hereafter,
The whole kingdom of our memories is a single kingdom in which the latest
entrants can meet with the earliest entered. So we may also believe that, passing into
the memory of the Higher Spirit with death, we can meet all the spirits there that have
already preceded us in this memory, not only those who lived with us, but also those
who who lived before us.
Memories, in general, enter into a more intimate, more versatile, freer, more lively,
more direct communication with each other than the intuitions from which they have
grown, than those which touch and follow each other only in a much more external
and external manner in this respect can meet. So we may also believe that in the
memory of the higher mind we will one day enter into a more intimate, more
versatile, freer, more lively, more direct communication with one another than now,
when we are still caught in its intuition, no longer one at a time touch and meet
external conditions in a limited way as now.
However, memories call and meet according to rules of association, subordinate
concepts and act to create new concepts, become related in inferences, follow the
course of the development of ideas, in short their freedom is not lawlessness, but their
living change and traffic just so subordinate to domination, understood as exercising
the freedom of our spirit.
So will the memory of the higher mind; there will not be an unrestrained dithering
of the spirits of the hereafter, but there will be order and rule in it; Groups, regions,
communities, affinities, super-orders and sub-orders of the spirits will be found and
formed therein; in truth, it will be an empire, with divisions of this empire.
Let us not forget the difference that the height and breadth of the greater mind bring
over ours. In us the memories, between which such circumstances occur, can appear
distinctly distinct only in consciousness; but in the consciousness of the higher mind,
countless memories clearly distinguish themselves simultaneously with each
other. Nor are the relationships between the spirits of the beyond beyond simple
repetitions of the relationships between our memories; but as we as spirits of the
hereafter are more and higher than the memories in us in this world, it will also apply
to the relations between us. This aspect of the unequal with the same must be
carefully kept in mind here and everywhere.
Mistaken ways of looking at all are obvious here:
Terms play a big role in us. The concept of a tree z. For example, in a certain way or from a
certain point of view, it can be taken as the mental resultant of all our tree memories, in which,
however, the distinction between the individual individual trees disappears or seems to
disappear. Now one could conclude by analogy: So our spirits will be included in the memory area
of the higher mind also give higher resultants, but in which our individuality is extinguished. But if
we look closer, our memories do not really go out in general terms. In spite of the fact that I
summarize all tree memories in the concept of the tree, each one of them is able to recollect one by
one for itself, and if it does not really do it again, and one always has to wait for the progress of the
other to do it, this is not due to their blurring in the concept; the uplifting in the concept has nothing
to do with it; and even in the re-emergence into consciousness, every memory still remains under
the concept or concepts in which it entered, as before; but it depends on the fact that our mind, by
virtue of its greater poverty and narrowness and depth, can let distinctly differentiated memories
play only in succession; in what relation in the higher spirit the often touched quite different
conditions take place. The concept is thus not at all the decline of the individual in the general spirit,
but rather is to be regarded as the higher mediation of the individual with the general spirit. The
mind rules and orders and overlooks the individual contained in and under it by registering among
the cadres of concepts; but, therefore, it remains individual and appears one after the other, or at the
same time, completely or incompletely, as the nature of the spirit permits from other points of view.
In this way, however, we will also enter into connections in the hereafter, which the higher
mind, just like our particular concepts, becomes aware of; but, nevertheless, our individuality in
asserting that, like anyone who enters a state, the individual remains the same, that the state, as a
superior generality, allows itself to be held above all subordinate individualities.
Although the spatial and temporal relations and relationships in which our views
have arisen stretch out their influence into our recollective realm, so the relationship
and diversity of our views and the resulting memories of nature, origin, value, in our
world of remembrance still develop much more significant relationships and
relationships. And our inner spiritual life is derived chiefly from the costumes, and
expresses itself in the direction of bringing together the totality of our memories from
these points of view into appropriate, harmonious, and compatible relations,
irrespective of the spatial and temporal distance in which the views occurred to whom
they owe their origin. Terms, judgments, Conclusions themselves are made from such
points of view. The whole higher order and activity of the Spirit of which we speak
refers to it. All tree-views, however remote the trees in time and space, enter into the
same concept of tree in our memory-rich world, according to mere similarity
relations, and the concepts of the trees are integrated into the concept of the plant-
kingdom, and this relates to the concept of the animal kingdom. whereby the
temporal and spatial relations of the plants and animals to each other are no longer
considered. To be sure, the intuitions are already integrated with memories of such
order; but partly the conscious activity of this relation, of ordering, does not fall into
the sphere of intuition but the memory,
So we will also have to believe that, although the temporal relations and
relationships in which we appear in this world of intuition also extend their influence
into the hereafter, they still reflect in it, but the inner affinity and difference of the
memory of the higher mind transcended spirits will develop there for beings, origin,
value, still more significant relationships and relationships for them there, than those
outward appearances, and that the higher life of the higher mind will emerge chiefly
from the aspiration and will manifest itself in the direction, the spirits of the hereafter
from these Into harmonious, fair and compatible relationships. Irrespective of
whether the spirits passed into the hereafter today or a thousand years ago, living here
or in America, forming communities of them according to the commonality of ideas,
cognitions and separations according to the diversity of such. Already here we are
included in such communities; but only in the hereafter will the quite conscious life
awaken therein. Everything that has in common a plurality of minds of ideas or
cognitions can either be considered to have passed from one to another, or to have
passed into it from a more general source of education of the higher mind; Only in
the hereafter will we be able to become clearly aware of the context in which we
stand so directly below us or through the intermediary of connecting elements in the
higher spirit. Already here we are included in such communities; but only in the
hereafter will the quite conscious life awaken therein. Everything that has in common
a plurality of minds of ideas or cognitions can either be considered to have passed
from one to another, or to have passed into it from a more general source of education
of the higher mind; Only in the hereafter will we be able to become clearly aware of
the context in which we stand so directly below us or through the intermediary of
connecting elements in the higher spirit. Already here we are included in such
communities; but only in the hereafter will the quite conscious life awaken
therein. Everything that has in common a plurality of minds of ideas or cognitions
can either be considered to have passed from one to another, or to have passed into it
from a more general source of education of the higher mind; Only in the hereafter
will we be able to become clearly aware of the context in which we stand so directly
below us or through the intermediary of connecting elements in the higher spirit. or
regarded as having passed from a more general source of education of the higher
mind; Only in the hereafter will we be able to become clearly aware of the context in
which we stand so directly below us or through the intermediary of connecting
elements in the higher spirit. or regarded as having passed from a more general
source of education of the higher mind; Only in the hereafter will we be able to
become clearly aware of the context in which we stand so directly below us or
through the intermediary of connecting elements in the higher spirit.
Thus the agreement in the value or worthlessness of our being will give us a
common place in heaven or hell, which should not be regarded as different places,
but as commonality of different states and circumstances, which in the hereafter only
more distinct, tangible and more proportionate to our merit than now; the higher
mind, taking all common among a kind of good or evil, falls under a common
category and encounters them congenially or counteracting from a common point of
view; as well as in us all memories according to their value or worthlessness enter
under the categories of good or evil in general and this or that kind of good or evil in
particular, and afterwards into the harmonic,
Insofar as all that is true and good in the sense of the highest knowledge and will of
the higher and the highest spirit, everything wrong and bad, but only the conflict of
the individual in it against the highest knowledge and willing, one can also say that
the spirits of the hereafter are according to measure of the true and good, what is in
them, or the deviation from it, having a pleasing or disgusting place in the hereafter,
and their union with and through the higher and supreme spirit in satisfaction, rest,
joy, bliss, or their strife with it in opposite sentiments be aware. It does not prevent
that they are in the same spirit they are opposed to; it is also so with much that is in
our mind and yet it repugns. We have already considered this elsewhere.
With the foregoing and many of the following, the teachings of Swedenborg are touched in his
writing about heaven and hell 1) in such significant respects that I can not help approaching these
relationships more closely. His doctrine presents itself in somewhat whimsical form and fantastic
embellishment, but in my opinion it is very worthy of its essence and built on a profound point of
view. However, Schwedenborg does not justify it by arguments, but gives it as something gained
through intuition and dealings with otherworldly spirits.
The sky with its miraculous phenomena and hell. Heard and looked. To the
1)
new church of the Lord. Tübingen. Publisher to "Guttenberg" 1830th
According to him, as after us, the essential connections and separations of the
spirits of the hereafter depend on the correspondence of their essence, and especially
it is the correspondence in good and truth or its opposite, which assigns to them a
communal place in heaven or hell also according to Schw., no real spatially divorced
places (if so appearing according to the so-called correspondence relation), but
different combinations are on the side of the good and truth or its opposite. Also, the
commonality which the good spirits have, as well as of us, is settled by the
harmonious union of them through and in the higher spirit (the Lord), which he
directly grasps as God, but the wicked, though against the higher Spirit, yet thought
him subject. Their fellowship is not an agreement in the same sense as that of the
good, for there is one evil against the other; but the correspondence in the bad and the
fake is always something that places them in the same community with the heavenly
associations. On other aspects, in which we meet with Swedenborg, I come
elsewhere.
To be sure, there are also points of not inconsiderable deviation from his doctrine of
ours. Schw. Assumes that, although in the hereafter his spatial relations are more than here, the
spirits in the hereafter appear to be further outward or nearer, according to the similarity or
difference of their inner jurisdiction, so that for this reason hell is considered far from Heaven
appears (§ 193), because the evil spirits are in an opposite state, as the good spirits (which he calls
angels), and in general form the similarity and dissimilarity of spiritual jurisdiction (after the so-
called correspondence relationship) in the appearance of one spatial proximity or distance, on the
other hand, based on our premise, I believe that the similarity or dissimilarity of the mental state can
not be recognized better in image and proximity, but directly as what it is, in the hereafter better
than here below by those who are in the condition of this state of affairs. How our memories of
vividness still reflect the earlier spatial and temporal relations, and even enter into new, vivid
relationships through phantasy, but also move in conceptual relationships and can place one another
according to value relations, which are in a sense two different sides of our memory life, it may be
also in the hereafter or in the memory of the higher spirit, there are two such sides of the spirit-life,
which will not contradict each other there as here in us;
In general, this is a fundamental feature of the whole of the Swedish-Swedish doctrine, that
the inner spiritual states in the hereafter are to produce a semblance of external jurisdiction, or
external appearance, which in itself is in a certain appropriate relation (in correspondence with it)
But if it is, then it also appears with the full force of external reality in the hereafter, and indeed is
regarded as such in the hereafter. Form, clothing, and visual environment of the spirits are thus
merely an expression of their inner mental states and relationships, although the spatial, temporal,
material conditions of this world imitate with variations that only fall under the form of what
appears on this side, without them nevertheless spatial, temporal, material conditions are still
subject to what they are now, whereas Schwedenborg expressly reserves. This view, though
ingenious, does not seem to me to have any valid foundation in the nature of things in the manner
advocated by Schwedenborg, as the fantastic thing that attaches to Swedenborg's doctrine of heaven
and hell is chiefly in this side of it Schw. In describing the external states of mind is based on very
vague assumptions about the correspondence between inner states and external appearance.
Moreover, Swedenborg keeps heaven and hell in one another by taking the spiritual
elementary, the fundamental inclination of one human being for good, the other for evil, which after
death becomes even clear and decisive; on the other hand, I believe that a person can, according to
certain points of view, be bettered by the category of good, after others by evil, and also evil in the
hereafter by the punishments of hell; which has nothing to do with Schwebenborg.
But apart from these differences (and many other distinctions), Schwebenborg's views
coincide with those of ours so much that one would like to say that nothing has happened to us
other than to lay a theoretical foundation for his revelations, regardless of his teaching indeed only
became known when this writing was almost completed.
Here are some excerpts from his book:
Swedenborg's views on the bond that the spirits of the afterlife find in a higher spirit (the
Lord) and their relationships with each other.
§ 7. "The angels (of blessed good spirits) in their totality are called heaven, because it consists
of them, but always it is the divine outgoing from the Lord, which flows into the angels and is
absorbed by them, which is the heaven in the The Divine outgoing from the Lord is the love and the
truth of truth, for as much of the good and the truth as they receive from the Lord, so far are they
angels, and so far are they the heavens. "
§ 8. "Everyone in heaven knows and believes and realizes that he does not want and does
good for himself, and that he thinks and believes nothing true out of himself, but from the divine,
and consequently from the Lord Good and true, come out of it, nothing good and nothing true,
because it does not have life from the divine: the angels of the innermost heaven become clear
themselves and feel the influence, and how far they take so far only mine to be in heaven, so far in
love and in faith, and so far in the light of intelligence and wisdom, and out of them in heavenly
joy: for now all this proceeds from the Divine of the Lord and in this for the angels is the heavens, it
follows that the divine of the Lord makes heaven,but not the angels of their own self ".....
§ 9. "The angels, by virtue of their wisdom, go further, they do not say alone, all good and
truths come from the Lord, but also from life everything .... they further say that there is only one
source of life and the life of man is an outflow of it, which, unless it is continually nourished by it,
will at once dry up.) Further, out of this single primordial life, which is the Lord, nothing flows
except divine good and divine truth and these excite each according to the perception, and in those
who receive them with faith and with change, is the heaven, but which repel them or stifle them,
they turn that into hell, for they make good in them Evil and True in False, So Life in Death ".....
§ 12. "This may manifest that the Lord dwells in his being with the angels of heaven, and that
the Lord is all in all things of heaven, because the Lord is the Lord, the Lord is with him to them,
for what is of Him is Himself, that consequently the good of the Lord is for the angels the heavens,
and never anything of their own. "
§ 41. "The angels of any heaven 2) are not all in one place together, but divided into larger or
smaller clubs according to the differences of the love good and the good faith, in which they are:
who are in the same good form an association: The good in the heavens is in infinite variety, and
every single angel is like his good. "
2)More specifically, Swedenborg distinguishes three heavens according to the
different degrees of goodness and bliss of the heavenly spirits, which he relates
(§30) to a tripartite division of the human mind. All three heavens, though
divorced in themselves, are indirectly linked by an influx from the Lord (§ 37).
§ 42. "The angelic clubs in the heavens are also spatially

divorced from each other according to the measure, as their good
in general and in particular different 3) , for the distances in
the spiritual world are due to nothing but the difference of the
states of the internal in heaven, therefore, from the diversity of
the states of love, being in great spatial distance from one
another, which are very different in this, but nearer to each
other, standing nearer, closely resembling one another, that they
are together. "
On the other hand, § 191, 192 expressly states that although in heaven, as
3)
well as here, everything appears in temporal and local conditions; Basically,

however, there is "no distance, no spaces, but only states and changes" in their
place, as also explained by the following in the text.
§ 43. "Even the individual in the same club are divided in the
same way again from each other" .....
§ 45. From this it is evident that all things are gathered together in the heavens, and that they
differ according to the nature thereof: but it is not the angels who join together, but the Lord, from
whence goods come she binds them, separates them, and receives them in proportion as they are in
the good, in their freedom, and thus every one in the life of his love, his faith, his intelligence and
wisdom, and thus in blessedness. "
§ 46. "Also, all who are in similar good know each other, just as the people here below their
blood relatives, their relatives and their friends, even if they have never seen each other before, the
reason is because in the There were no other relationships, brotherhoods, and friendships other than
spiritual, and therefore only on the basis of love and faith, and this was granted to me a few times
when I was in the spirit, that is removed from my body, and thus in dealing with angels; there I saw
some who were known to me as a child, and others who seemed completely unknown to me, who
seemed familiar to me from childhood on, who, with me, were in a similar state of mind, but which
seemed unknown to me. that were in dissimilar. "
§ 54. "It can never be said that heaven is outside of somebody, but inside, for every angel
takes up the heaven outside of him for the heaven that is in him."
§ 194. "Herein (that according to the similarity or dissimilarity of the mental condition the
spirits appear closer or further) also has its reason, that in the spiritual world one becomes present to
the other as soon as he desperately wants his presence, for with his He sees longing in his mind, and
transmits himself as it were to his condition, the opposite consequence being that one is removed
from the other according to the relation, as he is averse to it: and because all aversion derives from
the contradiction of the instincts and the If there is a conflict of ideas, then it happens that several
who are in the spiritual world in one place, as long as they are unanimous, remain in the face, as
soon as they no longer think, they vanish. "
§ 205. "All are united in heaven, according to spiritual affinities, which exist by good and
truth in their order, thus in all heaven, so in every society, and finally in every house, hence the
angels, who are in similar good and truths are, like friends of the blood and kinsfolk in this world,
and know as well as acquaintances from childhood. "In the same way, good and truthfulness, which
bring forth wisdom and insight, are together with any angel, and these two know each other, and
how If they know each other, then they also join in. Why, then, for those in whom truth and good
have united according to the form of heaven, see the consequences in their concatenation, and in a
wide circle around them, their inner connection; .where good and truth are not connected according
to the form of heaven. "
§ 268. "The greatness of the wisdom of the angels is manifested by the mutual
communication of all in the heavens, the intelligence and wisdom of the one sharing the other:
heaven is the communion of all goods, the cause of which lies in the Nature of heavenly love, she
wills that what is her own is of the other, therefore no one in heaven will regard his good in himself
as good, if it is not also in the other, hence the bliss of heaven, the angels have this from the Lord,
whose divine love is like this. "
B. Conditions of the otherworldly to the worldly spirit world.
The individual memory in us arises from the view that the individual intuition will
pass into memory. One follows out and after the other. But the relationship of the
entire memory life to the entire visual life in us is not to be understood as a mere
succession. Intuition life and memory life coexist with each other in our mind and do
not exist incoherently side by side. The whole realm of our intuitions, in our minds, is
completely connected with the whole realm of memories; and the whole multiplicity
of intuitions only gains a connection through the connection with the memory-rich
self, which goes beyond the feeling of simple succession and juxtaposition. The life
of intuition remains the inseparable lower basis of the memory life,
Thus the otherworldly life of the individual man grows out of his life on earth, and
this will pass into that life. But the relation of the whole Beyond to the whole of this
world in the higher spirit is not to be construed as a mere succession. This world and
the hereafter exist at the same time in the higher spirit and do not exist incoherently
next to each other. The whole kingdom of this world is also completely and in one
piece connected with that of the hereafter in the higher spirit, and all general
connections in it are possible only through the connection with it and through
this. The here and now remains as a lower inseparable base under the hereafter; and
the hereafter contains in its relations the higher bond of this world.
We believe in state, church, science, and what we otherwise know of common
connections in humanity to have something that closes in this world; but these whole
connections, as far as they are present in this world, are only to be said as the surface
of a deep inward connection that fills the beyond, and without our belief and
knowledge we are connected by bonds of the hereafter. This world owes its whole
exaltation over the low sensory to the silent fellowship with the otherworldly, higher
realm.
Just as one is accustomed to tearing everything apart from one another, God and the
world, body and soul, soul and spirit, one is also accustomed to completely tear off
the kingdom of the hereafter from the realm of this world, and to regard its height
above this world as whether the hereafter above the clouds, this world on earth,
would be separated from each other by a gap. But we have already learned to give up
such indispensable separations.
We can regard the hereafter as a higher stage of development of this world; but
everywhere it is not the nature of higher stages of development to give up the
previous basis, to break away from it, but to culminate the previous basis itself, to
crown it; develop higher relationships with it.
"By saying that progression and evolution takes place in the realm of the dead, we must
necessarily think of it in relation to the course of development of the kingdom of God in this world,
for though there are two worlds, there is only one kingdom of God, only one spirit of God Only
when the earthly state is complete, when the warring Church has fought its struggle on earth, can
the otherworldly kingdom also become perfect ... ... It must be such a reciprocal relationship
between the otherworldly and the worldly development on this world is, in its essential truth, to be
thought of as appearing in the consciousness of the otherworldly spirits.The otherworldly spirits
must behave in inner self-determination at those moments of our development to which they have
attached themselves in accordance with their volition, and the ghost struggle of history must reflect
itself in the depth of its will. "(Martensen, Christl. Dogm .)
Let us develop these general considerations a little in particular.
Every new intuition that we may conceive enters into connection with the realm of
our memories, and then it determines the place which it, once remembered, will take
in it. Yes, as an intuition, it unconsciously enters into shared concepts with memories,
and is thus combined with those of the spirit.
Thus, even in this world, every man already arranges for the hereafter, by means of
relationships in which he, though still unconsciously, enters into the realm of the
hereafter, or determines the place which he will once occupy; In fact, during his life
on this side of the earth, he is summed up in higher connections with spirits of the
hereafter from the upper spirit.
"To this I may state that every man, even while still living in the body, is in the company of
spirits for the subject of his spirit, though he does not know that by means of this he is the good in
an angelic society, and the evil in a hellish Association is, and that he comes after his death in the
same club. " (Schwedenborg, "Heaven and Hell." § 438.)
But not only does the general order, the higher connection and relation of the
hereafter, take part in this world, but also the spirits of the hereafter weave
themselves, and from the hereafter still work into this world, yes, there is still ground
in this world, above which they only in a freer way than we walk, yet still in need of
change.
Let us look back in ourselves. Memories constantly play into our life of intuition,
help us to define our ideas, to paint them, to make the green spot in the landscape into
a forest for us, the silver ribbon in it to the river. We did not remember: There it
grows, birds sing, hunters go, there is shade, cooling, it was a raw green spot for
us. There are innumerable memories which can not be accounted for, which make the
vivid green spot for the forest, although I do not distinguish it individually. Only the
memories are not bound to appear stapled in conjunction with other memories of
intuitions; they can also be independent.
So now, as with the memories in our minds, it will also be with our spirits in the
memory of the higher mind. The spirits of the hereafter play into his world of
intuition; and we, who still walk in this, share countless with spirits of the hereafter,
have it of them what we mean to have for ourselves. Just as the whole of vivid nature
would be nothing but a raw color chart for us, if not a thousand and a thousand
previously created memories and painted the color chart in a higher sense, humanity
would remain in their current visual life nothing but a raw being, if not a thousand
and yet a thousand spirits of the previous world were still at work in us, even though
we do not distinguish their work individually, and all their formerly collected
education would benefit us living ones, always pushing us anew, and stamping us
here already to something higher than we could become by ourselves alone. We
switch in our life on earth with spiritual treasures, which belong at the same time to
the hereafter. Plato lives on in the ideas he has left in us; indeed, where an idea of
Plato has penetrated, Plato lives on, and the most diverse people who have taken
possession of this idea are linked by the spirit of Plato, who now experiences after
death the whole fate of this idea as his. He who brings foolish ideas into the world
will even suffer from their fate until one day they are corrected and improved. Who
generates truth and goodness in us,
We think it is only dead remnants that we take from the deceased; but that is the
error. What remained of the dead energizes us, invades our lives a thousandfold, but
in doing so the dead themselves live on it. Of course we can not experience our own
life in all of this, only as it intervenes in ours, only the effects we receive from them,
not the effect with which they express themselves. But why should not an action be
consciously expressed behind the effects we consciously experience? The spirits of
the hereafter have not given up their old sphere of activity, though they are not
limited to its lowliness; they continue working with us in the context of what they
started here, and carry it up higher, only under new relations of
consciousness. Everything that has passed from ideas and consciously created works
to the world in the course of your life falls to them with death as an outlet and point
of attack for further conscious action. So they work around us, inside us; mentally
and materially, we feel their influence and can not feel that they are feeling
something.
In this, one of the advantages of life in the hereafter lies before that in this world,
that the spirits of the hereafter are no longer banned to such a close location in their
existence and activity, but instead participate in the omnipresence and freedom of the
higher spirit in earthly territory; they become his connecting links in this world, each
one in the particular direction in which his spirit is now active. Let us observe in
ourselves the greatest freedom of the memories to associate with every intuition with
which they have relations of relationship, and thus to build bridges between the most
varied views; so also the areas of memory which the greater spirit wins through our
death have the greatest freedom,
Every spirit of the hereafter thus works into innumerable people, and countless
spirits work into every human being. But every living person in this world is the
scene of the action and intercourse of many spirits of the hereafter, none of these
spirits enters into it entirely with its effects, but only on this or that side; and, to the
delight of every intuition, the manifold memories, but each contributes only from this
or that side, as long as they are related to them. No human being can fully seize the
spirit of the hereafter. Now it is quite natural that when each one of us is touched only
by this or that side of the existence of a deceased person, it absorbs only this or that
particular idea of it, and this with the effects of so many other spirits, he can feel
nothing of the unity in which every spirit of the hereafter gathers together all sides of
its activity for itself. In each of us, so to speak, only this or that of the many roots
with which a spirit of the hereafter still branches in this world, how should we be
aware of the single tribe in which all roots unite; especially since a network of so
many roots of so many spirits enters into us; which makes it difficult for us to
distinguish what comes from each one of us. in which all roots agree; especially since
a network of so many roots of so many spirits enters into us; which makes it difficult
for us to distinguish what comes from each one of us. in which all roots
agree; especially since a network of so many roots of so many spirits enters into
us; which makes it difficult for us to distinguish what comes from each one of us.
But the individuality of the spirits of the hereafter is not submerged in ours, does
not run away with them; still vice versa. For, in all the work of this, there is always a
spiritual separation between them and us in them, that they feel that they are giving
and receiving as far as we really receive. A memory, too, loses its capacity to act
independently for itself, because it inspires one, indeed many intuitions, out of the
recollective realm. And if it does not always, that's for other reasons. It inspires
intuition and remains what it is. Even a copper plate loses nothing of its peculiar
character, that it prints in so many leaves, and does not melt with it. And so the spirits
of the hereafter may express their ideas in so many ways within us, and be the same
act in which they and we feel this; but every idea will be after other relations, in other
contexts, theirs than ours; and if it comes from them, they will feel determined, we
will feel determined. But now we can also counter it. In fact, the relationship is not
one-sided. To the effects that the spirits of the hereafter express on us, we come up
with new effects and act on them ourselves as they affect us. Her life has henceforth
ours to something external, as memories attach themselves to us to new intuitions, as
to something external, and even gain new determinations through it. Any idea of the
deceased who enters us, after all, we are conceived and shaped according to our
peculiarity; in it we feel self-giving, giving; receiving or stimulating them. In this
way, we also contribute something to their advancement, in that the new points of
view, the relationships under which we grasp their ideas, even grasp what is, as a
consequence of their being, mentally active, become new suggestions, determinations
for them.
However much contact the life of the spirits of the hereafter has with ours, it is not
decided in our dealings with us, and their development is not simply based on
it; since memories, too, do not lead their lives merely in connection with intuitions,
but have a higher traffic under them, of which we only feel the reflexes in the
intuitive life. The life of memory evolves so to speak only in a lower dependence on
the visual life, but in the upper freedom of the same. Let us think of our life as a germ
that breaks through death into a kingdom of light, but still remains rooted in its old
soil. Now, of course, the whole development of the germ depends on the nature of its
rooting, but not alone, nor does it consist in the mere development of the roots. What
has developed after the breakthrough of the earth on top of the roots in twigs, leaves
and flowers, which can not be calculated from what takes place under the soil in the
old soil at the roots, although in a stable relationship with it. But all the ideas that the
deceased carry on with us may be such roots. To recognize the higher existence of the
spirits of the hereafter, we ourselves must first have broken through to the same
higher existence.
With these views, our freedom is quite right, as well as the freedom of the spirits of
the hereafter, insofar as the connection to a higher spiritual community does not entail
restrictions of the kind we demand anyway. The game and the conflict of freedom,
which we acknowledge in this world, extends only to the connection of this world
and the otherworldly kingdom. Let it be considered that no matter what liberty one
pays homage, there is no wholly free being; but every being is more or less partly
determined by the successes of his earlier acts of freedom, and partly by external
influences. Thus, every man is also greatly influenced by the ideas of the deceased, or
by the works that have been left behind, which are bearers of the same, and this,
indifferently, whether or not a consciousness of the spirits of the hereafter operates. If
that man did not donate this school, if he did not write this book, that boy would not
have received this instruction, and that man would not be able to develop that idea
further. All the basis of the culture on which we are based as a traditional one is
therefore part of our unfree side. But now we continue to work out the traditional
basis of culture through ourselves; and everything that happens in this relationship of
us with the feelings of one's own effort and will belongs to All the basis of the culture
on which we are based as a traditional one is therefore part of our unfree side. But
now we continue to work out the traditional basis of culture through ourselves; and
everything that happens in this relationship of us with the feelings of one's own effort
and will belongs to All the basis of the culture on which we are based as a traditional
one is therefore part of our unfree side. But now we continue to work out the
traditional basis of culture through ourselves; and everything that happens in this
relationship of us with the feelings of one's own effort and will belongs to our free
site. By grasping the ideas of the former spirits according to our peculiarity, by
processing and transforming them ourselves, they feel themselves determined by us;
if this belongs to their unfree side, they in turn have an unfree basis of development
in us; but not in such a way that in their development they would pass us on passively
and uselessly, just as we do not give them up; since it is always their freedom,
whether they want to accept our conception and formation of their ideas; how it is in
our freedom, in how far we want to respond to their ideas. Only that it is neither in
our freedom nor in freedom to break away from the base of development in
question. And undoubtedly, at least that's our belief
For the coexistence and co-operation of the spirits of the hereafter with the spirits
of this world, as well as with each other, one can apply a great principle. This is the
following:
Just as a ghost can have many things and yet remain one, many spirits can have
one and many remain.
What one mind has, others can have with it, only in another relationship. Thus
alone is it possible for so many spirits of the hereafter and this world to exist in the
same world and to be compatible. The common cause creates a bond for them. But
they do not melt into each other.
It is as if two circles of waves meet; then the intersection belongs to both at the
same time, and the circles of waves each remain something special. Nothing can hit
the one wave at the intersection, which would not affect the other at the same time,
but the intersection belongs to a different context in each wave, and what one wave
actively does suffers the other receptively, and vice versa.
Or it is as if two series of numbers, each linked by their particular law, intersect.
l.
Third
l. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.. ,
7.
9.
The same number 5 may be common to both, but there remain different series, and
the same number occurs in each of the two series in different relation, meaning.
Even in our mind different ideas can meet in the same characteristics, and yet
remain different. However, the same feature is common to them in various
ways. Why should not the corresponding thing take place in the higher spirit?
Similar views on the intercourse of the spirits of the afterlife with those of the here and now have
been put forward by others.
"Secluded souls and pure spirits can never be present to our external senses, nor otherwise be
in communion with matter, but act upon the mind of man, who belongs to a great republic with
them, so that the ideas which they have to awaken in him, to clothe himself in related pictures
according to the law of his imagination, and to inspire the apparence of the objects proper to them
except him. " (Kant, dreams of a ghost-seer l, 2.)
"In the future, I do not know where or when, nor will it be proved that the human soul, even
in this life, is in an inextricably linked community with all the immaterial natures of the spirit
world, that it acts interchangeably in them and receives a bridge from them. but as a person she is
unaware of it, as long as everything is well. " (Ditto).
The somnambulist Kachler in Dresden answered in the high sleep the question: "Can the
spirits of the dead come near and feel us?" as follows:
"Feeling are probably not, but come close well, but also felt by mental thinking.The departed
mind can deal with the still living, and this deals at the same moment with the deceased, so it can be
felt on both sides by the encounter . " (Message from the Magnet, Schlafleben der Somnambule
Auguste K. in Dresden, 1843, p.
How Swedenborg's views on the intercourse of the spirits of the other world touch each other
very much with our own, as well as the intercourse of the spirits of the afterlife with the living. The
Ibbur of the old rabbis no less enters into the above ideas; Indeed, as we shall see later, even the
mystery of the Christian doctrine of the presence of Christ in his community dissolves.
From Swedenborg's writing about heaven and hell.
§ 228. "Mind and will of man are guided by the Lord through angels and spirits 4)and because
reason and will, then also everything of the body, for the latter emerges from those; yes, man, if you
will believe me, can not take a step, without the influence of heaven. That this is so has been shown
to me in manifold experience; Angels were given to move my stride, my calling, my tongue and
speech at will, by means of flowing into my will and thinking; and I knew that I could do nothing;
afterwards they said that every man should be led, and know this from the teaching of the church,
and from the Word, for he prayed that God send his angels to guide him to steer his kicks, teach him
and give him what he should think and talk, etc; and yet, if he thought of the doctrine of himself
down, he would speak differently than he believed.
4)Swedenborg distinguishes ghosts from angels. Angels are the blessed spirits
already gone to heaven; Ghosts are still in a middle realm, where they have to
decide only for heaven above hell.
what man knows; so also his languages. I talked to angels
about this and said: They meant maybe that they talk to me in my
mother tongue (because it is so is heard), and yet it is not them
who speak, but I; what proves that the angels could not utter a
word from a human language; (besides, human language is natural,
but they are spiritual, and spiritual things can not naturally
produce anything); they answered: "It is known to them that their
connection with the man to whom they speak is done with their
spiritual thinking, but because this flows into his natural
thinking, and the latter is connected with his memory, the
language of man appears to them as theirs, and all their
knowledge, and this is because it pleased the Lord, that there is
such a union and, as it were, the interposition of heaven in
man; but at the present time man's condition is changed to such a
degree that he no longer exists with the angels but with spirits
who are not in heaven. I also spoke with spirits about this
phenomenon, but they did not want to believe that man spoke, but
they spoke in man, they meant; Also, man does not know what he
knows, but they know it, and so is all human knowledge of them; my
effort to convince them of the opposite was futile. " but they
knew it, and so be all human knowledge of them; my effort to
convince them of the opposite was futile. " but they knew it, and
so be all human knowledge of them; my effort to convince them of
the opposite was futile. "
§ 247. "That the angels and spirits associate themselves so closely with man, to the point that
they know no other than that which belongs to man, is yours, is also because the spiritual and
spiritual since the natural world is so connected with man that they are one and the same, since man
has separated himself from heaven, it has been done by the Providence that in every man there are
angels and spirits, and that man is guided by the Lord through them There would have been such a
close connection, for another would have been, if man had not broken loose, then he could have
been guided by the Lord's inspiration without the help of spirits and angels, through the common
influx through the heavens. "
§ 248. "The speech of an angel or spirit with a man is heard just as clearly as the talk of man
to man, but it is not heard by those who stand beside it, but only by himself. The reason is, because
the speech of the angel or spirit flows first into the thought of man, and on the inner path into his
hearing-tool, and thus stimulates the latter from the inside, while the talk of man and man first on
the air, and thus on the outer way the hearing tool acts, and the latter stimulates from the outside. "
§ 255. "It is also memorable: if angels or spirits turn to man, they can talk to him at any
distance, and they speak with me from far away as audibly as when in close proximity; If one turns
away from man and exchanges speech among himself, then man does not hear the slightest bit of it,
even though they speak harshly against his ear, which has shown that in the spiritual world all
connection takes place according to the measure of coming in. It is also memorable Several people
can talk to man at the same time as man does with them, for they send off a spirit to the man with
whom they wish to speak, and the sent spirit returns to man, and those several return to their spirit.
or unite like that in him her thoughts, which then the spirit, so united, communicates to man; the
mind knows no other than that it speaks from itself; and the angels know no other than that they
speak themselves; so does the union of several with a likewise inimitable approach. "
§ 256. "No angel or spirit may speak to man from his own recollection, but only from the
recollection of man, for the angels and spirits have both a remembrance and men, let a spirit speak
from his recollection with man Thus man would know no other than that the objects which he
thinks of himself belong to him while they belong to the spirit, in which case he reminds man of the
memory of something he has never heard or heard It has been granted to me that it is so. "
let it be that man means to live by himself and without association with the primal being of
life, and does not know that that union is mediated by heaven; In the meantime man, when that
bandage broke loose, fell down at once in disbelief. "
About the Ibbur of the old rabbis.
The doctrine of the ancient rabbis, which bears the name of Ibbur, is that the soul of a
deceased may pass into a living man, or a whole race, a whole offspring of men, and be distributed
therewith without being bound to it; also through the Ibbur several souls can share in the same
man. Thus, Moses' soul has spread among all generations, among all the disciples of the wise and
the righteous, who study in the law, and propagates from generation to generation; Thus the souls of
the parents come to their children, and the man, when he sins, sins with his parents at the same
time. But the soul of the deceased does not identify with that of the living, there is only one
donation,
To be sure, this Ibbur is very crude in its execution, and is based on an arbitrary interpretation
of scriptural passages as rational reasons. However, there had to be occasions to really interpret the
scriptures in this way.
It can be explained that in this rude explanation and execution Ibbur could gain as little
general applause and popularity as did Swedenborg's doctrine in its fantastic execution. In the
meantime, various judgments have been made about it.
Flügge (Gesch IS 433) says about it: "We can not constructively close the fabric of rabbinical
foolishness, as with the genuinely Rabbinic assertion that the soul is divided into many thousands of
parts and dissected, and thereby transferred to just as many people could. "
Herder on the other hand (Zerstr. BI. IS 290) mentions in his conversation. about the
transmigration of souls the Ibbur a sweet poetry, by presenting it with the following features:
"Charikles, and what do you think of the transmigration of Jews whom the rabbis call Ibbur?"
They say that one person may be joined by several, including human, souls, especially at certain
times (when a friendly spirit beholds them) that he needs it, and God allows him to assist,
strengthen, inspire, live with and dwell in him, but leave him when the business is over, to help him,
unless God makes one Favoring people with this assistance of a strange spirit to its end.
Theages. The seal is lovely. It explains why a man often acts as unequally as he sometimes
sinks so much in later years. The strange, helpful spirit has left him and he is sitting there with his
naked. In addition, attire honors extraordinary people in a beautiful way, for what a praise it is that a
wise man can enliven the soul of an old wise man, or even several of them! - But you do not
consider the beautiful poetic clothing for physical-historical truth?
Ch. Who knows? The revolution of human souls has been widely believed by many
peoples. You have read the question to John: "Are you Elijah, are you a prophet?" You know who
even confirmed it and just said, "He's Elias!"
Although no one among us believes in the Ibbur of the ancient Jews, at least one has enough
expressions in the same sense; only that one does not want to take it literally. How often do you
hear that the mind of a father has passed over to his children, that they are still living, that the spirit
of a great man is perpetuating in his disciples? But it is thought that by passing on to the children
and disciples, the father, the teacher, no longer has him, or one only thinks a resemblance to the
spirit of the father.
Several passages relating to the Ibbur from the writings of the ancient rabbis can be found in
Eisenmenger's Entd. Judenth. II. P. 85 ff.
C. On the relationships of the otherworldly spirits to the world of senses
and the higher reality.
Will the spirits of the hereafter, after they become barren of the previous sensory
organs, receive new sense organs? First of all, will you be able to catch ours? For as
they enter into us and associate themselves with us through common spiritual
moments, they also participate in the progress that these spiritual moments gain
through our intuitions; our views will be so far away from hers, though only as far as
they really contribute to the determination of what they have in common with us. But
there will be no seeing, hearing in the sense of this world more for her. You no longer
feel the sensual activity in the use of our sensory organs, which we feel; see, hear, so
to speak, into us without seeing and hearing with our eyes; Feel the breath of our
senses, but do not breathe with it. The work of creation, collecting in the sense of this
world now lies once and for all. As well as the memories in us are well received by
our senses; but there is no actual seeing, listening with memories.
Not only the way, but also the scope of the relations to the sense world will be
different in the future than now. Now everyone has their own special pair of eyes and
ears and thus masters his limited physical space. It will not be like this in the
future. We will no longer have individual sensory organs for us beyond; We have just
dropped them in the transition to the hereafter. Generally speaking, the entire spiritual
world of the earth beyond, the whole sensory sphere, the whole sensory apparatus of
the earth in one and common to their further determination to command, as the whole
world of memory in us the whole sensory sphere of our body is at their disposal; only
that every spirit only ever in its own special way, in accordance with, as he had
imagined here, To have developed points of contact to it, and his interest is directed
beyond, it will be able to use and want to use. But apart from the sensory organs of
men and animals, there may possibly be other and more general sensory mediations
on the earth, some of which may be only special diversions, to which we shall
participate in the future; although nothing definite can be said about this.
Through spatial distances and material obstacles, we will no longer be limited in
our looking, let us call it, although it is no longer in the sense of this world, as here. A
mile or wall between can not move us any farther, hide nothing. We go, penetrate
through everything, are everywhere living and settled in the earthly realm, and can
turn ourselves there and there, as a memory in our brain is everywhere and ready,
where something related and well-known calls it. But it will not be missing at other
barriers; yes, as the old ones have fallen, new ones will rise, which have meaning
only for the hereafter. Not everything that can be seen or heard will touch us; but it
will require a rapport to things which in this world has already been connected with
our involvement with it or its intervention in our sphere of life, or which must have
been developed in the hereafter on the basis of the link in this world; we will be blind
and deaf to everything else. Memories in us, too, receive only further determination
through intuitions, with which they stand in relationship to association laws. How to
approach, can only teach the future. But perhaps it explains itself to some extent
when we think about how the phenomena of the bright face are described. This is also
a seeing, hearing, feeling, ancestor through wide space and walls through, into others
even into it, without use of special individual sense organs, without actual
Sinnestätigkeit at all; only improperly seeing, calling hearing, and yet performing the
accomplishments of it in a higher sense, and at the same time seeing nothingness
again, listening to what everyone sees and hears on this side, blind deafness for the
next; It depends on a particular rapport, which, of course, can not be followed up in
detail.
We do not ask, for this is an entirely different question, are these statements about clairvoyance
correct; they are explanatory for us anyway. If it's not in this world, it's going to be the same or
similar in the hereafter, and can it be like that in the afterlife, could not some of it also play into the
here and now? Is the state of sleep-wake still a pure state of this world? Not even remembrance of it
goes back into the wake of this world; but the reverse is the case.
This is to be understood from a general point of view, that we can not agree with such
unbelief, which denies the possibility for the human mind of gaining knowledge in any other way
than by our present ordinary sense-mediation, because this would at the same time deny the
possibility of its future continuity , For the spirit does not only drop the current sensory organs, but
even the present brain, with death. If one wants the purpose, one must also want the means. A
natural scientist who believes and demands that after death he should still exist spiritually and hear
something without his present sense organs and brain must not consider it impossible that this other
mode of hearing also plays into this world; because who has proved to him or how can he prove that
between both states is an absolute partition; since we nowhere else see absolute dividing walls? And
I do not think it's nice to believe something different and want to know something else. But I'm not
saying that one should consider indefinite possibilities for more than such. One impossibility should
not be seen where the possibility of combining our higher practical and scientific interests is at
stake.
However that may be, the statements of the sleep-awake ones themselves at least
unanimously testify that they perceive in a different way than in the actual waking state, and indeed
in one which enters well into our above considerations. Yes, they themselves claim a relation of this
perception to the otherworldly. Here are some examples:
From the writing: "Idiosomnambulismus or of course magnetic sleep Richards, of Dr.
Görwitz". Leipz. 1,851th
P. 93. Question. "Can you see me, Richard?"
Answer. "I see you very clearly, they are very tall and pale."
But with this my eye here I do not see you, that is firmly closed,
but I see you inside! "
Q. "Can you look around town?"
A. "Oh, yes, but not especially today, it sways and rocks everything in me and in the air."
P. 106. Q. "How do you know that?" 5)
A. "I know everything that relates to me or is brought into my realm by the question I feel it, it
blows me like an air, it sounds like a sound to me inside You too can dream long stories, coherent
facts and developments in a very short time, often in a few minutes: - But you dream, I look, for me
this dream is being, without that I think he is thinking of you. "
5)The somnambulist had stated what his sister was doing in Eisenach at the
same time as he was in Apolda himself.
P. 135. Q. "Can you see?"
A. "I do not see anything with my eyes, it's not really
seeing, I feel everything in my soul."
F. "Explain it more clearly."
A. "Hm, I can not explain it, it's as if you're dreaming, there you also see with the soul and need
no senses, but you do not see the truth, and that's the difference between your seeing and mine. "
From the: "Messages from the magnetic sleep life of Auguste K. (Kachler) in
Dresden, 1843."
On page 270, the somnambulist says,
"There is an omniscience of the mind, here in life it acts as
foreknowledge, and this kind of omniscience that already appears
here is a taste of life there." The mind becomes free there, in
the body this is not possible, because once the mind thinks so
often prevents him the soul 6) , which is engaged in physically. "
6)This is contrasted by the somnambulist as the sphere of sensuality to the
higher spiritual than to the spirit.
P. 119. Question. "The ability to know something about other

people and places you just want to know, but the evidence you gave
them is more than a clue."
Answer. "No, it is nothing else, only to an increased degree.
Ideas are merely spiritual, and it is just because, in the
ordinary state, the sensuous comes into play and involves false
ideas, that it is insecure and subject to deceptions Where the
mind is in close union with the soul, it is safer and more
exalted, but also never completely free from possible deception,
just as we stand in the hope of having an unimpeded insight into
everything in the future life through our mind it is obvious that
this idea is an approximation to that state. "
P. 296. F. "To what extent does the perceptive faculty of the somnambulists suffice?"
A. "The distance has nothing to do with it, because the mind is not sent, we can explain so well
that God with his spirit, his nature, his ancestor is everywhere and yet invisible a somnambulist
speaks of something in Africa or something in the adjoining house, but that is the difference, that it
is easier if the person of whom she knows something has ever been near her. "
P. 382. Q. "Do you hear with your ears in the usual way in high sleep?"
A. "I hear with my ears, but it is not quite so, as with the ordinary state, the hearing is changed,
the most difficult question I can answer immediately, before it has died away, the hearing does not
need the long guidance of the Nerves, to penetrate first to the spirit, but the spiritual being quickly
connects with the senses. "
Again, therefore: If the higher mind takes us from the sphere of intuition into the
field of memory, the special sensory activity, with which now everyone grasps and
dominates a limited circle of the world, will fall away for us, but the possibility will
arise for it, with the whole Sensory areas of the higher spirit in relation to be thereby
determined. In the meantime, this possibility, which is unlimited in itself and will
continue to be realized, will in the first place find its limitation and further
determination by the fact that each person becomes the further determination only on
the basis of the points of contact which his previous formation and interest in this
sensory area presents be able to participate. Everyone will initially continue to study
what has haunted them so far, with what is analogous to his previous life, according
to his previous interest. Whatever enters into the experience of the higher mind
through any sense-mediation, the man who has passed over will, as far as we are
concerned, be more involved in it, be affected by it than is more in this sense. But our
sphere of knowledge and our interests will be able to expand and change on the other
side, as it would have been on this side if we had lived on. The longer we will learn to
penetrate more and more into the whole sphere of knowledge of the spirit to which
we belong, by giving each point of contact gained the opportunity of new
connections; and becoming more and more partners in his higher general interests, as
we learn and feel more and more, how the same goes hand in hand with our own true
interest; and at the same time learn to find ourselves better and better in the extended
and elevated conditions of the hereafter. For it is indisputable how the child must first
learn to understand his new circumstances, to use the new means, as he was in the
beginning a stranger in the New World, and it will be with us. We will look on
unspeakably further than now; but what does that mean what we are looking for, for
the new world?
Let us suppose the assumption made earlier (Sect. XVII.) That the earth is given
great sensory organs to communicate with the stars, so now we have a more definite
view of the participation of the spirits of the hereafter in the transport of the stars. As
the spirits grow in cognition in the new life, they also begin to gain the understanding
of these great means of transportation, weaving in and working with them. And if the
stars did not have the spirits of the hereafter, their sensual intercourse would be
hollow and empty, as if we were exchanging words and glances without traits of
memories with words and glances.
When common feelings connect with the great natural processes of the earth, we
may believe that in the hereafter we will be involved in this. How differently does the
flow of memories and trains of thought flow in our mind, as the general processes in
our bodies change our sense of life. So, then, also on the river and train of the higher
spiritual life, which we will lead on the other side in and with the spirit of the earth,
the general sensual moods of the earth have an influence, which we can not yet feel in
the same sense.
Based on memories, the foresight and predetermination of what will and will take
place in our intuition in the future builds up in us in exemplary and anticipatory
images. It is the same kingdom in us in which the past is abolished in the form of
memory images, and in which the models of the future develop. The remembrance of
the past must furnish the material for the images of the future, as well as the guiding
points of view for the foresight and predestination of the future. The more perfect, the
greater, the more powerful our spirit is, the farther and higher its contemplation of the
present, its memory, its power of deduction, its power over the means of execution
reaches, the greater the extent, the more far-reaching consequence of What happens
and should happen he can foresee and predict; the more certain is the foresight of
what has happened and the fulfillment of the desired. For all that enters into the
ordinary course of our life-span, no special inference, no special consideration for
foresight and predestination is necessary; it comes to us of its own accord as an
understanding of itself and arrives without our seeing anything wonderful in this
arrival. On the other hand, there is no limit to the limits of a finite spirit which he can
not cross, the possibility of error and failure always remains, and there is an area of
unpredictable freedom which falls beyond all foresight and calculation. the more
certain is the foresight of what has happened and the fulfillment of the desired. For all
that enters into the ordinary course of our life-span, no special inference, no special
consideration for foresight and predestination is necessary; it comes to us of its own
accord as an understanding of itself and arrives without our seeing anything
wonderful in this arrival. On the other hand, there is no limit to the limits of a finite
spirit which he can not cross, the possibility of error and failure always remains, and
there is an area of unpredictable freedom which falls beyond all foresight and
calculation. the more certain is the foresight of what has happened and the fulfillment
of the desired. For all that enters into the ordinary course of our life-span, no special
inference, no special consideration for foresight and predestination is necessary; it
comes to us of its own accord as an understanding of itself and arrives without our
seeing anything wonderful in this arrival. On the other hand, there is no limit to the
limits of a finite spirit which he can not cross, the possibility of error and failure
always remains, and there is an area of unpredictable freedom which falls beyond all
foresight and calculation. no special consideration needed for foresight and
foresight; it comes to us of its own accord as an understanding of itself and arrives
without our seeing anything wonderful in this arrival. On the other hand, there is no
limit to the limits of a finite spirit which he can not cross, the possibility of error and
failure always remains, and there is an area of unpredictable freedom which falls
beyond all foresight and calculation. no special consideration needed for foresight
and foresight; it comes to us of its own accord as an understanding of itself and
arrives without our seeing anything wonderful in this arrival. On the other hand, there
is no limit to the limits of a finite spirit which he can not cross, the possibility of error
and failure always remains, and there is an area of unpredictable freedom which falls
beyond all foresight and calculation.
Everything now that we find in ourselves in this respect will be found only in a
higher sense, greater extent, and higher perfection in the higher spirit, so that what we
find in it contributes only in a subordinate manner to what to be found in it. A higher,
more comprehensive, more anticipatory foresight and predetermination of what is to
be realized and realized in his intuitive life will also be alive in him beforehand in
demonstrative and pre-operative images; only in images of a very different clarity,
fullness, liveliness, perversity, than we can carry them down here. Even with him this
fortune of the barriers will not lack; but they will be further for him than for us, with
the walls that border the area of our sight, For the most part, they are only partitions
of the area, which still fully understands his view. In his case, too, this foresight and
prediction of the future conditions of his sphere of intuition can only come about by
means of memories which have grown out of his sphere of intuition. And insofar as
we ourselves are adult participants in his memory life in a completely different,
higher sense beyond ourselves, where we are still tied up in the narrow bonds of
intuition life, we also become quite another part of this higher foresight, this higher
predestination win as now, although everyone again only after special
relationships. How our memory and our view of the world of intuition will increase,
By dwelling and acting in other worldly spirits as otherworldly spirits, they also
share in our foresight and our predestination; but no one can adopt our whole other-
worldly foresight and our predestination in the same way we will have them, but each
one only from a certain side to certain limits, just as the limitations of this world
bring with it, as the narrow one does this is the area of observation and remembrance
of each according to. Conversely, no spirit of the hereafter can fully divine the
predisposition and the predestination with which a man on the side dominates his
sphere of life, but can in turn only intervene from certain sides, according to certain
relations; but by reaching out to other pages, as is the same with respect to the
perception of the present. Also, the foresight and the predestination of the
otherworldly spirits is just as much dependent on what they experience through and
in the people of this world, and vice versa. It's a mess and a mess, because no one can
say I have it and do it for myself.
Like far-sightedness, the foresight of the hereafter also seems to play over occasionally into this
world, insofar as one wishes to accept what is reported by forebodings, presumptuous dreams, and
the foresight of clairvoyant somnambulists. The connection between far-sightedness and foresight,
which results from the above for the hereafter, can also be found in these phenomena of this world,
which can be related to it. The power of far-sightedness and foresight, in this case, presents itself as
one intrinsic or essentially the same faculty. Of course, one must not overlook the fact that the
distant views and foresight of the somnambulists are more deceptive than the ordinary reports of
enthusiasts suggest; What in the meantime would not be a counter-argument against their
relationship to far-sightedness and foresight, is that these errors are attributed to the incomplete
approach of the somnambulistic state to the otherworldly state, or to the barriers that are not lacking
in the hereafter want. In any case, it would lead too far to enter into a critique of this whole subject
and a discussion of all that is to be considered. As noted above, we do not at all dismiss the
possibility of this class of phenomena, but, for good reasons, merely incidentally refer to them, and
will gladly share their views on them. How to put the general theory of it in relation to our ideas of
the hereafter, if you admit their admissibility at all, will be indicated in a later section (XXIV,
D). Here is just another example of how the fortune of foresight is conceived by a somnambulist
himself.
The aforementioned Richard Görwitz said of a newborn child, whose birth he had indicated
from a distance, that in the twenty-third year his fate would take a very serious turn.
Q. "What do you call fate, Richard?"
so I see the ongoing causes at once, and the spirit of fate stands before me! - Only you call it
foresight; but it does not actually look ahead; but it is already. "
On page 135, Richard says, "The future is a light of its own!"
Question. "What do you mean by this latter?"
Answer. "It is bright and not light, dark and not dark, in words as you have them, it can not be
grasped." The human eye, I mean its spiritual, can not bear this light. "
Q. "How do you know the future?"
A. "What flows to me flows like an ether in bright knowledge, like a sound in spiritual hearing."
Apart from the images of the future, which look forward to a realization in the
world of intuition, our mind also goes into imaginative creations; yes, the imagination
works and creates new formations in our world of memories and in our world of
memories. Memory life and fantasy life are connected as one life in us; The
phantasms also have the same liveliness and level of reality as the memory images
themselves, which have contributed to it, but they contribute more or less memories
to each fantasy image from different angles. The more noble, the higher, the richer,
the stronger the spirit is, the more beautiful, richer, and livelier its imaginative life
becomes, and the more a higher ordering reason goes hand in hand with imagination,
So now the imagination of the higher mind, which we may call comparative,
although it is a formative faculty of a much higher degree than our imagination, in
and out of its world of memory, except the models of what is to be realized in the
future in his world of intuition Weaving new constructs merely for the occupation and
enjoyment and edification of the presence of its higher life itself and we as self-acting
partners of this higher life will contribute to our memory and our creative activity in
the hereafter from different sides and thereby contribute this life for ourselves
pleasingly expand. After the dividing barriers of this world have fallen for us, we will
no longer brood, with our memories and our imagination, but to intervene laborively
in the general memory and fantasy life of the higher mind, to help it create new
structures through our interaction. Instead of the material hands that we have lost, the
hands of a more spiritual activity and creation, which until now has been folded
together as if in an embryonic closure, which were not able to do anything, will begin
to become strong and alive and to work together with others to rain. And this fantasy
world of the higher spirit in which we work in this way, in its higher degree, will have
a very different clarity, fullness, beauty, sublimity, reality than the little worldly
fantasy world of our mind, the little boy that opens beyond henceforth as a branch on
the tree of the new life to drive and to bloom. How beautiful we always try to
imagine the future sky with our now small, narrow, poor imagination; the greater,
more powerful, richer imagination of the mind above us will be able to do better; and
instead of the fact that what our imagination now has in us seems to us only a world
of empty formations, that we can build heaven only as appearance in it, what the
imagination of the higher spirit has in itself will make us a world higher To be a
reality, to be a world of higher reality for us; In the imagination of the spirit, we find
truth about the heavens and help us to build on and in this heaven. a richer
imagination of the mind above us will make it even better; and instead of the fact that
what our imagination now has in us seems to us only a world of empty formations,
that we can build heaven only as appearance in it, what the imagination of the higher
spirit has in itself will make us a world higher To be a reality, to be a world of higher
reality for us; In the imagination of the spirit, we find truth about the heavens and
help us to build on and in this heaven. a richer imagination of the mind above us will
make it even better; and instead of the fact that what our imagination now has in us
seems to us only a world of empty formations, that we can build heaven only as
appearance in it, what the imagination of the higher spirit has in itself will make us a
world higher To be a reality, to be a world of higher reality for us; In the imagination
of the spirit, we find truth about the heavens and help us to build on and in this
heaven.
In fact, after we have the actual reality behind us, we live in the realm of memory
and imagination as in a new, higher reality, not merely and no longer in the realm of
our own worldly weak, but the whole, mighty, rich, full, colorful, in a high order
organized memory and fantasy world of the higher spirit, to which the gates opened
to us, in which we appear to each other with our memory figures, in and at which we
have to live and work from now on.
Our current little memory and fantasy world also has its reality in it. For all the
figures that appear, walk and weave in it, this is the true reality. Just as we appear,
walk and weave in the memory and fantasy world of the higher mind, this is the true
reality for us; and we must not tie the concept of a semblance to it.
Our work in and on the otherworldly reality always remains under the rule and
guidance of the higher spirit. It is he who, on the contrary, expands beyond us his
sphere of life on the other side, as on this side, only beyond in a higher sense than on
this side; and that alone can sustain and retain from the creations on which we operate
beyond what we tolerate in his sense, that is, that no one can switch to foolish whims,
or, if it is a fool and a bad one, finally into the general order .
With regard to the higher fantasy world, which carries the character of reality, we again encounter
a relationship between the somnambulistic state and the otherworldly state; when almost all
somnambulists have visions with the stamp of reality, which are often very beautiful, and are
regarded by them as heavenly appearances.
Not least Swedenborg's ideas are in many ways in touch with ours here.
The same thing that is to emerge from the higher-world imaginary entities, which
are merely destined to exist in this higher world, and to pass away when their time
comes, will also apply to the models of what will become in the future in the lower
world World is and should realize that they have a liveliness and reality for the
otherworldly spirits, as their own appearance has in it. Those creations of a higher
phantasy, so to speak, represent the bread which is baked and enjoyed only in heaven
itself, from which we receive nothing or only a faint taste in our imagination on this
side. These models, facing realization, represent the seed sown backwards into the
here and now to provide new grain for the bread of heaven. For the memories of the
intuitiveness of this world with its continuation from the here and now remain the
basic material from which all fantasy creations of the hereafter are grown. But both,
bread and seeds, have the same reality in the sense of the hereafter. Insofar, what is to
become real in the world of intuition on this side in the future, as in a present, will
really appear to us in the hereafter. On the other hand, we weave and work on the
models, patterns of what should be realized here as well as on something in a higher
sense already real, and if the realization in the visual life then takes place, so in a
world, we already under or have behind us. But the aspiration of the higher spirit will
go there, the structures which serve only for the development of the hereafter, with
which,
All our poetry on this side is only a small reflex at the same time, and a glimpse of
the higher fantasy reality of the hereafter, which strives ever more harmoniously to
complete itself in and with the same reality and form an empire-forming world of the
memory forms of this past and model of this future future just as our little worldly
poetic fantasy world aspires to such a harmony in itself and with the world of
memory of the past and exemplary world of the future; but only achieved in a world
of illusion. The heavenly life in the hereafter, however, is one in which the poetic
truth itself becomes reality, to which the past on this side in its form of remembrance,
which realistically realizes this side of the future in its model, and in and on this
world we live and work in the hereafter. But as justice prevails in the most beautiful
works of poetry, according to which evil is subject to the punitive effects of a higher
order, and the poetry becomes all the more exalted and beautiful, the more it is the
case, even the wicked may, despite that beautiful and exalted world of the hereafter,
in which he will have part, do not hope that he will be glad of her; Its greater beauty
and sublimity against our present-day life of vision will be itself grounded in the
fuller fulfillment of higher justice. For the evil, heaven will not be heaven, in spite of
the fact that he dwells in it because he is against the sky, and therefore the sky is
against him. Only Heaven is more powerful than He, and finally directs and forces
him to take part in His order, willingly, which he reluctantly subject to before. This,
however, enters into earlier considerations.
How is it now? The spirit of the earthly, a certain spirit, in the birth of ever new
men, always gains new intuitions, indeed modes of intuition of the world, these are
just as many new beginnings of its inner development. The genesis of these spirits is
rooted in a higher, more general context than what we can pursue in this
world. Behind this world of the spirits of this world, there is still a world of spirits of
the beyond, which have emerged from the spirits of this world, as the world of our
memories and everything that has grown out of our memories plays behind our world
of intuition, from which it plays first emerged, but both are not separate from each
other. The spirits of the hereafter weave and still work into our lives on this side, like
the world of our memories into the world of our intuitions; but, just as we can no
longer individually distinguish in intuition the individual that is weaving in with
memories, so we are less able to distinguish in our present intuition what we have and
work in us from the spirits of the hereafter ; but the spirits themselves are able to
differ. This action of the spirits of the beyond into us already helps us to form here
and already to do something more than merely sensual beings. So we enter with
something more once in the afterlife. We begin with intuition, we end with the life of
ideas. The deceased have made a considerable contribution to the development of
these ideas in us. Conversely, we always remain a basis for the evolution of the spirits
of the hereafter. The spirits of the hereafter, however, do not go under or in us or in
us. For we feel their working in us as they express it in us, only as receiving; But they
feel it as generating in us. We grasp and process the effects of them in our sense, they
express them in their sense. Many spirits of the hereafter work from every side into
each of us; and every spirit of the pre-world works into many of us, experiencing our
counter-effects. As they enter into us, they also experience progression through our
intuitions. The whole world of senses of the earth is at all open to the spirits of the
hereafter, to gain new intuitions; They are no longer so bound by spatial barriers as
we are, but they are not relieved of the barriers, and the general possibility is
determined more closely by the way in which they have so far guided their intuitive
life. You are also involved in the workshop of the higher mind, where the future of
this world is woven, in the foresight and predestination of what will happen
here; although here too the barriers are not limited.
After the reality of the present world of intuition, as it is tangible with our hands
and organs, lies behind the spirits of the hereafter, they begin to dwell and weave in a
new reality, which is indeed rich in relation to the past but higher The memory
images of the past, the Fortbestimmungen from the present, the role models of the
future worldly reality, and is still subject to a progressive expansion and conversion
of the our fantasy activities comparable, but forming structures of a higher reality,
free-lance activity of the hereafter. And not only the individual spirit, but all the
world falling into the higher spirit of this world, partly back, partly off, partly pre-
reflecting, are which arise only in the higher light of the hereafter, exist and pass
away, are regarded as otherworldly reality; each individual but only in a different way
to participate in this reality and take part. And this higher reality, which at any rate is,
as it were, the higher flowering of this worldly reality, will nevertheless evolve
continuously in connection with its root to a still higher perfection.
With such a view of the relation of this world to the hereafter, we are now no
longer able to misunderstand what some have erred, as if we must someday go down
again, because we have once arisen that only what has been eternal can remain
eternal. If everything went back into the same state from which it first emerged, then
the world and the spirits acting in it would never continue. It is only because the
higher spirit rises in us that it raises itself higher. If we keep on extinguishing, he will
start all over again. On the other hand, in spirits which are always awakening to self-
consciousness, he always gains new beginnings in the further development of his
self-consciousness, without abandoning the profit which he has made by the former.
XXIII. From the physical underlay of the future life.
We have focused our attention, as yet, preferably on the spiritual side of our future
existence, and appeased the question of the bodily more than answered or done. Let's
take a closer look at this physical side. In the first place, let us look at how it appears
on our worldly standpoint, then how it appears to the spirits of the hereafter. It will be
seen that both modes are very different. How should they not? Although it is the
same thing as it appears, the view of the world and the other side of the world is very
different, as are the views of those who stand on it. Of course, the appearance must
also be very different. So let's not wonder from the beginning, if our future
corporeality in the first place, that is, for our viewpoint of this world, presents itself in
a form or formlessness which appears to be very disadvantageous to the mode of our
present corporeality. The disadvantage is in fact only in our present position against
it. How would it be if a little being, instead of facing us as we are facing one another,
were externally surrounded by our bodies, would it behold our figure just as we see
it? It would see nothing of our form, but an unfogged spread of cells, tubes, currents,
etc. But we have a form, but in order to see it, man must regard man under the
circumstances under which men now live intended to look at each other. Thus the
corporeality of the spirits of the hereafter also appears to us from the point of view of
the world in an unfounded, indefinite form, because we are under analogous
unfavorable conditions of their conception. But if we then elevate ourselves to the
otherworldly view of the circumstances under which the spirits of the other world
themselves regard each other, who are certainly different from those of this worldly
confrontation, then a stylized appearance of the future corporeality will also arise for
us. It is, however, for us who are still on this point of view, to regard the mode of
publication for this point of view almost more important than the other and in this
point of view as the essential underpinning and condition of the mode of appearance
itself, which becomes the spirits of the hereafter,
The general contemplation that the future corporeality must necessarily appear
under an inappropriate form, because we can not yet grasp it from the standpoint and
the means of the hereafter, also serves to explain why we are in the first place of the
otherworldly beings now not to look at them, notwithstanding they dwell, and even
dwell in us, and how from them the opinion could arise, that they are transferred to
distant heavens, distant worlds, since they still share the same house of the earth with
us, the same rooms in it inhabit us, yes we can see and touch nothing without seeing
and touching the bodies of otherworldly spirits. But what we now see and touch about
it, and how we see and touch it, does not seem to us the way
A. From the otherworldly corporeality, as it appears from this standpoint.
In the following considerations, let us first of all be guided by the analogy that has
always guided us so far. However, in the future we will be able to accommodate other
aspects of what we find under their guidance.
While a picture is in your eye, it affects the larger body through nerves and veins,
which itself gives back juices and powers, especially your brain, and in doing so
somehow creates a new change, order, facility in construction and movement whether
it be what it is, we can, if not with our eyes, follow it to a certain extent with the
conclusion; a change, an order, an institution, which does not pass away, how the
picture passes, which lingers and acts on, and on which the memory of the picture
now attaches, as far as it still needs the attachment to the physical. And whether all
changes, orders, institutions, created and subsided by different images, in the same
space of the brain intersect, yet disturb, they do not confuse, no more than waves
around drops or stones in the pond; the brain only works with it getting richer, finer,
and more perfect, leaving the memories in the freest traffic. Every new intuition
creates its new circle of effects in the brain, bringing with it a new growth of
development into the same and the spirit carried thereby. And even though these
effects left behind by intuition seem to us to be so indefinite, so little externally
traceable and tangible, yet the memory itself takes hold of it, and its spiritual essence
is attached to it.
But man, while he is in the world of intuition, does not work into the greater body
through a thousand ways, which in his turn supplies him with his own juices and
powers, above all the upper part of the earth carrying the brain, and produces in the
effects and works new change, order, organization in the construction and in the
movement, which does not pass away, as the person passes away, which lags behind
and gives in, and to which his future spiritual being now attaches, as far as the
attachment to the material still needs. And whether all changes, orders, institutions,
created and lessened by different people, intersect in the same space; yet they do not
confuse, as little as waves in the pond; the upper space of the earth only works out
ever richer, finer and more perfect, and the spirits thereby enter the freest
traffic. Every new human being brings in a new circle of effects into the world,
bringing with it a new growth of development into the same and the spirit born of
it. And although the effects left behind by his intuitive life appear to us to be so
indeterminate, so little outwardly perceptible and tangible, yet he determines himself
one day when the world of intuition changes into the memory life, and his spiritual
being adheres to it.
If this analogy were developed in a special way, we would have to take into account the
inadequacy that every analogy has on some side. What does not really happen, will not be able to
hit here in the consequences. But let us not discuss the closer discussion of this. The above analogy
serves us only as the first point of departure for more direct considerations.
But to forestall or counter some objections that could be made physiologically against this
analogy, the following should be added.
Usually it is presented as if the sensation of the picture in the eye itself only came to fruition
through the effects which it extends into the brain. But the actual is only that it can not come about
without the connection of the retina, and consequently of the picture with an active brain, and
through this with the rest of the body; just as man can be alive and sentient only in connection with
the greater whole, and especially in the upper space of the earth to which he belongs at first, but not
only through the effects which pass from him into it, becomes alive and sentient. It is undeniable
that the retina is essentially connected with the brain and the rest of the body, that the retina works
and changes in connection with the changes of the brain and the rest of the body. to which a more
general consciousness is attached; but that the changes in the retina in the picture itself, so long as
they are in such connection, do not contribute to the sensation, is in no way to be shown. The image
in the eye will be just as necessary to maintain the sensation on a certain level as the active
connection with the brain and other body, to relate it to the general consciousness, and if not
without this relation of sensation at all Therefore, what happens in this relationship is not
indifferent. It is strange to believe that seeing begins only behind the eye; and one may at least say
that the brain sees, but it sees through the eye how the higher being to whom we belong sees
through us. The retina can be thought of as a part of the brain, and more recently, it is often
conceived by physiologists. The matter can be described in more detail as follows: As long as the
picture is in the eye, its effects in the brain do not produce an independent sensation, separate from
the effects of the picture; Everything proceeds in the same way, and if intuition changes constantly,
the occupation with the intuitive change itself prevents the continuation of the present intuition
from asserting itself clearly as a reminder. Only when the whole intuition dies out can the effects of
its present existence and its changes appear independently and clearly as memories; although only
in the midst of general brain life, which is by no means considered as a consequence of
intuition, what our general spiritual life is linked to. This must be followed by the consequences of
intervening. In the same way, as long as man stands on earth, his effects on the world around him do
not evoke a comprehensible consciousness of consciousness which is part of his intuitive
life; everything becomes part of the consciousness of this intuitive life, and even if no life of
intuition changes, the outgoing effects of the previous life remain submerged in the unconscious,
since the changes of the intuitional life itself occupy its consciousness; only with the extinction of
the life of intuition does the memory life awaken; although this life of remembrance is only in the
midst of the general life, which is by no means to be regarded as a consequence of his previous
visual life, which is subject to the general spirit; the consequences of his life of observation must be
grasped by this general life, how it intervenes.
Is that what our mind fixates on in the hereafter, the circle of effects and works that
everyone on this side has struck around us no longer is the same as the present
one; So, too, future existence is no longer to resemble the present one. The spirit
should become more free in the hereafter, therefore it must become the body; he can
no longer confine himself to such a narrow heap of matter as now; but so that the
mind can go free and free through the earthly, the physical bearer must also have a
moderate freedom.
You say, for example: But my brain is a wonderfully developed and developable
structure, out of which a thousand threads are intricately woven together, with a
thousand streams of blood between them; What does not all go on his white roads,
and what goes on leaves his mark there as well. In addition, its arrangement is so well
fitted with that of the eye, that what goes on in the eye can really be reflected in the
brain by its effects. The tablet of the brain is bizarre. And that alone makes the
memory possible. Without such a wonderful and wonderfully fitted brain device,
memory would never come to fruition, and no matter how many effects may come
from the eye. But what has the world into which I strike the circle of my effects and
works, likewise, that I should hope A life of remembrance of mine could just as easily
be founded in it, and in addition a more developed and in a higher sense developable
memory life, than I lead in myself now? That presupposes also more developed
institutions to it. What represents, what surpasses in the world around me the
elaborate organization of my brain; What makes them capable of absorbing an
equally living mirror image of my intuitive life, as my brain does of my intuition?
But how, then, is the world around you, the terrestrial upper world in particular,
into which the circle of your effects and works first goes, a less wonderfully
developed and developable realm than your brain, which itself is only a small part of
it, and less with you matching and arranged to receive the imprint of your being in
effects and works; and about less alive than you yourself, the life first came from
hers, depends on hers? In your brain, nothing but white threads, one like the other,
with red streams between, one like the other; but outside there is a world with
countries and seas, with gardens, forests, fields, cities, with flowers, trees, animals,
people, with leaves, veins, sinews, nerves; the expansion goes into detail, and yet
everything is woven into the most vital whole, linked partly by the general basic
relations of the earthly nature, partly by the higher relations of the people in state and
church, trade, change; What does not everything work together, what does not trade
with each other, what is not there for thousands of times complicated paths, for a
thousandfold means of transport. We used to look at it often. Into this vital whole you
strike the circle of your effects and works, an organization that includes a thousand
million human brains with all the living traffic of the people, since your brain just
about so many threads. And everything is free in it and wide and big, while in your
brain everything is small and tightly bound and bound. And this great organization
should be less able than your little one; the sublime whole less than its tiny little
part? Should it be impossible to receive your being reflected in effects and works,
since this is what your being himself first came from, when she first made you her
own image?
If one were to stop at the common view, the whole earth would of course only be a
dead being, and one would have to ask, how can she, who herself is dead, bear my
future life. Now you see that it is good to know that it behaves differently with the
earth, it is not an organically dead, but rather a higher organically living being than
you. Now it is not in vain for belief in your future life, what you have learned from
the life of the earth. Yes, the earth would really be a dead creature, how could your
future life be rooted in it, if your present is gone? Of course, you would not be able to
create any conditions for your future conservation and development in a rock, any
more than an intuition would create the conditions of its conservation and
development as a memory in a brain of stone. But if the earth is a higher soul than
you are now, then a higher development of your life can also be rooted in it and serve
itself for its own development. Thus, from the spiritual as well as the physical side,
the deepest connection between the life of the earth and our own future life is
revealed. In both we see supplementary expansions of our life in this world in that an
extension already in the present beyond us, in this into the future. The life of the earth
reaches beyond your worldly existence in the present as well as your future life in the
future. not excluding the earthly, but inclusive. But also your future life belongs to the
earth again, and so your present life is basically only a part of the whole life of the
earth just as in the present as in the future. The life of the earth to which you belong
in the future, in which you will participate, is however a higher side of your whole
life than the one in which you are now prejudiced. Your future higher life and their
now higher life condition and mutually guarantee each other. If the earth were dead
beyond your soul, as you usually think, then it would also be with you with this life;
everything was reduced to your present mostly sensual visual life; but here, too, the
earth has nothing higher than that, as we have already considered. in which you are
now prejudiced. Your future higher life and their now higher life condition and
mutually guarantee each other. If the earth were dead beyond your soul, as you
usually think, then it would also be with you with this life; everything was reduced to
your present mostly sensual visual life; but here, too, the earth has nothing higher
than that, as we have already considered. in which you are now prejudiced. Your
future higher life and their now higher life condition and mutually guarantee each
other. If the earth were dead beyond your soul, as you usually think, then it would
also be with you with this life; everything was reduced to your present mostly sensual
visual life; but here, too, the earth has nothing higher than that, as we have already
considered.
To the circle of our effects and works and hereby the bearer of our future belongs
everything that we always work for on air and light and soil, in humanity and
individual people, in family, state and church, in art and science, in actions , Words,
writings, everything that comes through us and what comes from us, in silence and in
sound, in visible or only accessible effects. But all this does not count individually,
but it is the connection between everything that sustains the unity of the same soul,
which first operated in the development of this connection.
No effect can emanate abstractly from us into the room; it will, whatever its
spiritual or physical name, must always transplant to any matter, no matter which,
what, how remote. What we generate spiritually in others can communicate so well
only through material mediations, as the grossest material movement, and in the other
requires as much of the material support as in us. The most philosophical ideas are
transmitted to the outside world only through writing and word, hence light and
sound, and are conveyed to others through hearing and seeing, in whose brains
physical processes involving matter take part. The idea does not penetrate anywhere
its material carrier does not penetrate, and it is always an enthusiasm of matter in the
other, which takes place with each idea-message, just as our own psychic always
appears only as enthusiasm of the matter. Thus, our physical continuation into the
hereafter, the material underpinning lacks so little as the present body itself.
If Plato's spirit is still alive today in ideas circulating among us (though it is not
only ideas in which he lives among us), then indeed these ideas in their circulation in
and among us may so little miss a material support, as they were still circulating in
their own brain, they now attach themselves to processes in our brain, to words, to
writing, to every thing that in art and science and life is inspired by these ideas in the
same sense, and all this is now part of it to the physical bearer of Plato's mind; but all
that, not singly, but the totality of the effects, which proceeded from an idea of Plato,
still belongs to the carrier of the same one idea; and so the totality of the effects
which have emanated from a soul at all through the agency of its body,
It may seem to the superficial glance, as if the effects and works which pass from
us to the world, immediately dissipate indifferently, lose the connection between
themselves and with us; of an agreement and unity in it thus could not be the
speech. But the deeper look it seems very different. As connected as the human being
is, the circle of its effects and works is so coherent in itself, and so coherent is it with
him; so that, in fact, it appears only as the growth, the further expansion of its
narrower bodily system itself.
See a swan pulling furrows in the pond; as far as he likes to swim, his path is
connected; but not only the path that he first pulls, but also all the waves which one
sees starting from this path - and every point of the path gives a wave, - all hang
together like the train itself; yes, they interlock with each other, only the more
intimately they become interconnected, the more they spread out. Just as coherent,
however, as the swan's path in the water, is the life-course of man, and contiguous,
and devouring are all the effects that emanate from him during his life-course. He
travels over land and sea; the beginning of his trajectory is connected with the end,
and all the effects that emanate from there are just the same; he travel from youth to
the grave, it is no different.
Of course, the swan can fly out of the water and settle down in another place. Then
it seems, there are two separate wave trains. In the water, yes, but they are linked by a
system of waves in the air. Man, however, can come out as little as the swan comes
out of the connection with earth, water, air, and what enters from the unpredictable
into the earthly. So wherever he goes, run, jump, stand, ask what he says, write,
manipulate, the system of effects and works, or movements and institutions, what
emerges from the totality of all, can never to disintegrate; merely expanding in the
course of life, sometimes enriching moments with a greater variety, in that the earlier
movements continually reassemble themselves with the later ones, and produce ever
new modifications to the devices already struck, as also happens in our narrow
body. Every new movement that passes from man to the outside world, every work
on whose creation he uses his power and activity, is to say so a new contribution to
the development of his otherworldly body, which is partly connected with the earlier
widening, partly retransforming into them. If we could suddenly see with eyes all the
movements and institutions, in short effects and works that have emanated from a
man during his lifetime, that nothing escapes us, we would not only find them
interdependent, interlocking, like the matter, movements, and institutions of our body,
but the matter upon which these movements have transplanted themselves, which are
carriers of these devices, would also become a perfect continuum just as the matter of
our present body is, without any other to have a certain limit, as the matter of the
earthly kingdom itself.
The same connection, that of the spatial, can also be traced through the temporal. It
may not be believed at first sight, but yet it is certain that all the effects that have
emanated from Christ into the world and propagated to his confessors and confessors,
not only through a perfectly continuous chain of material consequences but also that
these material consequential effects still form a completely continuous coherent
system, that they are, so to speak, only distant but coherent wave propagation of the
orbit that this swan made during his lifetime. What he did through word and example
worked through sound and light on his disciples, organized something else in
them, urged them to new actions; through word, example, doing, the effect continued
to propagate, not only into and out of people; because in the sense of the experienced
effects they acted now also in the external world. New institutions, new ways of
taking, observing, and treating things have arisen everywhere in the Church, the
State, art, science, the whole life of Christians, and all the institutions and conditions
of all Christendom are necessarily linked by means of central links. Nowhere can
they be missed, where there are Christians. The path itself, which a Christian takes,
and if he went into the most remote regions, is a linking middle link. Christ's work
was ever connected during his life, now it is impossible that anything that depends on
it and if it were in the farthest and most divergent consequences, out of context with
other things, which also depends on how the most distant root and divergent leaves
and flowers of a tribe remain all interrelated. And to realize, it is not a mere external
connection of the juxtaposition, it is a connection of the action, the mutual altering, in
gripping, an active context, such as is now required in us, carriers of a spiritual
activity his. How could it be possible for the spiritual aftermath of Christ, sustained
by those material ones, to rest in incoherent, impotent moments, to speak of a
Christian common Christian church? Only that, of course, because we are not Christ's
Spirit ourselves,
What appears clearly and magnificently here with Christ, however, applies equally
to the most insignificant man. Not the kind of continuation, only the meaning of the
enduring, and the value of the relation to the higher mind is different. No one's life is
without forever and ever lasting consequences; Everything that has become different
in the world, because it was there, and would not be so if it had not been there,
belongs to these consequences, and the whole wide range of these consequences
remains just as coherent in every human being as the narrower circle of causal life.
As in our present body, many institutions and processes are more directly and
meaningfully related to our conscious spiritual life than others, which count only in
the context of the whole and as a lower basis, but belong in a general way to the
bearer of our soul, but in so far it will be with our future corporeality. If all that
continues to exist in the world as a consequence of our present bodily, spirit-bearing
existence will also contribute in conjunction to carry our future spiritual existence
and thus belong to our physical existence, it is indisputable that only that, especially
spiritually significant, will exist carry here, especially mentally significant
consequences there. The kick of my foot, an indifferent gesture, much easier to
follow in a grossly perceptible way than a look, an action in which man puts his
whole soul, than the teachings and works whereby he transplants his ideas into
others; but those consequences will one day be much more indifferent to him than
these. Much may happen externally imperceptibly and quietly in us, which
diminishes just so quiet and externally imperceptible consequences, but which can be
of greater importance for our spiritual future than the visible consequences of our
most visible actions. For the effects are directed in their manner and meaning
according to the causes. but those consequences will one day be much more
indifferent to him than these. Much may happen externally imperceptibly and quietly
in us, which diminishes just so quiet and externally imperceptible consequences, but
which can be of greater importance for our spiritual future than the visible
consequences of our most visible actions. For the effects are directed in their manner
and meaning according to the causes. but those consequences will one day be much
more indifferent to him than these. Much may happen externally imperceptibly and
quietly in us, which diminishes just so quiet and externally imperceptible
consequences, but which can be of greater importance for our spiritual future than the
visible consequences of our most visible actions. For the effects are directed in their
manner and meaning according to the causes.
A mother who has gone over to the other world will continue to live in her child
who has remained behind; it belongs to what has come from it; but only that which
through its consciousness has become childlike and different, which has contributed
to its care, care, education, that it exists and develops itself alive, will in its
consequences again touch its consciousness beyond. That the child here in
unconsciousness was a part of her body and life also makes it in the hereafter only an
unconscious part of it. As well as the child is aware of itself, with the mother it shares
only what it has from the mother. But the difficulties which might seem to lie in the
fact that the same matter may at the very time be subject to different spirits as the
physical bearer, will be discussed in more detail in the following section (XXIV.
The whole character of a man is transplanted from the small circle of his body to
the great of his effects and works, so evident that we already instinctively believe in
seeing the expression of his mind in it. The effects and works of a person carry a
physiognomy, like that of his face. Indeed, if we could at once overlook the whole
connection of the effects and works of a man, which we certainly can not do, then
indeed the spirit of man would seem to emerge from it as vividly as now from his
face; but that will only be the case in the following life.
"On the face we read the character of man, in his other body there is little trace of it, but in his
surroundings, in his manner of dressing, in the furnishing of his room, in the places which he visits,
in the people, with whom he enters into relationships, and especially in the manner in which this
happens, in all these things we know man better than in his body itself, and all this in a broader
sense constitutes the body of his soul. " (Schnaase, Geschichte der bildenden Künste I, p. 67 f.).
"Not through scripture alone do we work for the future, but we can do it through institutions,
speeches, deeds, examples and ways of life." We express our image alive in others, accept it and
plant it on. " (Herder, Zerstr. BI, 4th ed., P. 169).
"So now, when the body breaks and dies, the soul retains its image as its spirit of will: now,
though it is away from the physical body, for in dying is a separation, and then the image appears
with and in things, which it has all in taken to be infected (which made her into herself), for she has
within her the same source: what she loved and treasured, and in which the spirit of will came
(imagined), after which the mental image is formed. " (Jac. Böhme, here borrowed from the works
of Prevorst, l. Samml., P.
"Frederick's trial (at the Battle of Leuthen) was in the fullest artistic sense, and like the organ-
player, who, with a faint touch of his finger, plays the tide of the notes and leads them in majestic
harmony, he had directed all the movements of his army in admirable harmony It was spirit that
became visible in the movements of the troops, who dwelt in their hearts, who strengthened their
powers. " (History of Frederick the Great of Kugler, page 364).
But that the circle of our effects and works does not reflect the outer form of our
body (although such a reflection will occur for the otherworldly viewpoint), we must
not care; that does not matter. The large herb, which comes from the small seed, does
not externally reflect its round form and, as its growth, still carries in it its whole
nature; every other kind of seed gives a different kind of herb. But the big herb is the
reflection of a small plant, which in the seed rests externally quite invisibly and
whose actual and impelling nature represents beings. Thus, the circle of our effects
and works is the mirror image not of our outer but of our inner being. Outwardly, we
can not do it any other than what we have been doing inside;
Man now considers that what he has worked out for himself outside of himself has
now to a certain extent been lost to himself, but it is only seemingly lost to him, it is
always a continuation of himself, always unconsciously belongs to him. And death is
not there in vain for nothing, it is just there, tremendous as it is, to bring with it a
tremendous difference from the now-life, that, from the moment of death with the
disappearance of consciousness for its previous, more narrow bodily sphere, now a
consciousness awakened for the others, which from the narrower yet only
assumed. But even in our narrower body we see such an antagonism that, as a part of
it, as part of it becomes inactive and goes to sleep for consciousness, others awake for
it; The same antagonism then exists, on an even higher scale, between our present
narrower body and the wider body that is driven out of it. We will consider this more
thoroughly in the following sections (XXIV, D).
Thus, after all, we can say briefly: man already in his present life, without,
however, thinking of it, manages to create another body in effects and works about
his own narrow body which, when the narrower one passes, does not perish, but in
which he lives on and continues to work, indeed, who will only awaken with the
death of the narrower, to become the bearer of consciousness, hitherto bound up in
the narrower and more narrowly so-called body. Yes, death is the natural condition of
this awakening.
It remains, of course, always a brief and in some respect improper expression, of
which we make use of ourselves if we now want to call something that seems so
unlike our previous body; but why should we not, when this further body continues
the work which has hitherto been in our narrower body, to serve our spiritual life as a
carrier, as far as it still needs it: only for the sake of this performance, not for its
particular form , let's call our body a little closer, too.
Our present body itself is but a narrow circle, a narrow system of effects and works,
and the life on earth is merely to translate it into the other. Death is only the solution
of the last knot, which keeps the consciousness still bound in this world. Now the
other one enters the narrower place, with which he already unconsciously hung
together.
We are mistaken in thinking that our present life is aiming at nothing but our
present life. No, at the same time it aims to enrich and develop a greater life than
ours, and to secure a share in it for the future in precisely what we contribute to its
enrichment and development. Because what everyone creates on the larger body and
life, he will have it. Instead of a narrower share, he now receives only one more in the
future; and the closer part now was just there to create the other for the hereafter
him. And all consciousness that was active in this work will also be active in the
continuation of creation in the wider circle.
It is peculiar that in the question of immortality one only pays attention to that
which results from the destruction of the body in death, and since one sees nothing
but horror and moderation, one is at a loss for the new physical bearer of the
soul. Not to what comes out of the body in death and, consequently, from the dead
body, but that comes from the living body, throughout its life, not only comes from
substances, but also comes from effects, and indeed to the totality, the full connection
of everything that comes from it, one has to respect, to have again a living body. It is
the living body which, during and through the whole of life, creates the physical
prerequisites for the whole life of the future. At last this narrow body passes. Now
nothing more needs to come from him in death. He has already done his part in life
for what is to come, and the last duty he fulfills is to pass away, because this is itself a
condition for the awakening of man in the new body and life. For the reason that
consciousness no longer finds any reason in the old body and life is itself the reason
why man awakens to the consciousness of the new body and life, in which everything
finds itself again, which was of material, movements and forces in the old one. For
that very reason the substances, movements, and forces are moving so restlessly
through your body, the life in you seems so tireless, if it continues so long, you
should try to keep it as long as possible, that your body and life on the other side are
big and rich and become powerful. Your little body down here is just the little loom
that holds the threads of the wide fabric, from which the body and the life of the
hereafter spun, can be run through. But this vast fabric is itself only a new spice into
the organization of the great weaver, of which even the little living loom is only a
part. For in this area everything is internal, not external.
For the most part, we mean that death first gives back the body of nature, when it
disintegrates and loses itself in it, perish; and we fear that our soul will perish. Why
are we not rather afraid of life, in which that happens more unspeakably than in
death? Life is a process of decomposition, constantly throwing us to nature; Death is
not the entry, but the end of this process of decomposition, but one of which the
materials only pass into a larger new building, and the same forces that are dwindling
in the present building, are used to create this new building, indeed they do not take it
but the matter that passed through our body is merely the material of procreation, the
substance of fermentation, the leaven, from which the forces gain the point of attack,
to seize the whole body of the earth,
"One must not believe that the process of destroying and destroying life would take place only to
the extent that we become aware of it on the corpse, whose atoms are only very gradually
reoccupied with the general natural life; no, this process of decomposition of life is at stake It is
much faster than death, for example, to calculate that, of the total mass of blood passing through the
veins, in the course of one day alone about the fourth part is decomposed and excreted in different
ways. " (Carus, Physis p. 228).
Much more important than this hustle and bustle, with which man affects the matter of his
body of the external world, and continually draws new ones from it, in order to influence it anew, is
the entirely connected activity with which he operates his activities. Substance consumption and
power consumption go hand in hand. And what amount of living force is translated into effects on
the outside world during a person's life! And indeed, the effects that pass from the human to the
external world, as will be discussed in more detail below, reach through the whole earth, whereas
only a limited quantity of matter can pass directly to the external world through its body.
You may ask, but how does the child manage to die soon after birth, before there is
any time left to work itself out? Will it be lost? But if it lived only a moment, it will
have to live forever. For the substances, movements, and forces to which his life and
consciousness have attached themselves can not disappear again into the world, but
must be found in some, even if we can not trace their effects, after his death in the
world. Of course, this can not be as well-developed as if an adult dies; but as well as
the child on this side could develop from the feeble beginnings, so well will it be
possible beyond; but it will begin as the child in the other world, when it died.
We can still present the view of our future corporeality in a slightly different form
than heretofore, which, although essentially in accordance with the previous one,
makes some points of view stand out more strikingly. If we really take into account
the full connection of the effects and effects that we have, then basically every human
being is involved in the entire earthly world during his present life, for the effects that
emanate from him penetrate the entire realm of the earthly in their effects , Every step
shakes the whole earth, every breath in the air all the air; no coarser, finer, visible, or
invisible movement and movement of his weighable and imponderable parts can
extend from him to the outside world at all. without extending to the whole; the
connection of the earthly system itself brings with it. It is no different in this respect
than in our narrower bodily system, in which no effect can take place without
extending itself through the whole (cf B, I, chapter III). So we can also say that every
man extends his earthly limited earthly bodily existence in the hereafter to the
kingdom of the whole earth, acquires in death the whole earth as his body; yet he
acquires them merely according to the relation, in the sense in which he has
incorporated himself into which he has changed them, and so every man after
different relation, direction; all these relationships, directions intersect without
disturbing each other; rather, they are interwoven into a higher system and traffic; as
all memories have the same brain, and indeed the same whole man, to which the
brain belongs, to the common body; The changes that they undergo intersect also
interweave into a high system and traffic without bothering or losing each other. So
much the easier is something analogous possible in the much wider realm of the
earth. But we will take up the consideration of this circumstance again in the future
(XXIV, C.).
If we say that the circle of effects and works which man hunts down and surpasses
here on another occasion, that the whole earth forms his future physical sphere, this
does not contradict itself, it forms him just after that Direction, relation, according to
which he has incorporated himself here through his effects and works. The matter of
the earth in itself is only the common, relatively indifferent support for all. And we
can, if we will, count the entire future body of man already to his present
corporeality, since no separation takes place, but only as an unconscious co-carrier of
his soul, who will one day become conscious in death. One must beware, if at
different turns of our view these, soon that turn in the version of our corporeality is
preferred to see factual incongruities. The language is just not rich enough to sharply
designate and distinguish all relevant factual relations at the same time. However, the
connection will always serve to maintain factual understanding. In the purest sense,
Leib is just what everyone now calls Leib, but how do we explain many relationships
that the future bearer of our soul shares with the present and through which he is
connected with him, if we do not use the name Leib to transfer this to him soon in
that sense. To sharply designate and distinguish all relevant factual relations at the
same time. However, the connection will always serve to maintain factual
understanding. In the purest sense, Leib is just what everyone now calls Leib, but
how do we explain many relationships that the future bearer of our soul shares with
the present and through which he is connected with him, if we do not use the name
Leib to transfer this to him soon in that sense. To sharply designate and distinguish all
relevant factual relations at the same time. However, the connection will always serve
to maintain factual understanding. In the purest sense, Leib is just what everyone now
calls Leib, but how do we explain many relationships that the future bearer of our
soul shares with the present and through which he is connected with him, if we do not
use the name Leib to transfer this to him soon in that sense.
So the spirits of the future have a compact body or do not have one, as one
wants. They have in some way the body of the whole earth to their body, and this is
much more compact than their present narrower, but they each have the earth only
after a certain relationship to their body, and this peculiarity in which the earth of
each is , can not be found out so particularly in a compact form for itself, as their
present corporeality. And just because of this depends something of the greater
freedom which future existence has before the present one.
It is easy to overlook, according to the previous considerations, even if in a very
general way, how the main conditions of the future spiritual existence of man,
considered earlier, are connected with the bodily being considered now.
To the material consequences which an intuition leaves in our body belongs a
memory in our mind, and so the material consequences which our visual life leaves in
the larger body, a memory life in the larger spirit to belong.
The narrow body, to which our present consciousness is attached, depends only on
something external, if not truly separate, on the larger body; but once we enter into it
wholeheartedly and on all sides with the bodily that carries our consciousness. So,
one day we will enter into our consciousness itself in a more inward way and more
broadly in the conscious life of the greater spirit, which is carried on the larger body,
than now.
Insofar as the consequences that we have lessened in the world continue to produce
new consequences, develop partly in themselves, be partly determined by the rest of
the world, and partly serve to develop them further, our mind is also supported by
these consequences to develop partly in itself, partly to receive progress from the
higher spirit, partly to contribute to its further development.
In so far as we in a certain way have the entire earth as our body, as the bearer of
our consciousness, we will be more consciously involved in them in all the
circumstances involved; their relations with heaven, their intercourse with other stars,
will intervene more in our consciousness, and we will intervene more consciously in
it.
Since the earth has become not merely a single otherworldly spiritual body, but the
common body of all, each of them meeting and crossing each other only in a different
direction and relationship, all spheres of activity with a corresponding consciousness
in the earth, there will also be a facilitated and freer conscious communication of all
be possible with everyone; though no one indifferent to all; because the way of
meeting everyone will be different; for the way in which the effects occur is itself
related to the way in which the causes met.
If, in the future, we live in the same world as our existence, in which those who
have left behind us dwell in it, but will live in it only in a different and more
extensive way, then with them an extended movement against them will also be
possible.
B. From the otherworldly corporeality, as it
appears on the other side standpoint.
It would undoubtedly not be satisfied if the mode of appearance of the future bodily
existence, which according to the previous considerations has given rise to our point
of view, should also apply to the otherworldly, and if we are still in an indefinite
circle of effects and works appear or only with the other spirits together a designed
and not even more human designed body should offer. On the contrary, in the
hereafter, as in this world, we would like to confront one another in gestalt,
independently of one another. Yes, a kind of instinct, even if it depends only on
habituation, seems everywhere to demand the human form again. And if we go a little
deeper to the bottom of our view, hereby we move from this viewpoint to the
otherworldly, so we shall have what we desire, will have an individual form as now,
even the human, even the former figure, but no longer the grossly bodily, hard-
coming, slowly-changing, rigid figure of yore, who needs ship and carriage, to get
over the earth, rather, as we have already indicated, a light form incomprehensible
with bodily hands, which goes and comes like the thought and the call of the
thought. But did we want it differently from the following life? a light form
incomprehensible with bodily hands that goes and comes like the thought and the call
of the thought. But did we want it differently from the following life? a light form
incomprehensible with bodily hands that goes and comes like the thought and the call
of the thought. But did we want it differently from the following life?
In fact, we do not imagine that the corporeality of the otherworldly spirits will
appear to be so broad and indefinite even under the conditions of the otherworldly
existence, as it appears to us against it on an almost completely external
standpoint. For though we ourselves are included in it from a certain point of view,
most of it reaches beyond each one of us, remains external to it. But if we ourselves
first fulfill the sphere of future existence, if we dwell with consciousness in it, the
simplifying power of the soul asserts itself for everything that enters into its support
and stimulates it, because of its inner standpoint (cf. II., Chapter V), and hereby
narrows the physical expanse in appearance. In the future, however, our whole bodily
existences will interpenetrate each other through each other, and thus everyone will
draw together the appearance of the other, which becomes him through this
stimulation, into the simpler. It just asks, in what form.
In a nutshell, we can say that the forms in which we appear in the otherworldly life
behave in the forms in which we appear in this worldly life, like the images of the
memories of the images of these forms, since the future life becomes the present itself
how a life of remembrance relates to the life of intuition. The appearance of the form
remains essentially the former, only it assumes the lighter, freer essence of the
memory picture.
For in us, too, a memory picture of the same form as the visual picture, to which it
owes its origin, attaches itself to the widespread physical consequences which the
limited visual picture has left in us. From every point of the picture, there was an
extended effect through the optic nerve and the brain; but it does nothing in its
entirety but to relax the sense of the starting-point in the memory, and the sum of
these effects, which proceeded from all points of the picture of intuition, gives the
whole memory, or at least the possibility of its appearance, for the actual appearance
it still needs to be accepted. So also is the sum of the extended fortifications that
emanated from your form here, into the otherworldly memory only the appearance of
the form from which they proceeded, or at least diminish the possibility of the
appearance of this form under conditions which are necessary. The spread of these
effects, however, will succeed only in establishing, wherever it comes, the possibility
of your form becoming manifest, just as the same limited form can be seen
everywhere, where there are waves of light something very extensive) from it, the
same limited sound can be heard wherever vibrations from the audible body reach,
provided only that there is also someone in the place who has eyes, ears, to see, to
hear that he she really opens up, and directs his attention accordingly; otherwise it
will be in vain.
Insofar as all of us, at the same time as our otherworldly existences, will fulfill the
earthly world, and everyone is said to be everywhere, only in a different way than the
other, the perception of each other's form will not immediately be given everywhere
for everyone; if, even there, subjective conditions of perception must still be fulfilled,
but the possibility and opportunity for this perception, just as every memory does not
consciously encounter each other at every moment, yet the possibility and the
opportunity to do so are necessitated by the after-effects on which they rest, all meet
in the same brain. The external difficulties and hindrances which the distance of
space opposes to our intercourse in this world will therefore no longer exist for us in
the hereafter, which does not hinder us,
It must be taken into account that the special conditions which are necessary for our form to
appear vividly to others in the hereafter are not necessary for a spiritual self-manifestation to take
place for us in the hereafter.
Nothing prevents us from appearing objective beyond each other, even though we
appear through effects that intervene in one another. Even now, when I see someone
facing me, it is only the effects through which he intervenes in me, by means of
which I thus see him. Even the figures who meet in our little memory-rich realm face
each other, like the graphic figures themselves to whom they are remembered, in
spite of the fact that the effects on which these memory-pictures are based intersect in
the same brains. (For it is impossible that the aftermath of all the innumerable things
we can remember exist side by side in the brain.) And so, too, our memory-forms in
the memory-realm of the higher mind will seem to be opposite each other, how the
illustrative forms on which they depend, notwithstanding they are based on effects
that overlap in each other. The memories of the object-visual of our present world of
intuition, with the progress that they receive from it, will form the object-visual of the
future world of memory.
How all this and the like is possible in the hereafter does not need to be taken care
of. If we do not know it, then we do not already know how the corresponding and
related in this world is possible; but it is really there. We do not draw our conclusions
from possibilities, but from realities. Once there will come a theory that links both the
otherworldly and the worldly, and only the theory will be the right one, which can
explain both in connection. But here we are not concerned with a collective
explanation of the facts of this world and the hereafter, but with the inference of facts
of this world, which are still accessible to observation, on those of the hereafter that
transcend them, but are in traceable association with them.
Even now, each in thought, without being hindered by spatial barriers, can visualize
the form of the other in the memory, a distance from the other is no longer
considered, after he once absorbed the effects of the same, on which the memory
henceforth its form is based, it only needs a special direction of attention, be it
inspired from inside or outside, so that the memory really awake and alive. Even now
the memory or fantasy image that we make of another can appear to us with the
character of objectivity and reality, if only one of the two points occurs, which appear
united in the hereafter; that either the memory or fantasy image increases to
liveliness, which it may have in the hereafter, as in the case of hallucination, or that
through the falling asleep of our body, the earthly sensory life recedes, as in the
dream. Thus, everything that we demand here from the hereafter can be substantiated
by facts of this world itself, only by relating the circumstances of the hereafter to
those of this world.
The memory-pictures in which we can already appear on this side can be regarded
as at least the pre-meaning or the germ of the forms of memory in which we will
appear in the hereafter, just like our whole present memory-life, which we still hold
closed in ourselves the pre-meaning or the germ of the higher memory life is, which
we will catch up with in the afterlife, or, what is the same, that will catch up with us
in the hereafter. The memory image that we make of ourselves on the other side
already arises as well as what we will do beyond it, through the effects that its vivid
existence has extended into our conscious body, effects that are already on its
otherworldly body belong, be it, that he has not yet awakened to the consciousness of
this body into the hereafter. Thus, in the picture we make of ourselves on this side, he
is already present to us on the same principle as one day in the hereafter, to say so in
the sense of the hereafter itself. But the difference between the conditions and the
circumstances of his appearance takes place in the images of the world and beyond,
that this worldly existence comes about only through the few effects which his
intuitive existence has been able to reach into our narrow conscious body and leave
behind in it further conscious body of the totality of the effects of its intuitive
existence, as well as of this existence in general; therefore a much brighter and more
vivid appearance of him will be able to win than now, and a conscious intercourse
with him in his appearance will be able to follow. For the totality of the effects which
his form has left on the hereafter and through which it appears to us there, is
combined with the totality of the effects which its entire conscious existence has left
on the beyond, and in which it appears to be aware of itself there a whole. And so it
will be enough for the hereafter to summon another picture in remembrance, so he is
present in such a way with his conscious being that a communication of
consciousness can begin with him, if only the necessary points of inner connection to
it are not lacking. In the memory-rich, the memory images are no longer just empty
pale bills, but life and weaving, The calling and meeting of the spirits of the hereafter
happens in such bright but vivid bills, which not only fall into the consciousness of
the other, but are related to the consciousness of the appearing. But the appearance of
the other's form in the memory-rich will no longer include a conscious intercourse
with it in itself, as if one is present to the other in this world of intuition, but can only
be considered as a point of connection to which interior communication has to enter.
In the approach, the conscious intercourse with the one whose form I recall evoke, and which
hereby is the same with me, arises from the fact that I now attach to the memory of his figure the
memory of the consciousness-relations, make them living in me, in which I be with him from other
sources, to which his former conscious life proceeds from it (through language, writing, action or
somehow imparted) must be there in me, which I thereby bring to life. I will be able to continue to
develop and develop these with him; yes, this will happen even in the language in which I speak to
him on this side; for language too will be able to pass into the realm of memory and be spoken there
without a mouth and be heard without an ear, how in the realm of memory and imagination it is
already spoken and heard inwardly without a mouth or an ear, and conveys the intercourse and
development of the ideas which we have drawn from the realm of intuition into the realm of
memory; as long as we think only in words. But if one did not have any consciousness relations
with the other one before, he will be able to win them by new mediations; for as we are all beyond
the same mind and body, there will always be mental and material middle members. But if one did
not have any consciousness relations with the other one before, he will be able to win them by new
mediations; for as we are all beyond the same mind and body, there will always be mental and
material middle members. But if one did not have any consciousness relations with the other one
before, he will be able to win them by new mediations; for as we are all beyond the same mind and
body, there will always be mental and material middle members.
It is not disputed how others in the visual realm appear to us not merely called, but
also unconsciously approach on their own initiative and both of us can unexpectedly
meet each other, even in the otherworldly memory of others the other is not merely
summoned to us, but also, appearing uncalled for his own purpose and we ourselves
can unexpectedly meet each other, as the circumstances of the otherworldly memory
life bring along. If it will suffice to call forth another picture in memory of his
coming, it will suffice to appear to him, to excite his reminding power to see us; and,
moreover, the higher mind can bring about relationships through which one appears
to the other, without one or the other having previously thought of it. Although there
will be limitations in all of this, analogous to those that take place in our little
memory of reciprocal calling and encounter of the memory images. But it would lead
too far to discuss these conditions further in detail. The above suffices to present the
general point of view and to overlook the conditions as a whole.
Thus we can say, looking at the otherworldly viewpoint, that man takes his former
physical form over to the hereafter, without the burden of his former bodily matter. It
seems easy wherever it calls its own and alien thought; yes, she can appear here and
there at the same time. But that they can do this, even a widespread material support
in such a mode of appearance is necessary for this world, as we have seen before.
"Anyone who thinks of another life in that life realizes in thought the face and at the same
time many things that affect his life, and as soon as he does so, the other is also there, as if attracted
and called, this manifestation of the spiritual world The reason for this is that thoughts are
communicated there, and that is why all, as soon as they enter the other life, are recognized again by
their friends, relatives, and other acquaintances, and also that they talk to each other and join
together immediately Depending on their friendly relations, I sometimes stopped to hear how those
who were so happy rejoiced that they saw their friends again, and mutual friends, that they had
come to them. " Schwedenborg, heaven and hell. § 494.
The Somnambulist Auguste Kachler answered the question: "Is the germ of life to the
transfigured future body (1 Cor. 15: 42-44) already present in the mind of men?" as follows:
and Christ Himself gave many things only in examples. I believe that the mind will be given a
visible form, but not physical, but visible only to the spiritual eye. "(Message from the magnetic
sleep-life of Somnambule Auguste K. in Dresden, p.
The somnambulist Bruno Binet answered several questions asked about the appearance of
spirits in the hereafter:
Question: "You have also told me that a spirit (in the hereafter), at can appear in several
places at the same time. How is that possible? - Answer: It is only images of the mind that appear,
he can send out as much as he wants. - F. Well, but are these pictures talking? - A. Yes. - Q. So there
are just so many individuals? - A. No, it's always one and the same. - F. As all these images, as you
say, appear in different places at the same time and speak to different persons, one should believe
that it is a mass of spirits rather than one. - A. It very difficult to explain this mystery, but I will try
to do it for your instruction. The spirit that guides me and is in heaven, through a kind of charisma,
can draw a lot of threads that expand and serve as a rapport with those who wish to enter with
it. The mind can impart to each thread the similarity and sound of its voice, though little is said
among spirits, since thought is the essential means of communication; then he can at the same
moment send out his thoughts, which by means of those sympathetic threads answers the questions
of those who are in rapport with him; it is only one, whether or not it has ever multiplied itself into
the infinite as required, and it is seen by all at the same time as the audience in the theater sees the
actor. It is said that he is in one hundred places at the same time, while on the contrary only a
hundred spirits are in a condition to see him, to perceive him in the place where he is; his image can
do the same service, and this suggests the existence of a hundred individuals. This picture radiating
to him is in the rapport with his thoughts and can communicate them like himself, because the
thoughts are unchangeable. I am weary. "(Cahagnet, The Intercourse with the Dead Through
Magnetic Paths, 1851. p.
If, in the abnormal states of the here and now, reminiscences of the hereafter sometimes seem
to occur, then the phenomena of the deceased could be counted here as well, insofar as anything at
all is valid. At any rate, they themselves enter into the foregoing views, which, moreover, were
certainly not developed to form a commentary on these phenomena, in such a way that the two
apparently opposite views which exist about the nature of the apparitions of spirits, the subjective
phantasms of those who see them, and that they are real appearances of the spirits of the hereafter,
thereby combine themselves in the most natural way.
In essence, every image we make of an absent person is a ghost of it, based on its presence in
the sense of the hereafter; but as long as he walks in this world, he does not yet belong to the bearer
of his conscious, otherworldly life. If we form a picture of a dead man, then he is already present
bodily with the bearer of his conscious life, but only with a small part of it does he intervene in the
bearer of our conscious life; the picture is only faint and pale, and we find no reason to think of the
objective presence of the dead, as long as it turns on us in this feeble imagination of it, which still
falls within the norm of this world itself. And this is how it will always be, as long as this life
process of ours is in full swing, who lets us see everything in proportion and in relative intensity,
just as the norm of our life on earth brings and tolerates. But there may be abnormal conditions
where this inherently intrusive intervention of the hereafter becomes stronger. States which are
favored at night by the recession of this sensory stimulation. Then the image of the dead can begin
to oppose us with a similar power and objectivity, as it will face us when we have really passed into
the hereafter and will tie in with our otherworldly traffic. And the horrible feeling that we already
half come out of the warm, earthly life that has grown to our hearts with the advent of such
circumstances, is of course connected with it; how undeniably the events, which arise here in us,
really grab something of us in the sense of the hereafter. A person with a healthy mind and body,
who has grown right into this world, will undoubtedly never have ghosts. But it is also possible to
add (which agrees with the popular belief) that a spirit of the hereafter, who has grown right into the
conditions of the hereafter, will never reappear as a ghost on this side, because the abnormal state
can not be one-sided. The objective appearance on this side is for the spirit of the hereafter just such
an abnormal relapse into this world, as his seeing for the spirit of this world an abnormal
anticipation into the hereafter. which has grown right into this world, will undoubtedly never have
ghost appearances. But it is also possible to add (which agrees with the popular belief) that a spirit
of the hereafter, who has grown right into the conditions of the hereafter, will never reappear as a
ghost on this side, because the abnormal state can not be one-sided. The objective appearance on
this side is for the spirit of the hereafter just such an abnormal relapse into this world, as his seeing
for the spirit of this world an abnormal anticipation into the hereafter. which has grown right into
this world, will undoubtedly never have ghost appearances. But it is also possible to add (which
agrees with the popular belief) that a spirit of the hereafter, who has grown right into the conditions
of the hereafter, will never reappear as a ghost on this side, because the abnormal state can not be
one-sided. The objective appearance on this side is for the spirit of the hereafter just such an
abnormal relapse into this world, as his seeing for the spirit of this world an abnormal anticipation
into the hereafter. will never reappear as a ghost on this side, because the abnormal state can not be
into the hereafter. will never reappear as a ghost on this side, because the abnormal state can not be
into the hereafter.
Unquestionably, when a rapturous one believes to see saints or angels as something objective,
this is essentially a self-created fantasy, but this could not be done without memories of real beings
contributing, and if so, In such phenomena the presence of all these beings in the sense of the
hereafter will co-operate, but only in accordance with the fact that they really contribute to the
emergence of the phenomenon through effects that have propagated from their existence into the
ecstatic, and so that their own Participation even for them can be more or less unconscious. But
insofar as the uniform main design of the appearance depends only on the ecstatic itself, it will also
be only its own essence in the main What becomes creatively active in a special way and objectifies
itself in its structure. In the meantime it can be seen that both cases, although distinct in the
extremes, can pass into one another by intermediate degrees. Something subjective and objective is
everywhere at the same time; The only question is what asserts itself more than the main
determinant of uniformity.
It is remarkable that the state of somnambulism, which seems to offer approaches to the state
of the hereafter from so many other sides, comes to the fore once again here. It may be said that all
the somnambulists, without exception, in whom the condition has developed to a certain
development, are spirits, guardian spirits, angels, and the like. Like to see something objective, well
handle it, speak, get inspiration from it u. etc .; and indeed, since memory life and fantasy life in the
somnambulists either at the same time, or in one of these, in the others, is increased and modified in
a way which already approaches the memory and fantasy life of the hereafter or half an entrance
meaning that the double character also applies here, more of an objective existence of otherworldly
personalities, which extends its effect into the somnambules and in the manner of the On the other
hand, it seems that others depend more on the somnambulists' own imaginative activity, which
asserts their productive power in the manner of the hereafter with equal intensity. Many
somnambulists (for example, the visionary of Prevorst, the somnambulists of Cahagnet in the
above-mentioned script) believe that they see certain deceased persons known to them or others of
whose objective existence they are convinced, and whose appearance they describe in the most
individual manner; others see angels, guard spirits, and others with equal liveliness. Likewise, of
which they probably recognize in their own higher consciousness that they are only self-created
entities, objectifications of their own intellectual creations (as the Kachler in Dresden, in the cited
script). It is undisputed in the so unclear, With the circumstances of the hereafter, somnambulistic
states which are only in a very abnormal manner can not be divorced at all, and one can not hope to
come to clear conclusions about the hereafter from here. I was interested in this subject, which is
reported by the somnambulist Richard Görwitz in Apolda (in the cited script), where in two periods
of the somnambulistic condition phenomena of both kinds followed in a decidedly contradictory
manner. A closer discussion of the various ways in which these phenomena take shape in different
somnambulists, and are conceived by them, has any interest at all, but would take more space here
than I can after the casual position which I can only give to this whole subject. and the obscurity,
I have developed this theory here only on condition that its object is not completely void. Our
doctrine requires the possibility of granting the appearance of ghosts, as long as one wants to make
possible an abnormal over-conception of the hereafter into this world. It then gives us a closer
insight into the modality of this encroachment. But she can not prove this possibility herself; and
there is nothing essential in her to prove it.
Even now one may not yet be quite satisfied, and it is certainly difficult at all to
satisfy the indefinite and contradictory claims made of the hereafter in a certain and
unanimous way. In a way, one wants to have the old again, in a sense something new,
something unheard of. Our view really does give both. But maybe you want or miss
something else. One would like to take off a worn, torn or badly made skirt; You also
change the dress from time to time. But are we not much more concerned about this
with the body than with the dress, if we are to take the appearance of the old body
also into the hereafter, even into eternity? The old man will ask: As? Should I
reappear in my shrunken form? The hunchback, I should never be free from my
deformity? The ecclesiastical and vulgar views help here slightly, promising a
rejuvenation and beautification of the figure; and for them it is enough to promise, for
reasons they can not be asked. But on what basis should we think of such things?
Ich meine, es verhält sich damit so:
Foremost among those who died as an old man in the afterlife is not only his
shrunken old man, with which he died, but just as well his child and youth. In the
afterlife, he certainly first encounters a child, who met him here only as a child, the
old man, with whom he used only as an old man, but to whom he was known in
different stages of life, to whom he can appear as a child or old man. according to
circumstances; it only depends on which of the known figures he intends to call him
to memory in which he appears to him, or in which known memory form he wishes to
present himself to him. In another, of course, as a known one, he would not be
recognized by him first. By itself, however, the other will be the most inclined to look
for him in the form, and most easily to recognize him in the form in which he most
often or most loved to see him. So the figure in the hereafter will no longer be as
solid as it is here, but as it may easily appear here and there, even in different places
at the same time, so easily in one way or another. In this way, the concept of all
intuitional images, in which man ever appeared before another, is the source of all
possible images of the memory, and thus of modes of appearance, which he can at
first have from him, only in such a way that the tendency to certain prevails. yes, it
can appear in different places at the same time, so it can easily be one way or the
other. In this way, the concept of all intuitional images, in which man ever appeared
before another, is the source of all possible images of the memory, and thus of modes
of appearance, which he can at first have from him, only in such a way that the
tendency to certain prevails. yes, it can appear in different places at the same time, so
it can easily be one way or the other. In this way, the concept of all intuitional images,
in which man ever appeared before another, is the source of all possible images of the
memory, and thus of modes of appearance, which he can at first have from him, only
in such a way that the tendency to certain prevails.
In the meantime, only the first encounter, the first recognition, will necessarily have
to take place under one of these forms in order to connect the more distant traffic,
which does not exclude that new modes of behavior from there by virtue of that
transformative force of the illustrative circumstances of the hereafter, of which we
spoke earlier , develop. The memories in the memory of our mind, too, are often
circumscribed in their intercourse under the control of our minds, they are adorned or
distorted by imagination, and thus, even in the memory of the higher mind, such a
transformation will not be lacking; surely she will be even more powerful and alive
than in our little memory, which is only a small, tenuous, pale, indistinct image of
it; only through this will no solid forms arise, but only a transformation of the forms,
which always subordinate itself to the relations in which the spirits appear to each
other and to the higher spirit. Only that which is tenacious in our form, which
expresses itself as an expression of our most peculiar essence through all relations
with others, will be able to undergo the most varied modifications in our intercourse
with others, just as the manner in which we appear to others it will also depend on the
perception of others as well as our own nature. So we will change the body there
much more than here the dress; only that, how the dress in every change, according to
our relations to the exterior, retains the essential cut of our body, So the body one day,
with every change of our relations to the exterior, makes a cut that always makes it
appear as an expression of the immutable in our spiritual being. And in the realm of
the Higher Truth, our appearance will rather become the mirror of our inner being and
of its relationship with the external at all times than on this side. Thus, the
otherworldly mind will appear differently to those who come first from this world,
unlike those with whom it has long since changed the other world, the good and the
evil spirit differently, and will also appear differently according to their own
conditions. And in the realm of the Higher Truth, our appearance will rather become
the mirror of our inner being and of its relationship with the external at all times than
on this side. Thus, the otherworldly mind will appear differently to those who come
first from this world, unlike those with whom it has long since changed the other
world, the good and the evil spirit differently, and will also appear differently
according to their own conditions. And in the realm of the Higher Truth, our
appearance will rather become the mirror of our inner being and of its relationship
with the external at all times than on this side. Thus, the otherworldly mind will
appear differently to those who come first from this world, unlike those with whom it
has long since changed the other world, the good and the evil spirit differently, and
will also appear differently according to their own conditions.
According to Schwedenborg, in the first time after death (during the so-called state in
appearance) man appears just as he had appeared here, so that feelings and attitudes are not yet
expressed in their outward appearance; but later enters into another state (the state in the interior)
where its outward appearance becomes the perfect expression of its spiritual interior.
It is undeniable that we can not wish for anything better than what we are offered in
this view, which flows in the simplest consequence from our basic
requirements. Thus, the mother who enters the afterlife will certainly seek and find
her first child under the form in which she knew, cared for, and loved it here; she will
not face her like a stranger; but this form, in which she first recognizes it, will only be
the point of reference, to recognize it also through the change in other forms, whose
development the new life itself first brought. In the same way, the wife will first meet
her husband, her lover, the beloved in the hereafter, in the form that she remembers
most vividly in her memory. in the memory-rich, the memory-image itself becomes
the actual life-full form. However, the longer the intercourse between them in the
hereafter, the more will this mode of appearance cease to exist, and designs assert
themselves as newly developed by the hereafter.
It may well be that, in this development of the conditions of our future design, we
have gone a little further than the darkness of the object permits. We also present here
only probabilities. However, the objection that arises from the seeming shapelessness
of our future existence seemed too important, so as not to show how the elevation of
it is in consequence of our view itself. The indefiniteness and shapelessness of our
future existence, which appears on this standpoint, then transforms only into an
indeterminable variety of the same on an otherworldly standpoint.
XXIV. Difficulties of various kinds.
Every human being, so to speak and say, lives in a peculiar manner through the
workings of the external world in his present life, and around it he beats a circle of
effects and works which will one day grant him the material basis for his future
spiritual existence he still needs one. Let us first forget this, as far as he still needs a
physical document. After all, it is many who elevate the spirit in this world over the
condition of the physical, and the higher the spirit rises, the more it frees itself from
it. If the body, especially the brain, with its life-process as a support for the spirit in
general and for sensibility in particular, are always necessary, then the higher
activities of the mind can proceed in their own special way, without that special
activities of the body, the brain go along. Whoever holds this view, of course, since
he already so lowens the claims of the spirit on the body in the present life, will have
even less cause to make him high claims to a corporeal in the following life, where
the sensuality is to withdraw even more, especially if he, then, sets so low a priority
on these claims for the present, in order to satisfy even less for the future, where he
would be less able to satisfy them. For such a view, the presentation of a physical
document of the future spiritual existence in the general public, as it is given in the
past, already more than sufficient. Decisive demands for the future, however, if one
already in the Now the highest and most developed mental functions even in the
body, but only in the highest and most developed bodily functions, expressing itself
or interdependent holds, if one considers the fine instrument of the brain just because
so fine elaborated to accompany or justify the subtle spiritual game down here with a
correspondingly subtle physical one. Then one will also have to demand the same or
an equivalent of what is essential here from the following life and have to ask where
to find it. Now we have already pointed out that the world into which we strike the
circle of our effects and works is still developed and developed in a much higher
sense than our brain itself, the small part of it; but it wonders what can we expect
from this as our impact, our work? Is not everything that transplants itself into the
external world in effects and works, whereby we incorporate ourselves into it, but
something comparatively simple and crude against the tremendously fine elaboration
of our brain and the development of the movements therein? Does not this leave the
physical bearer of our hereafter, which is supposed to be in the sphere of our effects
and works, at a disadvantage against that of this world? but something comparatively
simple and crude against the tremendously fine elaboration of our brain and the
development of the movements therein? Does not this leave the physical bearer of our
hereafter, which is supposed to be in the sphere of our effects and works, at a
disadvantage against that of this world? but something comparatively simple and
crude against the tremendously fine elaboration of our brain and the development of
the movements therein? Does not this leave the physical bearer of our hereafter,
which is supposed to be in the sphere of our effects and works, at a disadvantage
against that of this world?
Now, since the first view, for which this is not a real disadvantage, since it has
nothing to do with the spirit, can be satisfied with the considerations already made, it
will be necessary to show that it does not meet the second, for which the physical one
Disadvantage would translate into a mental; since we ourselves are this second
view. While some hints have been given earlier in this regard, it will be necessary to
make them more specific in relation to the misgivings that may arise from the
advanced claims against our teaching. For this purpose, we are looking for the
following two questions soon to deal with, including these concerns will be done:
First, how can humans in the manner adopted by us, how the otherworldly existence
grows out of this worldly side, take over its spiritual education and development
carried on by such a fine inner organization into the hereafter? Secondly, how do the
experiences, which prove a suffering and aging of the soul with the body, and thus
threaten a cessation of the same with death, with our hopes? To this I shall then add
the discussion of two other questions which until now have been more or less
casually touched than seem to have been settled: first, how so many existences
beyond themselves can undoubtedly possess the same space, and what death is in the
end it has, which causes the further body, which is still slumbering in
unconsciousness, to become the bearer of consciousness. take over his spiritual
education and development carried on by such a fine inner organization into the
hereafter? Secondly, how do the experiences, which prove a suffering and aging of
the soul with the body, and thus threaten a cessation of the same with death, with our
hopes? To this I shall then add the discussion of two other questions which until now
have been more or less casually touched than seem to have been settled: first, how so
many existences beyond themselves can undoubtedly possess the same space, and
what death is in the end it has, which causes the further body, which is still
slumbering in unconsciousness, to become the bearer of consciousness. take over his
spiritual education and development carried on by such a fine inner organization into
the hereafter? Secondly, how do the experiences, which prove a suffering and aging
of the soul with the body, and thus threaten a cessation of the same with death, with
our hopes? To this I shall then add the discussion of two other questions which until
now have been more or less casually touched than seem to have been settled: first,
how so many existences beyond themselves can undoubtedly possess the same space,
and what death is in the end it has, which causes the further body, which is still
slumbering in unconsciousness, to become the bearer of consciousness. and thus
threaten them with death, with our hopes? To this I shall then add the discussion of
two other questions which until now have been more or less casually touched than
seem to have been settled: first, how so many existences beyond themselves can
undoubtedly possess the same space, and what death is in the end it has, which causes
the further body, which is still slumbering in unconsciousness, to become the bearer
of consciousness. and thus threaten them with death, with our hopes? To this I shall
then add the discussion of two other questions which until now have been more or
less casually touched than seem to have been settled: first, how so many existences
beyond themselves can undoubtedly possess the same space, and what death is in the
end it has, which causes the further body, which is still slumbering in
unconsciousness, to become the bearer of consciousness.
A. Question how man's inner education and

development into the hereafter
could take over.
The most important and valuable thing that man has is his inner education; the
outward actions are merely individual extensions of it, which do not exhaust or cover
the inner wealth. Someone may silently hold in themselves the most beautiful and the
best education, the most sublime thoughts, the richest knowledge, the noblest will,
but he may not have the opportunity to express all this in actions, the greater, nobler,
richer the human inwardly, a proportionately smaller proportion of what he carries
within himself, he can only outwardly out of himself. If we take our view crude, it
seems, then, for the following life, this inner main thing would have to be lost to man,
as long as what remains out of him is left over from him;
But first of all it is wrong to think that only a fraction of man speaks in the
individual actions of man; Everywhere the whole human being expresses himself,
only now from other sides or after different relationships than at another time. The
noble behaves differently in every action, than the common, the stupid in each other,
but the wise, the trusting in every other than the timid; but we can not trace the
nuances as subtly as they take place, even though we refine our gaze into the
indeterminate more and more to find the whole human in every smallest activity of
the human being. Each of our arbitrary actions is in fact a product of all our previous
inner education, and every individual element of this formation certainly contributes
to individualizing the action. If this becomes unclear to our gaze, it is only the
indistinctness of our gaze, and partly our inattention. One is just too inclined in our
actions to consider only the coarse move and some of its principal features, and in
this respect two actions of two people may look alike, as one egg does the other. But
this picture also reminds us that gross similarities should not deceive us. To form an
egg another system of effects has served, than to the formation of another, that is,
another bird or the same bird in another epoch of life has laid it, and this manifests
itself in fine internal differences of the eggs, which escape our rough sight but there's
nothing less, there have to be, otherwise different birds could not crawl out. The
actions, effects, and works of men are also such eggs to which the whole man gives
his contribution, and from which, though not individually, but taken in their entirety,
a whole man will emerge again, that of all the moments of his interior to carry
something inside. The action, the word, the gaze of the one, through which he
incorporates himself into the outer world, is composed of other subtle moments, than
that of the other, we just can not follow it so delicately. As the play of a musical
instrument results from many small, for the raw look, but not for the analyzing
consideration and the conclusion, indistinguishable oscillations, tremblings, which
transplant themselves from the instrument to the external world, so goes the total of
the actions, indeed of every single act of a man, out of the interplay of many small,
for the rude view, but not the analyzing contemplation and inference,
indistinguishable activities of its interior, which also can not fail to extend their
consequences into the external. Every nerve, every muscle fiber, every cell of a
human being expresses its special, special, specially directed activity, and how
innumerable many such activities interact with every action of man. For an arm to
stretch with will, a thousand brain and muscle fibers must tremble in a special way,
and these trembling can be as limited in their successes to the body, as the play of the
strings on the instrument, but must be from the acting body through the act itself
propagates outwards, imperceptibly for us, as the cause was. But outside, one can not
ask for a coarser reminder of the consequences than inside the cause. Incidentally,
compare only a word spoken with sincerity and the same with ridicule to the different
impression they make with each other, so it will be possible to conclude that, since
they can arouse so very different a fine play of feelings in us, too which has to be
subject to the impression on us, must be subject to a very different fine game. So
there is no reason to conclude that the fine inner formation we have acquired can not
produce material traces to the outside world and leave behind us; even if we do not
purposely express it in particular actions, it expresses itself in every action by
itself. as was the cause. But outside, one can not ask for a coarser reminder of the
consequences than inside the cause. Incidentally, compare only a word spoken with
sincerity and the same with ridicule to the different impression they make with each
other, so it will be possible to conclude that, since they can arouse so very different a
fine play of feelings in us, too which has to be subject to the impression on us, must
be subject to a very different fine game. So there is no reason to conclude that the
fine inner formation we have acquired can not produce material traces to the outside
world and leave behind us; even if we do not purposely express it in particular
actions, it expresses itself in every action by itself. as was the cause. But outside, one
can not ask for a coarser reminder of the consequences than inside the
cause. Incidentally, compare only a word spoken with sincerity and the same with
ridicule to the different impression they make with each other, so it will be possible to
conclude that, since they can arouse so very different a fine play of feelings in us, too
which has to be subject to the impression on us, must be subject to a very different
fine game. So there is no reason to conclude that the fine inner formation we have
acquired can not produce material traces to the outside world and leave behind
us; even if we do not purposely express it in particular actions, it expresses itself in
every action by itself. But outside, one can not ask for a coarser reminder of the
consequences than inside the cause. Incidentally, compare only a word spoken with
sincerity and the same with ridicule to the different impression they make with each
other, so it will be possible to conclude that, since they can arouse so very different a
fine play of feelings in us, too which has to be subject to the impression on us, must
be subject to a very different fine game. So there is no reason to conclude that the
fine inner formation we have acquired can not produce material traces to the outside
actions, it expresses itself in every action by itself. But outside, one can not ask for a
coarser reminder of the consequences than inside the cause. Incidentally, compare
only a word spoken with sincerity and the same with ridicule to the different
impression they make with each other, so it will be possible to conclude that, since
they can arouse so very different a fine play of feelings in us, too which has to be
subject to the impression on us, must be subject to a very different fine game. So
there is no reason to conclude that the fine inner formation we have acquired can not
produce material traces to the outside world and leave behind us; even if we do not
purposely express it in particular actions, it expresses itself in every action by
itself. Incidentally, compare only a word spoken with sincerity and the same with
ridicule to the different impression they make with each other, so it will be possible to
conclude that, since they can arouse so very different a fine play of feelings in us, too
which has to be subject to the impression on us, must be subject to a very different
fine game. So there is no reason to conclude that the fine inner formation we have
acquired can not produce material traces to the outside world and leave behind
us; even if we do not purposely express it in particular actions, it expresses itself in
every action by itself. Incidentally, compare only a word spoken with sincerity and
the same with ridicule to the different impression they make with each other, so it
will be possible to conclude that, since they can arouse so very different a fine play of
feelings in us, too which has to be subject to the impression on us, must be subject to
a very different fine game. So there is no reason to conclude that the fine inner
formation we have acquired can not produce material traces to the outside world and
leave behind us; even if we do not purposely express it in particular actions, it
expresses itself in every action by itself. since they can arouse so very different a fine
play of emotions in us, even those which over-plant the impression on us must be
subject to a very different fine play. So there is no reason to conclude that the fine
inner formation we have acquired can not produce material traces to the outside
actions, it expresses itself in every action by itself. since they can arouse so very
different a fine play of emotions in us, even those which over-plant the impression on
us must be subject to a very different fine play. So there is no reason to conclude that
the fine inner formation we have acquired can not produce material traces to the
outside world and leave behind us; even if we do not purposely express it in
particular actions, it expresses itself in every action by itself.
However, we can go further and deeper. Not on our external actions alone, what we
call, we have to reflect. If our thoughts are sustained by quiet movements, which we
have to presuppose in the sense of the more developed claim to the bodily
underpinnings of the spiritual, then we will also deduce the invisible consequences
for this always invisible, only accessible cause, and the visibility of the Consequences
do not have to require more than the cause. Of course, the fine trembling, waves, or
whatever it may be for fine movements, which quietly accompany man's thinking,
will only be able to reproduce quiet movements to the outside, but will have to
reproduce just as surely as the violent arm movement, the loudest Scream. May they
affect the weighable or the unpredictable in us; the ether, which propagates the
movements of the Unpredictable, surrounds man everywhere so well1)such as air and
ground, which propagate the movements of the weighable, and we need not decide at
all what is more in consideration. Enough, the reasons for the existence of the most
subtle bodily effects in us as carriers of our spiritual are at the same time the reasons
for the existence of corresponding effects beyond us. Be it that they first circle in
us; finally they have to go beyond us. But if one were to deny the existence of such
subtle physical movements as bearers of our spiritual life in the sense of the less
developed claims to the physical, since they can not be demonstrated, then of course
they would have to deny their continued effects, just as they do so little but she also
did not need it for the following lives because she is not needed for the
1) In fact, according to the physicists, the ether fills and penetrates air and earth itself, without the
light and heat being able to propagate through it. But if one did not want to take an ether into it, as
some do, air and earth would themselves have the capacity to propagate light and heat, and then no
ether would need to propagate the nervous effects.
In fact, it would be strange if, in the impossibility of
proving nerve vibrations or ether vibrations as underlay of the
spiritual for the Dasseits experimental, if one wanted to demand
experimental proof of such a basis for the hereafter, and because
he did not allow himself to be led, it meant that he was missing
our spirit in the hereafter a document that he has and needs in
this world.
If he has such a thing in this world, he certainly has it in the hereafter as a consequence of this
world, if he does not need it in this world, the same applies to the hereafter. It does not matter how
you want to face this relationship; In any case, only this alternative exists.
Without wishing to place much emphasis on it, I want him to believe that one can find some
sort of proof for the quiet radiating of his effects, or the emanation of a fine agent from man, in a
well-known fact of somnambulism, if such facts are accepted at all , It is stated in great
generality, 2 that the somnambulists often see a luminous glow emanating from living persons, and
in particular from the magnetizer, and that, in particular, the fingertips of the magnetizer shine the
more vividly the more actively he is in the act of magnetizing.
2)Even Stieglitz, who in his reply to animal magnetism seeks to minimize the
importance of the phenomenon, admits that this agreement is
remarkable. Kluge has some twenty quotes about it.
Passavant says: "Many somnambulists saw all that was living

shining, the light was for them the expression of life, not merely
symbolic, but real, and they saw the living beings and their
organs glowing in different ways. The somnambulists often saw a
similar glow in their magnetizers, indeed in all the surrounding
persons, out of the eyes, the fingertips, and sometimes the
stomach. "
It may be remembered that light phenomena depend on undulatory movements, and that the
visibility of undulatory movements depends on many different circumstances. The rays at the
boundary of the solar spectrum are visible to certain persons, not to others, heat vibrations are only
visible at a certain temperature, and so on. Thus, the negative experience that we do not perceive
that outpouring of light in ordinary circumstances is not yet in contradiction to its behavior.
To be sure, in our body we are concerned not only with fine movements, but also
with a fine organization as the basis of the spiritual. But now, the subtle movements
that we generate as true as we create them within us, do not go into the void, and are
not merely effects, but also bearers of effects, intervening in connection with the
whole visible activity of man Organizing a living world around us, which is even
originally calculated to receive the continuation of its organization, of which we can,
of course, only follow the rough. All we have to do is try to have the more tangible
out of ourselves what the subtle movements we have contributed to the elaboration of
the organization of the earthly world, when we have the corresponding in us, and
could we possibly demonstrate with palpability what the subtle movements that
underlie our thinking contribute to the elaboration of our brain? We conclude only in
the sense of the more developed claim from the higher development of the mental
faculties, which itself grows through our mental activity, that the physical instrument
must have attained a correspondingly higher elaboration through this activity; but
also the earthly world works out its spiritual faculties through the work of men
beyond itself in ever higher sense. So we can make the same conclusion. But if
somebody also wants to explain the fine organization of the brain indifferently to our
spiritual organization, or does not assume any repercussion of the mental activities on
the organization of the brain, then in turn he has everything easier, although in our
opinion not more valid; Thus, even after the contribution of the subtle activities that
extend beyond us, he does not need to ask us to elaborate the organization of the
world around us.
Incidentally, insofar as every human being works into other people here, and only
in accordance with the intercourse with them, can develop himself higher, and insofar
as he lives on in the afterlife in the effects which he has generated in others, then
himself becomes an essential part of the fine organizational conditions required for
the hereafter. Instead of one human body, we have a thousand commandments in the
other world, but we do not live in the individual but in the organization that engages
and binds them all.
To resume the above: If, according to the requirements of the more developed view
of the relations of the spiritual and the physical, everything that we externally regard
to our present body and its movements, which, however, can be recognized by us just
as little as in the end, and entirely escape the crude superficial contemplation. It turns
out that the assumption of such subtle determinations and movements in us and in
what lags behind us is in fact so connected that we can only accept or deny both in
connection; and therefore, what we demand of this world in this regard, must
presuppose also in the hereafter as a consequence of this world.
To support the above, some general considerations:
It can be pronounced as a general proposition that no motion can be permanently extinguished
without resorting either to other types of movements or to permanent mechanisms re-influential to
movements, which can not be rougher and coarser than the causal motions. The hammer's blow may
seem to end when it falls on the anvil; we say the effect is canceled; it is not true, it has only
dissolved into a vibration of the anvil and the earth, in the finest vibrations, which can not disappear
without dissolving into even finer vibrations, partly it has also been consumed, the hammered iron
into other form bring; but that does not mean canceling out the effect, but giving it a lasting
form; because in everything that will be done in the future with the hammered tool, the effect of the
hammer blow is preserved; how could it be worked with the tools as it happens, if it has not been
hammered as it happened? And the finer the work on the tools, the finer the effects will be. Every
other kind of cause produces a different kind of sequence, and to the same extent as a process is
differently individualized and shaped, and to the same extent it must also apply to its consequences
down to the most subtle nuances.
To be sure, a lot of complicated activities often seem to be combined into a very simple result,
in which all difference of the initial effects is lost; that is, the compound sequence simpler, rougher,
than to be the composition of the causes that contributed to the result; but the thing is that it is only
impossible for our senses, in the composite result, to have the subtle play of the components, or the
subtle composition, device, created by distinguishing or recognizing just as well as we distinguish
the causes, as long as they are still separated; although this subtle play, this fine decor still reveals
itself to be really present through certain nuances of the resulting process or structure or the
evolution of the consequences. So in the case of the simple-looking egg laid by the entangled hen,
as several waves meet from different sides in the sea. A single wave seems to devour everyone; they
seem to drown in it; but in the ripples of this great wave betrays the play of the little waves, and as
they were swallowed up, they also emerge from it. The great wave is merely the point of
intersection, the point of passage of the small, not a result of its abolition or annihilation. and as
they were devoured, they also emerge from it. The great wave is merely the point of intersection,
the point of passage of the small, not a result of its abolition or annihilation. and as they were
devoured, they also emerge from it. The great wave is merely the point of intersection, the point of
passage of the small, not a result of its abolition or annihilation.
It is true that movements can not be abolished by counter-effects without leaving a permanent
effect in any altered conditions, for example, For example, when two bodies collide in opposite
directions of motion and cancel each other's motion? Will not the movements that may be carried by
our spiritual life be gradually suppressed by counteractions? But it is only the same thing, what of
the apparent cancellation of the effect of the hammer blow by the anvil. Thus, when two balls hit
each other, the movement is partly in a vibration of the balls, through which they are elastically
driven back, and also communicates with other bodies, with which the balls come into
contact; partly the movement, unless the elasticity is used in its entirety, as a change of shape, in a
new permanent device on the spheres, which in the future keeps its influence on everything that
happens with the spheres. Often, however, one sees movements slowing down by themselves for a
while; but, unless a permanent change of shape results, it is always only to change over time to a
more rapid movement. So the earth's movement slows down in one half of the year and starts to get
faster in the other. In sleep, many things may slow down in us, which is faster again when you are
awake. In the long run, no movement is exhausted as in lasting effects that continue to affect other
movements. And we have every reason to conclude that even the permanent effects or devices will
in time turn out to be motions again, or, in connection with the whole, causally give rise to them
through their existence, because the quantity of the movement as a whole does not decrease. The ax
that the blacksmith hammered has consumed some of its moving power through the change in shape
that they experience; but this ax may strike the same wood, which once melted its iron again and the
so-called bound moving power is released again. All bound heat is once again released u. s w. So
what in the physical world may the spiritual bear in us, as far as the spiritual has a bodily support at
all, because the quantity of the movement does not decrease on the whole. The ax that the
blacksmith hammered has consumed some of its moving power through the change in shape that
they experience; but this ax may strike the same wood, which once melted its iron again and the so-
called bound moving power is released again. All bound heat is once again released u. s w. So what
in the physical world may the spiritual bear in us, as far as the spiritual has a bodily support at
all, because the quantity of the movement does not decrease on the whole. The ax that the
blacksmith hammered has consumed some of its moving power through the change in shape that
they experience; but this ax may strike the same wood, which once melted its iron again and the so-
called bound moving power is released again. All bound heat is once again released u. s w. So what
in the physical world may the spiritual bear in us, as far as the spiritual has a bodily support at
all, we do not have to worry that it will ever go out in its effects; only the form of these effects may
change; How little danger, on the continuation of the causal connection of the effects of the greatest
changes of form, will be obtained for our spiritual survival, will be discussed later.
For example, questions related to the destruction of the brain in death, the
suffering and aging of the mind with the body.
The answers to the questions that arise here, based only on a different starting
point, back to the previous and earlier points of view. However, we diligently take
them up with diligence, since this is where the starting point of the most common
objections to immortality lies, and where some of what we said earlier can be
adequately supported and reinforced by related considerations.
Anyone who gets down to business easily raises the question: How can I
understand that my brain, which was necessary to me here for all my conscious
activities, suddenly becomes superfluous at death? Was it for nothing that it could be
thrown away in death? Does not my mind suffer when the brain suffers; how could he
not suffer any more, let alone survive, if it is completely gone?
I answer: The brain was not here in vain for nothing, if it fulfilled a destiny for hiv-
boiling; but must it still be necessary for a new way of being that goes beyond hiene-
boiling, can it still be useful for that? With the old brain we stayed the old
people. The brain was not in vain for the hereafter, when it was in this world
to develop activities that help build our hereafter.
Or will you also say that the seed has been in vain because you see that it bursts
and melts in order to give space to the free development of the seedling in the
light? On the contrary, it had to be first to form the plant of the small plant in a first
life, was absolutely necessary for it, but it was not always allowed to be, otherwise it
would have always had to stay with the plant. Thus, your brain, with the rest of your
body, is always absolutely necessary for this first embryonic life, in relation to the
following one, in order to create the following. Disorders of the brain, of course,
disturb that life, but its destruction can only destroy this life, not that the following
because the destruction of this life is the condition that the planting of the following
life awakens and grows to the actual following life.
You say: But if I destroy a seed, the plant of the seedling will be destroyed as
well. Very true, but not if nature destroys it, as it is in the course of its destiny. And
man's destiny of nature is everywhere to die, be it from whatever it is, early or late.
If you look around at things that are in your mind every day, and look at them a
little more closely, you would find some examples that taught you how to trust the
bauble that so easily causes you to destroy the planet Brain to make the death of the
soul because you find the brain so necessary for the game of the soul down here.
How about the playing of a violin? You mean well, if a violin is broken, which was
only just played, then let it end with their play forever; it haunts, never to sound
again, and so does the self-conscious string play of the human brain, when death
destroys the instrument to it. But breaking a violin is something you neglect, as in the
death of man, by looking only to the nearest.
The sound of the violin echoes in the air, not just the last note of the game, the
whole game reverberates inside. Of course you mean, when the tone is beyond you, it
has died down; but a distant one can still hear him; he must still be there; one to
further hears him no more, but not because he has disappeared, the sound spreads
only too far, becomes too weak for a single narrow spot; but suppose that your ear
always goes along with the sound or the tremor that sustains it, and continues to
spread as audibly as it does in the wide surroundings, so you would always hear
it. He never goes out; basically he always stays. He does not communicate himself
merely to the air, for the shock that carries him does, even on the water, on the
ground, what he encounters; he goes through thick and thin, partly always thrown
back but not extinguished, and remains always the same, indeed the tones of the
whole play always and everywhere follow the same order, the same connection. The
tightly limited violin has only spread its game the farthest.
Of course, who could really follow the sound everywhere to hear him? But
something really follows him everywhere; he himself follows everywhere. What if he
could hear himself? Would not he always hear himself, like an ear that exactly
followed him and spread with him? In vain, of course, in the play of the dead violin,
but also in vain in that of the living? The dead are played by others, and so their game
is only heard by others where they are, does not hear himself. The living violin of our
body, however, plays itself, and so does its play itself, and even needs to follow itself
to hear itself; as well as the movements, it is probably vibrations themselves which,
in our views, are out of sight, This light violin, spreading in the brain first our
sensations of light, then in its after-effects bear our memories of it, need no outer ear
or eye any more, but hear ourselves in their whole extent. Why? The eye is alive, the
brain is alive. Well, that's how we're alive, and where the play of our lives overcaps,
the earth around us is alive too.
In any case, we see on the violin that the same complicated conditions to which the
first generation of an effect, in this case of sound, was essentially dependent, need not
always persist if it is necessary to maintain the same effects. They can be eliminated,
and the effect is self-sustaining in the simplest of conditions. Thus, after all, the first
genesis of the melody of our spiritual life may be essentially bound up with the
existence of our brain, but it does not follow that it is necessary to sustain it; indeed,
such a simple medium as the air, just as in playing the violin, would suffice to carry
our future spiritual life instead of the so complicated brain, which was, of course,
necessary to produce it; if, as in the case of the violin, it was simply a question of
maintaining the fore, not of further development; which, according to him, outshines
our effects not merely in the smooth air, but in the whole realm of the earthly, where
they find all-round opportunity to enter new conditions, produce changes from
changes, and produce with the moving also permanent effects, as we already do
considered above.
Incidentally, it is also here again to consider the side of the unequal with that of the
same in the picture. The playing of the violin is quite passive in its outcome, and thus
its continuation, only reflects the streak of the unfamiliar bow, not determined by
itself. But the play of our conscious violin, apart from the determinations from
outside, also ends in self-determination. which concern the body and the mind at the
same time, and there is a law of antagonism therein, which makes clear how the
original play must first go out before the continuation becomes conscious. We will
talk about this soon.
Incidentally, the picture of the violin appears to be quite fitting, especially
inasmuch as our body in general influences the outside world through vibrations that
propagate in a wavelike manner like sound. Every step shakes the earth into
vibrations that gradually spread throughout the earth; every progress, every
movement of the hand, every breath, every word evokes a wave that traverses the
whole circle of the air; the heat that you radiate goes into fine vibrations, every
glance from eye to eye is carried away by light vibrations, even as you stand still, a
thousand waves of light emanate from you, which paint your image into space; and in
connection with these more easily recognizable vibrations, which come from your
exterior, as it were, at the very core or content of it, then, if they exist, the finer
imperceptible vibrations from within you, which may be even more meaningful to
your soul than all these coming from outside, will propagate from within you. The
inner movement of your narrow body is itself, as it were, only an entanglement of
innumerable waves that go from there into the distance.
But it is not a mere floating and weaving, as with the violin, which passes from you
to the outside world, you also enter into the external world in solid works, which are
related to the production of the movements themselves, and of which you are, of
course only perceive the gross outline. Yes, if we had a violin that at the same time
drew new strings around it in the outside world to build a larger violin, which after
the smashing of the little one now continued the game, the picture would be even
more striking.
So in your present life, you can look at yourself like a blacksmith hammering his
own body. What everyone on the earth hammering right now is part of it. When the
new body is ready, the old tool, that is, the old body itself, is thrown away, and
though man may die, yet the new body is finished to the point of making the work of
life in a new way can continue to, to which it brought the old body. This is a picture
that fits only the feast in your future corporeality, like that with the playing of the
violin only on the movable. A picture can not cover everything at once.
That, if your brain destined to serve your life for this life, indeed the main
condition is to bind it to this life, it must feel its disadvantage for this life, if the brain
is damaged, is very understandable; but it does not in any way follow against the
dispensability of the brain in a future life. If it harms only so far that the present life
ceases, with the present life also the damage for the present life will cease; but the
damage can not reach into the following life, because the greatest damage to the old
body, ie its destruction, makes the new life possible. Only that it is a man, so much in
him, as far as possible should try to bring in the present life, in order to step as far as
possible into the hereafter, as a made being; for it would not pervert either this world
or the hereafter if all men died young, as indeed so little if all were to die old. But
those who are supposed to develop on a childhood or youth basis will have enough of
their own death anyway; so man must do his utmost to ensure that it is not lacking in
those who on the basis of a whole full worldly life one day evolve.
So if you think brain damage is worse than harm, then you're only right in that, as
the damage could still be lifted, you could stay in old life a little longer and prepare
yourself for the future. Destruction takes this organ of preparation once and for
all; Now it is time to keep home with the base once won; but it only takes away from
you the organ of preparation, followed immediately by the preparation, which is
always something higher in comparison with the present condition; in that you
always win against now. Only then is destruction of an organ worse than harm, if
there is nothing to replace the destroyed; but if something is there, then the complete
destruction of the injured party can be a gain as an improvement of the
disturbance. You amputate a sick member and win, even without something to
replace it; how should you not win all the more when your whole sick body, your sick
brain is amputated, if it is not lacking in replacing conditions for you to a new
existence.
Is it factually that a small disturbance in the brain often does much more harm than
the cutting away of a whole half of the brain, which harms the soul as well as
nothing, as one knows sufficiently by experiments on animals and even pathological
experiences with humans; yes, what if, perhaps, it could serve to lift some mental
disorder caused by an evil in the brain's half. 3)One can find this very paradoxical, but
it is just as hereby as with a drawn by two horses car. If one is lame or fierce, the
whole car will go badly, and it is best to unwind the sick horse altogether; then it goes
neatly again, only a little matter, as even if one half of the brain is left out, the mind
should feel light fatigue; but if you stretch both horses out, the carriage stands still,
that is death. But what happens? The coachman gets out of the narrow car and walks
through the vast space of his home. To lead him there was only the car. Yes, if there
were no coachman who has self-propelled legs.
3)Longet reports of a twenty-nine-year-old man, whose mental powers offered no appreciable deviation, despite
the absence of the whole right hemisphere of the great brain except the basal parts. (Longet, Anat. Et Physiol
du syst., Nerv., 1842. I. 669.) - Neumann cites a case in which a sphere had destroyed an entire hemisphere
without robbing it of its senses. (Neumann, Von die Diseases of the Human Brain, Koblenz, 1833, p. 88.) -
Abercrombie reports of a woman in whom half of the brain was dissolved into a morbid mass, and yet,
accounting for an imperfection of sight, all kept her mental faculties until the last moments, so that a few hours
before her death she attended a happy company in a friendly house. (Abercrombie, Inquiries etc.) - A
man whose O'Holloran mentions that such a wound on the head suffered that a large part of the skull on the
right side had to be taken away; and as a strong suppuration had occurred, with every bandage through the
opening a great quantity of pus was removed with large quantities of the brain itself. So it went on for 17 days,
and it can be calculated that almost half of the brain, mixed with matter, was ejected in this way. Nevertheless,
the patient retained all his mental powers until the moment of his dissolution, and even during this whole state
of illness his mood of mind was steadily calm. and as a strong suppuration had occurred, with every bandage
through the opening a great quantity of pus was removed with large quantities of the brain itself. So it went on
for 17 days, and it can be calculated that almost half of the brain, mixed with matter, was ejected in this
way. Nevertheless, the patient retained all his mental powers until the moment of his dissolution, and even
during this whole state of illness his mood of mind was steadily calm. and as a strong suppuration had
occurred, with every bandage through the opening a great quantity of pus was removed with large quantities of
the brain itself. So it went on for 17 days, and it can be calculated that almost half of the brain, mixed with
matter, was ejected in this way. Nevertheless, the patient retained all his mental powers until the moment of his
dissolution, and even during this whole state of illness his mood of mind was steadily calm.
Ferrus tells of a general who had lost a large part of his

left parietal bone due to a wound, resulting in considerable
atrophy (wasting) of the left brain hemisphere, manifested
externally by a tremendous depression of the skull . This general
still showed the same vivacity of the spirit, the same correct
judgment as before, but could no longer indulge in mental pursuits
without soon feeling tired. Longet says that upon hearing this
experience, he knew an old soldier who was in the same
case. (Longet, Anat. Et Physiol, du syst., Nerv., I. 670.)
In any case, if half of the brain can often fall away with less of a disadvantage for
the soul than suffer a mere disturbance, why not possibly the whole? The only
difference is that, as long as we still have half the brain left, we still remain in this
life, because one half represents the other in the service, but if both halves fall away,
we fall into the other life, by now a higher representation square attacks.
If one looks a little closer to the physiological and pathological observations of the
brain, one is astonished at how significant injuries the brain can endure, sometimes
even on both sides at the same time, without any noticeable disadvantage to the
soul. One would like to believe that it really does not help. And some have drawn
such conclusions. Other times, a mere disturbance seems to hurt a lot. If one
combines all right, one finds that it depends on the fact that the very well-developed
principle of representation in our organism makes itself felt in our brain in
particular. One eye can be destroyed, one can still see with the other, one lung can be
destroyed, one still breathes with the other; if only a piece of lung remains, it
works; If veins become impalpable, the blood runs through others; Clutter damages
more than destruction almost everywhere. That's the way it is with the brain. The
parts are represented from right to left, and even to a certain extent on the same
page. If it does not go with one fiber, it goes with another; like, if it does not go with
one vein, it goes with another. It will be like a piano, but in a much more developed
degree, where several strings belong to the same tone. "There is," says Abercrombie,
and others agree with it, "no part of the brain that one has not found, and in any
degree, destroyed, without the intellectual development having suffered any
noticeable." But far from proving the superfluity of all these parts, it merely
proves that all the more of the less in solidary connection find a representation by the
other parts, which nevertheless has its limits for this life on earth. Because while one
can take an animal just as much the right as the left brain hemisphere, without
detriment to his soul activities, you can not take both together, it is then quite stupid,
even if you leave the basal parts of the brain, because this no longer sufficient for
representation. Well, well, if the principle of representation is so far driven into our
body, it should not extend beyond our body into the larger body to which we
belong; and not when our whole brain, our whole body is destroyed, is there
something already there to be represented? I mean,
The difference is that our death can not be considered as abnormally destructive as
when we cut away a piece of brain; but as one that falls into the normal course of the
greater life to which we belong. However, destructions that fall into the normal
course of life characterize new development epochs everywhere.
One can recall on this occasion cases where even an approach to the complete destruction of the
body in death has brought about a restoration of the spiritual functions that were destroyed in
life. Such cases are not uncommon, and, without being able to prove for themselves alone, that
death can do more in this respect than the approach to death, yet favorable to this idea, and worth
mentioning in support of our other conclusions.
One finds numerous cases of this kind in Burdach, of the construction and life of the brain
III. P. 185, Treviranus, Biol. VI. P. 72. Friedreichs Diagnostik S. 364 u. 366 ff., Friedreichs Mag. H.
3, S. 73 ff., Jacobi's Ann. Pp. 275-282 u. 287-288. Froriep, Tagesber. 1850. No 214 communicated
or mentioned. Burdach says, adding the obvious cases: "If the burning occurs in an inflamed bowel,
not only does the pain cease, but sometimes the activity of the soul is also exalted." In other
diseases too, one sometimes notices a higher one shortly before death In the case of abnormalities
of the brain, it is not uncommon for insane persons to recapture the use of their intellectual powers
before death: for example, in the outpouring of blood and water, in suppuration, in hardening, in
hypertrophy,
Here are some specific examples.
"That man in his innermost depth possesses a higher, indestructible property, a mind, which
even madness does not touch, .... of this is the story of a woman mad in the Uckermark for 20 years,
who died in November 1781, It was a remarkable proof that in the several bright moments of her
condition a quiet submission to a higher will and a pious composure had been noticed before her
four weeks before her death, she finally awoke from her long dream Who had seen and known her
before this time She now no longer recognized, so exalted and augmented were her mental and
spiritual powers, so refined was her language, and she uttered the most lofty truths with a clarity
and inward brightness rarely found in ordinary life.They crowded into their strange hospital bed,
and all who saw them confessed that, even though they were in the midst of their madness in the
company of the most enlightened people, their insights could not have been higher and more
extensive than they were now . "(Ennemoser, Gesch. Der Magie. IS 170 f.)
"In a madman who had been mad for three years, the reason became clearer the more a hectic
fever arose as a result of a lumbar abscess, until at last the patient died with complete use of her
mental powers." The section revealed hypertrophy of the softened brain, thickening of the skull, and
adhesion of the brain Dura mater with the bone. The madness was left behind as a secondary
disease of scarlet fever. " (Vering in Nasse's Zeitschr. 1840. I. 131-140.)
"A 30-year-old, robust, married Maniaca (Mania errabunda without certain delusions, and
without lucida intervalla) was subject after a 4-year stay in an institution a gastric-nervous fever,
after violent and stubborn resistance to drugs and drinks the soul announced the impending
dissolution of the body by the loss of powers; the soul began to become free in the last two days
before her death, and even with an effort of intelligence and clarity, which with her earlier education
She inquired about the fate of her relatives,With tears she regretted her stubbornness against the
medical orders, and finally succumbed to the fierce struggle of the reawakening zest for life with
the inevitable death. "(Butzke in Rust's Man, volume LVI, H. l.)
You may say: All these are far-reaching images and conclusions. I can see that as
my body ages, so does my spirit, how should it not be completely out of the spirit
when it is completely exhausted, you can clearly see where it is going.
But how; Are not they also conclusions that you make there? The conclusions are
sham, because they hit the next, for that is not the case; but only the next meet them,
nothing more.
You close, because body and mind diminish with age, both must cease with
death. You could just close so well, and would seem just as true and in truth just as
incorrectly conclude: Because the pendulum is sluggish, dull, when it approaches the
end of his vibration, indeed in the end a, admittedly only imperceptible, moment like
still stands, so its vibrations hereby stop completely. But is this conclusion wrong,
why should it be more valid? It starts from fresh vibration.
To be sure, the example is otherwise less than the simplest to show the error of your
conclusion; as a picture it would be much too poor, and did not show the right way, or
only with painful interpretation. For the vibration of our new life, we conclude that
from another, will not simply be a retrograde repetition of the old, but an extension of
it in a new sense. But, let's put it, we ourselves can find this in the picture according
to the principle of inequality, without which no picture can be interpreted
properly. Even today, our life course is not a simpler one than that of the pendulum,
the string. The old man is, it is said, again a child; yes, in a certain sense he will; but
in other respects he is the opposite of a child, our lives are evolving from youth to old
age; even the oldest old man makes new experiences; only everything becomes
matter, even the newly experienced; instead, the pendulum, the string, experiences
exactly the same on the second half of its vibration as on the first. But if it is so
different with us as with the pendulum in the vibration of the first life, well, then so
will this also be presented in the second; the new experiences will proceed with the
new body, as they have departed here, continuing to build on the old ones, but with
new freshness, new momentum. on the second half of her swing exactly the same as
on the first. But if it is so different with us as with the pendulum in the vibration of
the first life, well, then so will this also be presented in the second; the new
experiences will proceed with the new body, as they have departed here, continuing
to build on the old ones, but with new freshness, new momentum. on the second half
of her swing exactly the same as on the first. But if it is so different with us as with
the pendulum in the vibration of the first life, well, then so will this also be presented
in the second; the new experiences will proceed with the new body, as they have
departed here, continuing to build on the old ones, but with new freshness, new
momentum.
If we leave all picture with the pendulum, the string, aside, then if anything, the
contemplation of the periodicity and continuing development of our present life itself
should guarantee us, that the age will only end that of a period in this progressive
course of development is, by its nature proclaiming, the beginning of a new period
that brings something new in a new sense. We even know mathematically no
progression into periods that would find a destination somewhere; but the concept of
small periods, as we have them for B. in sleep and have guards who install in larger, a
familiar. This consideration leads one to consider death itself as a new life for birth,
which completes an earlier epoch of evolution by beginning a new one. We will talk
about this in a later section.
C. Ask how the existences of the hereafter can undeterred.
What a mess, it will be said, in the hereafter! The spheres of activity which the
different men are hunching around here, all reach out into the same earthly world, and
must therefore meet and intersect with it at all times; How, then, may it be
conceivable that the spiritual existences linked to it at one time still feel separate, and
that they can not be confused?
By the way, we have already encountered this difficulty; but let's take a closer look.
If we do this, we shall soon find that the future does not put us any worse in this
respect than the present; yes, that it has essentially nothing else to bring with it, than
what we already endure without harm, and even have absolutely necessary for
communication with others and for our own further development. But if she does
bring it with her in a slightly different way, it will only bring her new advantages.
For even now, in the narrower bodily system of the human being, the bearer of his
awake consciousness, the wider spheres of action of other people intervene in the
most numerous, complicated, and indeed in an inextricable way. What we hear from
other people, read, experience what is different in us at all, because there are other
people, forms such an intervention of their wider spheres of life in our present
narrower system in the same sense as it later takes place in our further system itself
and is already taking place in the same, while it still does not form the bearer of our
waking consciousness. But instead of our individuality being somehow impaired,
disturbed, blurred, torn by that intervention, our intercourse with others is based
on and we require such intervention for our own further development; each such
intervention enriches us with a new purpose. Now the difference of the future life
from the present is based on nothing else than that, after the elimination of the
narrower spheres of inner action presented by our present bodies, there remains only
the intervention of the other spheres of action which they emit; but there is no longer
any reason why the individualities should lose themselves and be disturbed by this
intervention of the wider spheres, than by the intervention of the wider spheres in the
narrower ones; At that time, that intervention was merely a continuation and
development of this. Rather, this explains itself in the best way, how the connections
and relationships between people, which are connected in this world, can last beyond
into the hereafter and can be spun there with consciousness, since the interlocking
further spheres in the hereafter become bearers of consciousness; yes, how a more
intimate movement of consciousness can thereby awaken in the hereafter than in this
world; while on this side everyone intervenes only with an unconscious spread of his
sphere of life and to a small extent in the other conscious sphere of life, in the
hereafter everyone intervenes with his whole conscious sphere in the other conscious
sphere; and that is why thoughts and feelings can meet there in a more direct way
than here, although there are also limitations of this encounter in the larger mind as
well as in our mind, as discussed earlier. yes, how a more intimate movement of
consciousness can thereby awaken in the hereafter than in this world; while on this
side everyone intervenes only with an unconscious spread of his sphere of life and to
a small extent in the other conscious sphere of life, in the hereafter everyone
intervenes with his whole conscious sphere in the other conscious sphere; and that is
why thoughts and feelings can meet there in a more direct way than here, although
there are also limitations of this encounter in the larger mind as well as in our mind,
as discussed earlier. yes, how a more intimate movement of consciousness can
thereby awaken in the hereafter than in this world; while on this side everyone
intervenes only with an unconscious spread of his sphere of life and to a small extent
in the other conscious sphere of life, in the hereafter everyone intervenes with his
whole conscious sphere in the other conscious sphere; and that is why thoughts and
feelings can meet there in a more direct way than here, although there are also
limitations of this encounter in the larger mind as well as in our mind, as discussed
earlier. In the hereafter, everyone intervenes with his whole conscious sphere in the
other conscious sphere; and that is why thoughts and feelings can meet there in a
more direct way than here, although there are also limitations of this encounter in the
larger mind as well as in our mind, as discussed earlier. In the hereafter, everyone
intervenes with his whole conscious sphere in the other conscious sphere; and that is
why thoughts and feelings can meet there in a more direct way than here, although
there are also limitations of this encounter in the larger mind as well as in our mind,
as discussed earlier.
The picture already asserted with the stone, which ripples in the water, can serve us
well to explain some of the circumstances which come into consideration here.
When the stone is thrown into the pond, the water in the same place fluctuates up
and down several times, rising, descending, and by such oscillation a wave compass
is created which, spreading, passes through the whole pond. Similarly, the narrower
bodily process of man fluctuates up and down, thinking only of sleep and waking,
pulse, breathing, the alternation of rest and motion altogether, and thereby, in partly
visible and partly invisible effects, delicately exorcises fine circles of the earth into
the outer world in its more distant consequences, it will pass through it
completely. It's basically just another form of the image with the violin. So long as
the process of motion at the exit point of the vibration, viz., In the innermost circle of
the pond-wave, is lively, one may easily be led to consider it alone; neglect, even
though they actually exist. Thus we tend to neglect its continuation in the further,
above the narrower bodily process, though such a continuation is in fact factual. In
the meantime, the force of movement is gradually diminishing in the innermost
circle, that of the most primitive excitement, and finally disappearing altogether; then
there remains only the system of the further circles left from there, in which all the
moving force, which was contained in the innermost circle, is still found. Thus, our
further body will be animated by all the life-force that came to the narrower during
his life.
No matter how much stones are thrown into the pond, the wave system extends
around each other as well as that of each other through the whole matter of the pond,
so to speak has the whole pond to the body, like each of us one day the whole
Earth; every point of the pond belongs to all wave systems at the same time, but in
different ways, and to different strength and direction of the movements; all the
movements of the different systems are constantly reconciling with each other at new
points; and yet, each system, on the whole, remains individually distinct from others,
one progressing through the other with unalterable autonomy. But as well as
objectively the whole of these objects, originating from different origins and
composed in the most varied ways, It can be subjective to a sense of self; yes, not
only so well, but if the objective distinction has its obvious limit, we can expect that
the subjective has no limit, since the spheres of activity that will bear our future
existence are systems, each one of them From the outset, even in the present life, in
spite of all interventions of foreign spheres of activity, nothing but himself and what
happens to him from others, feels.
Regardless of every wave system the whole pond belongs to, each one is in a
different local relationship; The starting point of the waves is different for each one,
and so everything that follows from it turns out to be locally different to the
pond. And that's the way it will be with our physicality. The same room will be
common to all of us, but everyone will be in a different relationship.
It is true that the system of effects produced by a person during his life is not as
simple as the system of waves around a stone in a pond; and if we should think that
the systems of action of various men, not only at their beginnings, but also in their
most distant effects, should exist not only the systems of action of all those now
living, but of all those who died earlier, undisturbed, undisturbed with and through
each other in the same world , so dizzy the idea and it seems to her something
impossible to be expected. But nothing real can be impossible; But for such dizzying
ideas, examples of reality can really be cited, which oblige us to recognize their
legitimacy as justified.
First and foremost, it is certain that every wave in the pond, which crosses the first
time with another without disturbance, will cross it undisturbed even after any further
progress and any number of recoilings, that is, in the most distant effects. In this
respect, the effects of fortune can no longer be tolerated, more confusing than the
beginnings. But if experiments were difficult with water, it would prove that the
waves of any number of centers remain undisturbed; Thus, there is no need for even
special experiments with another medium, that of light. The space is crossed by so
many waves of light, as there are visible points in it, that is, of innumerable; and each
of these waves of light intersects not only once in progression, but at each
point, which it traverses, always anew and in a new way with all the other waves of
light, is associated with it, the red with the green, the blue with the yellow, the strong
with the weak waves. Here, too, the notion of this entanglement, and yet every wave
reaches undisturbed, as if it were lonely and alone through a pure, slippery space,
reaches the eye, and draws and paints in relation to the others the correct relations of
the objects therein , It would also be considered impossible if it was not really. Thus,
according to such examples, one may also believe that the systems of effects
emanating from innumerable different people can intersect with innumerable systems
of other effects, without disturbing or confusing oneself. In accordance with,
One might ask: But what applies to waves of water and light that propagate through
a calm, uniform medium can also be transferred to the effects that propagate from
man to the outside world, where each action counteracts other effects in an irregular
manner ; must not all order and all original character be completely disturbed here,
even abolished by the random access of other effects? If a stone falls into an
unrestrained sea, the shape of the waves it produces will not soon be completely
destroyed by the random movements it encounters; her character, her peculiarity will
soon be completely blurred, and an orderly being left over from her?
But this objection is based on false assumptions. The effects of man radiate not into
a world in which it would go off orderlessly, randomly, by chance, which could be
compared to an unrestrained stirred-up sea; but there is an expediency, lawfulness, a
progress toward certain goals in general, which we can quite well recognize on the
whole, when it is too great or too high an order, for us to contribute to the way in
which each one contributes to it , so easily track individually. But by radiating our
effects into the outer world of fully co-operative motions, they can neither interfere
with this lawfulness nor expediency, nor be disturbed in their own legality and
expediency; because both arising, working, Continuity, interplay of action from the
beginning is accounted for in the same general higher lawfulness; our activity as the
moment of the development of the whole must already be included in the law of this
development. Should the impact systems interfere with each other by crossing
them; so, on the whole, what emerges from the crossing should also be visible, and
the more such systems intervened in the course of time, and the further their effects
extended, the more the aberration and confusion would increase. Instead, we see the
world gradually more and more organized, organized, shaped, the scattered
connect; without the individual blurring. Church, state, art, science, commerce are
proofs of such increasing organization, which is in fact a success of the intermeshing
of human spheres of activity, and not only of the spheres of action of the living, but
also of the past. Who can speak of disorder, aberration, confusion? But on the whole
does the error not show why they are looking in detail?
Incidentally, of course, not everything in the picture can be sufficient. Our bodily
process was not awakened by a stone thrown externally into the sea of life, but arose
by a self-shaking, not insensible, not incapable of development, not limited to the
monotony of uniform movements, like the pond-wave; In all these relationships there
will be other consequences for the sphere of activity which our narrow bodily process
is bound to produce, than for the one which the narrowest wave-circle in the pool
spreads around itself.
It does not prevent us from saying anything, since all such expressions are more or
less improper, that we all already have the earth as our common body; she is a body,
and we are all members of this same one body; but every member can count the
whole body to itself; only that it has a different meaning for each, as each has a
different meaning for it; all these meanings are already intersecting for us in the earth,
without disturbing each other. In the meantime, in our present life, there is for every
one but a small part of the earthly body, the closer body of each one, the bearer of
awake consciousness, the rest of the earthly body, and indeed the rest of the world,
stands in a more unconscious relation to it; how even in our narrower body there is a
part, the brain, which is preferably a bearer of awake consciousness, while the rest is
in more unconscious relation to it. With death, however, we gain the whole earth as a
common carrier of our consciousness, and in each case according to the side upon
which he has placed himself here in consciousness relations with him, and these
consciousness relations now develop further.
If the former considerations of the idea expect many unusual things, which
nevertheless look more closely and in fact only enter into the most ordinary processes
of the world. On the other hand, they make things easier for her from the beginning,
which you otherwise find difficult to grasp, and therefore is usually better left
undecided. If one wishes to divide the ever-emerging souls, who pass over into the
succeeding lives, when the body is taken up into space and matter next to each other,
then the difficulty of the Chinese churchyard arises, where (allegedly) the bodies may
only be buried next to each other. Where will the last place be for the living as well as
for the dead? It is said that God will do that. Certainly; only allow him the means to
do so and do not ask him to make two or two five. How is the difficulty of the
Chinese avoided in our churchyards? By always burying the corpses in the same
room, believing that corpses will not be damaged after death. Now our view avoids
the difficulty for the spirits, since it causes them all to awaken into the same space, in
the belief that the spirits will not so much harm one another after death, and instead
of confining space and arguing in which common possession of it will find the best
means for the common use of it. It seems to me that it is a finer idea, instead of
always placing the spirits of the future spatially next to each other, that is to say, to
bind to and limit the clusters of matter lying next to each other,
Let us see that it is quite possible for a unity of the psychic to be connected with a
composition of discrete matter, if only the movements of this matter constitute a
coherent system, as our present body itself proves; but if material discretion does not
hinder psychic unity, psychical discretion can certainly just as well be reversed with
material communality, ie, be one and the same body, the body of the earth, the abode
of several souls, insofar as this body includes different systems of movement at the
same time; because it shows once that material and psychological discretion are not
essentially connected.
D. Question, how can the death of our present body carry with it an awakening
of our future body?
One may ask, what has death in itself, which could one day elevate the further
body, which our narrower one produced around itself, into the bearer of our
consciousness, or awaken it to consciousness, while now slumbering? If this other
body, what we call it, is already regarded as a continuation of the narrower, than
belonging to us, then one wonders why he does not already take part in our conscious
life; or, if this is not really the case, what right is it to suppose that it will be the case
with death, yes, what justifies it to regard it as a continuation of our present
corporeality, somehow meaningful to our souls? The effects that emanate from us
into the world are only felt at the starting point as ours; the one thing we have done
seems lost to us; what it continues to do through its consequences, how it becomes
more and more remote through the consequences of the consequences, what counter-
effects it encounters, touches our consciousness no more or only accidentally, and
then no different than any foreigner. Now, however, our effects and works, with their
effects on the external world to the farthest, are intended to form a continuation of our
present narrow corporeality that is still significant for our spiritual existence. But in
our narrow body we feel what is going on, its changes and the effects of these
changes are not alien to us, not lost, even in their most remote conclusions we always
meet our feelings, make determinations for our consciousness. In that case, our close-
fitting body goes to us, but in what way is our next? what it continues to do through
its consequences, how it becomes more and more remote through the consequences
of the consequences, what counter-effects it encounters, touches our consciousness no
more or only accidentally, and then no different than any foreigner. Now, however,
our effects and works, with their effects on the external world to the farthest, are
intended to form a continuation of our present narrow corporeality that is still
significant for our spiritual existence. But in our narrow body we feel what is going
on, its changes and the effects of these changes are not alien to us, not lost, even in
their most remote conclusions we always meet our feelings, make determinations for
our consciousness. In that case, our close-fitting body goes to us, but in what way is
our next? what it continues to do through its consequences, how it becomes more and
more remote through the consequences of the consequences, what counter-effects it
encounters, touches our consciousness no more or only accidentally, and then no
different than any foreigner. Now, however, our effects and works, with their effects
on the external world to the farthest, are intended to form a continuation of our
present narrow corporeality that is still significant for our spiritual existence. But in
our narrow body we feel what is going on, its changes and the effects of these
changes are not alien to us, not lost, even in their most remote conclusions we always
meet our feelings, make determinations for our consciousness. In that case, our close-
fitting body goes to us, but in what way is our next? as it becomes more and more
remote through the consequences of the consequences, and what reactions and
counter-effects it encounters, our consciousness no longer touches, or only
accidentally, and then no other than every stranger. Now, however, our effects and
works, with their effects on the external world to the farthest, are intended to form a
continuation of our present narrow corporeality that is still significant for our spiritual
existence. But in our narrow body we feel what is going on, its changes and the
effects of these changes are not alien to us, not lost, even in their most remote
conclusions we always meet our feelings, make determinations for our
consciousness. In that case, our close-fitting body goes to us, but in what way is our
next? as it becomes more and more remote through the consequences of the
consequences, and what reactions and counter-effects it encounters, our
consciousness no longer touches, or only accidentally, and then no other than every
stranger. Now, however, our effects and works, with their effects on the external
world to the farthest, are intended to form a continuation of our present narrow
corporeality that is still significant for our spiritual existence. But in our narrow body
we feel what is going on, its changes and the effects of these changes are not alien to
us, not lost, even in their most remote conclusions we always meet our feelings, make
determinations for our consciousness. In that case, our close-fitting body goes to us,
but in what way is our next? and then no different than any stranger. Now, however,
our effects and works, with their effects on the external world to the farthest, are
intended to form a continuation of our present narrow corporeality that is still
significant for our spiritual existence. But in our narrow body we feel what is going
on, its changes and the effects of these changes are not alien to us, not lost, even in
their most remote conclusions we always meet our feelings, make determinations for
our consciousness. In that case, our close-fitting body goes to us, but in what way is
our next? and then no different than any stranger. Now, however, our effects and
works, with their effects on the external world to the farthest, are intended to form a
continuation of our present narrow corporeality that is still significant for our spiritual
existence. But in our narrow body we feel what is going on, its changes and the
effects of these changes are not alien to us, not lost, even in their most remote
conclusions we always meet our feelings, make determinations for our
consciousness. In that case, our close-fitting body goes to us, but in what way is our
next? But in our narrow body we feel what is going on, its changes and the effects of
these changes are not alien to us, not lost, even in their most remote conclusions we
always meet our feelings, make determinations for our consciousness. In that case,
our close-fitting body goes to us, but in what way is our next? But in our narrow body
we feel what is going on, its changes and the effects of these changes are not alien to
us, not lost, even in their most remote conclusions we always meet our feelings, make
determinations for our consciousness. In that case, our close-fitting body goes to us,
but in what way is our next?
In the meantime, what else does our close body care about us even when we no
longer feel anything of what is going on in our sleep? In that sense he still approaches
us, when the sleeping body is a watchful continuation of the waking, which promises
to awaken again. The sleeping one who has come out of the waking man can, after
all, wake up again, and then continues his earlier life. Thus, our further sleeping body
will awaken someday, as a continuation of the same immediately further spun out of
its waking narrower, and be able to continue the life of that from which it has
come. What we see in the succession of our closer physical life, a change from sleep
and waking, why should not this be possible in the juxtaposition of our closer and
further; Why is it not possible for a connection to be as a result of a sleeping and
awake body? which connection promises to turn into a sequence, as long as the
narrower body falls asleep, the more will awake. We have said, of course, that death
is not to be confused with falling asleep, but only with no falling asleep, which only
temporarily lowers the old body to unconsciousness, in order later to awaken it all the
more vigorously; but he may well be regarded as falling asleep, forever lowering the
old body into unconsciousness, in order to re-awaken a sleeping body associated with
it, who had gathered the power to begin his new waking life in his slumber. For
everything that has escaped from power of the old waking body, the new body has
taken in slumber. which connection promises to turn into a sequence, as long as the
taken in slumber. which connection promises to turn into a sequence, as long as the
taken in slumber. We have said, of course, that death is not to be confused with
falling asleep, but only with no falling asleep, which only temporarily lowers the old
body to unconsciousness, in order later to awaken it all the more vigorously; but he
may well be regarded as falling asleep, forever lowering the old body into
unconsciousness, in order to re-awaken a sleeping body associated with it, who had
gathered the power to begin his new waking life in his slumber. For everything that
has escaped from power of the old waking body, the new body has taken in
slumber. We have said, of course, that death is not to be confused with falling asleep,
but only with no falling asleep, which only temporarily lowers the old body to
unconsciousness, in order later to awaken it all the more vigorously; but he may well
be regarded as falling asleep, forever lowering the old body into unconsciousness, in
order to re-awaken a sleeping body associated with it, who had gathered the power to
begin his new waking life in his slumber. For everything that has escaped from power
of the old waking body, the new body has taken in slumber. but he may well be
regarded as falling asleep, forever lowering the old body into unconsciousness, in
of the old waking body, the new body has taken in slumber. but he may well be
regarded as falling asleep, forever lowering the old body into unconsciousness, in
of the old waking body, the new body has taken in slumber.
This seems even more plausible if, in the sense of the idea, instead of merely
considering the abstract circle of our effects and works as our further body, we
conceive of the whole earth apart from ourselves, according to the relation by which
we assimilate ourselves to it or as they conceive the same as a great body of which
we are already members, who belong to us, as we belong to him, only with regard to
the fact that our conscious intervention in it will depend on this its significance for
our conscious hereafter basically all are just different expressions of the same
thing. Then we can look at it as if our present total physical system is composed of
the small, awake, narrow body and the larger, for us sleeping, other body, that of the
rest of the earth; for whatever may be awake in the earth apart from us, for our
worldly consciousness it still sleeps down to the small part which our close body
forms of it. But in death, where our conscious narrow body passes away, this further
body for our consciousness just awakens to the side effects which our conscious life
has produced in it. Everyone, like the other, can already count the earth down here as
his body; it is our common unconscious body here below, and in the hereafter it
becomes our collective body. This is the whole difference. It is no longer necessary to
consider the possibility of this collective possession, which we have done enough in
the past; but it flows from the fact that the consideration we can make for each
individual person in particular does not cause any error,
But, one can reply, does the assumption of such a relationship that one part of our
bodily sleep now, while the other is watching at the same time, have something of
their own? In the present sleep of our narrow body, which must be based on our
views of sleep, the whole body at any rate falls asleep at once and awakens again at
once; Here, however, the whimsical state is assumed that the physical system sleeps
for one part, according to the narrower internal, and at the same time for another, as
belonging to the outer outer one. Where is there something in the present life, what
would be the case for such a possibility?
In the meantime, when examples are demanded that part of a body can be awake
and partly sleep, there is indeed no lack of it in our narrower body ; One need only
not turn to the word sleep, which in common usage is only used for the total
disappearance of consciousness and for a particular form of shrinkage, and insofar as
it can not of course be applied to partial obscurations of consciousness; but to
envisage the differently designated thing which comes into consideration here, to
which it may meanwhile be, in the meantime, to convey the word sleep in an
improper generalizing sense, in order to emphasize some relationships more easily.
When one looks at an object with the fullest attention, he hears as much as anything
of what is going on around him, feels nothing of the state of warmth and coldness of
his skin; Hunger, thirst silent for the moment; All real reflection is extinguished,
provided only that it sinks as purely as possible into sensuous intuition; in short, his
consciousness is awake to a considerable degree only in relation to the activities
which have their preferential appearance in the eye and what is connected with it in
the brain, and what we may sum up in its entirety as an eye, without, however, merely
the external one Eye to mine. In any case, there really is a special part in us that
preferably serves to prevent others from seeing, as we see as well as before, When the
leg, arm, nose, and ear are cut off, some parts of the brain are destroyed, but not when
the outer eye, optic nerve, or the parts of the brain in which it is rooted, are
destroyed. Here, therefore, we have, in fact, a part awake to consciousness in a
relatively sleeping body at the moment. Now it is true, the sleep of the rest of the
narrower body is not so deep as we accept it from our wider body; it is not even so
deep as our ordinary sleep; An overall impression, while we look at something
attentively, asserts itself also from what otherwise affects us; he is not as firm as the
sleep of our other body, every violent noise, a pinprick, etc. interrupts him; but for it
already for our narrower body the manifold degrees of relativity and partiality in this
respect, from death's sleep or illusion to ordinary sleep; from the ecstatic immersion
into a sensation, where everything in us, except for a small sphere, sleeps deeply, to a
distraction, where we are attentive to everything and nothing, there is nothing to
hinder the further body itself under the category of this relativity and, if we never
perceive a sign of awakening in him in the afterlife, to seek in him the extreme depth
and firmness of sleep. Moreover, the sleep of our further body may not even be
absolutely deep, as will be shown; and if the whole or partial sleep of the narrower
body can be interrupted by a pinprick, so, of course, he can be interrupted by a stab,
which lets us awaken to the other life. The stitch just has to go a little deeper, because
the sleep is a little deeper. Once there was a time for each of our parts where he still
felt nothing, or we did not feel anything by it, his senses were still slumbering. The
whole time before birth is one in which the whole narrower body was asleep, our
present life is the time during which the whole other body still sleeps for us; but
every moment can supplement the conditions to the extent that it awakens for the first
time, as our close body has awakened for the first time, in which we can die at any
moment. The stitch just has to go a little deeper, because the sleep is a little
deeper. Once there was a time for each of our parts where he still felt nothing, or we
did not feel anything by it, his senses were still slumbering. The whole time before
birth is one in which the whole narrower body was asleep, our present life is the time
during which the whole other body still sleeps for us; but every moment can
supplement the conditions to the extent that it awakens for the first time, as our close
body has awakened for the first time, in which we can die at any moment. The stitch
just has to go a little deeper, because the sleep is a little deeper. Once there was a time
for each of our parts where he still felt nothing, or we did not feel anything by it, his
senses were still slumbering. The whole time before birth is one in which the whole
narrower body was asleep, our present life is the time during which the whole other
body still sleeps for us; but every moment can supplement the conditions to the extent
that it awakens for the first time, as our close body has awakened for the first time, in
which we can die at any moment. The whole time before birth is one in which the
whole narrower body was asleep, our present life is the time during which the whole
other body still sleeps for us; but every moment can supplement the conditions to the
extent that it awakens for the first time, as our close body has awakened for the first
time, in which we can die at any moment. The whole time before birth is one in
which the whole narrower body was asleep, our present life is the time during which
the whole other body still sleeps for us; but every moment can supplement the
conditions to the extent that it awakens for the first time, as our close body has
awakened for the first time, in which we can die at any moment.
If we take a closer look, we find that there is even a part in our closer body which,
although belonging to us, is almost as constant, if not quite as deep in the darkness of
the unconscious, as we are want from our wider body.
Who will not count his abdomen, his stomach, his bowels to his body? but what
does he feel about the changes in it? If he swallowed a plum kernel or some other
bite, he still feels in the top of the pit how it slides down, whether it is big, small,
rough, soft, hard, pointed, slippery, cold, hot; He does not feel any more of all this, no
more; The stomach writhes, winds itself around the bite, moves it back and forth,
sucks it up, drives it out, blocks its way back; all this is done by a part of the body
which we call ours; and yet we do not feel any of this activity. And so we generally
do not notice anything, either from the particular changes in our digestive system, nor
vascular system, not the wonderful play of the heart, not the pulse that pervades our
whole body. Everything that happens according to the ordinary views under the rule
of the so-called ganglia system is withdrawn from our waking consciousness, if not
lost at the same time, for a general contribution to our sense of community, life-
feeling always takes place from this side, indeed, this has its chief cause
therein. Thus, above, we can already divide even our narrow body into two parts, one
within which consciousness wanders, alternately watching over time and space (brain
and sensory sphere), and another, into which it does not enter, for it sleeps
constantly. What hinders watching the changes in our wider body from a very similar
point of view, as in our closer are the which fall into the sphere of the ganglia
system? In fact, nothing new is required for the other body to sleep in the same
way; and if this seems new, that he should awake at one time, as the ganglia system
can not, other parts of man may sleep and sleep alternately, and even in the ganglia
sphere, or whatever one may expect4) , sometimes there is a kind of awakening,
which I come to immediately.
4) There is still great uncertainty about the divorce of the brain or cerebrospinal and ganglia spheres in
physiology, which, however, we do not have to worry about here.
The difference between waking and sleeping parts is, as we have already said, no
stricter nor absolute; even what we call unconscious, or for consciousness, sleeping,
is therefore not without influence on consciousness, not confused with
unconsciousness; there is nothing in it for consciousness, but merges into a general
influence. Who walks in a beautiful area and thinks deeply, do not know what birds
sing about him, what kind of trees he meets; the sun warms and shines; he does not
think about it; but his soul is different, as if he were sitting in the dark, cold room,
considering it the same; indeed the environments themselves will have an influence
on the form and liveliness of his train of thought; therefore, all that unconscious is not
without influence in its consciousness, is called unconscious only because it does not
separate itself for consciousness according to special determinations. We have
already considered this elsewhere. As it is here temporarily with our brain and mind
sphere, with our ganglia sphere it is always or almost always. The changes that take
place in it, and which we call unconscious, are therefore not without influence on our
consciousness. How we digest how our blood runs affects our physical well-being,
even the form and course of our thinking. Everything that goes on in the cycle and
nutritional process, though not differentiated, contributes, in connection with the
other, to the essential, indeed the main, aspect of our general attitude to life; but this
enters into all the determinations of our consciousness itself as a basic moment, thus
forms what the particular determinations of consciousness first raise, only that in
itself, as a rule, nothing is distinguished. But it suffices that an excitement in the
sphere of the ganglion system is asserted in an abnormal manner, the stomach
becomes inflamed or convulsively affected, the heart contract strongly; so too can
particular changes be very lively in pain, anxiety, and so on. to become
conscious; though never too clear, as changes in the sphere of the brain system. Now
we can look again at our wider body in the outer world from the point of view of the
same relativity. We can believe that even though his changes are not without
influence on our consciousness, but that in the normal course of life this influence is
much more absorbed in the general sense of life and life, and more difficult to realize
in particular determinations, than the influence of the changes which take place in the
sphere of our ganglia system. If such an influence, which we unconsciously feel, and
therefore do not believe, could ever be omitted, we should notice that it is there
now; As you would expect to taste the salt in the quite salted food, but tastes good, if
it is missing. But this influence can no more vanish on the part of the wider body than
on the part of the sphere of the ganglia system, of which we also accept what it does
for us in all our determinations of consciousness, without paying particular attention
to it. yes, almost without believing. If, however, particularly strong excitements and
disturbances in the sphere of the ganglion system can assert themselves in our
consciousness through special, more or less definite or indeterminate sensations, then
we shall have to expect such cases even more rarely for our further body, since it is
even deeper sleeps for our consciousness. If these are exceptional cases, then these
will have to be even rarer exceptions. Nevertheless, it may be demanded that they are
not altogether absent in order to have only some direct proof of the psychic affiliation
of the other body we suppose. If we can assert more or less definite or indefinite
sensations, then we shall have to expect such cases even more seldom for our further
body, since it sleeps even more deeply for our consciousness. If these are exceptional
cases, then these will have to be even rarer exceptions. Nevertheless, it may be
demanded that they are not altogether absent in order to have only some direct proof
of the psychic affiliation of the other body we suppose. If we can assert more or less
definite or indefinite sensations, then we shall have to expect such cases even more
seldom for our further body, since it sleeps even more deeply for our
consciousness. If these are exceptional cases, then these will have to be even rarer
exceptions. Nevertheless, it may be demanded that they are not altogether absent in
order to have only some direct proof of the psychic affiliation of the other body we
suppose.
Perhaps this desire can not be fulfilled; but it is certain that as long as certain
phenomena, doubtless considered by many to doubt, can not prove to be decidedly
erroneous, one can not say that there are no signs of what is required. Rarely can they
be only after the previous considerations; and indeed they are rare, and it is precisely
because of this rarity and the impossibility of attributing it to known phenomena of
our narrow corporeality that we have always been suspicious of their legitimacy; In
our view, however, we find the explanatory principle for this rarity of the fact and the
fact at the same time, in which we recognize the trace of an abnormal awakening of
our further body, the way that changes that otherwise become completely
unconscious,
I will give some examples that will show what I mean; By the way, leave it to everyone, as he
does with all this class of facts, to accept them or not; as they come to our teaching, but are not a
necessary support of them.
A young lady known to me, of otherwise cheerful nature, the daughter of one of my
colleagues, in whose story I can not put the slightest doubt on her thoroughly reliable character,
came to prepare for a family reunion, where everything was cheerful about her, and without having
the slightest reason to cry into an inexplicable fear of which she did not leave herself, she cried out
from society and could not calm herself. Soon after came the news that a distant relative to whom
she had been very attached had died at the same time from an accident.
The following examples I take from other writers:
Lichtenberg relates in his estate: "Once in my youth I lay in bed at 11 o'clock in the evening
and woke up very bright, for I had just laid myself down, and suddenly I was overcome by a fear of
fire, which I could hardly restrain It seemed to me that I felt a rising warmth on my feet, as if from a
nearby fire, and at that moment the storm-bell began to beat and it burned, but not in my room, but
in a rather distant house "As far as I can remember now, never told, because I did not want to take
the trouble to protect her by assurances against the ridiculousness she seems to have and against the
philosophical degradation of some of the present." (Seer of Prevorst II, p.
"Once upon a time, late in the night, a wealthy landowner felt compelled to send food to a
poor family in his neighborhood, so why ask his people, should it not be until the daytime
tomorrow? - No, said the Lord, it still has to happen today: the man did not know how urgently his
benefit was for the inhabitants of the poor hut, where the householder, the provider and
breadwinner, suddenly became ill, the mother was frail, The children have been crying for bread in
vain since yesterday, and the youngest was close to starvation, and all at once the need was
satisfied. " - "Thus another gentleman, who, if I am not mistaken, lived in Silesia, was disturbed in
his nocturnal rest by the irresistible impulse, go down to the garden. He rises from the camp, goes
down, the inner urge leads him out, through the back door of the garden into the field, and here he
comes just in time to become the savior of a miner who, when getting out of the drive (Leiter He
had slipped out of the bucket with coal, which his son had just pulled up by the wind, but could no
longer cope alone with the increased burden. "-" A venerable clergyman in England also felt one
time, still By late night, he had been forced to visit a melancholy friend who lived quite a distance
from him. As tired as he is by the labors and efforts of the day, he can not resist the urge; He's on
the way, is indeed called as called to his poor friend, for he was just about to end his life by his own
hand, and was saved by the visit and the comforting persuasion of his nocturnal guest for ever out
of this danger "-" Professor Bohmer in Marburg felt at one time, since he was in a comfortable
company, internally forced to go home and move his bed from the place where it stood, to
another. When this happened, the inner turmoil subsided, and he was able to return to society. But
during the night, when he sleeps in the place now chosen for his bed, the ceiling collapsed over the
part of the room where his deposit was formerly. "(Schubert, Der Spiegel der Natur, p. To put an
end to his life by his own hand, and was saved by the visit and the comforting persuasion of his
nocturnal guest forever out of danger "-" Professor Böhmer in Marburg felt once, since he was in
cozy company, internally stocky, after To go home and move his bed from the place where it stood
to another. When this happened, the inner turmoil subsided, and he was able to return to society. But
part of the room where his deposit was formerly. "(Schubert, Der Spiegel der Natur, p. To put an
end to his life by his own hand, and was saved by the visit and the comforting persuasion of his
nocturnal guest forever out of danger "-" Professor Böhmer in Marburg felt once, since he was in
cozy company, internally stocky, after To go home and move his bed from the place where it stood
to another. When this happened, the inner turmoil subsided, and he was able to return to society. But
part of the room where his deposit was formerly. "(Schubert, Der Spiegel der Natur, p. and was
saved by the visit and the comforting persuasion of his nocturnal guest forever out of this danger "-"
Professor Böhmer in Marburg felt once, since he was in cozy company, internally forced to go
home and here his bed from the place where it stood to move away to another. When this happened,
the inner turmoil subsided, and he was able to return to society. But during the night, when he
sleeps in the place now chosen for his bed, the ceiling collapsed over the part of the room where his
deposit was formerly. "(Schubert, Der Spiegel der Natur, p. and was saved by the visit and the
comforting persuasion of his nocturnal guest forever out of this danger "-" Professor Böhmer in
Marburg felt once, since he was in cozy company, internally forced to go home and here his bed
from the place where it stood to move away to another. When this happened, the inner turmoil
subsided, and he was able to return to society. But during the night, when he sleeps in the place now
chosen for his bed, the ceiling collapsed over the part of the room where his deposit was formerly.
"(Schubert, Der Spiegel der Natur, p. away to another. When this happened, the inner turmoil
"(Schubert, Der Spiegel der Natur, p. away to another. When this happened, the inner turmoil
"(Schubert, Der Spiegel der Natur, p.
Suffice it to these examples, which could easily collect more.
All this can be explained as coincidence or poetry, and I do not claim that such narratives in
the sense of exact research are to be regarded as reliable in all directions. But it could not be
coincidence, it could not all be invented and fooled; and in many cases it does not look like it. And
so one will always be unable to say that it is absolutely clear that man everywhere draws sensations
out of his own body in the ordinary way, for in all these cases a special destiny of consciousness
took place through something lying far outside the narrower body.
It may be remarked here that the events mostly concerned something which was particularly
close to the ancestor and his sphere of influence, the danger or distress of an expensive relative or
persons to whom the helper was indisputably accustomed to help; So really something that was very
special in the particular sphere of the person concerned. Also, it was always particularly strong,
urgent occasions, which caused the idea; as in the sphere of our ganglia system, anxiety and pain
are manifested as special feelings only in the case of particularly strong suggestions.
Of course, the cases of far-sightedness and the related foresight of the somnambulists, which
were mentioned earlier, can also be brought here. I will add a few remarks about this later.
The above has merely been intended to show that the assumption of a deep sleep of
our further body during the present life with the possibility of the former awakening
not only does not contradict the facts of this present life, but finds support in it
itself. Now let's take a closer look at the question of why he is still asleep right now,
and what death can bring with it, which awakens him. For this only a more specific
approach to the legality of the same facts will be necessary, which has already guided
us in the preceding.
We find that there is an antagonistic relation between the wakefulness of various
organs in our closer body, so that the relative wakefulness of one part is associated
with a relative sleep of others for the consciousness. Yes, this seems to be a law that
is general and deeply grounded in the nature of our organism. The preferential
awakening of a part may in such a way itself be a cause of others falling asleep
relatively, and falling asleep of a part as a reason for others to begin to awaken
relatively. On the condition that one begins to be an eye, one's consciousness
absorbed, as it were, by the activity of that organ, he falls asleep to the ear and other
sensory organs; and as he ceases to be all eye,
Suppose, then, what lies in the natural consequence of our view that this law, which
is especially valid for our narrower body, is also valid for the whole system of our
narrower and wider body, so does the falling asleep of the narrower body itself
become one Have disposition for the awakening of the other, indeed the same really
need to be relatively more awake than before. But in ordinary life, the falling asleep
of the narrower body is not so deep that the other, who still sleeps disproportionately
lower, could be greatly awakened. (Traces of it, of the nature of the earlier noticed,
especially in pre-existent dreams, but really show more often, and would probably
show more often, if we remember more remembered by our dreams.) But now the
deepest, There is no awakening of the awakening sleep of our narrower body to
death, where all consciousness of it is wholly and irretrievably lost. But this must be
the strongest condition for awakening in the wider body. What seems to us to be the
destruction of our whole system, is thereafter merely a complete abandonment of its
part of the life-activity which carries consciousness, and the continual transference of
consciousness to the other. If we want, we can really take this as the soul's journey
into another body; but basically it is only the awakening of another part of the body
which we already have, to the consciousness, as we often see in the life of the
narrower body within it itself. In truth, the soul never leaves its body in such a way;
It can be said, but destruction of the narrower body is not falling asleep. In the
meantime, experience itself teaches that the same laws apply as far as they are
concerned for us here. The only difference is that a person who has fallen asleep can,
on awakening, grasp the consciousness, so to speak, a destroyed one; the eye, which
is sleeping now, because perhaps another sense or thoughts are actively engaged, can
once again gain the power of authority. But when the eye is destroyed, it can never be
the case again. Rather, other sensory organs are becoming more and more active, ear
and fingers are beginning to replace the eye; Consciousness, which had previously
alternated between employment through the changes of the eye and the other senses,
as it were, now turns exclusively to the latter. I need, by dividing the consciousness
u. speak some palpable expressions for fact that may be capable of very subtle
observation, but it is simply a matter of labeling the fact. And they are enough for
that.
In the previous considerations, we sought principally, through the actual conditions
of partial sleep and waking (what we called them), to justify and explain in our
narrower body corresponding relations in the whole system of our narrower and
wider body , from the point of view that they are in the laws of our narrower body
reflect only in a special way more general laws of our entire body, of which the
narrower is only a part. But also the conditions of the actual or full sleep and wake of
our narrow body give Anhalt to appropriate explanations.
As the life of our inner body divides itself in time into an epoch of waking and
sleeping, so the whole system of our body in simultaneity divides into a waking and a
sleeping part. That narrower body, this one the other. That's how we've already
presented it. But this sleeping further body itself arose only because all the effects
which formerly contributed to the awakening in our inner body sink into sleep, as
they go beyond it; and all finally come out over it. The whole worldly waking man
goes to sleep gradually in the wider body. As good as the narrower body of the short
day's sleep into which he falls periodically, he wakes again, if he has collected
enough energy for the new awakening, either by the natural means of life-course, or
awakened by force, the further body awakens from the longer life-sleep into which he
has sunk, when, after the natural establishment of human life, he has gathered enough
strength for the awakening into the new life, or is forcibly awakened into the new
life. And hereby the whole person of the previous life awakens again. In any case, at
the moment when the closer body becomes incapable of intensifying it further with
new moments which may once serve consciousness, the further body awakens by
natural or violent death; and in general (by which this consideration is connected with
the previous one) the further body with the narrower body stands in such an
antagonistic connection that the deeper the narrower body sinks below the threshold
of consciousness, the more disposition to the awakening of the further arises, in
abnormal cases a temporary partial awakening of the other body may well take place
even if the narrower body only partially falls asleep very deeply, but only then can a
full and irretrievable awakening of the other body occur. when the reawakening of the
narrower has become impossible in all its parts and sides. If now the sleep of the
other body was much deeper in the present life than that of the narrower one, his
wake will be correspondingly much brighter in the new life, and when everything in
the wider body has gone to sleep, which has ever been watched closely, everything
becomes beyond What has ever gone to sleep here, awake again. Although this is not
to be understood, as if, on the awakening of the other body, we were suddenly to
become conscious again of all that had gradually passed through the consciousness of
our narrower body; only part of the general possibility of reconnecting it with its
progress, and partly the general impression of it will be given. Consciousness will
undoubtedly wander in a similar way in our wider body and the world of memories
comprehended and grounded in it, as in our narrower bodies now and in the small
world of memories which is understood and grounded here, only with brighter ones
larger radius suddenly clear light, larger steps, greater ease and freedom, greater
objectivity and reality of appearing than consciousness now converts through the
circle of memories at its command; and even if not everything in individual pieces
will suddenly be counted in the otherworldly consciousness, which has counted out in
consciousness on one side, yet the whole conclusion, the whole weight, the whole
value of our previous life content becomes one and all at once in the consciousness.5)
5) The seer of Prevorst says: "In this moment (of full death) the past life is also present to the spirit in a number
and a word, and is at the place of its destination according to that number and word."
Since in this subject we are reminded vividly of the phenomena and conditions of
somnambulism, and indeed a sort of theory of this is based on the preceding
considerations, I here take the opportunity to say a few words about the relation
which in general concerns so many Pages ungrained between the presupposed states
of the hereafter and the states of sleep as described, imposed, not only us, but the
various observers and performers has imposed, even the somnambulists seem to
impose on their own, if they very often claim that reference.
Schubert comments on the subject in the following way:
whose eyes are tightly closed, an inner life that transforms the features of pain or indifferent
rest into those of delight and awakening consciousness. In fact, such an appearance often has that
appearance which the moments of supreme excitement spread over the face of man, or equals the
transfiguration, which sometimes, in the last hour of life, rises above the face of the dying. "
"Now the body is still more than in the deepest sleep, yes sometimes so much as in the
stubbornness and the apparent death, after the direction, in which otherwise the brain on the sensory
organs and members, and this backwards on the brain, paralyzed and bound It already shows the
position and the appearance, which, like a dead eyelid staring eyeball, an observer who forcibly
pulls the eyelids of the magnetically sleeping man from one another, that the assurance of such
sleepers is founded, according to which they are not with this ordinary eye The complete numbness
of the somnambulists against all voices, no matter how loud, except that of the magnetizer and other
magnetically connected beings, also proves that the usual way of hearing does not occur in
them,and so it is with the activity of all other senses. "(Schubert, Gesch. d. Seele. II. p. 39 f.)
Justinus Kerner says: "And so you see, my dear, the magnetic man, while he is still bound to
the body and thus to the world of the senses, with prolonged sensory threads sticking out into a
world of spirits, and from this to you Such an endeavor, such a pervading into a world of spirits, we
see more or less in all magnetic men, but in this our case (seer of Prevost) in such an excellent
degree that no such is yet known . " (Justinus Kerner, seer of Prevorst II, p. 6.)
Let us suppose that it is at least partly so with the states of somnambulism, as it is reported,
that the explanation may be that the partial very deep fall asleep of certain spheres of the narrower
body, especially of the whole external sensory sphere, which takes place everywhere in
somnambulists, antagonistically carries with it a partial awakening of the wider body, and that the
boundless perceptions thereby gained become communicable into this world, that the clairvoyant
still roars through a side of the narrower body in the wakefulness of this world (since he yes
otherwise could not talk to us). Instead of allowing death to completely fall asleep or even fall
asleep, allowing somebody to wake up completely, somnambulism would allow the narrower body
to fall asleep only partially, only partially awaken the others; and so we now have a system which
according to its waking side belonged half to this world, half to the other world; Of course, no one
was right, and therefore the services that belonged to both of them could not be carried out quite
well. There is no doubt about this world; but it would now also explain how the achievements that
actually belong to the hereafter can only be exercised disturbed, incomplete, and clouded. The
clairvoyant somnambulist can no longer find himself in the present life; he does not see some things
that others see; he sees some things that others do not see; he sees and feels things differently than
they see and feel others; because already a way of seeing and feeling plays into his present
life, which is actually no longer a matter of life now. But the reverse is also true; as in many ways
he no longer finds himself right in this state of affairs, so he does not find himself right in the
otherworldly state; he regards everything more or less with the spectacles of the present life; sees
everything more or less from narrow points of view on this earth, which for the hereafter have no
more truth or gain any other meaning; Imaginations of the after-life mingle and confuse all the more
easily with realities of the future life, as memories and fantasies themselves will develop a more
real significance for the hereafter than they have here, although a real existence in the hereafter will
only attain to the extent they are are compatible with those of the other spirits.
As is well known, memory passes from the ordinary waking state to the somnambulistic,
while the reverse does not hold. Rather, upon awakening from the somnambulistic state, all memory
of that state has gone out. Thus, it may be said, the remembrance of the state of the earth will pass
over into the otherworldly, but there is no way to reflect backwards the otherworldly state of
consciousness into this worldly remembrance. He who is completely dead remains completely dead,
and what is done and conceived in the somnambulistic state remains dead for his worldly
remembrance; while the awakening to the afterlife probably will bring it to life again.
I am, in fact, inclined to understand the wonderful phenomena of somnambulism from this
point of view, as far as they are right at all, for which I leave the border indeterminate; because the
whole of these phenomena is best settled for me.
To be sure, it seems much simpler, the peculiarly modified and in some respects increased
perceptive faculties of the somnambulistic, which is generally denied anywhere, an antagonistic
increase merely this or that ordinary sense, this or that sphere of brain activity at the time of falling
asleep to explain the rest; and so it generally happens of those who acknowledge the strange, but not
the wonderful, of the phenomena of somnambulism (eg, by Forbes in a small, in itself very
noteworthy writing); but it does not explain the peculiar phenomena of clairvoyance, if some of
them should remain correct; Also, all somnambulists, so far as have expressed themselves, testify
concurrently, that their perceptions, even of the environment, do not occur in the ordinary sense-
path. And that seems to me to have some weight in comparison with the rather forced proof that it
can still be done in such a way. But after the somnambulists themselves it does not take place in
such a way, and the inner experience must mean more here than the external one. Of course, I
suppose that not all somnambulists are liars, which of course are all certain, who are the first to lie
to the somnambulistic state; but also all really somnambulists? That would be a strong
assumption. The general agreement of the same in the point in question (while often differing very
much in other respects), proves even against the general lie, if not all should be the repetition of one
and the same fundamental lie;
A mother did not want to give her child anything to eat, claiming that she had a stomachache,
as she was more likely to have an appetite. The child could only appeal to his invisible inner feeling
and to the fact that he would not speak of appetite if he did not have it; the mother, however,
experimentally proved his stomachache by feeling it externally on his stomach; and so she was
right. Thus, through external experiments, we see that the somnambules see, hear, in spite of
themselves affirming the contrary, and we are right, because the somnambules can prove as little as
the child outwardly what they feel inwardly.
In the meantime, we always confess that deliberate delusions in this area can be self-
deceptions, bad observations, inadequate portrayals, exaggerations, concealments, after-effects,
involuntary adjustments in the sense of preconceived views on the part of the observers and
somnambulists themselves, and all this is indisputable big, critically unfortunately inextricable
game driven here. In any case, one does not want to accept new miracles until the principles that
have so far guided us correctly in the explanation of the ancient wonder-world of nature, let us
completely in the lurch. Here are external and internal reasons enough, which rightly determine the
exact researcher, to regard the whole area of these wonderful phenomena with strong
doubts, although in my opinion they can not entitle him to anything more. Surely not all gold is
what is spent in this area for it; but there would hardly be so much counterfeit and false gold, if not
a little real. This view of the matter which gives full justice to doubt and even indefinitely shares it
is, in any case, the reason why I am always concerned with this field, and, as far as our doctrine is
concerned, it is not proper Prop may look for it in this.6)On the contrary, I am only seeking this
search in clear facts and points of view, which are taken from the wakefulness of this world, and are
again used for this purpose, but at the same time serve to guide us beyond it. But this justification of
our doctrine itself leads to points of reference to that area, the consideration of which was all the
less evident, as the probability of the doubted phenomena itself grows by relying on their
jurisdiction in a world other than the worldly realm of being through the laws of this worldly one To
be guided by one's own self, and to be able to keep an abnormal overlap between the two in each
other according to their connection. When in normal condition only the liver secretes bile, in
abnormal states (jaundice) also the skin does it, only weaker and less complete, Thus, what happens
in the normal state only in the hereafter, can happen in the abnormal state imperfectly in this
world; if the connection between the hereafter and this world is at least as organically intimate as
that of two areas in our body. But then, conversely, if the demands that we make of the hereafter
show something really fulfilled in abnormal states of this world, then we can no longer doubt the
possible fulfillment of these demands for the hereafter, and the doctrine, which makes these
demands, in turn, thereby gains in probability. Thus, two dubious and dark regions are able to
contribute mutually to their support and explanation, as two crooked bars hold each other by their
leaning against each other.
Irrespective of the conflicting theoretical interest, I find myself all the more
6)
compelled to stand still on the standpoint of objective doubt as to the wonders

of somnambulism, since my own, though not very extensive, experiences favor
a mood in this direction. A somnambule (the Hempel), which caused a stir in
Dresden for a while, gave me the opportunity (during about 8 days) to make
various observations and examinations on this subject; but I must confess I
have received only negative results. No sample succeeded; although she
volunteered for the rehearsals, and her magnetizer (Dr. N.) responded with
great courtesy, recalling, however, that the power of clairvoyance was not
always equally assured. She guessed correctly, what her magnetizer did to my
order in the other room, nor what was contained in sealed packages that were
put into her hand, nor what the distant patient lacked, about whose conditions I
questioned her; although her main occupation was to provide information about
the suffering and healing of distant patients; she did not even guess at the
wound I happened to have on my arm when I asked her about his condition
after I took her in rapport with her. In the process, I convinced myself that
others who consulted her about the conditions of distant patients often helped
her on her own, and that there was a great predisposition in her surroundings to
seek and to grasp everything that was true in her statements, or the appearance
of true would have, but to ignore the inaccuracy, so that the reports touching
upon it seem to contain many wonderful things, some things may indeed be
wonderful; only myself could not state anything. She also saw angels and made
wanderings through the stars, but what she reported about them were
absurdities. I can not doubt that it was a real somnambulist here; the peasant-
girl, who looked very ordinary in the waking state, assumed in the
somnambulistic state a kind of transfigured appearance, showed a nobler
expression in speaking, especially a great fluency in rhyming, and altogether a
very different being than in the ordinary waking condition; Circumstances that,
after all, seemed very strange to me, so that I,
Also in the simple facts rich document by Siemers: Experiences on the life
magnetism, Hamb. In 1835, the most varied cases are cited (pp. 148, 149, 161,
168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 189, 192, 193, 196, 274 et seq.) That somnambules
partly agree with regard to the evaluation of the morbid condition their own,
partly others, as well as in predictions and distant views erred; while other
things were remarkably true.
As little as the previous negative experiences speak in favor of the miraculous
phenomena of somnambulism and would justify an uncritical belief in them,
yet so many negative experiences may on the other hand be enough to
invalidate the probative force, if they are of the kind that one really does to be
able to hold something by that; However, I can not avoid attaching as much
weight as possible to some experiences of others in this respect, at least
subjectively, rather than to my own negatives, even though I can not yet find
exact objective proof of them. But how difficult is it ever to lead one that meets
old requirements; how difficult even in physics; Much now everyday has had
to wait for millennia, let alone in a naturally fluctuating area.
Many somnambulists (like the writers quoted in many passages in p. 242), by
the way, concede the great ease of delusions in the somnambulistic state, while
insisting that there is also a true far-sightedness and foresight, which are the
ordinary limits of this world passes, in increased degrees of this state.
The changes between the headquarters of our consciousness, even during our
lifetime, are fast in our inner circle, without boring transitions. From the attentive use
of the eye to the attentive use of the ear we usually pass not by slow, but brief
mediation; two very different states follow each other almost abruptly. Likewise, it
takes only one moment for the sleep of the narrower body to turn into guards, and
vice versa. When, in death, consciousness passes from the narrower body to the other
through a similar rapid change, the sleep of the other body hereby changes into
guards; Thus, this only occurs under laws which we can follow in our life and life
ourselves.
In the meantime, all that we borrow from the contemplation of the small changes
and turning points that are taking place in our present life and present narrower body,
is not so meaningful and valuable for the support of our view as what we perceive
from a similar great rapid change and turning point, as death itself may be, at the
beginning of life; for one must concede that on the whole our life flows in a river in
which all the manifold changes are almost negligibly small against the total
revolution of all conditions and conditions which must suddenly occur with the
awakening to the future being; and it may seem daring to suppose that such a thing
could happen to us without destroying us, if we had no example of it yet. But if
something like this has already happened to us without danger, yes, with profit, then
it can go a second time. This leads us to the considerations of the following section.
XXV. Analogies of death with birth.
It is birth which has given to every man the example of a sudden revolution of all
his relationships, of the apparent demolition of all his previous conditions of life. But
at the same time it has given him the example that, if that means to end a life, at the
same time it means to start a new life on a higher level. All human beings already
lead a second life, evolved by a violent event from an earlier, lower, more imperfect
one. A single revolution, instead of contradicting a second, promises but rather
such. Thus, nature builds one limb of the plant over the other with intervening knots,
each higher rises from the lower and surpasses the lower; and so she builds one level
of human life over the other with intervening nodes; each later rises from the lower
and exceeds the lower one.
We ordinarily regard birth and death as opposites in their meaning, and must, of
course, hold them for so long as we consider, as usual, only the side of our now-life,
that of birth, the side of awakening to new life, of Death the side of the extinction of
the old one; and it is no wonder that we pretend that we stand between them. But
when the birth has its backside in the downfall of an earlier life, death will also be
able to have its front in the rising of a new life. But hereby, birth and death, of such
opposite meaning as they appear to us for our present life, assume an analogous
meaning for our whole life. In both, an earlier life is extinguished, a new one just
wakes up because the former goes out,
In truth, why should we fear our death more than the child's birth, since the child in
no way had less to fear his birth than we did our death? The child knows as little as
we do what it will gain in the new life; no bridge is yet there to know anything about
it; it only feels that it loses at the moment of birth, and at first it seems that it loses
everything. From the warm womb, from which it sucked all living conditions, it is
suddenly torn out; All the organs through which it was related to the mother's body
drew food from it (velamenta and placenta) are cruelly torn apart, and soon decay as
well as our bodies rot in death, indeed they wither before birth, like our bodies in old
age withered and thereby prepare the birth itself; most certainly the child may not be
born without pain, as we usually go over with pain into the other life. But the very
death of part of his system is linked to the independent awakening of another part to
life, the part which was formerly less the impelling than the driven-out, the
awakening to a new, brighter, freer life. Thus the death of one part of our total system
will carry with it the awakening of another part, which is now less the impelling than
the driven-out; the awakening to a new, brighter, freer life. which used to be less the
impelling than the driven, the awakening to a new, brighter, freer life. Thus the death
of one part of our total system will carry with it the awakening of another part, which
is now less the impelling than the driven-out; the awakening to a new, brighter, freer
life. which used to be less the impelling than the driven, the awakening to a new,
brighter, freer life. Thus the death of one part of our total system will carry with it the
awakening of another part, which is now less the impelling than the driven-out; the
awakening to a new, brighter, freer life.
Whether the child's educational process is accompanied by sensuous, instinctive
feelings is understandably neither provable nor deniable by experience, since, if such
were present, a memory of it would reach even less into present life than from the
first states after birth into old age, because a purely sensual existence does not include
any memory. But however that may be, such feelings could (at most) be linked to the
manner in which the organs are expressed and formed; but the child, before birth, can
not feel the eyes, ears, arms, legs, which it produces from the germ as its own, as
after birth, because it does not need it just as it is. They are just as present as our
works for us, like works that have become unfamiliar, Educational products for the
same thing, which, while always augmenting it with new adulterations, continues to
elaborate, as it now happens with us from the circle of our effects and works; but
without being able to feel more than (at most) the activity of expressing one's
creativity as one's, as in the case with us. But when it is born, the previous driving
force disappears, it suddenly realizes that this world has become its own body to him
before external creations, that everything that seemed to lie outside and behind him is
in him and in front of him, ie appears as a condition of his future. It now recognizes
the use of these limbs, these sensory organs, and rejoices in them, if it had previously
formed them well. We may expect the same from our birth to the next life. which,
while always augmenting it with new adulterations, continues to work out how it is
now done by us with the circle of our effects and works; but without being able to
feel more than (at most) the activity of expressing one's creativity as one's, as in the
case with us. But when it is born, the previous driving force disappears, it suddenly
realizes that this world has become its own body to him before external creations, that
everything that seemed to lie outside and behind him is in him and in front of him, ie
appears as a condition of his future. It now recognizes the use of these limbs, these
sensory organs, and rejoices in them, if it had previously formed them well. We may
expect the same from our birth to the next life. which, while always augmenting it
with new adulterations, continues to work out how it is now done by us with the
circle of our effects and works; but without being able to feel more than (at most) the
activity of expressing one's creativity as one's, as in the case with us. But when it is
born, the previous driving force disappears, it suddenly realizes that this world has
become its own body to him before external creations, that everything that seemed to
lie outside and behind him is in him and in front of him, ie appears as a condition of
his future. It now recognizes the use of these limbs, these sensory organs, and rejoices
in them, if it had previously formed them well. We may expect the same from our
birth to the next life. working out as it happens now from us with the circle of our
effects and works; but without being able to feel more than (at most) the activity of
expressing one's creativity as one's, as in the case with us. But when it is born, the
previous driving force disappears, it suddenly realizes that this world has become its
own body to him before external creations, that everything that seemed to lie outside
and behind him is in him and in front of him, ie appears as a condition of his future. It
now recognizes the use of these limbs, these sensory organs, and rejoices in them, if
it had previously formed them well. We may expect the same from our birth to the
next life. working out as it happens now from us with the circle of our effects and
works; but without being able to feel more than (at most) the activity of expressing
one's creativity as one's, as in the case with us. But when it is born, the previous
driving force disappears, it suddenly realizes that this world has become its own body
to him before external creations, that everything that seemed to lie outside and behind
him is in him and in front of him, ie appears as a condition of his future. It now
recognizes the use of these limbs, these sensory organs, and rejoices in them, if it had
previously formed them well. We may expect the same from our birth to the next
life. but without being able to feel more than (at most) the activity of expressing one's
formed them well. We may expect the same from our birth to the next life. but
without being able to feel more than (at most) the activity of expressing one's
formed them well. We may expect the same from our birth to the next life. the former
driving force extinguishes, it suddenly realizes that this world has become its own
body to him before external creations, that everything that seemed to lie outside and
behind him appears in him and before him, that is, as a condition of his future. It now
recognizes the use of these limbs, these sensory organs, and rejoices in them, if it had
previously formed them well. We may expect the same from our birth to the next
life. the former driving force extinguishes, it suddenly realizes that this world has
become its own body to him before external creations, that everything that seemed to
lie outside and behind him appears in him and before him, that is, as a condition of
his future. It now recognizes the use of these limbs, these sensory organs, and rejoices
in them, if it had previously formed them well. We may expect the same from our
birth to the next life.
And so we may well take courage, when the feeling of death wants to frighten us
with the certainty of everything we lose and the uncertainty of what we will gain for
it. We have experienced this case before; From the second trap that awaits us, let us
expect what we have already learned in the first. At bottom, death is merely an old
acquaintance returning, not to push down the rungs of life which he once brought up
before us, but to reach out to reach a higher one by crushing the lower, so that we
never can dismount again. The shattering of our bodies is only like the shattering of
the ship behind us, which has driven us into a new land, so that we can never go
back; we have to conquer the new country. This new land is our new life.
The child is lonely in the womb, complete with his own, quite unsociable; with the
first birth it enters into the free communion with other people, but in a certain way
from its, if only apparent, physical limit. In the second birth this barrier will fall; after
that we will all have one and the same body, the common body of the earth, only
everyone will have it in another sense. As a result, our traffic will gain a completely
different freedom and lightness than it does now, as we have seen before.
How nice, I heard someone say, to be able to combine the freshness of youth with
the maturity and fullness of the developed spirit. Well, this advantage will grant us
death, put us into a new life with all the treasures of our spirit so far gained as
children, where we will use what we have gained and matured here with new
youthfulness and under new circumstances.
The comparison of death with birth could be further elaborated; but again, as in the
earlier comparisons, we must remember that it can not be complete, and take the side
of inequality into account. And this page depends here on an analogous circumstance
as in the comparison, which has occupied us first and foremost. The life of intuition
which we now lead in a higher being is already an intensified against that which the
intuitions lead in us, because the higher being itself is intensified against us. And so
also the memory life, which has grown out of that higher visual life, must increase
against the life of the memories in us. Now the life we are leading is already an
increased, and indeed highly increased, against the which we have led before birth,
and thus in the life we shall lead in the future we shall have to expect not only a
repetition, but an increase of the earlier increase. However, I do not want to describe
the point of difference just as little here as the similarity.
It is undeniable that it is closest to one another, and that it is safest to base the
foresight in our future on retrospectives of our own past history of development than
that of other beings, because indisputably every other being, in a peculiar manner,
strives for a special, only consistent plan developed; but there will also be something
common in the laws of all development; and so we find the general features of what
we see in us in the widest circle of living creatures. All plants first develop silently in
the seed and then awaken with breakthrough and destruction of the shell in a new
realm of air and light; all animals first develop silently in the egg, be it in or out of a
womb, like us, and, breaking through and destroying their shell with us and all plants,
they enter the same kingdom. Yes, we already see many creatures build steps over
steps, from which pictures have been drawn from time immemorial for a future
life. Thus, after the plant has entered air and light, it later opens itself again to a
whole new life, opening the blossom to the enjoyment of the light. Thus, after passing
through its egg state, its caterpillar and pupal state, the butterfly breaks through the
pupa pod and gains wings for the sluggish feet, thousandfold eyes for the silly face of
the caterpillar. After the plant has entered air and light, it later opens itself again to a
the caterpillar. After the plant has entered air and light, it later opens itself again to a
the caterpillar.
It may be remarked that even the period of the embryo life, as much as we know, has an earlier
period in all animals as well as in man. To say so, a former life, which precedes the formation of the
egg itself, and the transition from the state of the pollination into the fertilization, from whence a
new development begins, is likewise designated by destruction of that which in the first period the
most important and most important thing, when the central main nucleus appeared, namely by
destruction of the germinal vesicle. This forms a greater part of the egg, the younger the egg is, but
at the time when the egg leaves the ovary to develop into an embryo, it is destroyed. We still do not
quite know how, and at moments or just before the time of leaving the ovary.
Some of what we have already seen in human beings we now see more generally:
The same material world in which the seed is begotten and then salvaged, it is also
in which the plant shoots up and roots. In the same material world in which the egg
lies and the caterpillar creeps, also bird and butterfly flies; in the same material
world, which encloses the human fetus, also the born man lives; the womb is only
one part, a narrower part of the world. Not here is the seed planted in the ground, and
on another planet the plant shoots up, not here the egg is laid, and the bird finds itself
after the breakthrough of the shell in a place above the Milky Way, but seeds and
plants, Eggs and birds, human embryos and humans live between, next to each other,
yes. Everywhere the later stage of development has the same spatiality of the world in
common with the former; the higher stage of development also recognizes this; only
the lower one does not recognize it.
So we should not think that our death will bring us into a completely different
world; but in the same world in which we now live, we shall live on, to grasp them
only with other new means, and with greater freedom to measure them. It will be the
old world in which we will once fly, and where we are now crawling. For what also
create a new garden, when flowers bloom in the old garden, for which a new look and
new organs of enjoyment open in the new life. Caterpillars and butterflies serve the
same earthly growths, but how different they appear to the butterfly than the
caterpillar, and while the caterpillar clings to a plant, the butterfly flies through the
garden.
We see now nothing about us of the beings who have preceded us in the future
existence, or believe to see nothing of their existence; but let us ask ourselves if the
caterpillar knows something of the life of the butterfly, the chicken under the vault of
the egg, something of the life of the bird under the vault of heaven, the human fetus
in the narrow womb, something of the life of man in the great world organism. The
butterfly flies by the caterpillar, touches it; he seems to her a strange body; she must
first have the eyes of the butterfly herself to see him as her equal. In the chicken of
the egg the eyes are already preformed; it does not yet know its use; it would first
have to open it and the shell that surrounds it, only be unmarried, to see the bird with
him under the same celestial roof. Will it be different with us? May we not also
expect that, with the breaking of the shell of our present body, means of perception,
which our present life has already represented in us, will open, with which we can
only now see those who were born before us into the new life if, after all, they
already live and work between us, yes, in us?
The seed itself, after breaking through, becomes a plant similar to that of which it
has been carried, the egg to a similar bird as the one that once carried the egg, the
human fetus once to a similar human being that is, who carried the egg of the human
or the fetus. What is it that, according to the analogy that guides us now, carries man
himself like an egg? it is the totality of the earthly nature surrounding it; and so we
may expect that after our breakthrough, our mind will also find a body similar to that
of the surrounding nature, which it will penetrate by knowing and acting. We will one
day grow up to a similar nature as the one that surrounds us now.
Not according to matter is a different nature made for each person after his
breakthrough; According to matter and space, there is always only one nature, but
this one nature will be different for each one of them, according as he pervades,
recognizes, excites, in other ways, in other relationships, in other forms. The way in
which he will do so in the future, however, is preceded by the way he now relates to
her.
Of course, the flower wilts last, the butterfly dies last. Should we finally wither for
our future life, die?
But we prefer to reverse the consideration. Should that withering, dying, not be as
apparent to the souls of plant and animal as ours to us?
Does not ordinary faith let us go to a paradise garden? Where did the flowers, the
butterflies and the birds come from? I think, where the people in the garden come
from. Man is not elevated to a higher kingdom by death alone; but the whole
connection of living beings according to a coherent plan. The upper one is populated
by the lower one. This is also the natural belief of the peoples.
In fact, it seems to me very unfortunate for the belief in immortality to make the immortality of
man an exceptional cause, or even, as some say, to attach particular special virtues to man, so that
only intellectually or morally privileged people share in immortality would. The roughest peoples
seem to have hit me right here. The Lappe believes his reindeer, the Samoyed, to find his dogs in
the other life, and who of us has a loyal dog, will find him again someday. Should not there be
creatures, standing lower than man, in the other life? If, however, it is only natural that these
creatures, whom man meets there, are adults of those whom he has met here. So everything stays in
the natural context.
XXVI. About the usual attempts to justify the immortality

doctrine.
It is undeniable that there is no surer, indeed no other tenable, conclusion on the

future, than of the conditions valid in the present and the past. So far we have the
circumstances and conditions of our otherworldly future, although always in the field
of facts, but more related cases explained and drawn from analogies our conclusions,
as attacked by direct conclusions our task. And it is indisputable that it can contribute
significantly not only to the explanation but also to the support of our doctrine, if it is
able to subordinate the relations which it demands between our now and now to the
actual more general conditions of now and then, and to make our case comparable to
other analogous cases in which not only the now, but also that once falls into the
observation. From this point of view we compared our future memory life in the
higher spirit with the life of the memories in our mind; the sleep and wakefulness of
our one-off further body with the sleep and wake of our present narrower body; our
birth into the new life with our previous birth into the present life, and not only
compared both, but also showed how both are related in a higher and greater sphere
of being and action. The consideration of this connection and of the position which
both members of the comparison occupy in it gave us at the same time the means, the
analogy of both, and the deviation of both from the analogy as far as it takes place. to
explain and to take the latter on the principle of the conclusion of the unequal reason
on the unequal consequence into account. But the consideration, the conclusion,
however, can also be more closely related to our object, directing it directly. Every
day changes us, yet feel and in so doing, we keep our individuality through all
changes by still being the same. Death will change more about us; So if we want to
conclude that through this change we will also save our individuality, we see to it that
only in the present life does our individual forter standing depend on all
change. What sustains us through all the attacks of life through them, leaves nothing
of our being lost, despite the fact that our body is constantly dissolving, one moment
of consciousness disappears after another, it will also have to save us by the only
greater attack of death than the same; if we are different to save. The only question is,
what is this basically? In this investigation, which remains to be done to us, which
takes the most direct path that is to be commanded, let us, just as in the case of the
earlier analogical facts and facts, cease to be content and deceive ourselves with
words and puns like it only too often happens. To be sure, we have to pay attention
not only to the facts, but also to the demands of the present life. but first it is only the
theoretical foundation of our doctrine; We will come to the practical later (XXVIII),
and both can never be in conflict properly (XIX, A). will also have to save us by the
only greater attack of death than the same; if we are different to save. The only
question is, what is this basically? In this investigation, which remains to be done to
us, which takes the most direct path that is to be commanded, let us, just as in the
case of the earlier analogical facts and facts, cease to be content and deceive
ourselves with words and puns like it only too often happens. To be sure, we have to
pay attention not only to the facts, but also to the demands of the present life. but first
it is only the theoretical foundation of our doctrine; We will come to the practical
later (XXVIII), and both can never be in conflict properly (XIX, A). will also have to
save us by the only greater attack of death than the same; if we are different to
save. The only question is, what is this basically? In this investigation, which remains
to be done to us, which takes the most direct path that is to be commanded, let us, just
as in the case of the earlier analogical facts and facts, cease to be content and deceive
ourselves with words and puns like it only too often happens. To be sure, we have to
pay attention not only to the facts, but also to the demands of the present life. but first
it is only the theoretical foundation of our doctrine; We will come to the practical
later (XXVIII), and both can never be in conflict properly (XIX, A). if we are
different to save. The only question is, what is this basically? In this investigation,
which remains to be done to us, which takes the most direct path that is to be
commanded, let us, just as in the case of the earlier analogical facts and facts, cease to
be content and deceive ourselves with words and puns like it only too often
happens. To be sure, we have to pay attention not only to the facts, but also to the
demands of the present life. but first it is only the theoretical foundation of our
doctrine; We will come to the practical later (XXVIII), and both can never be in
conflict properly (XIX, A). if we are different to save. The only question is, what is
this basically? In this investigation, which remains to be done to us, which takes the
most direct path that is to be commanded, let us, just as in the case of the earlier
analogical facts and facts, cease to be content and deceive ourselves with words and
puns like it only too often happens. To be sure, we have to pay attention not only to
the facts, but also to the demands of the present life. but first it is only the theoretical
foundation of our doctrine; We will come to the practical later (XXVIII), and both
can never be in conflict properly (XIX, A). which, as with the earlier analogical facts,
facts, and facts alone, catches our eye and does not deceive us or delude us with
words and puns, as happens too often. To be sure, we have to pay attention not only
to the facts, but also to the demands of the present life. but first it is only the
and both can never be in conflict properly (XIX, A). which, as with the earlier
analogical facts, facts, and facts alone, catches our eye and does not deceive us or
delude us with words and puns, as happens too often. To be sure, we have to pay
attention not only to the facts, but also to the demands of the present life. but first it is
only the theoretical foundation of our doctrine; We will come to the practical later
(XXVIII), and both can never be in conflict properly (XIX, A). but first it is only the
and both can never be in conflict properly (XIX, A). but first it is only the theoretical
foundation of our doctrine; We will come to the practical later (XXVIII), and both
can never be in conflict properly (XIX, A).
In the meantime, before we conclude (in the following section) the circle of our
theoretical considerations with this most direct consideration, we will first briefly go
through the ways in which our object has hitherto been grasped; the easier it will be
to explain and justify our deviation from it at the same time.
Has one already taken the path that we consider to be the only correct one in this
respect? that is, sought to substantiate the facts and laws of the following life by the
facts and laws of this world? Unconsciously uncontested everywhere; for in the great
spread of the belief in immortality, besides the practical motives, silent analogies and
inductions of what is present everywhere have certainly played their part; but just as
one tried consciously to follow this path, the hope of a hereafter seemed to contradict
almost more than to serve it; and so, on the contrary, one has usually taken the
opposite route of establishing it on contradictions with the present reality, indeed with
the possibility of present thinking. What wonder then, if such a way of
contemplation, rather than illuminating and securing the future, threw erroneous
notes into the present itself. In order to obtain a cloudy hope for the hereafter, we give
up the clearest aspects of this world, putting shackles on free research. What did not
the doctrine of body and soul have to do to satisfy only the demands and not to go
beyond the demands that one believed in the interest of the belief in immortality,
without regard for and in defiance of experience.
While I do not say that all have gone the wrong ways of which I have yet to speak,
yet they are so commonplace that they are commonplace, and even if they do, it is
commonplace for most to stray from it even led to goals. For whoever thinks his way
to the right once only calls goal, which lies at its end, even if it were only an empty
glow, if it were nothing. So many have come to the bills and many to the nothing that
they still call immortality. And some have thought more intelligible or guessed more
correctly, the fruit has not reached maturity or use.
Some think that the fact that the soul is chained to one's body does not mean that it
will always be the same. Rather, she will strip it in death like a garment or a shell,
discarding it like a fetters or a burden, and henceforth lead a purely bodiless
existence. It is easy to say, in vain, to seek in the experience of this world an
indication of the possibility of such an existence, impossible to form an idea of
it. Any attempt at such an idea involuntarily leaves behind a faded physical scheme,
or the idea of the soul's existence disappears into nothing, indeed, it fades, as that
scheme becomes paler.
To be sure, this opinion is only an extreme, for which it is not easy for someone to
take refuge in their full seriousness; but you approach him from different sides.
Some say: Has the soul built the body from the beginning? what can she care if the
body breaks up? she will build a new one again, gather matter around herself and
imagine it. But where have we ever seen, or from what has one ever been able to
deduce that a soul has built a body, except with bodily means that are already or still
in use? Therefore, one would not want to take her body first in order to have it
subsequently built a new body, but one must let her build the new body by means of
the old one. But that is just our view, which one has not in the eye.
Here is an example of this way of thinking:
"As life is spiritual in its origin and essence, the soul does not grow out of the brain, but rather
forms it as its persistent spatial expression, and so its destruction is by no means the necessary
consequence of the annihilation of the brain and other organs. Just as the power of independent life
during reproduction is communicated to the formless germ, that it develops into an organic structure
of the limb, so too the soul is able to create a new organ after death, and indeed it can do so without
a specially organized substance to be needed merely by fixation in some spatial existence, for we
know that organic beings can also be produced from the elementary substances or the general forms
of matter, but in this case they become matter,by which it asserts its individual existence, imprinting
its character, how life everywhere realizes its type through the formation of organic parts from alien
matter, and, as in the generation of the character of fatherly life, is transferred to the future filial life
without a material transition, rather by a merely dynamic act. "(Burdach, Physiol. III., pp. 735 f.)
One of the most common beliefs is that when the body is destroyed in death
something of the essence of the soul remains undestroyed, which gives it
continuity. From a general point of view, this seems to indicate that one can take
away many things from the body, without taking away something from the soul,
arms, legs, etc. So it only seems to matter if the soul can not exist without a body, to
find the essential part that must remain so that the soul remains, and to save it in the
following life. Only that, of course, one can gradually take away all parts of the body,
even those of the brain, if one does it only one by one; now the right, now the left
side of the brain, as seen earlier. Though, if one arrives at the transitional part of the
brain to the spinal cord (the so-called extended medulla), which serves to maintain
the respiratory functions, injures it, man dies from shortness of breath, which one
indisputably does not want to regard as proof that here a part rest that makes man
immortal. The whole brain, indeed the whole nervous system, without the rest of the
body, can serve the soul as much as the whole body without the nervous system and
the brain. So what attempt proves that in one more than in the other lies what matters
in sustaining the soul? The integrity of one is only slightly more essential than that of
the other to restrain the soul in this world. Man dies from shortness of breath, which
is indisputably not to be seen as a proof that here a part rest, which makes man
the other to restrain the soul in this world. Man dies from shortness of breath, which
is indisputably not to be seen as a proof that here a part rest, which makes man
the other to restrain the soul in this world. indeed, the whole nervous system without
the rest of the body can serve the soul as much as the whole body without the nervous
system and the brain. So what attempt proves that in one more than in the other lies
what matters in sustaining the soul? The integrity of one is only slightly more
essential than that of the other to restrain the soul in this world. indeed, the whole
nervous system without the rest of the body can serve the soul as much as the whole
body without the nervous system and the brain. So what attempt proves that in one
more than in the other lies what matters in sustaining the soul? The integrity of one is
only slightly more essential than that of the other to restrain the soul in this world.
In view of these circumstances, and in consideration that the whole body is
palpably decaying in death, that is, the attachment of soul integrity to the integrity of
a particular part of the brain would not even afford us, even if it were permissible, we
seek the part of the body which to remain intact in death, usually in something not
palpable.
So many are apt to embarrass the soul into a preferred atom or indestructible
nucleus, clear or unclear, defying decay, and by which sticking the soul finds its way
into the new life. The philosopher's stone, which has been sought for so long as an
external means of immortality, is hereby, so to speak, transferred into the body
itself. But superstition does not diminish. For what magic could attach to a rigid atom
the life of a soul?
Others hold the view that a finer etheric body is contained in the coarser one, which
frees itself up in the destruction of the coarser one, and escapes invisibly into the new
life. Perhaps this view is the most common of all. Many a heathen harbored it by
assuming a fiery nature of the soul, which allows it to fly to heaven after death; but
especially among the Christians, because of partly the Pauline idea of the transfigured
body of the hereafter, and partly of many physiological ideas about the operative in
the nervous system, she has found many forms of instruction and education. The
church father Origen is one of their representatives, and later it is by Burn, Priestley,
Jani 1) , Töllner 2) , Schott 3)Leibniz 4) , Sulzer and many others, and has recently
been developed by Fr. Groos in a number of small writings.
1) Jani, Little theolog. a layman. Stendal, 1792. p. L09ff.
2) Töllner, Syst. theolog dogm. p. 708. sq.
3) Schott, Epit. theolog. dogm. p. 125. Schott considers it probable: "corpore humano subtilius
idemque nobis invisibile contineri animi nostri involucrum, organon, cujus usum animus et in hac
vita terrestri faciat et statim post mortem libertate majori sit facturus."
4) See below.
It would not be without interest to find Leibniz's view of this subject in his own
words (after Schilling, Leibniz as a thinker) here.
"Why should the soul not always be able to retain a fine body organized according to its
manner, which can one day resume what is necessary at the resurrection of its visible body, since
one attributes to the blessed one a transfigured body, and the old fathers too Incidentally, this
teaching agrees with the order of nature as it is known through experience, for as the observations
of very good observers make us realize that the animals do not start when the great multitude this is
true, and that the spermatozoa, or the living seeds, have existed since the beginning of things, order
and reason want that what has existed since the beginning does not end, and that therefore,just as
procreation is only an augmentation of a transformed and developed animal, so too death is only a
diminution of a transformed and folded animal, and the animal itself will always remain during the
transformation, as well as the silk worm and the butterfly is the same animal. "(Aus Leibniz,
Reflections on the Doctrine of a General Spirit.)
Groos, in the writing: "My doctrine of the personal continuance of the human mind after
death," for physiological reasons, has sought to make it probable that in our physical organism, as
the nucleus and germ, disturbed by flesh and blood and leg ( as the plant by the powers of the soil
nourishes, grows and educates, an "incorruptible, probably material body" is planted, and in death at
the same time with the spirit by "progressive energy" more active than passive in a similar way as
the fetus from the The womb would detach itself from the physical organism and henceforth serve
the spirit as its sole cover. As a continuation of this writing has appeared: "The twofold, the outer
and the inner man." Mannheim 1846.
The above view may find an apparent clue in the fact that after many hints, if not
beyond the hypothesis, our nervous system may really be the reservoir for a fine
ethereal unknowable agent, which plays a particularly important role in the activity of
our soul in the body and, as it were, the mediator for whom it seems to be the coarser
corporeality. Now nothing hampers the idea that this etheric being, even after the
removal of its coarse underlay, remains as a body of light or a transfigured body.
But apart from the hypothetical, which lies in the assumption of such a nerve agent,
there is nothing in reality to suggest that an unequivocal body may continue to exist
and develop and act independently of a weighable body. As far as we look into
nature, we see the organization of the unpredictable tied to that of the
weighable. Therefore, wanting to accept an etheric body that exists for oneself does
not only mean a new existence, of which we see nothing, but also accept new
conditions of existence, of which we see the opposite. Another, if, as in our view, the
imponderable body forms in connection with a weighable one. But that's not how it is
meant.
All the above views have in common that they take from the means of the present
life, by means of which we draw from an external world and act on an external world,
only something, without giving us new means for making our future life against the
present poorer instead to enrich it. But can a blacksmith do more than before, if you
simply do nothing but take away his tools? Now one can expect new means for the
future life. Then you wonder what way to expect. That, it seems, leads us back to our
view, which allows the new means to be prepared by the old ones, and then does not
let the old means fall partly, but completely, after they have already served to create
the new ones. The tool of our body is constantly being repaired during our life, until
the new thing to be created is ready for its purpose. Then not a piece of the old tool is
retained, but the new one is put in its place. You should not put an old rag on a new
dress and fill the new must in old tubes. So do those who want to save an old piece of
the old body in the new life.
Some hold much for immortality by admitting that the soul is dependent on the
body only for its lesser functions; On the other hand, they mean that, in regard to the
higher (of the spiritual in the narrower sense), they rise above the bodily; the self-
conscious mind, whose salvation we are supposed to do, instead of being subject to
the body, is rather the ruler of it, and therefore uninvolved in destroying it. After all,
may a certain part, a certain side of the mind, so to speak its shell, be subject to
destruction with the body, but not the core, the essence of the mind.
Even among the ancient philosophers this idea occurs many times; Here is an example of how
this subject has recently been grasped.
In his letters on immortality (which, by the way, a very respectable attitude is to be
recognized), Huffel seeks to counter the objection that the mental powers are already decreasing
with age, that is, probably extinguishing completely in death, by saying what decreases and
disappears be only the outer side of the psychic life, memory, imagination, intellect, acumen, wit,
talents, etc .; what will continue is the core of the soul or the inner man, consisting in self-
consciousness, in reason. That external side is calculated more for this earthly life, and therefore
more or less dependent on the body, and especially on the nerve-power, in connection with and
dependent on it, can also increase and decrease quite well with the body, without the inner essence
of the spirit changed.
Here one has two unnatural separations at once, first of all the spirit of the body, then of the
spirit in itself, against whose possibility the worldly experience argues in the same way.
Now, of course, one will be able to admit that the higher spiritual rises above the
sphere of the sensuous and emblematic, which is certainly connected with the
bodily; but if we do not stand by the ambiguous comprehensibility of the word
elevation, but see how it is formed in reality, we find, in order to recall what we have
previously discussed, that the higher spiritual is itself only in developments, relations,
active relations The lower exists and rules, the abstract of which is not really
present. The melody is a higher thing than the sensuousness of the individual
tones; but what is it without the sensuousness of the single tones? The most
philosophical mind of man needs sensuality in order to exist here; he reflects on the
sensuous, indeed on himself, but he can, to reflect on the sensual, not to leave it; they
are only relationships of relationships that become active and strong in him, but the
lowest basis of them is always a self-conscious and active sensual. Wherever we see
the higher spiritual developing, the lower sensuousness does not transcend like a
bubble blown from the top of a pyramid into the blue, but like the top of the pyramid
itself, in which all its sides connect, but only Tip can remain by means of the
base; not like a butterfly that rises above the flower, but like the flower itself rises
above root and stalk, all the juices and powers of which are absorbed in it, but,
instead of being independent of them, it necessarily needs to be nourished Soil to stay
in relationship. This view of the relations of the higher and the lower spiritual is not
drawn from the word, but from the intuition of the spiritual life itself, and only on this
we can be based. If here we never see the higher spiritual detaching ourselves from
the lower, but only exceeding it in the stated way, always remaining chained to the
corporeal by the lower, it is again an assumption in the void and blue, contradicting
the experience, indeed the clear reservation the experience that in the transition to the
future life it can free itself or continue at the decay of the lower one; and if it were
done, the difficulty remains, as it could be thought of without any bodily meaning, or
how, after giving it of its former bodily means, it could create a new body,
Even among the rude peoples, the view of divisibility of the soul with respect to the
transition to the hereafter occurs; only then do they assert these for the here-and-
beyond, more consistently in this relation than we, provided that they at least obtain a
correspondence between the nature of the soul in this world and the hereafter. Thus,
the pagan Greenlanders believed in themselves two souls, the shadow and breath, the
last of which always remains in the living body, while emigrating, walking, hunting,
dancing, visiting or fishing, or even the rest of the person Traveled away, could stay
at home; Likewise, the Canadian and other American savages have faith in two souls,
one of whom emigrates in death and dreams, while the second remains with the
body, except when she enters another body. We leave the soul, even the higher in it,
the spirit of narrower meaning, always at home here; but what good does all our
claimed independence of the body for the beyond, since it is not an independence of
the kind that allowed a separation from the body? We try to deceive ourselves by a
pun. Independence of the mind from the body can be differently conceived. First we
summarize them in one, then in the other sense. which allowed a separation from the
body? We try to deceive ourselves by a pun. Independence of the mind from the body
can be differently conceived. First we summarize them in one, then in the other
sense. which allowed a separation from the body? We try to deceive ourselves by a
pun. Independence of the mind from the body can be differently conceived. First we
summarize them in one, then in the other sense.
It is true that philosophers today will no longer easily enter into a real separability
of the soul into a rational and sensuous part, whereas they like to find in reason, self-
consciousness, a guarantee of immortality, whereby the human spirit in particular
differs from the animal-soul. Only with reason awake the condition and justification
for immortality.
In the meantime, since the animal soul without reason can pass over from a first to
a second state of existence, as the butterfly proves, I do not see, why not into a
third. The question of the duration of the individual soul seems to me at all
independent of the question of the stage that occupies it. But this does not concern us
now.
One of the most common ways, already adopted by the ancient philosophers and
still popular today, of saving the immortality of the soul is to explain the soul as a
simple being. Now it is true, a simple being can not be destroyed; but only because
there is nothing in it to destroy. But in the soul there is a great variety of
determinations, sensations, feelings, impulses, motives, the unity of which all
embraces the soul, which stands in open contradiction with the idea that its unity is
that of a simple being. And unity and simplicity are two things. It is just not a
multiplicity in the sense of the physical composition, which occurs in the soul as
such, but nevertheless a multiplicity of the mental combination and succession.
In the face-sighting I certainly have a distinguishable multiple in consciousness. I can even speak
of a juxtaposition in intuition, although one prefers to relate this expression to the material object
rather than the spiritual subject. But this does not matter; In any case, only through spiritual
cooperation do we know about material juxtaposition; one represents us the other. Now consider
that even our most abstract concepts are always thought with a certain visualization or symbolism,
and can only be thought of as such, if they are to be thought of for themselves. If, therefore, even
the manifold combination were originally to be extended only to sensuous perceptions, (which
would suffice, to refute the simplicity of the soul), it transmits itself higher up. From temporal
succession nobody will deny from the outset that it contains a manifold; and if the soul is essentially
a temporal being, it could not be called simply if it itself contained only in this direction; as little as
I can call a line something simple in itself, because it is not also composed according to the
dimension of the surface.
To be sure, one is inclined to conceive of the soul in its temporal progression to the manifold,
as a movement that always takes new directions through ever new impulses, which are composed of
the effect of the earlier ones, but it always remains a movement in every moment simple
direction. Or so: The simple quality of the soul is changing through ever new provisions from the
outside and through self-determination; but it is always determined to a new simple quality. But
apart from the fact that the fact of our facial views contradicts this, a manifold succession of the
soul can not even be imagined, without a manifold coexistence, from which it emerges. One point
must, in order to assume various directions in space, subject to many impulses, for which at least
one other point belongs to him; but if a being is to work internally within himself and in himself, as
a soul, then the simultaneous multiplicity, on which the manifold succession depends, must be
thought within himself, for I absolutely do not know, according to which scheme a simple quality
could be thought of as determining something new by itself. That is simple in itself according to
which scheme a simple quality could be thought of as determining something new by itself. That is
simple in itself according to which scheme a simple quality could be thought of as determining
something new by itself. That is simple in itselfeo ipso unchangeable in itself.
Of course one can always say that it is just the peculiarity of soul simplicity, a multiplicity of
moments, to include determinations, but one can not think it; Lastly, the concept of simplicity and
internal multiplicity are absolutely contradictory. Now, one usually does not care about this
contradiction, but now reflects on simplicity when it comes to proving the eternal life of the soul,
and multiplicity when it comes to representing its temporal life; but in the interest of clear thinking
it is to be able to present both in context and in connection; which does not permit contradictory
concepts. I least know how to deal with the contradictory ideas Herbarts in this regard.
Usually, however, one is based on the following consideration: in all manifoldness
and in all changes of the phenomena of consciousness, the feeling or consciousness
of our ego remains something simply identical, not at all further analysable. And this
is the essence of our soul. If this remains intact, but as simple it is indestructible, so
we are safe.
But this simplicity not of our soul, but of an abstract of our soul, for what is the
simple consciousness without the concrete multiplicity of its determinations,
guarantees us nothing in fact. If the whole concrete soul consists of nothing but the
simple self-feeling or self-consciousness of our ego, it would like to be indestructible
simply because it is simple. But the self-feeling or self-consciousness of the ego is
only something intrinsic to the whole content of the soul and doing, abstractly absent
without the multiplicity of its determinations. Even if we reflect on the simplicity of
our ego, this is only a single thought of our ego, a special destiny of our concrete ego,
not the whole concrete ego of so many determinations. But every abstract simple
disappears
What about the center of the circle, the center of gravity of a body? There is also
something simple, inhabiting a concrete variety, abstract without it, but not abstract
without it. Just like the ego in terms of the variety of determinations that it
unifies. Yes, the whole concrete soul would really be something simple; it would
exist only in and with the concrete variety of the body. How often has the simple soul
being really been compared to the center or center of gravity in a bodily
manifold. (Waitz calls them almost central beings in relation to them.) Carus in his
physique represents them as the center of the body.) Now hinders the simplicity of the
center of the circle, the center of gravity, that the circle, the body crumble? And
where is the center, the center of gravity itself? I can not see how the simplicity of the
abstract ego or self-consciousness, or even the whole of the body, conceived
abstractly by the mind, can set us in the least certainty, rather than the simplicity of
the abstract center of the circle or center of gravity itself the circle itself can not
disintegrate, so that its center may exist, or that the center, for other reasons, is able to
maintain its circle, since from its simplicity in itself nothing follows in this relation.
The same can be explained in another way. Is not the soul unit a relationship
between all the moments of the soul? Is not the ratio 5 / 6 , a relationship between the
numbers 5 and 6? This relationship is also a simple, inherent of a manifold. But does
this simplicity prevent the break from being thought of as breaking into its limbs?
In that way, there is nothing to gain. The whole concrete soul is not the simple
thing for which it is spent; but the abstract, in which the essence of the soul is
summarized, may be so simple, and even the whole soul may still be so simple, there
is no guarantee that the concrete, manifold, which the simple possesses, and hereby
the simple itself persists.
Here is an example of the argument in the previous sense:
"Death does not annihilate man, but - what does he do?" As for
the body of man, so does his sight, as he is decomposed into his
elements, from which he gradually formed himself. The spirit of
man is an identical, simple being, he is ego I. His self-
consciousness is the proof of his simplicity, and if he also has a
multiplicity in himself, then this is merely nothing but the
manifold The identical simple, however, can not be dissolved, for
it has no parts of which it could exist and in which it could be
decomposed again, so the spirit persists, the spirit is the
substance of man, and consequently remains this also according to
what we call death. "(Wirth in Fichte's Journal XVIII, p.
The simplicity of the mind is maintained here despite the multiplicity it has in itself, because
this multiplicity is merely "nothing but the manifold mode of its self-relation upon itself." In the
meantime, I do not see how a multiple mode of inner self-relation should be compatible with the
inner simplicity of a being, since in a simply-conceived being there is no occasion for and impulse
for self-relations, but only for relations to others. That means hiding the thing behind the
word. There are many inner self-relationships in the physical organism. But they all depend on
being a non-simple being in referring to this, or the individual to the whole in him; but a relation of
the simple whole to the simple whole would always have the same simple identity.
Perhaps one would have insisted less on the concept of the simplicity of the soul, if
one had made the following consideration everywhere. Just as something in the
concept can be quite simply and yet really transient, as we have seen, so conversely
something can be put together according to the concept and yet be really
indestructible. Not everything that can be thought happens. It wonders if the
conditions are in the nature of things. There may be conditions in the world to create,
but not dissolve, certain connections, but rather to develop them only, in that the
conditions of generation include those of conservation and evolution itself. So it is
after us with our present corporeality, which creates a new connection out of its living
connection. But is it the same with the body,
A similar consideration has been made earlier. In: Knappii script. varii argumenti, Ed. 2nd 1828.
p. 85 sqq. can be found z. For example, the following:
"Sed fac animum ex pluribus esse naturis seu partibus concretum: concedas tamen necesse
est. Deum per summa potentia sua etiam prohibere posse, quo minus partium dissipatio atque
interitus."
So far, these are probably the most common ways of treating the question of
immortality. I do not speak of those who have been embraced only by individual
philosophers and theologians, and who have found no widespread validity. There are
some ways of looking at things here that we may like to make friends with; I come to
this in a following section (XXIX.); only that they did not thrive to full development
and did not gain influence because of incomplete or too abstruse reasoning.
If we look at the past, it seems to me that we, the most educated peoples, with
regard to the theoretical foundation and organization of the belief in immortality,
have elevated us on the roughest nations by little more than by a more artificial
entanglement and obscurity of contradictions and ambiguities. those in the faith of
those simple and open to light; yes, that some things are coarser and just more
appealing to them, than we are with our subtle conclusions.
But why all the winds and struggles and denials of the same principles that we
otherwise base our conclusions on the future? All in order to satisfy a practical
interest in itself, which, after the present views of nature and the mind, lead us the
way in which it alone could be fully and easily satisfied, seems to be able to be
safeguarded rather than by such theoretical shortcomings. Man wants to survive
beyond the present life, and needs the prospect of future life to be the most important
normative points of view for the present one. And for the practical gain of this he
spares no theoretical loss. Without that, he would not have been tempted ever to
break the spirit off, nor tear the spirit to pieces,
It is understandable that many such ways of reasoning are not acceptable. And what
miracles, then, when they either give up the hope of immortality in favor of the
theoretical one over the practical interest, and seek to make as little as possible and
furnish themselves in this world without it; or, in reverse preference of the practical
interest in theory, reject in principle all justification of the practically demanded faith
by reason. But both have their worst. The unbeliever says: The view of the hereafter
disturbs only the right attention and activity for this world; but in truth the rightward
foresight into the hereafter is the true and prosperous and consoling guide through
this world. The religious believer says: why close at all; do not we have the divine
revelation? It may be, if it were not in the nature of things, that the revelation of God
in Scripture can only earn and produce in accordance with firm, sure, universal
beliefs, as it is also manifested through the revelation of God in nature and life,
through the Actually supported in it, does not seem contradictory to it. And if one
does not use the facts of nature and of life for the belief in the highest and last things,
then they naturally turn against them, fighting the effectiveness of practical
considerations rather than going hand in hand with them. Not everyone is able to
completely close their eyes when they are old, in insane asylums and in the
experiments of physiologists the soul with the body at the same time weakening or
mistaking sees and nowhere soul without body sees. Not everyone is able to silence
his reason concerning the implications it is immediately inclined to draw from it; Not
everyone calms down in the superficial refutations of these conclusions, which, of
course, have become equally familiar in life as well as in science; The more the facts
are intrinsically linked, the more deeply they are persecuted, the more clearly the
thoroughgoing, deep, fundamentally essential connection of the spiritual and the
physical becomes manifest. Then the apparent destruction of the body in death
imperatively demands its interpretation, and doubt can only be overcome by
defeating its reasons. Not everyone calms down in the superficial refutations of these
conclusions, which, of course, have become equally familiar in life as well as in
science; The more the facts are intrinsically linked, the more deeply they are
persecuted, the more clearly the thoroughgoing, deep, fundamentally essential
connection of the spiritual and the physical becomes manifest. Then the apparent
destruction of the body in death imperatively demands its interpretation, and doubt
can only be overcome by defeating its reasons. Not everyone calms down in the
superficial refutations of these conclusions, which, of course, have become equally
familiar in life as well as in science; The more the facts are intrinsically linked, the
more deeply they are persecuted, the more clearly the thoroughgoing, deep,
fundamentally essential connection of the spiritual and the physical becomes
manifest. Then the apparent destruction of the body in death imperatively demands its
interpretation, and doubt can only be overcome by defeating its reasons. fundamental
relationship of the spiritual and the physical. Then the apparent destruction of the
body in death imperatively demands its interpretation, and doubt can only be
overcome by defeating its reasons. fundamental relationship of the spiritual and the
physical. Then the apparent destruction of the body in death imperatively demands its
interpretation, and doubt can only be overcome by defeating its reasons.
This is not intended to detract from the value of a belief that is based on sources
other than scientifically-developed causes. The practical point of view, which
demands certain beliefs independently of all theory, and demands even the belief in
other authorities than the particular reason of the individual, has so much justification
as the theoretical one. But on whatever other motives a scientific basis is based on
faith, he will not be able to be the true one; he must even suspect the source from
which he has flowed if he has to shun the clear view of science, as well as science
does not could be the right one that led us to conclusions that are contrary to our
practical interests. So it is in the highest connection of good and truth, which we have
considered earlier (XIX, A). Therefore it is necessary to look over and over, and
whether we now make the theoretical or practical point of view conductive, to allow
no deviation from the path required by the other.
If, however, the theoretical path has so far not led to satisfying results that are at the
same time unanimous with the practical demands, then in my opinion the reason lies
in the basic assumptions which one has cherished about the relations of body and
soul, human and divine spirit in the fact that this has been spared as the cause of
perdition, which, on the contrary, can best support the hope of our preservation.
Thus it was already evident in the view that the human spirit belongs to a higher
and higher spirit; It is also true of the view of a solid and continuous link between
body and mind.
I give a picture: Who from the Dome to Cordova, in which "thirteen hundred giant
pillars carry the violent dome" merely here and there considering a pillar, would of
course already overthrow it in spirit and see itself buried under the pillars. Now, if he
were foolish enough, he would rather hover the dome in the air, tearing away the
pillars that threaten him dangerously; and the more he sees isolated of such columns,
the more he is afraid. But how calm and sure will it be when he, opening his eyes
wide, pervades all the pillars at once, and sees the dome swaying over it in a sure and
glorious manner. The more pillars, the safer he will be. This dome is immortality, but
the pillars are the relationships between body and soul.
I mean to say: It is believed that the more the gang is chained to the body, the more
rigorously, the more comprehensively its connection with it is grasped, the more
threatened our perpetual persistence danger; only in the legacy of this severity, in a
relaxed version of this bond, was hope and salvation; whereas, in my opinion, the
safest, indeed the only, sufficient way of fully substantiating our belief in immortality
lies in the uttermost ruthless severity and strict penetration of this connection; without
it, however, it will always remain more or less blown up. Only to the exceptionless
consequence, it is necessary to decide, only to do nothing half-way, to allow only
really all spiritual things its course and its boat in the river of bodily
determinations, Considering that changes, as the cause, we are, in the most natural
way, transferred from this life as a cause into the succeeding life as its proper
consequence; and the contemplation of the corporeal in every way supports that of
the spiritual; we can no longer find a reason for a future life in one area that would
not find its help or its equivalent in the other. Indeed, the whole view of the
thoroughgoing link between the physical and the spiritual would be mutilated and
unfounded without the assumption of a future life, whereas the half-done view would
not be able to get beyond death.
Once you have gained the broad foundation that I point out here, then it is not
difficult to see how everything that one has introduced of contradictions and
inconsistencies in the doctrine of body and soul for the sake of the immortality
question, in fact not is required by the nature of the thing, but only by its own
unsustainability. If it is always the case that an inconsistency can only be corrected by
another inconsistency or by abandoning all inconsistency, the desired result should
appear. What can be achieved in the first way, however, is only the stability of a
gyroscope, which, by swaying and turning, holds itself on all sides for a while, by
repelling the falling movement in one direction over and over again by an opposite
one. Finally he has to fall.
XXVII. Direct justification of the immortality doctrine.
Now, let us take up the question to which the most thorough consideration of our
subject must be based. What does it mean that man himself remains only in this
world through all changes of external and internal relations? What sustains it through
all outer and inner attacks through in this world as the same, it must also be sustained
to the other world by the greater attack of death than the same, if it is to be sustained
otherwise.
But how wonderful is the foremost thing that is at stake here. Everything already
seems to change here in man, and yet he believes, in a sense, and especially the main
idea, to have remained quite the same. It seems a bit contradictory here. The spirit of
an old man and the spirit of a child, how different are they in every respect? And yet
to every ghost of an old man there is the spirit of a child, with whom he considers
himself all the same. It can become one of the most ignorant of the most
knowledgeable, of bright lust fall into saddest melancholy, once completely drowned
in sins to convert completely to God, and still considers himself for the same
man. Nothing, it seems, has remained the same, and yet the old self has remained,
and with that remained just that in which man seeks himself. It seems impossible, and
yet it is so.
What makes it possible? After all, something must really remain unchanged,
otherwise it would not be apparent, otherwise it would be a real contradiction.
That makes it possible, that is what it is, or at least we express it in such a way that,
behind all changes of mental determinations, the unity of the spirit, in which every
human being unites, still remains unchanged, intact, unaffected, even changing
Provisions and by the same always re-actuated. Only we would be wrong to consider
this unity of the soul as a dead core, a simple concrete being in the midst of its
determinations and detachable from it; Rather, it is a living unity of action, inwardly
uniting with the totality and flow of all determinations of the soul, by virtue of which
everything simultaneity in the mind changes and every subsequent state grows out of
the former, bearing its effects in itself.
When I see tree, house, mountain, lake at the same time, each one looks different in
the scenic composition than if I see each one individually, their impression is
mutually determined by each other, and each one of them does so Total impression of
the landscape. One can not appear otherwise in the landscape without, in a sense,
everything appearing different, and upon this hangs an overall impression, which
reflects itself from the whole back to the individual. Of course, one can not really
describe it, only show it in consciousness. But as it is here with the moments of one
and the same intuition, it is conscious and unconscious at the same time with all the
moments of the soul which one may take as simultaneous with it. One can not appear
otherwise in the soul without everything appearing differently in the soul, and on this
hangs an overall impression, which also reflects on the whole again on the
individual. With the feeling of this reciprocal determination of everything that is in
our soul, at the same time the feeling of its unity is inseparably given. The soul senses
the manifold moments of its self-appearance in active change of determination, and
the active change of determination of everything that is in the soul can exist only with
the sense of unity of the same.
But now there is not merely a determinate of change, but also a sequential
determination of what is and is in the soul, which, however, is connected with the
determinateness of change itself. The determinateness of change manifests itself not
merely in the overall impression that is given directly, but also in the consequences
that result from it. Through the active interrelation in which the existence of the soul
stands, a new existence of the soul emerges as a consequence of the previous
one. And as it is connected with that reciprocal determination that man feels bound
together in the unity of a manifold of souls, does not dissolve in manifoldness, so
with the consequence that he also feels that the successively manifold is bound so
that he remains one in the manifold after each other. The later mind still feels at one
with the former, and is still the same as before when it still has the effects of the
former. Everything that I saw as a child, thought, felt, whether I no longer remember
it, no longer individually differentiated its consequences, was not in vain for my latest
age. Yes, nothing, not even the smallest thing that I encounter in my earliest youth,
and what I encounter, is in vain for the youngest age; small, as it is, it makes me only
slightly different in something small, but nothing pulls nothing in me after itself. The
old mind can thus change its condition completely; he even has to change it; for in
changes is the life of the Spirit; but insofar as there are changes, arising from the
former unit of action of the mind,
Therefore, there are basically only different expressions, but not different things,
when we say: the mind remains in the flux and change of its determinations, because
the spiritual unity is still maintained, or say, by all flow and change of determinations
It preserves itself as the same, because the connection of the effects of all previous
determinations of the mind continues through a coherent series of effects into the
later. For it is precisely the working of the former into the following which is what
both agree in time; it is an active unity, that of the soul; abstract, but not abstract.
Our sense of identity in relation to the sequence of events is itself essentially
identical with the sense of identity with regard to the simultaneity; it is the same ego,
which unites something different in a present, and what unites the different in
succession, and it can not even be thought that this identity could ever be solved,
since the active subsequent relation itself is only a success of the active correlation
and the active inter-relationship is characterized essentially as such, that it turns into
the active following relationship.
Not in itself, but by itself, the human spirit continues from the former to the
later. There he would always be a thin thread, if what he started as a child should be
the basis of the effects in his mind. On the contrary, he draws ever new provisions
through the senses as new adulteries, which are not themselves conclusions of what
was formerly in him, but inexplicably are in him through all that is earlier, but testify
to him and enrich him more and more. When something new comes to us that has not
flowed from our previous possession, then we also have the feeling that something
external comes to us; but we never lose ourselves in the newcomer. But because the
newcomers to us receive the consequences of the formerly won and the congenital, If
we feel the old things through everything new, we feel the new only as a continuation
of the old. Through the consequences of the former in us, we maintain and develop,
but through the newcomer, we always gain new beginnings of development, for the
development itself happens in us, through us.
The identical fortering of the ego on this side through all internal and external
changes thus depends in short on the maintenance of the causal or causal connection
between our mental phenomena. Inasmuch as something as a spiritual consequence
flows from that which formerly belonged to our ego, if it also belongs to itself to the
same ego, the ego retains itself in it, even if the phenomena themselves change so
much. The most general application of this we can do to God Himself. If our spirits,
as it is conceded everywhere, have really originated from God, then it is sufficient to
keep them in God as well. The causal connection itself receives it to its ego. Whoever
thinks otherwise leaves the experiential basis of the conclusion that is at our
command.
But what follows from this for our future life? To deny the continuance of our mind
into the hereafter, means nothing else than to deny the continued validity of the
causal connection in the spiritual realm beyond the here and now, denying that the
spiritual causes that are now within us also have spiritual consequences beyond this
world will have. But nothing in the world tells us that causes can ever cease to
produce proper effects; We also see enough of the spiritual after-effects of men, but
of course only in effects which we receive, but which presupposes effects which are
uttered. Everywhere the spirit as such appears only to itself, and we can not see the
mind of another in its otherworldly existence more directly than in this worldly,
All anxieties that the consequences of our mind are merely for the benefit of a
higher spirit, but no longer of our individuality, are hereby settled. Of course, they
also benefit him, but no different, as he already benefits our present spiritual
causation, with which our individuality consists. As consequences of our selves they
remain ours, and theirs only in so far as we are and will be already.
Or should one demand that special conditions be maintained for the preservation of
the basic character, of individual peculiarity? But they are already in the fullest and
the purest sense of the word, that the spirit sustains itself through its
consequences. For the nature of causes everywhere determines the nature of the
consequences, and it would not be a consequence of another cause, unless otherwise,
and it would be something else if it did not produce other consequences. So
individual as our mind is now, so individual in nature, and indeed in the same sense
individual, it must also remain for eternity, as long as it gives birth to consequences
of consequences. (See Vol. I. Chapter XI. B)
But while all the consequences of what the mind had remain, it also grows, as we
have seen, by something that it did not have, and that what might seem most to
disturb or destroy it is the action of the The outside world serves only the most to
make it richer and higher. Into which new external world the mental consequences of
our now may enter, as consequences of our ego, they always remain with our ego,
and all interventions of the new external world can do nothing but bring new
enrichments of this ego.
So we remain assured from both sides: no change that comes from ourselves can
change our ego, but merely sustain and develop it; no change that comes from
something outside of us can change our ego, it can only enrich it with new beginnings
of development. Where should we come from then danger?
True, could not the consequences of our present conscious mind be
unconscious? How much have I learned as a child, and it continues to work in me
only in unconscious consequences. Certainly, but as we have seen before, only
because its consequences have entered into the later phenomenal phenomena and
absorbed them; they are not those that no longer touch your consciousness, only those
that no longer affect it separately; but help to keep your conscious self in a certain
way. So much that now consciously touches you may perish in the later phenomenal
phenomena of the hereafter; but only in the phenomena of consciousness which in
turn belong to you; because all the progressions of your consciousness that could
bring about this downfall have come from you, or come from outside of you, yes, you
too belong. Your former consciousness can only go out in your later consciousness,
but not in a general consciousness that no longer concerns you. For if you were to be
further determined by death through the whole general consciousness, this would
only mean an enrichment of your consciousness through the whole broad sphere of its
determinations, not a loss of your consciousness to the general
consciousness; otherwise you would at least have to begin here in the river of
determinations that your consciousness receives from the outside, to begin to lose
you. so this would only mean an enrichment of your consciousness through the whole
broad sphere of its determinations, not a loss of your consciousness to the general
you. so this would only mean an enrichment of your consciousness through the whole
broad sphere of its determinations, not a loss of your consciousness to the general
you.
In fact, we have to believe that our relations to the general consciousness will
expand with death; but it will be a gain, not a loss for us; and as we receive extended
determinations through the general consciousness, this will be received through us.
This remains true, since a change in the level and intensity of consciousness, even
with temporary suppression of consciousness, affects our mind as a whole, and
indeed lies in its nature; in this respect, in general, every possibility is free for the
future; but not that consciousness ever stops now for us. The alternation in the rise
and fall of consciousness down here may eternally repeat a change in ascending and
descending, so it is the nature of periodic functions; but with a permanent extinction
of consciousness, the consequences of the spiritual itself disappeared, the spiritual
cause ceased to produce any consequences, the causal connection in the spiritual was
broken off, because a spiritual without consciousness would no longer be spiritual in
eternity. Only when sleeping or fainting can the mind temporarily become considered
existing. Then the consequences of the former conscious cause are not extinguished,
but it is only in the nature of the conscious cause, which raises and reduces itself
periodically, to produce corresponding consequences.
But, one may ask, must the effects of the mind be spiritual again? Can not the spirit
also bear witness to material effects, movements, and extinction in these material
effects?
Certainly it may be so, when, as one usually thinks, the mind always alternately
drives one's bodily and bodily effects before one without at the same time essentially
carrying the other. Then soon the mental movement becomes material, now the
material, spiritual; and we can expect at any moment just to perish the spirit in matter,
to see spirit emerge from matter. But it turns out differently if, as we say, all mental
effect itself is supported by material, there is no thought and will without a physical
impulse. Then the spiritual consequence will be borne by a material consequence, but
can not be replaced by it; and the proof of the material consequences will prove not
the absence, but the existence of the spiritual. Here we have a main fruit of
recognition of a thoroughgoing connection of mind and body. And the deeper we go
into the facts of the now-living, the more we are really made aware of this
connection.
So in terms of the conditions which the spiritual has to fulfill for himself to his
persistence, we are so surely put on all sides, as we can only ever wish for the facts
and possibilities of our now-life. It is not only nothing that in the present life
threatened us with the former cessation of our spirit, but nothing that would make it
possible for us at all. We would have to assume that causes cease to be witnesses, or
that the spiritual and the physical can transform into each other, to believe that we, as
spiritual individuals, will cease to exist.
In the meantime, we are not alone in looking at the conditions which are in the
spiritual itself. But since our spirit in fact requires a bodily support, a physical basis
for action, we must consider here, apart from the spiritual, also bodily conditions of
our existence, and if these are to be destroyed, then all consideration of the spiritual
alone would not suffice appear. In our opinion that all spirit is carried by something
bodily and exists only on the basis of this carrier, the question of the preservation of
this carrier arises all the more urgently. But the answer is all the more ready. As little
as the spiritual can be without consequences, so that it sustains itself, so little does the
bodily what sustains it be sustained; and whatever may be the consequences of the
bodily which our spirit now bears, they will also have to adequately bear the cause of
the continuation of the spiritual which is now carried by our bodies. But let us come
to this general conclusion with the direct consideration of what in this world makes
us appear to our body through all the changes of the same as through and through as
the identical bearer of an identical soul, and from there, as before, to answer the
question for the hereafter. to see if it survives the catastrophe of death.
Everywhere we find here analogous conditions as on the spiritual side. Our body
includes a great variety of parts and movements, but the organic context of effect
allows us to summarize it as one; the unity of our soul finds its expression or carrier
in the organic unity of our body, in which everything also changes; and however we
believe we keep the same spirit in time, in spite of the fact that it constantly changes,
we always believe to keep the same body, in spite of the fact that it constantly
changes; which again is factually related; for what still bears the old soul is still
considered to be the old body, and it is the same question: What keeps us the body as
the same in spite of all changes, and what enables it, despite all the changes,
It can not be in many ways: not in restraint of the same matter; because it changes
continuously during life; The old man is made of totally different matter than the
child, and yet he believes he has kept the same body and the same soul. Not in the
same form; for even this one changes continually from youth to old age, and basically
nothing is still quite in the same form in the body of the old man and child, while the
old man still considers himself to be the very same man. Not in the preservation of
any particular piece of the body, since one may gradually take away any part of the
body without, as far as we can observe in this world at all, subjecting the identity of
the individual to it. Let's look at the old man against the boy. He is another heap of
matter, in another space, another time, of a different size, of a different form than the
young, even with some similarities of the earlier form; but the I carried by it
remained quite the same. What is left that still stamped the body as bearer of the
same? There is one thing left over, which is quite correspondingly shown to the
circumstance which we recognized as the condition of the ego's perpetuation of the
spiritual in the spiritual realm, so that it can once again be regarded as an expression
or carrier of this condition in the corporeal. As the later spirit must grow out of the
former in order to still feel the same, the body which bears the later spirit must also
be of the adult who bears the former, in order to be regarded as the bearer of the same
spirit and hereby as the same body. Everything can change and really changes
between the existence of the former body and the spirit; only the causal connection
must constantly be sustained, and it really keeps on steadily. What was active in me
as a child, continues in its consequences today in me, the adult, physically as well as
mentally. No matter how different the form of the old man is than that of the child,
yet the particular form of an old man could only grow out of a certain form of
child. Every movement that has ever been in the organism, though never again
appearing in its original form, extends its influence so well through everything later,
as the motion of a planet in some moment extends its influence through all
eternity; the latter carries in itself the effects of the former, and would be different
from what it is when it does not carry them. The entire present state of the bodily
organism has grown out of the previous one in quite the same way as the mental state
of the former. Just as little indeed out of itself. The outside world also gives away
new regulations here. But all the new provisions preserve the effects of the past.
So we see the most perfect analogy between the conditions of the persistence of our
individuality on the mental and physical sides. But it is more than analogy; both are
connected in the condition of change, even the unity of being. The spiritual processes
themselves flow only according to the condition in which the physical ones flow from
each other, by which they are carried; the flow of the spiritual is only the self-
manifestation of the bodily flow.
What follows from this again for our future if we want to keep the facts of the Now
authoritative?
That the body of our future, in order to be able to serve our present ego, must have
grown out of the body of the now just as causally as the body of the now outgoing
grows out of that which carried the ego.
This condition fulfills the further body in the sense we have considered it before,
and fulfills nothing else than this further body. You will look for something different
for free. So if we do not want to take immortality into the void, we will only be able
to find it on this basis.
Let's review the whole relationship that comes into consideration.
The causal continuation of the activities of the former body, to which our former
self was connected, lies only partly in the present body. Part of it is in the outside
world. Everything that operates in us at any moment divides itself, so to speak, into
two parts, one of which works inwardly, the other reaches outward. It serves to
maintain our current physical system as the bearer of our present conscious life, and
is constantly enriched and developed by the influence of the outside world; it serves
to create a new physical system or expand our narrower into another that makes us
the bearer our future is lifted and is still unconscious for us. But everything that
internally dissipates in us, at times revolves in it, At last, however, sooner or later
turns into effects on the outside world, to which death casts the last of us; so we
gradually go over completely to the outside world, we are completely in the wider
system of the outside world. True, the knot of the narrower body never dissolves, for
the entanglement of the causal motions must also be prolonged by all the
consequences, as repeatedly discussed, but the snares tightened in the narrower body
are, so to speak, pulled far out. If the narrower body finally vanishes altogether,
according to the laws of antagonism and the periodicity which we have discussed, the
further one awakens. We are completely transformed into the wider system of the
outside world. True, the knot of the narrower body never dissolves, for the
entanglement of the causal motions must also be prolonged by all the consequences,
as repeatedly discussed, but the snares tightened in the narrower body are, so to
speak, pulled far out. If the narrower body finally vanishes altogether, according to
the laws of antagonism and the periodicity which we have discussed, the further one
awakens. We are completely transformed into the wider system of the outside
world. True, the knot of the narrower body never dissolves, for the entanglement of
the causal motions must also be prolonged by all the consequences, as repeatedly
discussed, but the snares tightened in the narrower body are, so to speak, pulled far
out. If the narrower body finally vanishes altogether, according to the laws of
antagonism and the periodicity which we have discussed, the further one awakens.
One sees well that the basic point which matters when the individual is sustained, is
here conceived essentially differently than usual. If in most of the views which we
have come to know in the previous section, only something identical is to be
maintained of the spirit and body, in which lies the essence of the mind and body,
then it is in the nature of the previous view that the whole body and spirit keeps itself
identically in the same sense as it already happens, by setting the essential for the
identity here in the context of the causal relationship and its dependent causal
connection of the whole bodily-spiritual organism,
One would be wrong in imputing the causal connection with the preservation of an
ego where there is none. Only if an ego is there can it sustain itself through its
causality. So much can be done causally in the world in a special way, without a
particular ego keeping up with it; after all, this causality will nevertheless contribute
to the continuation of the most general divine ego, whose existence is bound to the
causal connection and its conservation of the continuity of all things in the
world. Where there is no particular ego, its consequences can not sustain it as
such. But the emergence of particular egos of lower levels may be due to a causal
connection of higher order.
Of course, our view also deviates very much from those who seek the most
essential and peculiar of the mind in a kind of freedom that allows it to emancipate
itself from the laws of causal connection, since, on the contrary, the causal connection
of the spiritual phenomena is followed by the maintenance of spiritual identity itself
depends, and what falls from the causal connection of a mind, from which spirit itself
falls. If freedom is to take place in that sense, or not, then everything which by means
of such in the spirit is encountered, is not at all thought to be done by the mind, not to
be regarded as its continuation, sustained state; meets the spirit like something
strange. So it is with the effects that he experiences from an outside world, and one
can doubt cheap, if there is something else of the kind. But this does not deny the
freedom of man, for it does not hinder anything, as shown earlier (XIX B), to include
in the law of causality itself the fundamental principle of freedom which man is to
do. But we will not pursue this subject further here.
XXVIII. Practical aspects.
In the past, the question was, what can we conclude from our present life for the
future; Now let us ask ourselves, what can the justifiable conceptions of the future
life have on the present one? It is the practical side of the question that we now have
to deal with after the theoretical; and only the concurrent satisfaction of our
theoretical and practical interests can assure us that we have taken the right path.
First and foremost, however, is the preliminary question: Will our teaching ever be
able to gain any practical effect for life? Is not it too vague and too fuzzy, too
expansive and difficult for presentation and conception? But with a practical inability
to gain entry, it also proves a theoretical inadequacy after ourselves. For a doctrine of
the highest and last things is not only destined to be useful in a narrow circle, but to
be salutary in the widest circle, but it must also be accepted and believed in the
widest circle. And if she could not, theoretically she could not be the right one. So it
is in our most general principle of the linking of good and truth (XIX, A).
In the meantime, as may be the case with regard to comprehensibility, definiteness,
and representability, it is certainly not at a disadvantage in this respect. And could
they still take their place, should ours be less able? For what can be more indefinite,
faded, harder to fix, than the ordinary ideas about the future existence? Yes, one can
even speak of certain ideas here? Is not there just floating and foggy, neither quite
conceivable nor letting dreamlike thoughts? Does the soul still have a body in the
future or does it not have one? Does she leave the old one altogether or does she keep
some of it and what does she keep from it? Or how and where does she get a
new, and how is he? Does she sleep after death or does she go straight to
heaven? How does she get there? What's up for new conditions? What is one really
supposed to think under the sky itself; a place on a world body, or the space between
the world bodies, or a space over all the world bodies, or does the relationship of the
soul to the space ever end? Of all this, is there anything in the ordinary imagination
fixed? And for that it is futile to try this fixation; since the more one starts out, the
more glaring incongruities and contradictions of this whole imaginary circle
emerge. On the other hand, I think that the more we delve into it, the more our view
becomes the more fixed and definite. or a space over all the world bodies, or does the
relation of the soul to the space actually cease? Of all this, is there anything in the
ordinary imagination fixed? And for that it is futile to try this fixation; since the more
one starts out, the more glaring incongruities and contradictions of this whole
imaginary circle emerge. On the other hand, I think that the more we delve into it, the
more our view becomes the more fixed and definite. or a space over all the world
bodies, or does the relation of the soul to the space actually cease? Of all this, is there
anything in the ordinary imagination fixed? And for that it is futile to try this
fixation; since the more one starts out, the more glaring incongruities and
contradictions of this whole imaginary circle emerge. On the other hand, I think that
the more we delve into it, the more our view becomes the more fixed and definite.
Every view of the divine and otherworldly things must be brought nearer by
anthropomorphism and symbolization of the crude conception; but it is precisely our
view that offers the most versatile points of contact, such that the picture expresses
truth rather than conceals it; yes, she may well do without this instrument more than
any other, because she does not cut through the real relations of the future life with
the present, but pursues them; and hereby makes the most natural way for the
conception of the circumstances of the hereafter.
And here I seek a chief advantage in our view of practical relation, apart from the
content of it, against the ordinary conceptions and representations of the doctrine of
immortality. What can a view of the afterlife do for the here and now, how can it be
instrumental in making sense of it, if it does not permit conclusions to be drawn from
what is valid here, what is going to happen there, or does it break off any real
connection with it? the hope of the future based on contradictions with the facts and
possibilities of the now; when we are placed in an indefinite sky or on distant planets
in conditions that no longer touch with the present ones? You do not see that, and
that's not what we're all about, like what everyone here does, with whom, what
everyone has once experienced and is related. Wages and punishments appear
threatened or promised without reason, strangely proportioned, and where one does
not realize how something must come, indeed can come, it is only too easily doubted
that it will come. One necessarily depends on the other. Like the real references for
the knowledge, the knowledge relations for the action are lost. And however valuable
the assurances and allusions may be, which we can draw from the sources of our
religion and a suspicious sentiment, and indeed how much they themselves constitute
the necessary presupposition of all theory, the theoretical blindness and confusion in
which we find ourselves threatened Concerning the connection of the present life
with the future, always to make incapacitated what is offered to us by these
pages. Yes, what help,
If, on the other hand, we clearly realize that, and how our future life grows out of
the present one, grows after an extension of the same principle, according to which
every later state of life already arises from the former, then all that we are in the
present-day life appears by itself do so, as just as preconditioning and meaningful for
our future existence, as my present-day being and doing for the morrow, my youth for
my age; and by this they naturally give themselves the strongest motive to act as best
for the following life. If, then, the same view implies at the same time as the
necessary and the most plausible conclusion, that the same action, which piously pays
the most of the future, is also that which pervades the now most, In this way the most
beautiful and the best possible attunement will come into the whole of our practical
interests. And so it is found in our teaching, as will be proved by the following by
itself.
But further, one must not confuse the cumbersome, burdensome form in which our
doctrine appeared here with that in which it appears before the masses. A preacher
does not bring before the people also the studies to his sermon, there nobody would
remain in the church; but these studies were necessary. Only studies are given here,
not preaching, or little preaching with much study. How much should have been to
develop all the reasons why faith deserves what the Bible says of the highest and last
things; she renounces it and the people believe her only the better, if it is not guided
with diligence to unbelief. But the thinker also asks for the reasons. Let's understand
briefly among the people the great number of those who, rather, through others, as
directed by one's own reason, the faith is little implanted in the people by reasons,
every reason is good for the same, usually it does not ask for it, it believes a thing by
a scripture or person who has authority over it If one knows what he has learned to
believe from childhood, he believes so often the most absurd and harmful, but most
easily the most vivid and promising. Thus, all the great apparatus with which we have
sought to introduce and justify our view here, will not be able to perpetrate the people
but will not be able to err, but rather can and must fall away from it. Before him and
before the children's world, it would apply to make the case groundless, simple and
simple, but in the most vivid form, so that the salvific end of the faith can be
understood, with parables and images that did not disdain Christ, when it was the
doctrine of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 13:34). And form and content are at the
command of our doctrine; the form of Christ's teaching is her own Commandments,
because their content is that of Christ's teaching; she knows no other conditions of
salvation than these; What is new is not that it gives way to the Christian doctrine,
but that it reveals what is still closed in it and opens a path of knowledge to the way
of faith.
What we have to demand above all in the practical interest of the future life, is a
justice whose prospect is to contribute to the good, to keep back from evil. Even
though such justice is already visible in the investment, in general the good is better,
the evil worse, owing to the consequences of his actions that strike him back; but our
life does not exhaust the cycle of consequences, most of the consequences of our
actions extend too far beyond us to come down to our conscious part in consideration
of the shortness and narrowness of our worldly life, and so is often the case His
wages are as good as those withholding his punishment from the wicked; yes,
especially for the greatest good as evil, this is the most true. That's why all
religions, who deserve this name, seeking a supplement in the subsequent life, where
the good is rewarded as well as the evil punishment, which is shortened here. But
most people put it this way: while now good and evil are worthwhile and punishable
by consequences, which after the natural chaining of things and human order founded
on them naturally strike back on us, what is still wanting in the just retribution shall
in the future Living as if raised or outbid by someone else's hand. According to us,
the addition of wages and punishment in the following life falls under the same
principle as wages and punishments in the present life, since future and present life
themselves form a connection; yes, it only shows the fulfillment and full
implementation of this principle. In the future life, too, it will be only the
consequences of our present actions and lows, which are naturally due to us, that are
worthwhile and punish us from the context in which we exist. But whereas the
consequences of what we consciously do in the present life are only incompletely
repulsive to our conscious part in this world, after death the totality of the
consequences of our conscious life of being strikes back on our conscious part, the
whole sphere of the consequences of our present conscious Life forms the sphere of
our new conscious life. If they are good, we will feel them good, if bad, we will
suffer. Instead of our previous works, we are paid by our previous works. on our
natural consequences of our present acts and letting us, which reward and punish
us. But whereas the consequences of what we consciously do in the present life are
only incompletely repulsive to our conscious part in this world, after death the totality
of the consequences of our conscious life of being strikes back on our conscious part,
the whole sphere of the consequences of our present conscious Life forms the sphere
of our new conscious life. If they are good, we will feel them good, if bad, we will
suffer. Instead of our previous works, we are paid by our previous works. on our
natural consequences of our present acts and letting us, which reward and punish
us. But whereas the consequences of what we consciously do in the present life are
only incompletely repulsive to our conscious part in this world, after death the totality
of the consequences of our conscious life of being strikes back on our conscious part,
the whole sphere of the consequences of our present conscious Life forms the sphere
of our new conscious life. If they are good, we will feel them good, if bad, we will
suffer. Instead of our previous works, we are paid by our previous works. to reject
only incompletely our conscious part in this world, after death destroys the totality of
the consequences of our conscious living on our conscious part, inasmuch as the
whole sphere of the consequences of our present conscious life forms henceforth the
sphere of our new conscious life. If they are good, we will feel them good, if bad, we
will suffer. Instead of our previous works, we are paid by our previous works. to
reject only incompletely our conscious part in this world, after death destroys the
totality of the consequences of our conscious living on our conscious part, inasmuch
as the whole sphere of the consequences of our present conscious life forms
henceforth the sphere of our new conscious life. If they are good, we will feel them
good, if bad, we will suffer. Instead of our previous works, we are paid by our
previous works. we will suffer from it. Instead of our previous works, we are paid by
our previous works. we will suffer from it. Instead of our previous works, we are paid
by our previous works.
No view can establish a stricter, more complete, more inviolable, more natural
justice; no better answer to the words that everyone will reap what he sowed; He now
sows himself in his effects and works, and one day reaps his self from it; no better the
admonition not to bury his pound; each is itself the pound that pays off, like what was
once repaid to him with his interest. In no one better expound the word that our works
will follow us; indeed, they will follow us, as follow the child's birth at the birth of
his child, that is, while our works now lie behind us, appearing made external only by
us we realize with death that we have made ourselves with it. Because in the circle of
our effects and works we live from then on, as if it were our own body, with
consciousness. The future life will thus fulfill everything that conscience now
threatens and promises far away, more justly than it threatens and promises
conscience. Many still close their eyes to the far-flung scourge of evil, which he
conjured up by his action against himself, and at last forget that they are
threatening; but upon awakening in the next life, he will feel them raging in his flesh
and blood and can no longer forget them. and finally forgets that she is
and blood and can no longer forget them. and finally forgets that she is
and blood and can no longer forget them.
He will also reap inwardly what he sows inwardly, and what he sows externally, he
will also harvest externally; but what he has harvested internally will also be able to
give him new seeds to the outside; and what he reaps from the outside, he will reap in
his inner life. That is to say, what we are working for here for the world around us
will in the future, in conditions of a more superficial, what we work in ourselves,
come to meet in conditions of a more inner existence; that in co-reactions and
counter-effects which we feel as meeting from the outside, that in the future are our
external goods, this in such consequences, which we feel developed directly in
ourselves; these are our inner goods in the future, as far as they are really good. It will
not be money and lands in the future, what is still considered as an external good, We
leave that behind, but the good repercussions of our outgoing good deeds, the return
of the blessings we have created around us, which we live with consciousness in the
circle of the beneficial effects we have generated; It will not be perishable pleasures
of our inner being to consider what is henceforth an inner good, but a good formation
of our inner self and hereby a good attitude to the interior of the higher and highest
spirit which bears its blessing within itself and bears witness to the outer. If one has
taken only his inner education into consideration, and does nothing for the world
around him, then he will also become rich in the inner goods of the spirit, and poor in
outward goods in the next world. Did you manage a lot, but you do not have much of
yourself, thus he becomes outwardly rich, inwardly poor pass over into the next
world. There may then be an addition to what he has missed here; the more
harmonious but his desire for both directions has been for him, the better it will be for
him. Thus there will be, as here, a side of outer happiness and unhappiness, which
here we will be in relation to each other, as here not necessarily in relation to each
other, but on the whole in proportion to the local merit.
In fact, the circle of our effects and works intervenes in the rest of the world, in a
bad or good sense, and undergoes corresponding repercussions that will affect our
consciousness on the other hand as progressions from this world, on the condition
that the effects emanated from our consciousness on this side ; for our otherworldly
consciousness attaches itself to the consequences of our worldly
consciousness. According to the nature of good and evil, what is good is only what is
in the sense of, and evil only, that goes against the meaning of the highest will and
self-control that governs the world order, and thus good action and its consequences
must have a positive effect on the co-operation Bad people encounter the inhibiting
and punitive counter-effects of this wanting, wallowing, and the world order
dominated by them; it's not immediately, but surely sooner or later; because justice
does not happen all at once, but only over time. Thus, the circle of what we have
improved or worsened here in the world around us will secure for us a favorable or
unfavorable external life position through the co-reactions and counter-effects
produced in the world order.
In the near future, however, we will also take our ethos, our inclinations, our
insight, and our spiritual power as internal effects of our conscious existence, and
continue to evolve them. From this our inner position of life will depend, and
according as our inner being in the whole and in the main direction goes in the sense
or against the sense of the higher and highest spirit, in the consciousness relations
with him that have become clearer, we also become an immediate feeling of
attunement or conflict with him as a sense of inner bliss or damnation, and here to
external retribution find an inner one which, at the same time, will become fuller and
more fitting with the outer than on this side. For with regard to the outer one, we are
now bouncing back on what seemed long ago to be the consequences of our actions
beyond ourselves.
But finally, and that is still the third, we will work from the inside out, as good or
bad as we bring it into the hereafter, beyond the way we do this on our part, and thus
the other world will act on us through our own actions, as appropriate in the sense or
against the sense of the higher and highest order, to make heaven or hell complete. In
part, we are still working from the hereafter on the conditions of the worldly world of
intuition, with which we have grown together, and thereby change their return to us in
the hereafter, partly weaving and working on relationships and works that are only for
the higher world of phenomena Beyond that they have meaning, as we have already
considered.
So how here are our happiness and unhappiness dependent on three circumstances,
first the external attitude of life, into which we find ourselves at birth, and the
destinies which, of course, evolve from this position, secondly, the good or bad
internal faculties which we thirdly, from our action out of this inner being, whereby
we alter our outward attitude of life even further, by acting partly on nature, from
which we originally emerged, and partly create works and relationships, which have
continuity and meaning only for the circle of human life; So it will be in the
future. Our inner being, that is, our disposition, inclination, energy, insight into life on
earth, will remain the reason and the driving core of all this. For in accordance with
what this is our interior here, we will also act outward, whereby we prepare ourselves
for the outcome and basis of the future outward life; this inner will also follow us
inwardly, and out of the same interior we will also act in the hereafter and further
alter this position of life. So it is especially important to do this well on this side; so
the good shaping of our inner and outer state beyond is at the same time the natural
consequence of it. and out of the same interior, we will also act in the hereafter and
further change this position of life. So it is especially important to do this well on this
side; so the good shaping of our inner and outer state beyond is at the same time the
natural consequence of it. and out of the same interior, we will also act in the
hereafter and further change this position of life. So it is especially important to do
this well on this side; so the good shaping of our inner and outer state beyond is at the
same time the natural consequence of it.
In the process, some of the external conditions of happiness that we create through
our work on the other side of the world into the other world may seem to be
independent of our worldly convictions, of our will, and in some cases may appear at
first as coincidence or even as injustice; Often we can not follow our best intentions
down here; the sick, prisoner, what can he do for the world at all; The repercussions
of the world against the good and the bad are not always just. But chance and
injustice dwindle as we pay attention to the other sides and the progress of
retribution; in this everything is balanced out to full justice in the highest sense. So
we should not pay attention alone to that one side and that beginning of retribution.
In general, wages and punishment in the future life do not, according to our
doctrine, present themselves as something to be paid out and settled once and for all.
But what we get into the next life as compensation for our present inner and outer
action is merely the inner and outer procured by it favorable or unfavorable starting
conditions for the new life. But one who can do little in the life of this world for his
future outward position of life can take with him in his mind, his energy, his will,
such inner conditions, which ensure him the most favorable change of external
circumstances, provided he has them from now on further determined from within.
Many think that the good and the evil of men will be mistaken in the last judgment,
weighed on a general balance, and paid out only for the mere surplus of one or
another reward or punishment in just such a general coin of bliss or indisposition; So,
if it were enough to do an equivalent of good in another sense for evil in one sense,
then we are quit before God, and if we do something more of good, we enjoy the
surplus reward for it without complaint. But it is not like that. Then many did not
receive anything at all. Every good thing, the smallest as well as the greatest, should
deserve the name otherwise; in the context of the whole, it is a source of
consequences, or participates in a source of consequences which are pious to the
world, and every evil of such . who bring their disadvantage; but each, if of a special
kind, bears witness to the good and bad consequences of a special kind. Whoever is
good and acts well in one respect will one day enjoy the beneficial effects of that
good without deduction, if he does not itself limited by a bad counteraction; but he
will also have to bear in full the evil consequences of evil, which he did next to the
good. Nothing is given to us, no reward, no punishment, nothing balanced against
each other, as the consequence against the cause. So do not calm down with the
thought: It is too difficult for me to let this evil, I do it well in other ways; Evil can
only be made good by the self-imposed compulsion of evil; if not, it will be forced by
punishment. but each, if of a special kind, bears witness to the good and bad
consequences of a special kind. Whoever is good and acts well in one respect will
one day enjoy the beneficial effects of that good without deduction, if he does not
itself limited by a bad counteraction; but he will also have to bear in full the evil
consequences of evil, which he did next to the good. Nothing is given to us, no
reward, no punishment, nothing balanced against each other, as the consequence
against the cause. So do not calm down with the thought: It is too difficult for me to
let this evil, I do it well in other ways; Evil can only be made good by the self-
imposed compulsion of evil; if not, it will be forced by punishment. but each, if of a
special kind, bears witness to the good and bad consequences of a special kind.
Whoever is good and acts well in one respect will one day enjoy the beneficial effects
of that good without deduction, if he does not itself limited by a bad
counteraction; but he will also have to bear in full the evil consequences of evil,
which he did next to the good. Nothing is given to us, no reward, no punishment,
nothing balanced against each other, as the consequence against the cause. So do not
calm down with the thought: It is too difficult for me to let this evil, I do it well in
other ways; Evil can only be made good by the self-imposed compulsion of evil; if
not, it will be forced by punishment. The good and bad consequences of a special
kind are also attested. Whoever is good and acts well in one respect, will one day
enjoy the blessed inner and outer consequences of this good without deduction,
unless he is limited by a bad counteraction; but he will also have to bear in full the
evil consequences of evil, which he did next to the good. Nothing is given to us, no
imposed compulsion of evil; if not, it will be forced by punishment. The good and
bad consequences of a special kind are also attested. Whoever is good and acts well
in one respect, will one day enjoy the blessed inner and outer consequences of this
good without deduction, unless he is limited by a bad counteraction; but he will also
have to bear in full the evil consequences of evil, which he did next to the
good. Nothing is given to us, no reward, no punishment, nothing balanced against
each other, as the consequence against the cause. So do not calm down with the
thought: It is too difficult for me to let this evil, I do it well in other ways; Evil can
only be made good by the self-imposed compulsion of evil; if not, it will be forced by
punishment. Whoever is good and acts well in one respect, will one day enjoy the
blessing of the good and the inner effects of that good without deduction, unless he is
limited by a bad counteraction; but he will also have to bear in full the evil
consequences of evil, which he did next to the good. Nothing is given to us, no
imposed compulsion of evil; if not, it will be forced by punishment. Whoever is good
and acts well in one respect, will one day enjoy the blessing of the good and the inner
effects of that good without deduction, unless he is limited by a bad
not, it will be forced by punishment. unless he limits himself by a bad
not, it will be forced by punishment. unless he limits himself by a bad
not, it will be forced by punishment. So do not calm down with the thought: It is too
difficult for me to let this evil, I do it well in other ways; Evil can only be made good
by the self-imposed compulsion of evil; if not, it will be forced by punishment. So do
not calm down with the thought: It is too difficult for me to let this evil, I do it well in
not, it will be forced by punishment.
So, too, those who were in the main of good heart and good action, but not yet the
lack and the errors are not unmarried, in the hereafter only through a purgatory
through the atonement of their sins and purification of their essence; that is, they
must, by the punishments which are the consequences of their mistakes, take away
the blame of universal justice, and be compelled to repair themselves, unless they
compel or compel themselves.
But now, how will it be who will have the fundamentals inwardly and with evil
works behind them in the other world? You will have everything inside and out
against you. Their lusts, their hatred, their selfishness, their envy, their anger, follow
them into an order of things and want to satisfy themselves where no one finds
satisfaction as the virtuous, peaceable and just; what they have devastated in and out
of themselves lies in and out of them for them now desert; they see themselves
surrounded by the lust of heaven and can not taste any of it; for the heavenly pleasure
is only tasty for a heavenly purpose; the consequences of their evil deeds now catch
up with each other; now they are still happy as long as conscience sleeps, the
punishment wavers; where from now on the happiness for them still come from since
the conscience becomes all the more awake, the deeper it slept, the more the
punishment it gained, the more it hesitated? So she now grasps the inner and outer
agony; an unthinkable, let's say, an eternal pain, that is, which does not leave them a
moment to rest until the last brighter pays their debt, the evil sense is fundamentally
broken. The worm gnaws on incessantly until it has completely consumed its evil
food. Heaven, however, is above hell, ie, greater and more powerful than hell, forcing
hell through hell itself. In the end, no evil sense will be able to resist. which does not
leave them a moment to rest until the last brighter pays their debt, the evil sense is
fundamentally broken. The worm gnaws on incessantly until it has completely
consumed its evil food. Heaven, however, is above hell, ie, greater and more
powerful than hell, forcing hell through hell itself. In the end, no evil sense will be
able to resist. which does not leave them a moment to rest until the last brighter pays
their debt, the evil sense is fundamentally broken. The worm gnaws on incessantly
until it has completely consumed its evil food. Heaven, however, is above hell, ie,
greater and more powerful than hell, forcing hell through hell itself. In the end, no
evil sense will be able to resist.
But are we also able to describe the joys of the good and the righteous? Only this
and that we can suspect. The good and righteous, when they have forfeited what is
yet to be repaid, are purified of error and error in the most general terms, for every
perfect finite will not feel, as the power of the higher and the highest spirit is with
them; they will feel a calm, a security, and clarity and unity in themselves and with
the other blessed spirits, as they have never been the cause of confused life on this
side; they will help to build the highest and help the destinies of this earthly world
itself, partly gaining in the general and higher aspects of it, so that even in evil they
can already foretell the germ of the good and help the evil to do good; they will help
the Supreme to fight against everything that goes against his senses, already glad and
sure of the success of the past, but knowing that he succeeds only by his power, and
always keeping a spur of activity in it; they will help the wicked to atone with
heaven; and they will develop the conditions of the heavens themselves more and
more beautiful, by working with them with the powers, insights, abilities, attitudes,
which they have acquired here. And all the fruits of good, which they sowed in this
world, will grow up into their heavens and fall into their laps by themselves. they will
help the wicked to atone with heaven; and they will develop the conditions of the
heavens themselves more and more beautiful, by working with them with the powers,
insights, abilities, attitudes, which they have acquired here. And all the fruits of good,
which they sowed in this world, will grow up into their heavens and fall into their
laps by themselves. they will help the wicked to atone with heaven; and they will
develop the conditions of the heavens themselves more and more beautiful, by
working with them with the powers, insights, abilities, attitudes, which they have
acquired here. And all the fruits of good, which they sowed in this world, will grow
up into their heavens and fall into their laps by themselves.
Heaven and hell are, as we have already said, not to be regarded as different places,
but only as fundamentally different, even opposite states of affairs and relations to the
higher and highest spirit, in which the spirits of the hereafter are. Of actually spatial
separation of the otherworldly existences in the sense of this world can no longer be
talked about. However, that difference or opposition of the states and relations of the
good and evil spirits in the hereafter may be explained in the simplest and most
tangible way by a spatial separation and confrontation as well as from above and
below, from a place of bliss and pain. For this we know that, although in the future all
of us will permeate and fulfill the same world with our existences, but not an
indifferent relationship of all with all will take place, but rather very manifold
relations of appearance and encounter can emerge from it. It is undisputed now, as
now the good man preferentially lives in good, the evil, preferably, in evil society,
notwithstanding that both dwell with and between each other in the same world, and
enter into the most varied active relations with each other, it will be future; in fact, in
the future, the spirits of the hereafter may join one another even more in terms of
inner values and divorce one from another (see XXII A); but a divorce of the places
of the good and the bad will not be necessary any more than now, and a relationship
of their lives will not be so negated. After all, an opposing relationship can be as
powerful and alive as the relationship of attunement. Heaven should subjugate
hell; but in order for him to be able to do so in the fullest, highest, and best sense, he
does not have to be outwardly opposed to hell, but in the sense of previous reflections
he must embrace his disharmony as the moment of his sublimity and beauty, so that
the dissolution, dissolution, of this disharmony can take place this sublimity and
beauty contributes. The same fire in which the wicked burn will light the good, and
warm the good, not as the highest, most beautiful, celestial fire, but as here earthly
fire burns to the higher celestial fire. But the wicked are only burning, that the evil
burns on them; then they go out to the good; so the good can not torment their
torment. The means, through which the punishment and the improvement of evil are
carried out, and by which the good is rewarded and brought up higher, are themselves
so united in one thing, that they can not be thought of as being misplaced in two
different places. That the evil dwells in an overpowering heaven, against which he
wills and can not, is his greatest agony; and to the business and educational resources
of the blessed spirits of the afterlife itself is to maintain the order of the sky against
the wicked and to restore them to order. Only that they will succeed better in the
hereafter than in this world; because the very next world is the higher perfection of
this world. Even the small memory in us is in this respect above the illustrative realm
in us. What is still raw, contradictory, seems unruly against the order of our memory
kingdom, must become, even remembrance, but at last submit to the order; the spirit
does not rest until it has managed to put everything in order, and what seemed most
contradictory often endows the most valuable enrichment. How much more can we
expect the same from the order of the higher and highest mind.
One can see how many different real separations, which are based on ordinary views, have
already taken hold of us (see XXII.B), even those of heaven and hell. However, according to the
usual idea that hell stands in the way of heaven, like shadow to light, hell is in heaven after us like
shadows in a beautifully enlightened landscape. What would the landscape be without shadows? If,
according to the usual conception, the heavens above, the hell below, are spatially separated, then
heaven is above, hell down in that sense of the upper and lower, which we often use, since the upper
includes the lower as a subordinate moment.
One can say: But what will become of the grace of God in such
righteousness? Does she still have room?
From a grace that contradicts the righteousness of God, nothing becomes; Of
course, one often wants this contradictory concept.
But in the righteousness of our doctrine, the best that is required of grace lies in
much more than is usually required.
All sin must be punished, this is just; but all sin shall be forgiven; this requires
grace. Well, we find that grace again in our view, only not out of justice, but by virtue
of justice itself. It is not punished to punish, but punished so that the sinner must
reform; the worst is punished the hardest, because most of it has to be overcome with
him; but not for revenge, but for the sake of betterment; then he is forgiven.
The course of this justice and grace is not the measured gait of a clockwork, is
neither on this side nor beyond determined in detail, but in a thousand different ways
and with a thousand detours possible, performing in every other different, so that all
diversity and all change and everything Play of Life Place has determined, only in the
direction towards the ultimate goals and in the fair overall measure of retribution for
the merit of each one inviolable. At the same time, as wages shake off, punishment
retards, the conditions of wages and punishments increase, and the better the evil, the
worse the good, the greater the overthrow; How it is distributed between this world
and the hereafter is uncertain, but at last everyone has what is due; So whoever does
not have it in this world can certainly expect it in the hereafter; indeed, the transition
to the hereafter is itself part of making it possible under new conditions for what can
not be achieved under the conditions of this world in this respect. Death forms a
section between this world and the hereafter, like the evening between two days of a
worker. The gentleman stood sideways or was hidden in the house; The worker
thought that the gentleman did not care about the work. But the master saw
everything and dismissed the returning worker and settled down with him. he will at
once know what he still has to receive for his day's work; not that he received at once
the reward, the punishment, at once; but suddenly he learns the sum of the
amount. This is that feeling of conscience that grows to death, that value of the past
life is in a number, a number which, in inner joy or pain, first counts what will
come; for, according to the account of this paragraph, the further retaliation begins to
develop; the good lives henceforth in the second life of the reward of his former life,
the evil in the punishment for his former life; but if no one is quite good and none is
very evil, everyone lives on the reward and punishment of his former life, and the
multiplicity and the change and the play of life are renewed in the distribution of this
righteousness and the intertwining with the, what is new earned in the new life and
repaid again. for, according to the account of this paragraph, the further retaliation
begins to develop; the good lives henceforth in the second life of the reward of his
former life, the evil in the punishment for his former life; but if no one is quite good
and none is very evil, everyone lives on the reward and punishment of his former life,
and the multiplicity and the change and the play of life are renewed in the distribution
of this righteousness and the intertwining with the, what is new earned in the new life
and repaid again. for, according to the account of this paragraph, the further
retaliation begins to develop; the good lives henceforth in the second life of the
reward of his former life, the evil in the punishment for his former life; but if no one
is quite good and none is very evil, everyone lives on the reward and punishment of
his former life, and the multiplicity and the change and the play of life are renewed in
the distribution of this righteousness and the intertwining with the, what is new
earned in the new life and repaid again.
Maybe someone says: God does not come into consideration with all this; it is not
God that weighs reward and punishment for merit; but everything follows naturally in
the natural course of events; you do not need to think about God. And should we not
rather see in God the eternal torment?
But what may or may not be in other teachings contradicts and challenges
ours. The supreme law according to which righteousness is carried out, in spite of its
inviolability, is not the mechanical law of a dead natural process, but the living law of
a supreme spiritual power itself. The natural course of things, of events, is after
ourselves of divine consciousness penetrated, and the uppermost direction follows the
uppermost costumes. Anyone who abstracts from God's spiritual activity does the
same as one who, in the natural course of the movements in our body, our brain,
abstracts from the fact that it is so naturally alive only under the influence of a soul, a
spirit. Just in our teaching comes the righteousness that awaits everyone, in the most
intimate relationship with God's will and nature, a much more intimate and deeper
than in so many other teachings. For in other doctrines this righteousness depends on
God's will, with the appearance that he could not want it, but in ours it is connected
with the nature of God's will Himself; he wants it because it is so in the nature of His
will lies. It is such a steadfast law of our own spiritual life and endeavor, but not a
dead law, that our mind strives to promote the conditions of its own liking, and in
turn opposes the conditions of what it opposes, so indestructible is it Law in the
higher spirit and God, and so there is no dead, but rather as in us a bond and a
guideline of his life, aspiration, will itself. The last measure of good and evil in the
world is the pleasure or displeasure itself that God finds in it, but this is in the face of
happiness and misfortune, the source of which is good and evil in the world borne by
God and bearing God context. So God's co-and counter-effects against good and evil
will be measured by the happiness and unhappiness of which it is the whole. But as
good and evil develop their consequences only gradually, and these intermingle and
shift in many ways, so do the co-effects and counter-effects. Even we do not always
go straight to our goal when we overlook the fact that the detour is better on the
whole, indeed, even something of the goal is by-passing. The less God, with his
greater insight, always proceeds straight to the goal of his righteousness, but the fact
that he always goes for it and satisfies it on the whole, that is unbreakable. But if this
indestructible is the final righteousness which is connected with the nature of the
insight and will of God according to the law of spirit, then of course all mediation
thereof must conform to this law.
But it is also not indifferent to our future retaliation whether we consciously refer
to God in thought and action or not. Someone may say, "If my actions pay off by its
consequences, it will only suffice to do well at all, and the good consequences will be
the same for me, whether I care about God or even believe in God. But so can
someone who thinks the thought in general for an empty trace disappearing, but not
we, who also pay attention to the consequences of the thoughts, probably someone
who considers God to be a creature standing far away from the world course and train
of thought of his creatures, not us, who acknowledge a living God in the world, a
weaving and working of our thoughts in God and God in us. Even the thought that
we, the individual, To be directed to the whole God is something real and has
consequences that reach over into the beyond, consequences that are more important
to our salvation, than the thought itself is more the direction of God than the highest
and last refuge and source of salvation takes. Knowing that we are doing God enough
by doing good and acting out of love for him, that is the highest thing man can bring,
and will be most highly rewarded when one day we enter into a more conscious
relationship with God as now, through a feeling of bliss and satisfaction of the highest
kind, as no one will enjoy, who acts well for any other reason. He, too, will have his
reward; he will be paid as he deserves; but who acted God in love,
The difference between doing what you have to do, with God in mind and in your
heart for the sake of His love, or just to satisfy the demand for an abstract
commandment and for fear of falling victim to the punitive effects of a dead world
order. It is the same whether one serves a good Lord in and out of true love for Him,
or whether he acts as a slave to a written contract and out of fear of falling prey to the
penalty of his break. The last will receive what he is entitled to under the contract; but
the first will receive the love of his Lord, and not only in the feeling and
consciousness of intimate relations with him have something which the other can not
suspect, and therefore can not value according to his true value; but also to enter into
a favorable outward position through the intimate union with his master, which the
other person can never win. Faith in a good God and union in relations with him
holds together in general the state of fortune in the world; Therefore, whoever
separates himself from this belief, this relationship in any way distinguishes himself
in one way from the enjoyment of that state of happiness; that is already noticeable
here; but one day more. It thus separates itself in one way from the enjoyment of this
state of happiness; that is already noticeable here; but one day more. It thus separates
itself in one way from the enjoyment of this state of happiness; that is already
noticeable here; but one day more.
But how can Christ still be called the mediator of our salvation and our judge in
such a doctrine? We want to take a closer look at this, where we take the relationships
of our doctrine to Christianity in the eye.
The former points of view still permit a wide development in manifold
directions. But we do not want to give a system here, but only to discuss some of the
approaching.
The consequences of a single human conscious activity seem to be
indistinguishable from the effects of the rest of the world, and we would vainly
calculate here what depends in particular on each man; but beyond that, everyone will
experience it directly without any calculation. The consequences of what everyone
has thought and done with individual consciousness will, on the other side, take up
again the same individual consciousness, not blur in the external world, but will
partly be determined harmoniously or disharmonically by their co-reactions and
counter-effects.
We will share the pleasure and suffering, the happiness and misfortune which has
arisen here in others through our conscious action, as a separate pleasure and
suffering, as our own happiness and unhappiness in the hereafter; just as we still
share the ideas that have been generated by us into others, so that pleasure and
suffering for us occur in other relationships beyond, as in this side, but yet felt by us
as well as by them. For, as the human mind here is affected by pleasure or aversion, it
works harmoniously with or discordantly against what makes it pleasure or suffering,
in proportion to the magnitude of pleasure or suffering; and the conscious cause, in
the hereafter, senses this co-action or counteraction in the same pleasure or
suffering. All blessings emanating from man, fall back on him one day; but also all
curse. Every curse that is called to a dead man is felt by him; every blessing no
less; but, whether nothing is called to him in special words, -which quietly, as a result
of his conscious activity in happiness and suffering, works here in others, will work
so quietly in happiness and suffering on his otherworldly existence.
This also explains how God punishes the sins of the parents in their children. He
punishes the parents themselves in their bodies and spirits. What the parents have
fathered in the children causes punishment, which falls to their parents. As far as the
evil in the children depends on the parents 'conscious life, the parents' conscious life
will one day meet the evil consequence of this evil. Of course, it will be bad for the
children, if the world order does not have the means to divert all evil one day to the
good. Each of us has to contribute to the mistakes of the previous world; everyone
should do something for themselves to atone for and ameliorate them, and be driven
by the world order to do so. But a strange righteousness of the world order would be
if others had to bear the punishments of our sins,
Some people think that this or that does not belong to the concept of their duty, so
he leaves it because it costs him a sacrifice; but compulsory or not obligatory, if he
does the good work, he will enjoy all the good of his consequences, and if he does
not, he will once feel the void, provided he does not have the time at his disposal
instead of this good work and has used means to another.
In permeating this certainty, man will find the strongest impulse to consider all
consequences of his actions for others and for the future as if he himself were one
with these others, and that future would once become present for him. to love one's
neighbor as oneself, to make no distinction between his and her happiness. But since
the consequences of the actions in detail can not be calculated well at all, they will at
the same time give them the strongest incentive to look for rules which, on the whole,
guide their action to good success as a whole; and the moral principles will in this
respect oppose him as the supreme and the most important, as having the
peculiar Although their steadfast adherence often brings some obvious disadvantages
into the world, but on the whole, safe and far-reaching advantages. Thus, he will no
longer pay attention to these rules as a troublesome bond, but as a sure guide to his
one-time and eternal good, as they have always been. But now we also know what
they are.
In the first place, only that can surely and permanently pervade man in the
hereafter, which is of sure and lasting beneficial effects in general; He can count on
fleeting and accidental consequences only fleetingly and as a coincidence in the
hereafter, and serious attire therefore can not be applied to them. A right action out of
a good attitude in steadfast adherence to the moral principles is, however, just the
safest source of lasting blessing, that is, the state of happiness and peace of the world
in the whole of sustaining and promoting consequences. Man can not rely on the fact
that every single good action is paid for him well one by one. Who can assert that
every good action, what one calls so, taken individually the world, and consequently
him, the doer, someday make you happier? Truly good, something is only in the
context of the whole and in view of all the consequences for the whole. And so an
action, albeit singly, promises disadvantage rather than advantage, but as an outflow,
actuation, and sustained attitude, principles, and rules, which are the most general and
secure foundations of the state of happiness of the world, even the agent in general to
the blessing, as the success of the action, considered individually, can do him harm. It
is still to be considered that not only acting out of the mind, but also the mind itself is
something which as a reality will have its real consequences for the hereafter, only, as
we have said, more internal and to the relation to God,
No view may be more apt to propel us from one side more to the calculation of the
most remote and particular successes of our individual acts, if we desire certain
purposes and desires beyond the grave, but warn none more that we are not our
highest and last salvation based on the calculation of any particular individual
successes, our whole hope depends on such; only to the most general, highest and last
conditions of salvation can we hang them; all that we strive for can fail, and every
single calculation we make may fail; only the calculation of the most general, highest
and final justice can not fail, not fail. But the special thing that we strive for will not
be so easy, with more insight, Prudence, caution, zeal, love, we seek, and the more it
enters into the general sense of the best; and even if it fails, we will still bear the
fruits of the force practiced in the good sense in the inner goods, which will secure us
another success.
It may be argued that the consideration here expressed for one's own benefits, which we will
draw from action for the good of the world, introduces a selfish principle. But this is not selfishness,
its happiness through the work for the greatest possible happiness of all justify, but is rather the
meaning of the most comprehensive love. Selfishness is only to want to found happiness at the
expense of others' happiness; but the very principle of this is completely eradicated by our
teaching. It is undeniably the most beautiful institution in the world that acting in the sense of one's
own and one's general wellbeing can not really be divorced if we take into account the
consequences of our actions which go beyond the hereafter, and the acknowledgment of this
becomes clear through our teaching so demanded as justified. It may be true that intellectual
understanding will at first want to divorce, want to act for others, and want to win over; but the
consistent pursuit of our view and penetration does not allow the divorce. Who in the will and
acting in the foreground, and the intention to serve others, in the background, is not yet on the point
of view, to which our view must put. For such an advance of oneself will necessarily have such an
influence on the feeling, will, and action, which in the last instance piously pervades neither the
world nor the agent himself. but the consistent pursuit of our view and penetration does not allow
the divorce. Who in the will and acting in the foreground, and the intention to serve others, in the
background, is not yet on the point of view, to which our view must put. For such an advance of
oneself will necessarily have such an influence on the feeling, will, and action, which in the last
instance piously pervades neither the world nor the agent himself. but the consistent pursuit of our
view and penetration does not allow the divorce. Who in the will and acting in the foreground, and
the intention to serve others, in the background, is not yet on the point of view, to which our view
must put. For such an advance of oneself will necessarily have such an influence on the feeling,
will, and action, which in the last instance piously pervades neither the world nor the agent himself.
It is well to see what meaning the rule of action, which I put in my writing "On the highest
good" as the supreme, not in contradiction, but for the practical interpretation or supplementation of
the highest Christian command, wins for our future life. This rule is that we should seek to bring as
much pleasure or happiness as possible into the whole of time and space, which by itself includes
the most possible preservation of the most universal supreme and most enduring sources of the
happiness state of the world. What the world gains in this relationship through us, we will one day
gain from it; and thus serve us in one, the world and God at the same time best; because God
participates in the state of fortune of his world in the most general way. It always goes
The rule, love and practice virtue only for its own sake, would be an empty vain one, if virtue
did not know how to deserve it, that we love and practice it so much. But it deserves it precisely
because the loving and practicing of virtue, without any special calculating consideration for us,
already includes the most general consideration of ourselves. Such a love is at the same time the
greatest alienation of man from all that is selfish, and the secure preservation of the fullest profit
which he can make for his eternity for all eternity. But if someone understands the rule, practice and
love virtue for its own sake, then: Practice and love it, in spite of the fact that you know that you
would have eternal disadvantages of it, then it falls into a theoretical and practical absurdity at the
same time; in a theoretical, because it contradicts the essence of virtue in itself, trailing eternal
disadvantages for the virtuous, in a practical, because he demanded something of the nature of man
for the impossible. Nevertheless, the rule is often understood in this absurd sense.
Our doctrine does not require man to sacrifice himself to others, nor to the here-to-beyond
world; it wonders everywhere, gets more into the whole, whether you first serve you or others, the
profit now grasp or move. If man wanted to neglect his duties, or if the right joy now fails, the
whole would only be lost. But man does not make a single arithmetic out of what can only be
correctly given by a general account, or rules that are intended to make such expenditures
unnecessary. Not everything can be found by calculation. (See my writing "About the highest good"
p. 32.)
I say that our above rule of bringing as much happiness as possible into the world from which
all the previous flows by itself, is merely the practical interpretation or completion of the supreme
Christian commandment, which is God above all and his fellow man alike yourself too love. Both
commandments meet only from different sides in the demand for the same conditions of
salvation. For our command is directed in the most general manner and in the same sense to the
purpose of action, as the Christian to the mind from which we ought to act, and only that one
operates the mind in relation to the end truly fulfills the practical Requirement. So, each of the
commandments is inadequate without the other. But in each of them one can understand or
understand the other.
In fact, at first the Christian commandment still asks what we should do for the sake of the
love of God and our fellow human beings. And there can be no more general answer than our
commandment gives. For it is the nature of love to find happiness in promoting the happiness of
one whom one loves. If one did not want to promote it, one would want to be as much as possible in
favor of it. But God's state of happiness can not be fostered otherwise; God can not help but be
willing to promote the state of happiness of his world and its creatures, since God's consciousness
includes all consciousness of the world and the creatures involved in it. and also, if one wanted to
think of God above the state of happiness of his world in kind, that he himself would not really be
touched by it, but that his goodness alone could make him no other command than ours or an
equally valid commandment, so that by following it we would best fulfill his will. But if we strive
to do the utmost in promoting the state of happiness in the world, we only put our own state of
happiness on the same level as that of our fellow human beings, preferring them or us only to the
extent that the happiness of the world gains more through: At the same time, let us act in the same
way as love of others, like ourselves, in submission to the love of God, who wants the greatest
possible happiness of the whole, can only ever demand it. So our commandment speaks openly
what is already hidden in the Christian.
In the realm of the changeable course on which righteousness takes place, there is
the circumstance that when one man dies, one soon loses less of the consequences of
his previous life, and his consciousness now awakens only for the others. So it seems
coincidental whether he is really hit by some good or evil consequences of his
trade; they are already partly over at his death. But if certain consequences are over,
there will be further consequences, which suffice for justice as a whole. If the
punishment for the wicked in the hereafter were not so ready that his evil will was
forced, because some of the evil consequences that might punish him had already
passed away, he would continue to sin, until the evil consequences would be the evil
ones Will override will; and if the good did not find his wages right away, a longer
endurance in good would only further increase the conditions of this wages. But now
the good consequences of action continue all the more surely through all times;
indeed, the more they grow in proportion with time, the more in the sense of the truly
good, the better it was in the whole context, and the truly and truly good may
therefore do not worry that when he enters his future life he has already lost his
wages and now has to wait again. Nobody should count on the reward of individual
actions. In the meantime, however, there is still a deadline for the wicked to redeem
and heal the consequences of his evil deeds as much as possible until his death. But
now the good consequences of action continue all the more surely through all times;
and heal the consequences of his evil deeds as much as possible until his death. But
now the good consequences of action continue all the more surely through all times;
and heal the consequences of his evil deeds as much as possible until his death. that
when he enters his future life he has already lost his wages and now has to wait
again. Nobody should count on the reward of individual actions. In the meantime,
however, there is still a deadline for the wicked to redeem and heal the consequences
of his evil deeds as much as possible until his death. that when he enters his future
life he has already lost his wages and now has to wait again. Nobody should count on
the reward of individual actions. In the meantime, however, there is still a deadline
for the wicked to redeem and heal the consequences of his evil deeds as much as
possible until his death.
Outward riches below here will, on the other hand, be returned to outer riches
(which is true in the hereafter), as we unfolded a blessing outward activity in the
acquisition or use of this richness of the world; and at the same time in inner riches,
in accordance with the condition in which we developed and formed spirit, heart,
will, energy through acquisition or use in a good sense. And the acquisition and use
of this richness of both sides can probably also pervert us in the hereafter. But it does
not depend on the possession and the size of the riches themselves. And if anyone,
with all his work, can laboriously bring himself through life and never has a penny
left, the more acid it becomes for him to get through life, The more activity he had to
develop into the world, the more treasure he finds in the consequences of this activity,
if it were only an activity in a good sense, in that world where doing is no longer
done externally but with consequences of doing is paid. Whether he can not follow
these consequences here, they are there and must be there. How much richer will he
be than the one who dispensed inherited treasures effortlessly and uselessly; The
treasures we inherit are not part of our ego, so the consequences of the existence of
these treasures will not fall to our ego. Only the diligence, the diligence, and the work
with which we acquire them, and the purpose in which we use them, belong to our
ego, and only with the consequences of this can the rich reward of the hereafter be
acquired; But the poor man is in a way even better off than the rich, because he has a
solicitation, diligence, attentiveness, effort of all spiritual and bodily powers, which
the rich man does not have, who is only too easily deceived, his hands in to lay down
and forget the misery of others over the opportunity to own pleasures. Some
meaningful sayings of Christ refer to the great blessing that the poor man has before
the rich in this regard. But if the poor man here uses his powers in a bad sense, he
will have as good as the rich one day to enjoy the bad fruits of it, and if he is a rich
man who, in spite of the seduction afforded by wealth to excess, his powers and
Medium sized and used well and sprightly, He will also harvest beautiful and rich
fruits. Thus, everyone can bless poverty by following the spur to activity in the right
sense that lies within, as the wealth in which it gives an inner spur to the means of
activity.
Win in the game and lottery are almost always just a loss for our hereafter. Most such profits are
already dissipated here as they are won, but certainly with death, and still leave a gap. Only if the
winner develops an equally useful activity in the use of the profit, as actually the acquisition would
have cost, it becomes the same profit for him; but effortless gain is usually more apt to diminish the
fruitive activity of man. Moreover, since at every win in the game one can only win that which
another or another loses, such gain does not promote the state of happiness of the world as a whole
(as would be the case by useful activity), and it can one based on such profit in this world no profit
in the hereafter, where he achieves this as a fortune, which is improved by him in the state of the
world and maintained in good condition. Otherwise, the acquisition and administration of property
generally requires a useful activity; since according to the laws of human traffic, as a rule, nothing
can win, without in exchange of means and activities others gaining at the same time from another
side; Game, fraud, theft, but makes an exception. Also, there is still a big difference, how a miser
and how a person, full of humanity and love, acquires and manages a fortune. For the miser, too, the
reward of that which is good in him, and good through him, will not be atrophied. He will not only
feel the reward of his persevering activity and austerity in good internal consequences, but also in
good outer, as far as the world benefits from the activity with which it acquired its fortune, but also
feel the success of its hardness and lovelessness in bad consequences, and these bad consequences
will prevail; because if it does not, he would not be a miser, but at most a thrifty man.
The weary and burdened, the sufferer, may at all consolation draw from our view,
as long as he is right in his bearing and draws the courage and encouragement to do it
right. The more we have to contend with adversity, and the more we exert our
steadfastness, our inner and outer activity, the stronger and stronger, and the more
assured, internally and externally, against all adversities in the same sense, the
happier and more courageous we become in this following lives occur; that all the
strength and power which we have invested internally and externally in our present
life, to conquer or even to carry evil, will be gained in the future life as an
intensification of our being, our internal and external means against the further evils
of us, and when the evil fades with death, a corresponding sense of well-being,
appropriate strength and energy will bring us to life. To be sure, the evil of which
there is a permanent cause in our conscious, willing being, will not automatically
disappear with death, for on the contrary the evil which comes from the will can only
be permanently conquered by effects which force the will ; but all the evils, whose
points of attack are grounded only in the peculiar nature of our present-day external
being, will automatically disappear if this kind of being is omitted, as, in particular,
the evils which are connected with bodily illness and external poverty or
obstruction. Here we see, often with the approach of death, the greatest pain and
anxiety disappears, when the organ is destroyed by fire, which brought the suffering
so far; and so,
It might be thought that a pathological body on this side must again produce a pathological body
into the other world as a consequence. But even here, every illness produces critical aspirations, that
is, seeks to lift itself by its consequences. Often it does not succeed that the present life can still
exist. Then only death remains as the last crisis, which lifts all sufferings, which adhere to the
present form of corporeality, by destroying this form itself and thereby simultaneously transforming
the present life into the future one. Why nature postpones this crisis as much as possible has been
touched upon earlier (chapter XXIV.B). What we call bodily disease is only disease for the here and
now and can not extend any pathological consequences beyond death, because death is the very
consequence of the disease through which the disease, if all else fails, elevates itself. If someone
here has a bad lung and therefore breathes badly, then this does not harm him to the hereafter, where
no breathing is carried on at all in the same way as now. As for the mental disorders, there is a
difference. If everything spiritual is carried by the physical, then all mental disturbances will be
borne by bodily ones; but it is a question of whether we encounter, or involuntarily, those connected
with our willpower (moral disturbances). The former will only be able to be lifted someday by
compulsion of our will, and death is nothing that changed our direction of the will in itself. The
crisis of such disturbances can only be brought about by the punishments of the following life; but
if a mental disorder z. B. occurs due to a head injury or otherwise externally caused disorder in the
head, so it will be lifted by destroying the head in death.
If one here suffers quite bitterly, then he only tells himself that with the steadfast
yielding of this suffering, the tension of his strength and activity, he attracts as it were
a hard shell, which ironically restrains him against further, albeit threatening, evil to
appear in the future life, to have roses sought and found there among thorns, and
indeed roses to be won as the fruit of the thorns which have injured him here; on the
other hand, he who feebly surrendered to all suffering, missed the exercise of his
power, did nothing but resist with lamentations, felt his weakness in the following
life, and, though death at first freed him from an external evil, yet every attack of new
evils the easier it is to be exposed, as he has done nothing here to counter attacks in
this sense.
Even the sickest who can do nothing can do this, that he maintains his courage,
keeps upright in the certainty that his courage will once count towards his
consequences. In his illness, his sufferings, he is given an opportunity to acquire
something that can not be acquired in any other way. If, because he is physically ill
and weak, he is not able to do anything for the outside world and consequently his
future outward life position, he is content that God has now only enabled him to do
something for his inner being, which at one point will easily destroy everything make
up for what he has missed here; because the steed does not have to shy away from
anything.
Hereby we also see the difference between the one who, deviating from the evil,
takes his own life, and the one who sacrifices it for the common good. The latter,
though instinctively escaping from evil, will at once be subject to it in another
form; since he has relinquished his power of resistance and now enters the other life
with an increased weakness. He will receive the good for which he sacrifices himself
with self-conquest, and will receive the inner goodness of an inner strength more as
his reward in the following life. Woe to you who are loathing the rope, to save
yourself from this life, endure, stop; that you endure in all the misery that guilty or
innocent, that you may improve, atone for what is in your power, that alone can once
compensate and prevent your misery, or else you will only come out of a torture
chamber into a greater martyrdom in which you are compelled to endure, for man
will be hammered until he has become hard to bear evil and good do without
complaints. What does not want to harden here is hardened there with increasingly
strong blows.
Of course, in the light of our teachings, it seems natural for someone who has
begun or is beginning to have a good, great, and beautiful work, be it a useful device,
a work of art, a script, the education of a person, or whatever it may be before he
really carried out the intention or the beginning; He is lost in the benefit or favor
which the unfinished work can not produce, a gain for the future world; and this
thought should really drive us to use our time here as much as possible, and not to be
indifferent to whether we merely start or perform something; If we do not bring it to
the point where it bears any fruit at all, it will no longer bear fruit for us either. But
we also take care that by such incompletion we lose only an important acquisition
according to external relations; but that the whole education, the whole mentality, the
whole exercise of the activity which we put into the work, even if it remained
unfinished and fruitless with our death, will benefit us in internal consequences, and
will probably make us stand in the future life will acquire new goods in the same
sense. Also, this is only in the sense of what we already see here. Important treasures,
on the acquisition of which we are very diligently related, can already be lost
here; What can a fire destroy? It is a pain for us, but only one more impulse to re-
exert our powers, which only increases our inner acquisition and the external loss can
be replaced. the whole exercise of the activity which we put on the work, even though
it remained unfinished and fruitless with our death, will benefit us in internal
consequences, and in the future life will probably enable us to acquire new goods in
the same sense. Also, this is only in the sense of what we already see here. Important
treasures, on the acquisition of which we are very diligently related, can already be
lost here; What can a fire destroy? It is a pain for us, but only one more impulse to re-
be replaced. the whole exercise of the activity which we put on the work, even though
it remained unfinished and fruitless with our death, will benefit us in internal
consequences, and in the future life will probably enable us to acquire new goods in
the same sense. Also, this is only in the sense of what we already see here. Important
be replaced. to benefit us in internal consequences, and in the future life will probably
be able to acquire new goods in the same sense. Also, this is only in the sense of what
we already see here. Important treasures, on the acquisition of which we are very
diligently related, can already be lost here; What can a fire destroy? It is a pain for us,
but only one more impulse to re-exert our powers, which only increases our inner
acquisition and the external loss can be replaced. to benefit us in internal
consequences, and in the future life will probably be able to acquire new goods in the
same sense. Also, this is only in the sense of what we already see here. Important
be replaced.
Do we not expect of the future any other principle of righteousness, than what
already rules in this world, only this led to its completion. Thus, even now, error
punishes itself so well as a sin, even if in another, the conscience not so involved, less
incisive than sin; but who does not really have to bear the consequences of his
mistakes, often heavy enough to carry; and, as with sin, this punishment of error by
the consequences is to serve to correct, heal, and prevent error in others and in other
cases. He will never let himself be completely prevented, and it may seem hard to us
to bear the punishment for something that seems to us to be innocent; but it is not a
matter of denying that evil can hit man through no fault of his own, that's how it
is but to grasp this circumstance from the best possible and the meaning of the world-
order most appropriate point of view, which, according to earlier consideration, is
precisely that evil lifts itself by its evil consequences and overturns into the opposite
good. That it is so, proves itself in the whole course of the world order, and we can
not do better, if it is evil.
So even after the passage into the following world, people may still have to bear
the evil consequences of their errors; the heathen z. If, for example, he does not know
that he did not learn to know the law as surely as the Christian, he will be less
favorably disposed than the Christian 1)he who is badly educated or badly endowed
will suffer the damage caused by his actions, even though he is not responsible for his
bad education and abilities. And it should already be an impulse for us here to muster
up all the energies, to avoid the mistake as far as possible and to lead other people as
far as possible to the right knowledge of the good, to work ourselves through non-
indebtedness into pure and clear and to work out any damage arising from error came
through us into the world, if possible to pay before our death. In this respect, too, our
view is stronger than any other; for man only too easily sinks into slackness, if he
believes what he erroneously, accidentally does, is not attributed to him. Rather, he
should learn to avoid error and oversight as much as possible. Only too easily does
one think: Enough only if I am not mistaken myself; that others are wrong, what
harm will it do me? But what he fails to do for others he fails to improve in his own
future state. At the same time, however, our view includes the best reasons for the
comfort of man, when he must, with the eagerness to find the best, tell himself that he
can not avoid all error. For if only his endeavor is constantly directed toward the true
and the right, then he will have to follow his other life as a lasting trait and fully
enforce the uplifting of the evils which his lunatics bore here, the easier it is Sources
of knowledge expand there for him. Only if he has the urge,
1) But tell Christ (Luke 12, 47, 48): "But the servant who knows his master's will, and has not
prepared himself, nor does his will, will have to suffer many pranks, but he will not knows, has
done that is worth the pranks, will suffer a few pranks. " So also pranks!
Still other aspects of practical interest and practical effectiveness are offered in our
view.
As the life of the people in the present life is twinned, so it is twinned, as
considered earlier, to continue after the admission into the hereafter and develop
further. What has met here in love will reoccur in love there, which has not fought
and appeased its hatred here, it will still have to fight and appease him there, since
hatred is one of the evils that once destroy themselves through their consequences
have to. So now everyone is looking for love here, so that he is not lonely and fled by
others in the afterlife. So everyone was careful not to divorce the world with the
world and to have someone divorced with it; the dissonance which he has failed to
compensate for will overflow into the hereafter and demand its adjustment there.
Even with the spirits of the previous world, who now have an influence on our
education, we will enter into a closer relationship when entering the afterlife; but it
will be a more conscious relationship than it is now, since we, having reached the
same level of existence with them, will now be able to encounter them as now
ours. So now everyone is looking for the best leaders and friends among the dead,
with whom he would like to run in the afterlife. He can act and act in their favor by
making friends with their ideas.
Those who lived with us and passed over to us remain in relation to us, because
through what they work into us their existence is rooted in ours, and by what we have
done in them, ours in theirs. We can not divide anymore, though this linkage can and
will be a less or more conscious one. Every thought of a deceased who arises in us is
self; an aftereffect left by the deceased in us; indeed, the possibility of remembering
it, or the dormant memory hangs from an aftereffect of its former existence in us, and
if this possibility presupposes a silent, invisible presence of it, we may believe that
the conscious thought of it still preserves it for us brings you closer to life in a more
lively way. But there is still to be distinguished. If we remember only externals of it,
we will not have to believe that we are also stimulating its consciousness with it,
because this memory itself is not a consequence of its conscious activity; he can be
present to us, like someone we see, without him knowing we see him; but when a
remembrance of him awakens in us, which has been generated in us by his conscious
action or its consequences, we may believe that our consciousness and our
consciousness intersect in the same act, and the more alive we become of his
conscious action whichever depends on it, the more vividly the effect of the same
manifests itself in us, the more lively his consciousness will be awakened by us, and
will certainly find its way according to the relations in which we think of it. that with
this we also stimulate his consciousness, because this memory itself is not the
consequence of its conscious activity; he can be present to us, like someone we see,
without him knowing we see him; but when a remembrance of him awakens in us,
which has been generated in us by his conscious action or its consequences, we may
believe that our consciousness and our consciousness intersect in the same act, and
the more alive we become of his conscious action whichever depends on it, the more
vividly the effect of the same manifests itself in us, the more lively his consciousness
will be awakened by us, and will certainly find its way according to the relations in
which we think of it. that with this we also stimulate his consciousness, because this
memory itself is not the consequence of its conscious activity; he can be present to
us, like someone we see, without him knowing we see him; but when a remembrance
of him awakens in us, which has been generated in us by his conscious action or its
consequences, we may believe that our consciousness and our consciousness intersect
in the same act, and the more alive we become of his conscious action whichever
depends on it, the more vividly the effect of the same manifests itself in us, the more
lively his consciousness will be awakened by us, and will certainly find its way
according to the relations in which we think of it. whom we see without knowing, we
see him; but when a remembrance of him awakens in us, which has been generated in
us by his conscious action or its consequences, we may believe that our
consciousness and our consciousness intersect in the same act, and the more alive we
become of his conscious action whichever depends on it, the more vividly the effect
of the same manifests itself in us, the more lively his consciousness will be awakened
by us, and will certainly find its way according to the relations in which we think of
it. whom we see without knowing, we see him; but when a remembrance of him
awakens in us, which has been generated in us by his conscious action or its
consequences, we may believe that our consciousness and our consciousness intersect
in the same act, and the more alive we become of his conscious action whichever
depends on it, the more vividly the effect of the same manifests itself in us, the more
lively his consciousness will be awakened by us, and will certainly find its way
according to the relations in which we think of it.
Therefore, if someone remembers a dear dead person alive, he is immediately alive
with him, and so the wife can attract her husband, who has gone home before her, and
can know that he is all the more with her the more she is with him, and the more
conscious she is of her, and remembers her the more she thinks of her conscious
relations with her; yes, the desire that he would like to think of her will suffice to
make him think of her, and the more she wishes it, the more lively his thought of her
will be; and if she devotes her life entirely to memory and action in his spirit, his life
will always remain in the most intimate and conscious relationship to hers.
As a result, we are the most beautiful aspects of a traffic of the living with the
dead. The dead are not so far from us as we usually think, in a distant heaven, but still
below us, only not as we are bound to individual places, but freely as their effects
pour through the earthly kingdom they go there and there, and when one of the living
here and the other thinks of the same dead man, he is with both; has, as it were, part
of the omnipresence of God.
"We believe we are and never are: we are not alone with ourselves, the spirits of other shadowy
demons, old demons, or our educators, friends, enemies, educators, misrepresenters, and a thousand
penetrating fellows work in us to see their faces, to hear their voices, even the cramps of their
deformed ones pass into us, well to him, to whom destiny assigned an Elysium and not Tartarus to
the heaven of his thoughts, to the region of his sensations, principles, and practices; is founded in a
happy immortality. " (Herder, see Zerstr., Bl., 4th collection, p.
We can also think and act on one who is still alive and in the sense of one who is
still alive. but the difference, when we do this in relation to a dead man, is that we can
not stimulate the living consciousness so directly as the dead, because the living
consciousness is not yet awake in relation to that which results from it of its
conscious being in others. But by tapping our consciousness into a living, by
ingesting with consciousness the effects of its conscious existence itself, we may one
day, by other means, create points of contact for a closer conscious communication
with it.
It is clear what a deeper, more vital, meaning is now attained by the
commemoration and monuments dedicated to the dead by the living, than we
ordinarily enclose with them. We consider them only as a means of preserving the
remembrance of the dead, and thereby of awakening the consciousness of the effects
which they have expressed in us to the living, but at the same time they are the means
of keeping the dead themselves in the consciousness of the living. The world and the
hereafter wistfully solemnly shake hands with such mediation, and it is not the
pressure of a living and a dead hand, but of two hands that are made up of different
spheres of life. We can believe that when the feast of a great dead is commemorated
by a people, or a deceased dead, by a family, he is in the midst of and think of those
who think of him and enjoy the gratitude and love they pay him. And the more a dead
person thinks, and the more vividly they think of him, the more his existence proves
to be submerged, indeed in them, and the more vividly his consciousness is
stimulated by them.
In many peoples, the memory of the dead is much more celebrated than in ours, and the
service of the dead surpasses even the worship of some in any case, occurs in any case everywhere
in close relationship with it. There seems to be a natural instinct that has receded most of all
nowadays, especially among the most cultivated peoples, as is true of so many instinctuals.
One of the most common ideas is the view that those who are left behind can still
do something for the deceased, and one may perhaps say that only in our Protestant
doctrine has this idea been altogether abandoned; on the other hand, the Catholic
priest reads his Masses for the souls of the deceased, and the relatives and friends
pray for their salvation. Similar, indeed much more, is found in many other
peoples; It is almost nonexistent, where in the funeral or in subsequent customs, there
is no concern in this or that way of the remnant of the salvation of the departed
soul. Eitel absurdity all this, if it were, as we usually mean. What can all expiations,
sacrifices, foundations, prayers to the pious, who are without relation to us in a
strange heaven? But if it is, In our opinion, all this not only gets his point of view, but
also his guiding, purifying, correcting, and expanding principle. The deceased do not
only do much in us, but we can do much for them as well as others against them,
unconsciously we do it anyway, but also consciously and deliberately we can do it, by
continuing their works, continue acting in their sense, the To atone and improve evil
consequences of their actions, or do the opposite of all that; and as we do it
consciously with respect to them, the consciousness of the deceased will also be
stimulated in relation to us, and upon entering the afterlife we will accordingly find
them voted against us. We can act for or against them according to our will, only that
our will itself can not escape action in the sense of the highest and ultimate justice
and legality. Whose transgression we will atone for after his death, he will somehow
have earned it for us or others in this world or the hereafter; but that we make
ourselves at will with will to the instruments of atonement, always earns us his
thanks, agrees his will again favorably against us. By a blabbered prayer, by gold in
the sacrificial box, we are of course not the good nor the evil in the other world
pious. These are aberrations of a right way, which was hitherto not illuminated by any
light of the understanding, and which a blind instinct has not quite made us
miss. somehow it will somehow have earned us or others in this world or beyond; but
that we make ourselves at will with will to the instruments of atonement, always
earns us his thanks, agrees his will again favorably against us. By a blabbered prayer,
by gold in the sacrificial box, we are of course not the good nor the evil in the other
world pious. These are aberrations of a right way, which was hitherto not illuminated
by any light of the understanding, and which a blind instinct has not quite made us
miss. somehow it will somehow have earned us or others in this world or beyond; but
that we make ourselves at will with will to the instruments of atonement, always
earns us his thanks, agrees his will again favorably against us. By a blabbered prayer,
by gold in the sacrificial box, we are of course not the good nor the evil in the other
world pious. These are aberrations of a right way, which was hitherto not illuminated
by any light of the understanding, and which a blind instinct has not quite made us
miss. Of course, through gold in the offering-box, we will not worship the good nor
the evil in the hereafter. These are aberrations of a right way, which was hitherto not
illuminated by any light of the understanding, and which a blind instinct has not quite
made us miss. Of course, through gold in the offering-box, we will not worship the
good nor the evil in the hereafter. These are aberrations of a right way, which was
hitherto not illuminated by any light of the understanding, and which a blind instinct
has not quite made us miss.
If these ideas are accepted, with the awakened awareness of the conditions and
conditions of intercourse between this world and the hereafter, a new epoch will
begin for this intercourse, and our outer and inner life will experience the most varied
and deepest intervention. It is here how often. Many things become possible and real
through the awareness of their possibility. The alternating traffic between this world
and the afterlife has existed for a long time; but that we know that it exists and how it
exists will give it a new impetus and a certain direction in the sense that is best for
both the here and the beyond. In fact, not only this world, but also the other world
will come to this upswing. All germs of what is known in the hereafter lie in this
world, but in the hereafter the flowers, from which new germinating seeds emerge
again. Thus these ideas about the intercourse of this world and the hereafter, which
are set up here, will flourish in their development and activity from this world into
the hereafter; but this world has itself only from the hereafter. For how many ideas of
past ghosts live and work on in these ideas, which are sown here!
XXIX. Comparison.
It is indisputable that our view will only arise if it will be shown below that the
seemingly great, and in some respects really great deviation, which it presents from
most of the previous views on the things to come, is essentially only that It rises
above the divergences of the same, and hereby satisfies the truth of all as far as it is
always possible in the contradictions of the same among themselves and in
themselves. Only, of course, by satisfying the truth of all, it can not satisfy the
contradictions of all, and the shape of its bushel can not fit into the form of any
metze.
In doing so she gladly acknowledges that, in the Christian view, she stands in a
relation of servitude, in that the core of the Christian view has become the core of her
own development, her ultimate guiding and driving principle being Christianity
alone, and much of the material also excepted differently. But we speak especially of
this in the next section, and therefore expressly exclude from the present comparison
the Christian view.
l) It is already an old talk and basically no new assertion that man lives away in the
effects and works, ideas, memories left behind by him, that his immortality does not
exist in anything else. Only that one does not mean it so seriously with this kind of
immortality as we do, so that those who only want to acknowledge such, are rather
for deniers of immortality and consider themselves for it. But it is undeniable that
there are reasons which in a sense impose the concept of immortality here. It is here
how many times, we are involuntarily led to the truth, and confess it, almost without
wanting it ourselves. With the life of nature, we saw, it was no different.
This involuntary knowledge of the truth expresses itself even more decisively in the
profound feeling which does not leave man indifferent to what he leaves behind him
after his death. But after us he does not leave it behind after death, but rather gains it
as his property, and this, I think, is what we foresee in advance, if we wish to leave
behind the great, the beautiful, the right as our works. We suspect that we are
collecting our own treasures for the future, and that we are thus building ourselves for
the future.
"There is an immortality of name and posthumous fame that I would like to call historical and
poetic or art-immortal." It seems to be very appealing, noble, youthful souls like to sacrifice before
their altar, and some passionate people have it for their sole purpose In the youth of the world,
however, the sweet dream was allowed, with its name, in its person and form, to pass on to posterity
and become a bodily God. " (Herder in S. Zerstr., Bl. 4 te Samml., P. 150.)
Insofar as some deniers of immortality believe that we see real immortality, but
believe it to be a semblance of it, but also believe nothing more than a semblance, in
which we grasp dead and outward, what we conceive alive and inwardly, our own
appearance arises that they may even deny and deny immortality in the same words
with which we assert and explain it; so that one would like to say that our view
satisfies the demands of the believers as well as those of the unbelievers. As far as
they speak of immortality, they speak with our expressions of it.
To prove some points from Feuerbach's thoughts on death and immortality, which is known to be
one of the most decided deniers of immortality.
P. 279. "Imagination (imagination, reminiscence, which is indifferent here ) is the beyond of
intuition, in which man finds to his greatest surprise and ecstasy what he is on this side, that is, in
the sensible, real world lost."
1) Activation of the original.
P. 271. "Therefore, if the immortality-faith were really

founded in human nature itself, how would man come to erect to the
dead eternal dwellings, as the Romans called the tombs, at least
the mausoleums, and annual festivals to renew their memory
Celebrations, like the tombs and all other forms and customs, of
the worship of the dead, that is to say, apart from the additions
of superstitious fear, have no other purpose than to give man an
existence even after death Anxious care of the peoples for their
dead is therefore only an expression of the feeling that their
existence depends on the living. " (Cf. p. 328.)
P. 263. Feuerbach seeks to show in detail how everywhere the rude peoples regard the image
that persists in them of the deceased, or recollects in their memory, as their real surviving person,
and continues (p. 268): "Unbelief The formation of immortality thus differs from the alleged belief
of the still unspoiled, simple peoples to immortality only in that the latter knows the image of the
dead as an image, but imagines it as being, and thus only through which the educated or
differentiated from the uneducated or still childlike man, namely, that personifies the impersonal,
that animates the lifeless, while the one who distinguishes between person and thing is living and
lifeless. "
P. 263 f. Of course, most peoples believe in immortality: "but it is important to see what this
belief actually expresses." All people believe in immortality, that is, they do not conclude with the
death of a man whose existence, for the simple reason, because with the fact that a man has ceased
to exist really, sensually, he has not ceased to exist spiritually, that is, in memory, in the heart of the
survivors.The dead has not become nothing for the living, not absolutely annihilated, he has as it
were changed only the form of its existence. "
2) The common view that the soul builds itself its future body is entirely ours,
except that after us the soul does not throw away the tools of construction until it has
built its new house. But she throws it away. In this respect, we can also join in the so
ordinary idea that the soul goes out of the body in death, but it does not go into
emptiness or desert, but into a body already prepared.
Even from the point of view of one side of our just opposite view, that the soul as an
indestructible simple being (if not really, but schematically) is to be thought of in one point, it is
compatible with ours from the other side. For the soul, in one point or as a monad, could always
lead a self-organized life only in relation to an ordered organic body. Thus, even if, after the
destruction of the present body, it emerged unscathed from it, it would have to find one again or
succeed. In our view, however, it really finds it, just created by means of the former body.
3) If one so often hears the death as liberation of the soul from the bonds of the
body and thinks that it must afterwards have a pure spiritual existence as now, then
our view also comes as close as possible to this idea, without the soul to put it into
the void and rob it of the means of external action. In fact, the soul, the
consciousness, is no longer bound to such a close body as it is now, and so we are the
omnipresence of God and hereby God himself a step closer.
4) The etheric body of the future, which many want as the finest exodus from the
present coarser body, is not lacking here either. As truly as we may now assume such
a thing enclosed in our coarser body, so true will we have to expect one in the
following life, only not naked and merely and narrowly bounded, as in our
knowledge no etheric body can exist, but in a new one , only further, physical
weighable underlay. But we will not be burdened with this heavy material as it is now
because we do not have to carry it away as it is now.
It must always be kept in mind that the view of an ethereal physical basis for the soul in the
hereafter remains as hypothetical to us as in this world. Our view is not based on this
hypothesis, but on the fact that whatever may be bodily in this world, and how the relation between
body and soul is to be thought, extends what is valid in this relation in this world its effects in the
afterlife. Everything that is hypothetical in this world, so also remains so for the hereafter. Therein
lies a great assurance for our view that it is not based on particular preconditions of dubious virtue.
5) The figure in which the spirits of the hereafter appear, in many views, presents
itself as a light, free-floating image of the present form. This is how it presents itself
in our view; as a memory of the graphic figure.
6) For most peoples, who are still closer to the state of nature, there is the belief
that the deceased still continue the same business, war, hunting, and fishing that they
have driven here; only in a slightly modified way. Our view also fits this idea as well
as possible. Man lives on in the same spheres of action in which he has lived here,
only remaining different in that he lived here. The philosopher lives on in the ideas
that he has spread, - by the hunter, fisherman, warrior much has become different in
the people and the things concerning the sphere of hunting, fishing, warfare, in which
he lives the afterlife acting in this world, still on.
7) Also the view of a sleep before the new awakening finds with our view points of
contact. We only do not suppose that after death we will sleep for a while only to
awaken, but that this sleep will be spared us by the fact that our future body is already
asleep during the present life in order to pass on to future life awakening. Yes, we can
regard it as a kind of resurrection, that all that in the course of our life unconscious,
fallen into sleep, with death regains the ability to become conscious or to gain the
same influence. Just as something of our effects is now beyond us, so it sinks into the
sleeping body, which only awakens to consciousness in death. It is undisputed that
this is not a resurrection in the literal sense; but who still resumes the resurrection
today? I come back to this in the following section.
After all, there is no reason to accept a proper sleep before awakening after death, and we know
that even our doctrine of the church asserts a sleep of our bodies rather than our souls after
death; The soul immediately after death reaches a place of reward or punishment, and only later
unites with the body at its resurrection. Of course, one of the most controversial points when it
comes to choosing him according to the Bible.
8) We may miss in our view Hades, the sky; she just seems to give an earthly
hereafter; but in fact it gives everything together, and it is only because it gives
everything that one can not stand out as one-sided as in the views that have only one
of them. We can say, and will soon explain, something, and something horrible,
negative of us fall to death in the Hades or Scheol, most of the earth, the best and, if
the earth itself with the sky, the whole to heaven ,
In connection with the various localities, which in different peoples is assigned to
the souls in Hades or Heaven, there is the twofold view that the future life is against
the present a weakened, faded, gloomy, or that it is a higher, brighter, more beautiful
hope especially for the righteous, where many middle views stand. It will be both
after us, the worldly sensuous intuition life will fade, the higher memory life will
increase; the loss of the old life will have its side of the sad; but the gain of new life
for the righteous soon outweighed in joy. The different sides of our view occur
separately only in the beliefs of different peoples and times.
In fact, may we contemplate the physical or spiritual side of our lives, before the
gain of new life can be felt right, the sacrifice of the old will have to be felt, the night
of death before the light of new life. Thus, for the moment, there is a gap in the whole
body, of which the narrower part was. But every loss of an entire part of the body is
felt, except that if it is a loss belonging to the natural course of development, the
wound quickly heals and becomes the cause and the beginning of new positive
development. But the gap which death brings with it must at first be felt all the more
severely, as it was the loss of the part to which the soul hitherto felt its whole activity,
and only when man dies by age or weakness, Consequently, nothing significant is lost
on the descended body, and this sense of loss may be noticeably absent. On the other
hand, in deaths affecting the human being in the feeling of power, there may be a
moment when the feeling of violent annihilation entirely engulfs the soul, all the
horrors of death come over us; yes, we really feel that way already in the approach to
it. Gradually or suddenly, however, this feeling will turn into the feeling of
awakening to the new life. But it is to be expected that at least so much time will be
needed to remember the new life after death, as in the agony of death, to lose the
reflection of the present, and that the aftermath and pain of the wound, which brings
us to death is struck, at all only gradually, although very different, according to
circumstances, will disappear, the faster the less we had to lose in old life. Yes, those
who had only one suffering body to lose may immediately feel relief in death. But it
is not only with this sensual sensation of the loss suffered that it will have to stop. If
the mother and wife were not for a while tired of having been torn from their old
ways to their own, they would be sorry for the enterprising spirit of having to forgo
the continuation of their undertakings with the means hitherto used, until all the
power and fullness of the enterprise had been restored new life and the awareness that
the torn relationships re-connect with each other in a higher and higher way, comes
over us? But it is not only with this sensual sensation of the loss suffered that it will
have to stop. If the mother and wife were not for a while tired of having been torn
from their old ways to their own, they would be sorry for the enterprising spirit of
having to forgo the continuation of their undertakings with the means hitherto used,
until all the power and fullness of the enterprise had been restored new life and the
awareness that the torn relationships re-connect with each other in a higher and
higher way, comes over us? But it is not only with this sensual sensation of the loss
suffered that it will have to stop. If the mother and wife were not for a while tired of
having been torn from their old ways to their own, they would be sorry for the
enterprising spirit of having to forgo the continuation of their undertakings with the
means hitherto used, until all the power and fullness of the enterprise had been
restored new life and the awareness that the torn relationships re-connect with each
other in a higher and higher way, comes over us?
That first-time feeling that everything has become dull and feeble in us, which was
lively and active in our past, is based on the fact that our present body can no longer
stir itself, that it must be passively placed under the ground and there is given praise
to the powers of decay, or, if he is not buried, yet his substance falls to her. It is not
that the decaying body could feel this for itself, just as a part of our inner body that is
already destroyed does not feel its destruction, but the rest of the body feels it, and so,
too, may we do justice to ourselves by means of our further body in positive own
activity feels, the destruction of the narrower, and everything that attaches to it, feel,
so to speak, his first conscious feeling act.
If one looks for this moment one-sidedly, one arrives at the idea of the sad life of
the soul in Hades or Sheol, which was not only peculiar to the ancient Greeks and
was peculiar, but is otherwise found again in many rude peoples. As the closer body
is the bearer of our present waking life, and we seek our soul where this body is, even
if we consider of the soul after death nothing but that negative moment, its place will
be there to be thought where to seek the physical condition of that negative moment,
that is, in or under the earth where the corpse decays; for as a condition of this
feeling-moment also the corpse still belongs to us; If he were still alive as before, we
would not have it.
It is interesting to see that the development of the belief in a future life has taken
the same course when, according to this view, it takes the development of the future
life itself. Belief in Sheol or Hades in the case of Jews and Greeks has begun to shape
the belief in immortality, which in its development will once dominate the
world. Gradually, humanity began to remember that the grave of this world was also
the cradle of the hereafter, and the soul rose from the Sheol. Now she went to
heaven; yes, one forgets the short night of Hades, and now lets them seek a place in
heaven. But what is heaven, where does it go after the now common faith?
It remains indefinite. But we have our opinion about it. The whole sphere of life of
man has expanded one step in death. Instead of the fact that formerly only a part of
the earth represented his body, as bearer of his conscious activity, now the whole
earth has become his body in this sense, even if he has to share it with
others. Accordingly, we assume that he also takes more conscious part in the relations
of the whole earth to heaven than now. It is not advisable to enter into much
discussion and conjecture on the closer relations and conditions of this traffic with the
heaven which he shares with the earth. Let's leave the matter undetermined. But not
only the special relations to the next celestial bodies will develop, but also our
general relationships with the whole Heaven and with God who fills it. Thus, though
we will remain with the earth, we will remain in a different way than before,
inhabiting it as the heavenly body itself, whereas previously we inhabited and lived
only on one earthly body. We can rightly say that we are transported from the earth to
heaven, but the earth itself serves as a stage for us to ascend.
In this way, of course, our view naturally implies the ways of looking for the
whereabouts of souls on the earth; and there are enough of them among the rude
peoples. According to some, they float in air, in forests, on mountains, in caves, under
the sea, under the earth, in other people, in animals, in plants, in stones. 2) Hardly is
something in which one would not have sought the spirits of the deceased. All this is
inadequate individually; everything together covers our view. The future existence is
no longer limited to a single earthly place.
2) Cf. Simon's story of the belief in the intrusion of a spirit world into ours.
9) Lessing, Schlosser, Jean Paul, more recently Droßbach and

Widenmann 3) have postulated that man, after his passing away, returns to this earthly
existence in smaller or larger intervals, so as to gradually pass through the various
stages of evolution of earthly existence. what a unique existence is not enough for. It
can be seen that our view can achieve the same end only in a comparison of a more
complete degree, since it allows the otherworldly man to continually participate in the
development of this world, to a greater extent than it can be in this life itself.
3) Lessing in s. Education of the human race. Sämtl. Writings. XS 328. - Locksmiths about the
transmigration of souls in s. kl. Writings. 3rd part. - Jean Paul in s. Selina. - Droßbach, rebirth or
the solution of the question of immortality by empirical means according to the known laws of
nature. Olmütz, 1849. - Widenmann, Thoughts on immortality as a repetition of earthly
life. (Crowned price font.) Vienna 1851.
"Why should not I come back so often as I'm skilled at gaining new skills and
skills? Am I suddenly taking away so much that it's not worth the effort to come
back?" (Lessing.)
Jean Paul says that after long walks everyone wants to find a new world to dwell in,
collapsing the current earthly world.
Droßbach and Widenmann move in far-fetched and sometimes abstruse discussions to justify
their ideas.
10) The striking reference points which our view has with the views of Swedenborg
and the ancient rabbis, have been set forth in their place.
(11) With our philosophical and theological views of the modern age, ours touches
many and it is against their general view that the universal mind is determined by the
human spirit and in death absorbs it only to a higher form of existence, in which the
individuality of man as formerly persists, it is difficult to raise a philosophical
objection, except on the part of those to whom the general spirit is one who chooses
to swallow up the individualities in death, and thus destroys them, and elevates them
higher, in order to develop themselves higher here. Only that we try to develop also
the modality of the whole contemplated relation in connection with the conditions of
the now-life.
a) Schelling.
as difficult as they may be to an understanding that is simple with withdrawn concepts. Every day
I realize more and more that everything is more personally and infinitely more alive than we can
imagine. "(Schelling in a writing communicated to friends only.) 1811. SI Kerner, Seherin Von
Prevorst, p.
b) The older spruce.
"The one and the same life of reason 4)is split only by the earthly view and in the same to
different individual persons, which persons are now no different, than in this earthly view and by
means of the same, but by no means exist in themselves and independent of the earthly view and
exist ..... The terrestrial view, as the cause and the bearer of eternal life, at least in the memory of
eternal life, lasts, therefore, all that is in this view, therefore, also all individual persons, into which
one reason was split by this view; Far from the fact that my assertion (that reason is the only
possible self-sustaining and self-sustaining existence, etc.) is something against individual
perseverance, this assertion is the only lasting proof of it. "
4)Reason itself is explained by Fichte (p. 23) as "the only possible, self-based
and self-sustaining existence and life, of which everything that appears as
living and living, only further modification, determination, modification and
design is. "
c) The younger spruce (in see idea of the personality).

Body is truly only the organic identity which it preserves and conquers, and, as the mind is self-
conscious, the duration of the individual in that uninterrupted metabolism; and the carbon and
nitrogen which is present in the phenomena of the hand or the foot, remains originally as foreign to
us, as the external substance, which becomes our food; this is to be first subjected to organic, that is
it already; but both escape incessantly, and have not become our own by the change in which they
have entered for the moment. " Originally, it is just as alien to us as the external substance, which
becomes food for us; this is to be first subjected to organic, that is it already; but both escape
incessantly, and have not become our own by the change in which they have entered for the
moment. " Originally, it is just as alien to us as the external substance, which becomes food for
us; this is to be first subjected to organic, that is it already; but both escape incessantly, and have not
become our own by the change in which they have entered for the moment. "
P. 156. "Let us refrain from the groundless opinion that there is a complete separation and
division between the present and the subsequent state, - an opinion which, though especially deeply
rooted in contemporary religious ideas, is not so to refute, since it has no reasons for itself, but to
reject and forget. "
We can not even ask what remains of man in death, because nothing is withdrawn from him,
his essential self. The individuality that he has achieved as an inner result of life remains untouched
in the indivisibility of his spirit, soul, and inward corporeality. Only in the medium of representation
does he enter into a new sphere, which, of course, from the present condition, is an absolutely
different one otherworldly, but no less able to be prepared for it in the most immediate reality. For
as here, too, there is no true separation between the present and the future, just as in the future we
can only belong to this nature, which is everywhere one and the divine, so also the future media of
life are to be regarded as already present in the present; they may surround us and penetrate us,
without our being able to actually become aware of them, because they, by analogy with the organic
stages considered so far, are undoubtedly elements of higher, spiritualized materiality. It is no
reason against this assumption that we are ignorant of its existence immediately; rather, this factual
ignorance lies even in the nature of things, because the living conditions of our present state must
just preclude any receptivity and assimilation power for them. " spiritual substance. It is no reason
against this assumption that we are ignorant of its existence immediately; rather, this factual
just preclude any receptivity and assimilation power for them. " spiritual substance. It is no reason
against this assumption that we are ignorant of its existence immediately; rather, this factual
just preclude any receptivity and assimilation power for them. "
P. 159. Thus our life-element also remains in our future state, because we have remained an
absolutely organizing power, endowed with powers of corporatization. But this is not an etheric
body, with which the soul would have to disguise itself as if it were a stranger, externally prepared:
- this confused phantasm would completely contradict all natural analogy. Rather, every natural
state develops the following, not by leaps and bounds, but by regular division. At the same time,
with the dropping of the old media of life, the ability to organize new, now homogeneous, elements
evolves, and therefore the born-again individuality no longer has to enter into the old process, only
gradually from undeveloped, bodily-emotional beginnings build up and, as in this life, But to
awaken there to a new childhood: rather, as his present corporation has become at the same time the
forever evolved development of his spirit, she takes this entire stage of life once gained completely
and without restraint into the new existence. It continues the present existence, only more decidedly
and distinctly, in the following: A thought which, however, can only expect some clarification in the
question of the closer nature of the second life. "
As we have begun the path of life here, we must continue there; be it in ever deeper hardening
perversity or in natural and godly development. Every individuality takes its own judgment over
with it, to the peace of salvation or to always unfortunate tearing contradiction. "
P. 172. "There is no cause whatsoever, and there is an innate likelihood of denying that the
psyche, by letting go its outward corporeality by its own life-process, at the same time, by some
force, necessarily alien to it, into completely different regions of existence Our dead are certainly
nearer and more present to us than we think, that the rooms around us should be condemned to
absolute emptiness and insignificance, is in any case unthinkable, and so we may well the kingdom
of the Imagining souls in our invisible proximity embraces us as one of nature, and enjoying the
new conditions of life just as we enjoy ours.to be able to rest God-and natural life from the
struggling present and to enjoy clearly what has been painstakingly won, the highest promise of life
must be, as one tells of the reawakened, that they retain an unquenchable longing for the blissful
tranquility of the spiritual realm whose threshold touches them: thus it also has something
confidence-inspiring for the phantasy not to have pushed oneself out into distant regions, but to
develop only new sides of its as well as of its own existence in the familiar, well-fed world. "Its
threshold touches them: thus it has something confidence-inspiring for the phantasy not to know
how to drive away into distant regions, but to develop only new sides of its as well as of its own
existence in the familiar and familiar world. "Its threshold touches them: thus it has something
confidence-inspiring for the phantasy not to know how to drive away into distant regions, but to
develop only new sides of its as well as of its own existence in the familiar and familiar world. "
203. "Thus the universe is the scene of infinitely clothed souls, and just as after an indelible
symbolism the age-old enthusiasm for nature, whether pronounced in the form of religion or poetry,
the visible creation as the garment God considered that he had struck for his unfathomable glory, so
every visibility is the trace of a soul, the symbol of some spiritual mystery, in which alone the
world, the land of souls, has its true destiny, the supreme law of the spirit-economy for "the flesh is
of no use," but as high wisdom confronts us, it is itself but the image of that mysterious harmony
which all created spirits,from the highest down to the simplest plant-soul in which primal spirits
connect. "
d) Martensen (Christl. Dogmatik p. 518). 5)
can not escape under the worldly bustle and tumult of world knowledge, enters into that realm the
opposite. The veil that this sensory world, with its colorful, constantly moving variety, spreads
reassuringly and mitigatingly over the stricter earnestness of life, but which must also so often serve
to hide from man what he does not want to see-this veil of sensuality tears open man in death, and
the soul is in the realm of pure beings. The manifold voices of world life that resonate in earthly life
with those of eternity are silent, the holy voice now sounds alone, without being muffled by worldly
noise, and therefore the realm of the dead is a kingdom of judgment. "It is man's duty to die once
and afterwards the judgment."6)Far removed that the human psyche should drink here from the
stream of lethargy, one must rather say that its works follow it, that its vital moments, which have
passed in the stream of times and are scattered, are resurrected here, collected in the absolute
presence of the memory, a memory that must behave in temporal consciousness, how the true
visions of poetry behave as the prose of finitude, a vision that can become as joyful as it is
frightening, because it is its own deepest truth of consciousness, and therefore not only blissful, but
also judging and damning truth can be. But as the departed follow their works, they do not merely
live and rejoice in the element of blessedness or unhappiness, which they themselves have prepared
or effected in temporality7) , but they immediately proceed to receive and process a new content of
consciousness, mentally determining themselves to the new revelations of the divine will that
oppose them here, and so they develop to the last, the most recent, judgments here ,
The author presents here how he thinks of the condition of the departed after
5)
death in Hades until the resurrection.

6) Heb. 9, 27.
7) The parable of Lazarus and the rich man.
If one asks where the dormant are after death, then of course
nothing is more erroneous than to think that they are separated
from us by an external infinity, are on another universe, etc. In
this way the dead are kept within the conditions This sensuality
from which they have just emerged. What separates them from us is
not a sensual barrier; because the sphere in which they are
located is toto genere etc different from all this material
temporal and spatial sphere "
12) Almost all who have dealt more closely with the phenomena of so-called life-
magnetism or somnambulism have come to the idea that a close relationship of these
states to those of the beyond takes place, as the somnambulists themselves often and
gladly claim such a relationship do. Our teaching leads back to the same relationship,
from very different sides, as has been shown in several places in this book.
XXX. References of our doctrine to Christian doctrine in particular.
The points of reference of our doctrine of the things of heaven to Christian

doctrine, considered earlier (XIII.), Are complemented by those to be considered in
which our doctrine of the things of the hereafter stands. And these are of the kind that
we can reasonably say that our doctrine of these things is nothing but an attempt to
help the claims of Christian doctrine with knowledge, to open the shrine of their
mysteries to the understanding, that which lies within it to develop still-sleeping
germs and to unify the scattered matter in it. Not, indeed, that the development of our
doctrine was consciously based on the teachings of Christianity; but, with
astonishment, having thought long of her own way, she became aware that this, What
she herself believed to have brought from the nature of things quite new, was to be
brought forth so well from the mysteries of Christian doctrine, and that the mystery of
them lies not in something hidden behind the word, but in the fact that the intellect
behind which words sought hidden, instead of taking the word by the word; and has
at last become aware that it owes its original driving and guiding principle to
Christianity itself, of which we have so much that we think we have of ourselves or
of the worldly understanding. But this driving and guiding principle lies in the
practical demand of a hereafter in Christ's sense, which precedes all our theory and is
partly open in all our theory. Without this requirement, in which we all have been
educated, there was no impetus for the development of this doctrine; without this
sense, the path could not be taken or kept, which it has taken and kept.
But, wonders, what is the meaning of Christ's teaching? The fact that it is possible
to have different views on this is proved by the very fact of these different views. Yes,
there are no different and disputed views on any part of the Christian doctrine than on
the doctrine of the last things, not all but after many points.
"Eschatology is one of the parts of New Testament theology that has been most tormented,
disfigured, interpreted according to dogmatic prejudices and later assumptions." What unbelievable
violence and artistry, what language and thought dislocations, what logical and psychological
impossibilities have not been spent, only to bring away the proximity of the parousia, that stake in
the flesh of a dogmatically biased exegesis, not even mentioning the other questionable points, the
judgment, the resurrection, the eternal punishments of hell. " (Zeller in Baur and Zeller, Theolog.,
Jahrb. VI., P. 390)
I mean, the ambiguities, let us confess it, the real contradictions that we find in the
biblical account of Christ's doctrine about the last things were not in Christ's original
version, but in the conception of his disciples and their followers since it is evident
from the Gospels, how Jesus talked to his disciples only through images and parables,
which always allow a different interpretation, and surely his disciples determined
many of them indefinitely serene in their different, not in Christ some sense.
Furthermore, I do not attach great importance to anything that appears in the
statements of Christ and the apostles as contradictory, contradictory and possibly as a
figurative embodiment, but seeks no foundation in it, rather the same in the sense of
the more definite, clearer and that Specifying, explaining, or even dropping essential
phrasing itself when it contradicts either facts of history or the nature of things. Christ
and his disciples speak of a kingdom of heaven, a hell, a resurrection, a judgment in
many twists and turns. These ideas are subject to a deep essential content, certainly
the best we can want and desire; but this does not depend on the particular location of
the kingdom of heaven and hell, nor the external modality of resurrection and
judgment; the descriptive determination of these externalities was not at all what it is
to do Christ, and it is not to be decided, nor worth while, to decide it exactly and to
discern how much in the terms he uses, as far as they are concerned to refer to the
external, figurative or not; how much, in particular, to attribute the use of the
prevailing ideas of heaven and hell, resurrection, and judgment provided by the
factual and temporal situation in this symbolization. But it would be impossible to
accept everything literally, or to understand how it is said.
In this respect, therefore, every interpreter is allowed free play to interpret partly
the sayings of Christ and his disciples, as it seems most appropriate in the context of
the general conception of Christian doctrine, partly by taking it upon themselves to
consent to it, if not essential points are taken by it. One does not serve the eternal
cause if one wishes to perpetuate the untenable and transitory accessories and trivial
matters, but to preserve the main thing and the core and to make fruitful.
I must put myself here on this free standpoint, because it lies in the task of this writing; but I do
not say that this viewpoint is also the point of view from which to interpret the Bible in public
teaching and preaching. There is no need to contemplate the pros and cons of not distinguishing
what is genuine, what is unreal, what is important and incidental, not harming anything, but
exploiting the eternally good book according to its good content and its recognition as a divine
source of faith on the whole, without mäkeln at the individual, to foot and to penetrate. Could it be
like this! But the people are almost beyond the childlike faith that tolerates and demands this use of
the Bible, and was truly beneficial to it, as the criticism now practiced by himself. All sifting, even
if it eliminates the intrinsically insignificant ingredient, destroys the whole for the present use; and
the religion is to current use. The vessel of religion would like a better handle to be placed, this or
that ornament may not be properly formed, but whoever breaks it off will botch and puncture the
vessel, the more so if everyone else breaks away; and out of such a dishonored and perforated
vessel, the so-called free-spirits want to pour the wine of Christianity to the people, who would
rather spurn it entirely; or pour the wine without a container; now he is tearing them between his
fingers. But once the vessel, as lively as the wine, on the whole may reshape itself from the
whole; who can calculate by what event, in the same way as the human body in death, it is not a
true death, on the whole newly rebirth, and yet it is only a continuation of the old; but first you do
not have to break your joints. The fact that this rebirth occurs all the more time is borne by those
who themselves spoil the old vessel, the old body; but what Christ says is valid: evil must come into
the world, but woe to those through whom it comes. But it also requires positive preparations for
rebirth, which, instead of accelerating, maintaining and sustaining the decay of the aging life of
religion, seek as long as possible while at the same time creating the conditions of a new life into
the future in which the human race is born old may rejuvenate, since it must rejuvenate once. The
company also expects these preparations.
The core of Christ's doctrine on the hereafter, with which we may not hold the
clothing and the shell of equal dignity and importance, is, in my opinion, partly in the
practical aspects of it, partly in the doctrines of the personal relationship of the
vanished Christ to his congregation, his presence in the sacraments, the mediation of
future blessedness through Christ, his judicial office, and the resurrection doctrine.
But in all these respects our doctrine enters the Christian; for it, by the most
important relations, grasps it as literally as hardly the most faithful have done; but
where contradictory ideas, or ideas in need of exposition, meet with us in this, we
consider the fundamental meaning of Christianity with the basic demands of human
and all nature at the same time.
First of all, the practical aspects, we have already acknowledged above, in the
practical demand of a future life according to Christ's meaning, the original driving
and guiding principle of the development of our doctrine itself. And that they
remained faithful to their development, it is evident from the fact that the highest and
last practical demands and consequences of Christ's doctrine have become theirs, and
that they can find no more fitting words to express their demands and consequences
than Christ's own words (XXVIII.). What it has or seems to have differently or more
can be regarded, in part, only as an interpretation of Christ's words, partly as an
attempt, on the basis of an earlier grown understanding of the nature of things, to
follow the paths of mediation;
There is one point, and one point of great importance, in respect of which our
doctrine deviates from the Protestant and Catholic conceptions of Christian
doctrine; although it agrees with many older and newer views, which proves that
there is a point of doubtful interpretation. It is the question of the eternity of the
punishments of hell, which is what is affirmed by the doctrine of the church, denied
by us. But in my opinion, while the sayings on which the doctrine of the church is
based also permit a different interpretation, there are many of the sayings of Christ
and the apostles which can only be interpreted in the light of our view. And
undoubtedly, if we have the choice, which interpretation we should prefer as a whole,
it will be the
Of course, all the numerous and recurrent expressions of eternal fire, eternal pain, the worm,
which never dies, etc., seem to decide without difficulty for the eternity of hell's punishments; but
one can doubt whether they are to be understood literally, since it is very often the case here that we
are only hyperbolic expressions for which we do not consciously exclude the end, or which
continues uninterruptedly in the present, without excluding an end as such when I say: that lasts
forever, or: I suffer eternally from headache). Most natural, however, is to presuppose in these terms
a simple reference of Christ to the already prevailing conceptions of eternal punishments of
hell; Notions that Christ had in fact not first established, but especially to disprove it was not the
place where it was more important to emphasize the horrors of hell's punishments. But Christ
Himself refutes them by pointing out, several times and in direct connection with the threat of these
punishments, conditions and means under which and through which a salvation of the damned can
still take place. There are other passages of Scripture in which there is a definite and general
statement about a final overcoming of all evil, the unification of the wicked with the good in
Christ's sense, the destruction of hell by hell, which is in complete agreement with our doctrine that
the evil is finally at work To destroy evil, the punishment will only serve to bring about the final
improvement and one-time redemption. to highlight the horrors of hell punishments. But Christ
improvement and one-time redemption. to highlight the horrors of hell punishments. But Christ
improvement and one-time redemption. by repeatedly pointing out, in direct connection with the
threat of these punishments, conditions and means under which and through which a salvation of
the damned can still take place. There are other passages of Scripture in which there is a definite
and general statement about a final overcoming of all evil, the unification of the wicked with the
good in Christ's sense, the destruction of hell by hell, which is in complete agreement with our
doctrine that the evil is finally at work To destroy evil, the punishment will only serve to bring
about the final improvement and one-time redemption. by repeatedly pointing out, in direct
connection with the threat of these punishments, conditions and means under which and through
which a salvation of the damned can still take place. There are other passages of Scripture in which
there is a definite and general statement about a final overcoming of all evil, the unification of the
wicked with the good in Christ's sense, the destruction of hell by hell, which is in complete
agreement with our doctrine that the evil is finally at work To destroy evil, the punishment will only
serve to bring about the final improvement and one-time redemption.
In the parable of the wicked Mitknecht (Math. 18:34) there is the passage:
And his master became angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he paid all that he
owed.
Insofar as responsibility for infernal punishments is pictorially understood here as being the
responsibility of the tormentor, this passage shows that it is still possible to remove the guilt in hell,
beyond which the punishment is not threatened.
The following similar passage can be found in Math. 5, 25. 26. (Also Lucas 12, 58. 59.)
Soon enough your adversary will be willing, while you are still with him on the way, so that
the adversary does not give you the reminder of the judge, and the judge will answer you to the
servant, and you will be thrown into the dungeon.
I tell you: truly, you will not get out of there until you pay the last Heller.
Here too, therefore, the possibility of salvation from the dungeon, which here just as hell
symbolizes hell, is presupposed.
Next one finds in l. Petri 3, 19 the following passage:
In the same (spirit) he also went and preached to the spirits in prison who did not believe.
Insofar as the place of the damned is here understood under prison, one can conclude from
this passage that it is still possible for the evil to be improved and redeemed by Christ's influence in
the hereafter.
Finally, the following passages in particular are apt to emphasize the view as biblical that
there will someday be a universal kingdom of God, to which all, even the wicked, after overcoming
their malice, will be incorporated.
Col. 1, 20. And everything would be reconciled to him by himself, whether on earth or in
heaven, in that he made peace through the blood on his cross through himself.
l. Cor. 15:25. But he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet.
Phil. 2, 10. That in the name of Jesus bow all those knees who are in heaven and on earth and
under the earth.
Eph. 1, 10. Since the time was fulfilled for all things to be put together under one head in
Christ, both in heaven and on earth, by Himself.
Apokal. 20, 14. And death and hell were thrown into the fiery pool, that is the other death.
Among the old Fathers of the Church in particular, Origen, on the basis of these passages,
asserted the finite cessation of all punishments of hell in the so-called restoration of all things, and
assumed that the vicious ones would once better themselves and be saved together with the evil
angels, in which many older and newer ones followed him are.
Which weapons against religion are given to those who only consult the common sense, by
the setting up of eternal punishments of hell in the hand, like the following passage from Diderot's
Add. aux pensées philos.
No. 48. "II ya long-temps qu'on a demande aux théologiques d'accorder le dogme des peines
éternelles avec la miséricorde infinie de Dieu, et ils en sont encore la!"
49. "Et, pour quo un coupable, quand il n'y a plus aucun bien à, tirer de son chàtiment?"
50. "Si l'on punit ponr soi seul, on est dien cruel et bien méchant."
51. "II n'y a point de bon pére qui voulut, ressembler a notre pére céleste,"
52. "Source proportion entre l'offenseur et l'offensé? Source proportion entre l'offense et le
chátiment? Amas de betises et d'atrocités! "
53. "Et de quoi se courrouce-t-il si fort, ce dieu? Et ne dirait-on pas que je puisse quelque chose
pour ou contre sa gloire,
54. "On the other hand, that Dieu take brûler le méchant, qui ne peut rien contre lui, dans un feu
qui durera sans fin, et permettrait à peine à un père de thunder un mort mortagé à un fils qui
compromettrait sa vie, son honneur et sa fortune! "
"Oh chrétiens! vous avez donc deux idées différentes de la bonté et de la méchanceté, de la vérité
et du mensonge. Vous êtes donc les plus the absurdity of the dogmatist, ou les plus outrés de
pyrrhoniens. "
The second major point in which our doctrine coincides with that of the Christian
relates to the relationship of the departed Christ to his congregation and his presence
in the sacraments. After us, Christ lives on in the church and church he has founded
and has his otherworldly body in it. However, the most numerous sayings of Christ
and his disciples literally agree with this; it is only necessary to take them
literally. Other expressions allow this to make the transfer to the mode of existence of
other people in our sense. Thus, what many may seem so alien to our view in the first
sight, the survival of the beyond in an sphere of influence that contains a great
complex of people and things of this world, is the literal Christian doctrine.
Indeed, according to the most decided sayings of the New Testament, Christ lives
in his disciples, his disciples in him according to what they receive from him; he lives
in them until the end of the world, passes through their mediation also in others. Yes,
the common, the Church of Christ is called literally the Body of Christ, and everyone
who has appropriated Christ's meaning is called a member of the Body of
Christ; Christ is sometimes represented as the head of the body which he has in his
congregation, just as we also seek the spirit, though with regard to the whole body,
chiefly in the head. In the sacraments, the Scriptures, and the Word, the chief material
bearers of the spiritual after-effects of Christ's existence are signified, whereby the
body of Christ continually gains and sustains new members. Short,
l. Jn. 3, 24. And whoever keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. And by
this we recognize that he abides in us in the Spirit which he has given us. (Similar to 1 John 4, 13.)
Math. 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them.
Math. 28, 20. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world.
Jn 13:20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he who receives, if I send anyone, he receives me; but
he who receives me receives him who sent me.
Jn. 15, 4. 5. Stay in me and I in you. Just as the vine can not bear fruit by itself, it remains on
the vine; so you do not, you stay in me.
I am the vine, you are the vine. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, brings much
fruit; because without me you can not do anything.
l. Cor. 4, 15. For if you had ten thousand disciplinarians in Christ, you have not many
fathers. For I testified you in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
l. Cor. 12, 12-17. 20. 27. For as a body is and has many members, but all members of one
body, though many of them are, yet they are one body, and therefore also Christ.
For we are, by one Spirit, all baptized into one body, we are Jews or Greeks, servants or free,
and all have drank to one Spirit.
For the body is not one member, but many.
But if the foot spoke: I am not a hand, therefore I am not the member of the body; should he
not be the member of the body for the sake of it?
And if the ear spoke: I am not an eye, therefore I am not the body's member, should it not be
the body of the body for the sake of it?
If the whole body was eye, where would the ear be? If he were completely heard, where
would the smell be? .....
But now the limbs are many; but the body is one. .....
But you are the body of Christ, and members each after his part.
l. Cor. 6, 15. 17. Do you not know that your bodies are Christ's members? Should I take the
members of Christ and make whores members out of them? That was far away!
But he who is attached to the Lord is a spirit with him.
Rome. 12, 4. 5. For in the same way as we have many members in one body, but all members
do not have any business, so we are many One Body in Christ, but among each other is one of the
other member.
Epyes. l , 22-23. And put him to the head of the church about everything.
What is his body, namely the fullness of the one who fulfills everything in all. (See. Also
Eph. 2 , 11-18).
Eph. 3, 20. 21. But the one who can exuberantly do whatever we ask or understand for the
power that works in us. To that be glory in the church, which is in Christ Jesus, at all times, from
eternity to eternity. Amen.
Eph. 4, 11-13. And he has made some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some
shepherds and teachers.
That the saints be made the work of the office, thereby building the body of Christ.
Until we all come into the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God, and become a perfect
man who is in the measure of the perfect age of Christ.
Eph. 4, 15. 16. But let us be righteous in love, and grow in all things to the one who is the
head, Christ.
From which the whole body is assembled, and one limb at the other, through all the joints; by
doing one thing to the other, according to the work of every member in its measure, and making the
body grow steadily for its own self-improvement; and all in love. (Similar Ephesians 5, 23)
Eph. 5, 29, 30, 32. For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but he nourishes it and cares for
it, as does the Lord the congregation.
For we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.
The secret is great: but I say of Christ and the common.
Col. 1, 24. Now I rejoice in my suffering, that I suffer for you, and repay of my flesh, which
still lacks of tribulations in Christ, for his body, which is the commons.
Col. 2, 19. And does not cling to the head from which the whole body receives guidance
through joint and joint, and contains itself to each other, and thus grows to divine greatness.
Gal. 2, 30. But I live; but not me, but Christ lives in me. For what I now live in the flesh, I
live in the faith of the Son of God.
Of course, if Christ really lives and works in his community, his place can not be
sought in an indeterminate faraway sky, as usually happens when you read in the
Bible that he is sitting at the right hand of God. But the rights of God are not above
the earth after us, but are ruling on and in the earth, and thus the contradiction falls
away when one comes to our doctrine of the things of heaven; on the other hand, one
does not realize how the contradiction is to be raised by an extraterrestrial
God. Christ lives on in the same community in which God also lives, and by
receiving Christ, we receive God in a higher than the common sense, in which every
one already has him in him.
Christ Himself speaks out in the above saying (John 13:20). Verily, verily, I say to you, whoever
receives, if I send anyone, he receives me, and he who receives me receives him; who sent me. Also
you can move here:
John 14:20. On the same day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in
you.
Joh. 17, 21-23. So that they are all one, just like you, Father, in me, and I in you; that they too
are one in us, that the world may believe you have sent me.
And I have given them the glory that you have given me, that they are one as we are one.
I in them and you in me, that they may be perfect in one, and the world know that you have
sent me, and love them, as you love me.
After all, our doctrine of the otherworldly existence appears new only insofar as we
explicitly extend what Scripture expressly says about Christ's otherworldly way of
being to the mode of existence of all men. But although Scripture itself does not do
this, we find the right to do so in the Scriptures themselves, by which the
otherworldly mode of Christ's existence is represented with that of other people in
such a relationship that one would set indissoluble contradictions in Scripture, if one
wanted to Existence of other people other than Christ's. For in general, Christ is set
up as an example and a model for other people in terms of the nature of the transition
to the hereafter and the mode of existence therein. We often read that Christ's
disciples and faithful ones will be there right after death where he is, and if those who
do not want to know anything about Christ are regarded as rejected, then they should
be after us from the community, who, by entering upon Founded on the meaning of
Christ, and excluded from the blessedness gained thereby, until the revelation
recognized in the Bible itself incorporates it into this community; but this does not
prevent them from leading an unfortunate one to a blessed mode of existence that
strikes both modes of existence together, as the relationship that Christ enters into the
afterlife with the unfortunate spirits signifies even biblically through his preaching in
prisons becomes. Rather, they are to be regarded as outcasts after us of the
community that is founded on entering into the meaning of Christ and the happiness
that is gained by it until the restoration itself, recognized in the Bible, incorporates it
into this community; but this does not prevent them from leading an unfortunate one
to a blessed mode of existence that strikes both modes of existence together, as the
relationship that Christ enters into the afterlife with the unfortunate spirits signifies
even biblically through his preaching in prisons becomes. Rather, they are to be
regarded as outcasts after us of the community that is founded on entering into the
meaning of Christ and the happiness that is gained by it until the restoration itself,
recognized in the Bible, incorporates it into this community; but this does not prevent
them from leading an unfortunate one to a blessed mode of existence that strikes both
modes of existence together, as the relationship that Christ enters into the afterlife
with the unfortunate spirits signifies even biblically through his preaching in prisons
becomes. until the rebirth acknowledged in the Bible itself incorporates it into this
community; but this does not prevent them from leading an unfortunate one to a
blessed mode of existence that strikes both modes of existence together, as the
relationship that Christ enters into the afterlife with the unfortunate spirits signifies
even biblically through his preaching in prisons becomes. until the rebirth
acknowledged in the Bible itself incorporates it into this community; but this does not
prevent them from leading an unfortunate one to a blessed mode of existence that
strikes both modes of existence together, as the relationship that Christ enters into the
afterlife with the unfortunate spirits signifies even biblically through his preaching in
prisons becomes.
Luc. 22, 29. 30. And I will humble you the kingdom, as my father has granted me.
That you should eat and drink over my table in my kingdom.
Luc. 23, 42. 43. And (the wrongdoer) said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into
your kingdom.
And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.
Jn. 12, 26. 32. Whoever wants to serve me, follow me; and wherever I am, my servant should
be there too. And whoever will serve me will be honored by my father.
And I, when I am raised from the earth, I will draw them all to me.
John 14: 3. And if I go to prepare the place for you, I will return, and take you to me, that you
may be where I am.
Jn. 17, 24. Father, I want that where I am, those who are with me, who have given to me, to
see my glory, which you have given me.
Rome. 8, 29. For what he has provided before, he has also decreed that they should be equal
to the image of his Son, that the same may be the firstborn among many brethren.
2nd Cor. 5, 8. But we are confident, and we rather desire to go out of the body, and to be at
home with the Lord.
Phil. 3, 21. Which will transfigure our vain body, that it may become like its transfigured
body after the effect, so that it may make all things subject to it.
Col. 1, 18. And he is the head of the body, that is, the common man, who is the beginning and
the firstborn of the dead, that he may prevail in all things.
Eph. 2, 5. 6. Since we were dead in sins, he (God) made us alive together with Christ (for by
grace you have been saved).
And raised us together with him, and set him in the heavenly being, in Christ Jesus.
Eph. 4, 8-10. Therefore He saith, He has ascended to the heights, and has taken the prison
prisoner, and has given the people gifts.
But that he has ascended, what is it, because before that he has shut down in the lowest places
of the earth?
Who has gone down, that is the same, who ascended over all the heavens, that he might fulfill
everything.
What, it seems to me, must be decisive for the conception of the Christian doctrine
of the hereafter in our sense, is the meaning attached to the sacraments, and in
particular the sacrament of Christ and his disciples themselves, and has been recorded
throughout the ages as an inexplicable mystery. Besides this sense, all superstition,
parable, hollow symbol would be there, and most consider it; but now we may see the
bright truth in it. What has so long been accused of being the greatest absurdity by the
mockers of Christianity is now, according to our doctrine, only revealed as a mystery
to which the mind of all those scoffers must be put to shame, since it can be revealed
to the understanding. Yes, we enjoy Christ's body, enjoying the time He used as true
as everything belongs to Christ's body in the hereafter, through which his activity is
propagated to the posterity of this world. The bread and the wine are really consumed
by the consecration of the priest that is pronounced above, first to the body of Christ,
because these words are the last link in the chain through which Christ's activity is
enjoyed by a long line of disciples and priests to us of the Lord's Supper, and Christ
really lives on in it, in a more conscious and higher sense, than in many other effects
left by his existence. For when Christ instituted the Lord's Supper in the most
significant moment of his life, with the most intense consciousness in which he
summarized the whole content and purpose of his life, He also made the sacrament
the mediator of one of the most significant and conscious effects of his life. In every
recollection of a dead man, however, the dead person is present as being present in an
effect left by him; and the more significant and conscious the origin of the memory
itself is, with a more important conscious part of its essence present; so that it is not a
common part of the body with which Christ remembers us in the Lord's Supper, but
one that belongs to the bearer of his higher spiritual life. It is only necessary for us to
accept Christ in the Lord's Supper, as well as the will and faith to receive
Him; otherwise only vain flour and earthly potion will enter us. Whoever thinks that
bread and wine in the Lord's Supper is nothing as such, for it is only that, because he
has the effect, which Christ has made to the Lord's Supper, does not know, and
hereby learns nothing of Christ. But whoever enjoys the bread and the wine with the
faith of the presence of Christ in it, and the reception of Christ with it, or more in
which Christ will be all the more present, will be all the more alive, the more alive he
becomes to make the imagination and the faith; for this is the proof of the more lively
effect of the existence of Christ in him. the more vividly he can make the idea and the
faith; for this is the proof of the more lively effect of the existence of Christ in
him. the more vividly he can make the idea and the faith; for this is the proof of the
more lively effect of the existence of Christ in him.
To properly appreciate the full significance of the Lord's Supper, some reflections may still be
made.
The whole church, the whole church of Christ, belongs to Christ's body, insofar as it is the
living bearer of the effects which it gives rise to; but as a living body it wants the same food, it
wants to acquire new members and maintain and strengthen the old ones, and if the former happens
mainly through baptism, the latter does not happen exclusively, but in a preferred sense, through the
sacrament. For basically every means whereby the Church of Christ spreads and receives, the effect
of Christ on being propagated into man, or the cohesion of the people in Christ's Church is
conveyed and affirmed, is a means of feeding, sustaining and animating his body not every one of
equal importance and importance. The preferential meaning now, which is part of the Lord's Supper,
does not depend on that by it only an effect of the most significant and the most conscious moment
in Christ's life stretches itself into us, but also because Christ Himself expressly made it the bearer
of the idea that he hereby entrusts himself to us; so that we now become more conscious of it in the
Lord's Supper, and can meet more of his own consciousness that he enters into us than in any other
action of the same. It is the incorporation of Christ with the consciousness of this incorporation,
which is at the same time founded by the act of intercession of the Lord's Supper for us and
Christ. The approach is mediated here by the thought of entering into self. And after Christ once
used the sacrament with the will, we can no longer have another ceremony represented by the same
passage according to our will, because our commitment to his will, his conscious intention, is itself
the means of communication in which we encounter his consciousness that he enters into us with
our consciousness. If Christ had instituted another ceremony for the same purpose in place of the
Lord's Supper, it would have become the bearer of the corresponding effect, for the simple reason
that he so wished it, and enforced that will in the act of adoption he was also able to produce
corresponding consequences in other consciousness. But not everything was arbitrary, and it was
precisely the ceremony of the Lord's Supper that united not only the most essential but also the most
favorable conditions for the purpose to be achieved. It is hereby the same as one who makes any
word or arbitrary sign the bearer of any meaning or idea, and by means of which he can transfer this
idea, as a certain spiritual effect, to others, if only to say so in a definite act of foundation set this
meaning with them. He could have chosen another word or sign. Yet, under otherwise similar
circumstances, the choice of a word or sign is preferable, which in its sound, in its coincidence,
form, or movement, has such an analogy, affinity, or symbolic relation to the object, that it thereby
alone contributes to visualizing it. This purpose was here, where the thought of Christ's entering
into us was to convey the actual coming into being in us, It suffices, to the best of all, that this idea
be linked to the actual enjoyment of bread and wine, the essential and the noblest of food and
drink. And to the enjoyment in fellowship of our fellow Christians. The essence of Christ's doctrine,
his chief meaning to us, is that, in his mediation, we all have to form a community for higher
purposes, a body in which Christ the Spirit; In this way the nourishing bread and the fortifying wine
must also flow to the members of this body in the closest possible community. Thus Christ instantly
instigated the Lord's Supper in the community, from which all the Christian community also grew
up; He fed and watered first the core of his further body, which was still held together in the small,
from where the juice and power continued to flow. The broken bread and the drunk wine are
reminiscent of the body, broken and broken to the love of this community, and the blood of Christ,
and of the fact that we receive Christ only in accordance with the condition in which we receive a
corresponding attitude as an effect in us, which loves us the community to which we belong does
not shy away from death. Finally, however, it also seems essential for the meaning and effect of the
Lord's Supper that it was only at the end of Christ's career and with a vision of his death, at the most
important turning point in his life, when the hereafter began to stand in the foreground for him, and
was used with regard to this turning point; Thus the importance that this turning point had for Christ
continues to affect us in the Lord's Supper at the recollection of it. How much less could the
sacrament have worked if he had used it at the beginning of his career; since all his work was still
before him, nothing lay behind him, and thus none of it could be summarized in the memory and
the continuation of memory, since the view could only draw forward for the present. The wedding
feast at Canaan leaves us a hot picture; but more can not be left in us. The wedding feast at Canaan
leaves us a hot picture; but more can not be left in us. The wedding feast at Canaan leaves us a hot
picture; but more can not be left in us.
l. Cor. 10, 17. For it is a bread, so we are many a body, because we are all partakers of a
bread.
l. Cor. 10, 16. 17. The blessed cup that we bless is not the communion of the blood of
Christ? The bread that we break, is not that the communion of the body of Christ? For a bread is it,
so we are many One Body, while we are all partakers of one bread. (See the words of insertion:
Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19, 20 Corinthians 11:23.)
If, after all, the sacrament is the sacrament by means of which we consciously
sustain our relationships with Christ, as members of his body, baptism is the
sacrament by which we first initiate and establish it. Anyone who has not first
become a member of the body of Christ above the church can not spiritually draw
physical strength from it. And so baptism first lets us enter Christ's church or church,
from which we also receive the Holy Communion and the other means by which we
should further acquire Christ. Even without baptism, it seems, we could be brought
up Christian by Christian parents and thus be incorporated into Christ. But the
foundation of Christ has made baptism the mediator of such an entrance, that even
this entry into its full power and its full significance should become conscious of the
baptized, if he is an adult, or of those who have to educate the baptized Christian,
which then again is a conscious participation of Christ in this Act presupposes acts
and expresses consequences that can not be settled another way of entering, provided,
of course, that the baptism is carried out and received with the right senses. Passing
on baptism, since it did employ Christ, as the means of first being incorporated into
it, would be a break in this incorporation itself. which, in turn, presupposes a
conscious participation of Christ in this Act and expresses consequences which can
not be settled by another mode of admission, provided of course that baptism is
carried out and received with the right senses. Passing on baptism, since it did
employ Christ, as the means of first being incorporated into it, would be a break in
this incorporation itself. which, in turn, presupposes a conscious participation of
Christ in this Act and expresses consequences which can not be settled by another
mode of admission, provided of course that baptism is carried out and received with
the right senses. Passing on baptism, since it did employ Christ, as the means of first
being incorporated into it, would be a break in this incorporation itself.
Gal. 3, 27. 28. For as many of you have been baptized, they have put on Christ.
Here is no Jew nor Greek, here is no servant or suitor, here is no man nor woman, for you are
all at one time in Christ Jesus.
Eph. 4, 4-5. A body and a spirit, as you are called to the hope of your profession.
A gentleman, a faith, a baptism.
Also the washing of the feet (as calculated by H. Bernard for the sacraments) (Jn
13: 6-9 and 12-15) has been considered by Christ himself in a similar sense as the
Lord's Supper and baptism. But while the Lord's Supper must bring to consciousness
the communal participation of the members in the body of Christ, so does the
washing of the feet, the services which the members of one and the same body are to
mutually afford, in consideration and according to the examples of the ministries
which are theirs Christ makes common sense to all.
DW Böhmer has recently published a treatise in Wroclaw dedicated to this subject in Theol. Stud.
U. Crit. 1850 H. 4. S. 829 again emphasizes the sacramental meaning of foot washing, although, as
I think, the specificity of this meaning is not clearly enough. He concludes: "the fact that the
Protestant Church did not recognize the washing of the foot as a sacrament is an offense against the
Holy Scriptures, which is all the more striking as this Church is the source of her Christianity and
the only guiding principle of her faith in the Holy Scriptures The Church can only make up for her
wrongdoing by bringing full justice to the washing of the feet of Christ, as is shown by Scripture, ie
The survival of Christ's Spirit in his church and community, the presentation of
Christ's congregation and Church as the Body of Christ, the meaning which the
Sacraments assume accordingly, are commonplace among older and newer Church
teachers; and how should it not be the case? The words of the Bible are
unequivocal. Only if one seeks partly an inexplicable mystery in it, how Christ, who
went into heaven, but also on earth in his community should live on, partly one seeks
an exception therein for Christ, partly one does not actually understand the words of
the writing.
The objection of the opponents, however, that consequently the body and blood of Christ must be
omnipresent, which nevertheless conflicts with the nature of a human body, seeks to refute the
formula of concord, by refuting p. 752 ff. After. Luther attributes to the body of Christ, in the state
of exaltation, by virtue of which communicatio idiomatum, omnipresence, namely, such
incomprehensible and spiritual being (" Alicubi esse "), according to which he is enclosed in no
place, but penetrates all creatures and is also present in the evening meal . "(Bretschneider,
Dogmatics II, p. 768.)
that this material sphere of time and space, in which the human psyche leads its existence, this
sphere, which according to its very concept has only a temporal intermediate meaning and is
destined to be torn down and used, can not possibly be impenetrable to the higher heavenly Sphere
into which it is to be lifted, and for him who is the center not only of humanity but of the
universe. This continuing organic relationship between the Church and its invisible head is the basic
mystery upon which the Church rests, and all the individual mysteries rest on that one. Upon this
rest the mystery of edification in the congregation of the congregation - "" I am with you all the
days "" and "" where two and three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them; "unio
mystica ), which especially the apostle John describes with the whole inwardness of the Christian
mind. "(Martensen, Christl. Dogm., p. 365.)
"The absolute canon for all Christianity is certainly no other than Christ himself, in his
blessed redeeming person, and if we now ask how we have Christ, our next answer is the same as
the Catholic: in the Church, the body and the organism of Christ, whose living, ever present head he
is, in the Church, in her confession and proclamation, her sacraments, her worship, the exalted,
transfigured Redeemer is present, and gives of herself a living testimony to all those who who
believe, by the power of the Holy Spirit. " (Ebendas, p. 471.)
but, on the one hand, this membership, mediated only by the word received in faith, is not for
us certainly discernible, and therefore no such as would give us a firm foothold; on the other hand,
according to God's order, we can regard it only as one which needs the consummate complement.
which she has to look for in the face of the congregation in the sacraments ..... I have a part in the
table of the Lord - therefore I can confidently attune to the exclamation of the congregation, which
has its essence and life of Christ, as the male of Adam: We are members of his body, of his flesh and
his bones! And do I want to know whether one or another of my fellow-redeemed is a member of
the body of the Redeemer? I do not have to raise myself to the heart's announcer or judge his soul
condition. He who is baptized and partakes of the Lord Mahle is a member of the body of
Christ. The Body of Christ is the body of all those who are baptized into one body and are drenched
in one Spirit. "(From Delitzsch, Four Books of the Church.)
Even among those who have recently tried to construct Christianity philosophically, there are
those who, according to the words, are fully responsive to our conception of Christ's future mode of
existence, if not in substance. Thus, in: Gihr, Jesus Christ, according to the portrayal of L. Noak
(Base I, 1849), it is said that the grave, though receiving Christ's redeemed body, risen in every one
of his own, and continually in heaven, each to God glorified human heart. But the celebration of the
Lord's Supper is set in the thought of "the transience of the earthly life, which only in the dim glow
of later remembrance surrounds mankind." Of course we mean something different.
Let's move on to the other main points of the Christian doctrine of the hereafter.
Numerous passages appear in the Bible, according to which the way to life, to
salvation, to the Father is to go only through Christ. Joh. 3, 16. 8, 12. 51. 10, 9. 14, 6.
15, 13. 17, 3. Mark. 16, 6. Luk. 19, 10. Apost. 4, 12th ed. 7, 25)
How can this be, one asks. How can it be reconciled with divine justice and mercy
that those who lived before Christ, and who live now apart from Christ, who could
not know anything about Christ, should not be saved?
It is indisputable that they will be able to live up to it when, without knowing
anything about Christ, they have thought and acted in Christ's sense, and in the true
sense, and many pagans have done much more than many Christians or Christians
call themselves. But in order to bring it to the fullness of bliss which man is capable
of in the hereafter, blessedness in the strict sense proper, they will also have to
perform the highest and the best of which man is capable, and then fully acquire
Christ's meaning who goes to the harmonious union of all with all in the love of God
and to each other; because otherwise there will always be something missing in their
inner and outer peace. In fact, people can only get through Christ,
No matter how good and righteous a heathen may have been before, with and after
Christ, without the action of this consciousness he will enjoy the reward of his
virtues, but not the fullest and highest reward of the fullest and highest virtue, only
from this Consciousness is possible, can obtain. All action without this consciousness
is more or less blind, and though it can, on the whole, take the right path, for on many
sides man finds himself advised in this way; but without the clear wise man above the
way, who suddenly enlightens and controls it in one, man will always soon depart for
this side, now for that side, and feel the consequences of his error. But now the
Gentiles are that they could not experience anything of Christ and the right way
through Christ, not forever excluded from salvation; because Christ's doctrine and life
and church is not merely a matter of hiene-boiling, but extends from this world into
the hereafter, and who in this world could not yet belong to it, will be won over him
in the hereafter, and who belonged to him only externally, it will once internally
belong to him, driven by the insufficiency of salvation itself, which is away from
Christ, and the fullness of salvation that exists with and in him; and as he becomes
meaningful through Christ's Christ, he will also benefit from the dependent goods of
salvation. Thus, indeed, every one of the portion of ill-health he still had must finally
be saved, and ultimately Christ will be the Redeemer of all. because Christ's doctrine
and life and church is not merely a matter of hiene-boiling, but extends from this
world into the hereafter, and who in this world could not yet belong to it, will be won
over him in the hereafter, and who belonged to him only externally, it will once
internally belong to him, driven by the insufficiency of salvation itself, which is away
from Christ, and the fullness of salvation that exists with and in him; and as he
becomes meaningful through Christ's Christ, he will also benefit from the dependent
goods of salvation. Thus, indeed, every one of the portion of ill-health he still had
must finally be saved, and ultimately Christ will be the Redeemer of all. because
Christ's doctrine and life and church is not merely a matter of hiene-boiling, but
extends from this world into the hereafter, and who in this world could not yet belong
to it, will be won over him in the hereafter, and who belonged to him only externally,
it will once internally belong to him, driven by the insufficiency of salvation itself,
which is away from Christ, and the fullness of salvation that exists with and in
him; and as he becomes meaningful through Christ's Christ, he will also benefit from
the dependent goods of salvation. Thus, indeed, every one of the portion of ill-health
he still had must finally be saved, and ultimately Christ will be the Redeemer of
all. and whoever in this world could not yet belong to him, will be gained for him in
the hereafter, and whoever only belonged to him externally will one day still inwardly
hear him, driven by the insufficiency of salvation itself, which is apart from Christ,
and the fullness of Christ Bliss that exists with and in him; and as he becomes
meaningful through Christ's Christ, he will also benefit from the dependent goods of
salvation. Thus, indeed, every one of the portion of ill-health he still had must finally
be saved, and ultimately Christ will be the Redeemer of all. and whoever in this
world could not yet belong to him, will be gained for him in the hereafter, and
whoever only belonged to him externally will one day still inwardly hear him, driven
by the insufficiency of salvation itself, which is apart from Christ, and the fullness of
Christ Bliss that exists with and in him; and as he becomes meaningful through
Christ's Christ, he will also benefit from the dependent goods of salvation. Thus,
indeed, every one of the portion of ill-health he still had must finally be saved, and
ultimately Christ will be the Redeemer of all. and as he becomes meaningful through
ultimately Christ will be the Redeemer of all. and as he becomes meaningful through
ultimately Christ will be the Redeemer of all.
As he is the Redeemer of all in the highest and last sense, so also the
judge. 1) Because the demands he made on the world will be the last yardstick and the
guideline, after which we will one day be measured 2)and not like a dead ulna; but
Christ himself, living on in his community, continuing his demands, will judge before
all and over all whether the demands are also sufficient, and thereafter measure each
merit. It may well have been righteously invented according to many individual
relationships, which also justified the Gentiles, and at last it will have to come before
Christ; for no one will be able to avoid coming into contact with the demands of
Christ at all - and as long as he can not fully do justice to them, even before Christ he
will not have to be considered fully righteous and miss something of his full
blessedness.
1) Math. 25, 31. Joh. 5, 27. Apost. 10, 42. 2. Cor. 5, 10. 2. Thess. l, 7. 8. 2, 8. l. Petr. 4, 5 us w .
2) Ephesians. 4, 7. To each one among us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Do not say that the same judgment would be exercised without Christ; for the
highest demands exist apart from Christ's personality, and the inadequate fulfillment
of these demands will always, by their very nature, atrophy man's salvation. Of
course, the last is true; but until the demands with consciousness are pronounced as
the highest, man can not afterwards be consciously judged as such; the consequences
are self-evident; but only a conscious judge is a true judge. Thus, indeed, through
Christ, the supreme judgment has come upon men, and Christ himself is the supreme
judge; the judgment can be exercised only through his mediation, in dependence on
him, though by so many mediators and agents, because . where and how it is
exercised in consequence of its previous existence on this side, beyond, it itself
continues to live in this sequence, continues, and, insofar as it is a conscious
consequence of its conscious life, continues to live with consciousness. He who
judges in his sense judges under Christ's knowledge, does it under the inspiration of
Christ, and Christ feels himself to be the inspirer; if and insofar as someone does not
judge in Christ's terms, Christ himself will judge and correct his judgment. and Christ
feels himself to be the inspiring one; if and insofar as someone does not judge in
Christ's terms, Christ himself will judge and correct his judgment. and Christ feels
himself to be the inspiring one; if and insofar as someone does not judge in Christ's
terms, Christ himself will judge and correct his judgment.
If one keeps Christ's person indifferent to this judgment, then one has only in so far
as law, when the supreme court could not fail at all, be imposed once upon the
people, be it by whom it is. But should Christ be less important to us than just being
chosen? Rather, precisely that he has become the bearer of the divine necessity, must
bestow upon him the highest dignity.
An essential part of the Christian doctrine of the hereafter is the belief in a
resurrection of the body. But their modality is not specified in the Bible. His own
sayings about Christ are not communicated, and he has hardly said so. Thus deviating
ideas left room for him, under which something coarsely sensual might occur. We
drop the last ones; On the other hand, they hold fast to the essence of the resurrection
in the sense already mentioned. Once upon a time, our close-to-the-waist healings
again as a further body, which, driven out of the narrower self, contains all that of
substances and forces that once belonged to the narrower, and had fallen into sleep or
apparent death in this world. Now it awakens to new consciousness.
We do not say that this conception of the resurrection in the Bible is already
developed to the clarity and consequences of what we have been led to. But the very
geläutertsten views of Paul come on my into the same, so can not better the same be
interpreted within the meaning, which can not be denied that Paul also harbors ideas
in several relationships that are incompatible with 3) , but at the same time they
become difficult to reconcile with themselves.
3) I reckon here that Christ is the first-born, and that the resurrection of the rest of humanity will take place
simultaneously in a sudden general catastrophe. l. Cor. 15th
Paul explains that Body of this world for the seed from which the body of the
hereafter rises; the last is something to him with the first essentially belonging,
naturally resulting from it, only of more spiritual nature than the former; In order for
the house to be covered in the future, man already finds the house in death, as a
heavenly house after the earthly one. What now appears in the mirror as outwardly in
the mirror, and hereby appears dark, incomplete, he subsequently gains an immediate
knowledge, he realizes how it is recognized. All this, though not expressly
understood in our sense, to which our view itself must first have developed with
consciousness, can nevertheless be related to it, if we take the spiritual picture under
the spiritual body,
l. Cor. 15, 35-38. But would someone like to say: how will the dead be raised? And with what
kind of body will they come?
You fool that you sow will not come alive, dying.
And that you sow, is not the body that is to become, but a mere grain, namely wheat or the
other one.
1st Cor. 15, 44-46. It is sown a natural body and will resurrect a spiritual body. If you have a
natural body, you also have a spiritual body.
As it is written, the first man, Adam, is made into the natural life, and the last Adam into the
spiritual life.
But the spiritual is not the first; but the natural, then the spiritual.
2nd Cor. 5, l. But we know, when our earthly house of this hut is broken, that we have a
building built by God, a house, not made with hands, that is eternal, in heaven.
And above it we also long for our dwelling, which is from heaven, and demands that we be
clothed with it.
l. Cor. 13, 12. We now see through a mirror in a dark word, but then face to face. Now I
recognize it piece by piece, but then I will recognize it, just as I am recognized.
In general, I do not think that in Christ and in the apostle doctrine all the ideas of
the hereafter have been so clearly expressed and developed as they are in our
teaching; which, on the contrary, needed development for its previous reason. The
mystery is great, says Paul (Epyes 5:32). But the attachment to this development was
inherent in their teaching. There were fundamental ideas in this, which had to lead to
these developments in the attempt to trace them in relation to the real nature of
things, and conversely to the attempt to consistently develop the doctrine of the
hereafter from the nature of things Had to bring back basic ideas. And to that extent,
though I do not consider our whole view of the future mode of existence to be a
repetition or mere exposition,
But insofar as development presupposes the germ, that our doctrine itself could
develop only on the basis of Christianity, especially only under the guidance of the
highest practical points of view which Christ set forth, lies herein the ultimate driving
principle, which is all material of ours Forcing considerations in his direction and
form has also involved Christ himself. Christ's and his disciples' conscious life on this
side was itself only the germ of their higher conscious life beyond; but we sense their
further growth in this world and contribute to it, considering the previously developed
relationships between this world and the hereafter. No one thinks he can do anything
by himself. As Christ's tribe grows higher up into the light of the hereafter, His roots
in this world must also spread and intensify, and we ourselves must contribute and
contribute to this; but we do it in his own way through what we do in his teaching.
Of course, one does not have to imagine that through a proper development of Christ's doctrine
beyond the hereafter, his knowledge of the other world itself could still be extended and corrected,
which is an immediate one after he has passed over into the hereafter. But as the doctrine of the
Beyond, which he established on this side, through which he has come into relation with us and is
still related to us, evolves on this side, these relationships, through which he is still connected with
us in the hereafter, also develop , Nor should we be surprised that his immediate knowledge of the
hereafter does not benefit us, even though he lives and works in us; he lives and works within us
only on the part of those who were left behind in us by his work in this world, and continues to be
determined on the ways of this world. The previously used comparison with the plant is very
illustrative in this respect. The plant that grows into the light needs it still the rooting in the same
soil in which it was once completely prejudiced, the inflows from it, and the roots with which it
clings to it still belong to it; but above the ground it leads a very different life than below, and what
happens above it can not be felt below in the same way; In the meantime, what happens above and
below always depends on active relationships. Fate, therefore, which Christ's teaching experiences
on this side, is not indifferent to its existence beyond; and a growth, a development, an elevation of
its doctrine on this side can always be regarded as a sign of a corresponding growth, a
corresponding development, a corresponding elevation of its life beyond, even though it belongs
only to the lower part of this life, and what happens above,
Furthermore, we must not conceive it as though Christ's otherworldly consciousness were no
longer involved in what was happening to his roots on this side; his rooting in this world would
only be an unconscious part of his life, henceforth his consciousness would only experience
determinations from the higher light , Rather, it is the relations of his consciousness which we
consider here; it is precisely his consciousness, which is still rooted in the lower region, of which it
takes up determinations, but which there are processed in the higher light in a higher sense, in a
sense derived from the determinations from below is not alone explainable, but only from the
relations to the higher general light that fills the world.
XXXI. Overview of the doctrine of the things of the hereafter.

l) When a person dies, his mind does not re-blur in the greater or higher spirit from
which he was first born or individualized, but rather enters into a more luminous
conscious relationship with it, and becomes his entire intellectual possession hitherto
created clearer and clearer to him. As higher minds, we may hereby contemplate the
spiritual sphere of the earth or God which is at first superordinate to us, for one enters
into the other, if we remember that we belong to God through the spiritual sphere of
the earthly God (XXI, XXII).
2) The life on the other side of our spirits is similar to the worldly side as a memory
life to the visual life from which it is grown. Yes, we can regard it as though the
greater spirit to which we belong, in death, with all our content and essence, takes us
from his lower intuitive life to his higher memory life. But just as we already belong
to him in intuition, without our individuality and relative independence extinguishing
in him, so will the memory life (XXI, XXII).
3) The realm of the otherworldly spirits is connected with the realm of the spirits of
this world in the higher spirit to a kingdom by relations analogous to those which take
place between the areas of memory and intuition in our own mind. Just as the realm
of our intuitions receives a higher enthusiasm from our memory, and conversely our
memories are furthered by intuitions to which they associate, the kingdom of the
otherworldly spirits also intervenes in that of the worldly side, and by its influence
already elevates it something higher than it would be without it, and in turn gets
therefrom. Plato lives on in the ideas he has left in us and experiences the fate of
these ideas.
4) As little as a memory in our head still requires such a circumscribed bodily
image as a basis for intuition, it will be the case with us when we pass from the
intuitional life into the memory life of the greater spirit. From now on, our mind will
no longer be bound to a single particular piece of earthly matter, even though the
physical underpinnings are therefore inescapable, just as the memory in us still has
one. But how the physical bearer of remembrance in us, of whatever kind, is at any
rate grown out of the bodily support of intuition (from the picture in the eye, effects
extend into the brain, which in the future justify the memory, but which arise after the
expiration of intuition let), so also the physical existence, who bears our spiritual life
in the future, grow up out of the one who carries it now. While we are still in the
world of intuition, we inherit in a peculiar manner, through our effects and works, the
larger body to which we belong, above all the earth, and above all the upper realm of
the earth; Relationships take on the character of our being, and now our future
spiritual existence finds, according to the way in which it has happened, a carrier as
far as it still needs it. In so far as the world has been furthered by our worldly
existence, it will bear our otherworldly being, and indeed bear our conscious being in
the hereafter, insofar as it has been furthered by our conscious being in this world
(XXIII). which it carries now. While we are still in the world of intuition, we inherit
in a peculiar manner, through our effects and works, the larger body to which we
belong, above all the earth, and above all the upper realm of the earth; Relationships
take on the character of our being, and now our future spiritual existence finds,
according to the way in which it has happened, a carrier as far as it still needs it. In so
far as the world has been furthered by our worldly existence, it will bear our
otherworldly being, and indeed bear our conscious being in the hereafter, insofar as it
has been furthered by our conscious being in this world (XXIII). which it carries
now. While we are still in the world of intuition, we inherit in a peculiar manner,
through our effects and works, the larger body to which we belong, above all the
earth, and above all the upper realm of the earth; Relationships take on the character
of our being, and now our future spiritual existence finds, according to the way in
which it has happened, a carrier as far as it still needs it. In so far as the world has
been furthered by our worldly existence, it will bear our otherworldly being, and
indeed bear our conscious being in the hereafter, insofar as it has been furthered by
our conscious being in this world (XXIII). in a peculiar manner, through our effects
and works, to the larger body to which we belong, above all the earth, and above all
to the upper realm of the earth; in a certain connection to certain relations it must take
on the character of our being, and now ours finds future spiritual existence precisely
according to the way in which it happened, and to this a carrier as far as it still needs
it. In so far as the world has been furthered by our worldly existence, it will bear our
has been furthered by our conscious being in this world (XXIII). in a peculiar
manner, through our effects and works, to the larger body to which we belong, above
all the earth, and above all to the upper realm of the earth; in a certain connection to
certain relations it must take on the character of our being, and now ours finds future
spiritual existence precisely according to the way in which it happened, and to this a
carrier as far as it still needs it. In so far as the world has been furthered by our
worldly existence, it will bear our otherworldly being, and indeed bear our conscious
being in the hereafter, insofar as it has been furthered by our conscious being in this
world (XXIII). It must, in a certain connection to certain relations, take on the
character of our being, and now our future spiritual existence finds, according to the
way in which it has happened, a carrier as far as it still needs it. In so far as the world
has been furthered by our worldly existence, it will bear our otherworldly being, and
indeed bear our conscious being in the hereafter, insofar as it has been furthered by
our conscious being in this world (XXIII). It must, in a certain connection to certain
relations, take on the character of our being, and now our future spiritual existence
finds, according to the way in which it has happened, a carrier as far as it still needs
it. In so far as the world has been furthered by our worldly existence, it will bear our
has been furthered by our conscious being in this world (XXIII).
5) Our future existences run, disturb, and therefore do not become confused, that
we, with our effects and works, all incorporate ourselves into the same world, the
same great body. Even now, our existences are already effectively interlinking, and
this justifies our intercourse, which, according to the way in which our existences will
in future intermingle, will only become more intimate, more versatile, more
conscious. Our memories, too, are erroneous and erroneous, in spite of the fact that
what they carry interlocks in the same brain (XXIV, C).
6) If one misses a definite form of our future physical existence, it must be
remembered that the spirits of the hereafter will not appear to be visibly fraying and
blurred in their physical existence when they still appear to us from the point of view
of this contemplation. But just as the memory of an intuition in our little memory
empires, despite the fact that you are no longer subject to the limited bodily image in
the eye, but still reflects the vivid appearance of the image from which it descends,
our appearance in the otherworldly memory of the higher Spirit reflect the this-
worldly vivid appearance of our body, whence it originates; our otherworldly figures
will behave as the memory figures of this world;
7) The inferences that can be drawn from the analogy of otherworldly life with a
life of remembrance find their support in those who grant the analogy of death with
birth (XXV).
8) Direct considerations in the same sense speak no less. Already in the present life
we see the body, which bears our mind at some time, grown out of the body which
formerly carried our mind, and we must believe that this is suitable for the same spirit
from time to time. Thus the physical bearer of our future spiritual existence must also
have grown out of the bodily carrier of our present spiritual existence, in order to be
still the bearer of our individuality. The circle of our effects and works, conceived in
perfect completeness and right connection, fulfills these conditions, in which
everything of material, movements, and forces is found, which in our own bodies has
been effective in our life on this earth (XXVII).
9) The destruction of our present body is itself to be regarded as a reason that the
consciousness, which hitherto was attached to it, passes over to that continuation of
it; in that a similar antagonism takes place between the consciousness of our narrower
body and its continuation, as we observe even within our narrower body itself
between different spheres (XXIV, D).
10) The practical point of view of our view lies in the fact that each one creates the
conditions of a blessed or unfortunate otherworldly existence in the consequences of
his worldly (internal and external) activity and activity, insofar as the consequences
of his existence on earth form the basis of his otherworldly existence. Whoever has
been educated in this sense in the sense of the good divine world order and has acted
in this sense, has promoted good in himself and in the world, will gain for him, as a
reward, the predominantly salutary consequences of the nature of the good; But
whoever has directed his thoughts and desires to evil, who brings evil into the world,
will see it as a punishment in its consequences, consequences that will continue to
grow until man turns (XXVIII.).
11) The teaching presented here does not contradict the basic teachings of
Christianity; Rather, by letting go of insubstantial externalities, it is capable of giving
the nucleus a new fertile ground for vital development, for it is the doctrine of Christ,
hitherto generally understood and believed only in an improper sense, that man will
reap it himself. what he sowed, that Christ Himself in His congregation has His body
and is present in the sacraments, in a more lively and authentic sense, also makes His
Redeemer and judicial office and the doctrine of the resurrection adequately
understood (XXX).
12) At the same time, our doctrine of manifold, partly pagan and partly
philosophical views, combines so much with each other as is always possible in the
contradiction between them and with the Christian view , and enters into a mutually
explicative relationship with many puzzling appearances of this world (XXIX ).
XXXII. Beliefs.
Everything contained in this Scripture about the highest and last things is directly
indisputable in experience, unprovable by mathematics, and thus there is always a
field of faith here. I support my own belief in the validity of the views set forth here,
that the theoretical and practical interest which compels us to consider this field in
general is satisfied by these views in the best possible harmony. But whether this is
the case is again a matter of faith; and according as one agrees or disagrees with me
in this last faith, one will also agree with the views of this Scripture, in which that
connection and that attunement have always been considered authoritative.
At the end of all the writing in its two divisions, I now summarize that of the
content and the guiding aspects of it, which preferably comes into relation with the
prevailing and prevailing belief in the highest and last things, so that this relationship
stands out as clearly as possible. Thus it will be most easily clarified whether
something of that in which the value of the previous faith lies discards or atrophies,
rather than something that is broadened and deepened. Of course, many things also
sound the same as what everyone else says in their mouths, but they may be
interpreted somewhat differently by us. This meaning must be explained by Scripture
itself. See if it's a worse one.
l) I believe in a single, eternal, infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, all-
good, all-right, all-merciful God, through whom all arises and perishes and is, what is
born and dies and is, who lives and weaves in all things how everything is to
him; who knows everything, knows and can become known, who loves all his
creatures in one, as well as himself, who wants the good and does not want the evil,
who leads everything in the course of time to just goals, who is also the evil pity, that
is, that he himself makes punishment only the means of his improvement and finite
pleasure (XIV, XXVIII).
2) I believe that God has given to special creatures particular parts or sides of his
spiritual being, including the earth he has created, that is, that all earthly spirit unites
in this part of the divine essence, which again ventures in a special way to the special
earthly creatures, so that we are all, men, animals and plants, children of God out of
this spirit, in this spirit and by virtue of this Spirit, with whom God entered into the
earthly, but the people who are also of the earth Willingness of her eternal Father and
the unity in a higher spiritual community can and should become conscious (I-XI).
3) I believe that Christ is a Son of God out of that Spirit, in that Spirit, and in the
power of that Spirit with which God entered the earthly, not only beside and below,
but above all of us, because through his mediation we are still in one higher sense of
the children of God in and out of one's spirit are destined to be, as we were already of
nature and birth (XIII).
4) I believe that nothing unnatural and supernatural happens in God's world order,
but that unusual and unprecedented effects are caused by unusual and unprecedented
causes, so that even Christ's whole appearance, existence and action have not been
supernatural nor unnatural, but he an unprecedented and never recurring effect on
earth, that is, in its nature the only cause of unprecedented and ever-evolving and
ever-expanding effects has occurred (XIII).
5) I believe that the only and true way of salvation for humanity lies in the right
and rightly active love for God and neighbor, offered by Christ, and that the
unification in this love and the action in the same sense that is what makes us in the
higher sense of a spirit (XIII XXVIII XXX).
6) I believe that Christ's doctrine and church will not diminish, but will grow, so
that all men will one day agree upon it, and to whom it will not be given, it will be
given beyond (XIV. XXX).
7) I believe that the church, and thus the Church of Christ, is the body in which the
Spirit of Christ rules all the time, and that the doctrine of Christ, preached, written,
interpreted, accepted, and obeyed in his mind, performs baptism and the Lord's
Supper in his spirit, receiving and working, the chief mediations are to keep Christ
bodily physically in the church, and thus to keep the church alive, to make the people
as members of him, and to strengthen and sustain them as such (XXX).
8) I believe in a resurrection and an eternal life of man as a result of this temporal
life, according to the pattern of Christ, so that the present body and the present life of
man only a small dark seed of a future freer and brighter body Life is; since our soul
will be clothed with a larger structure, a home, not made with hands, that is eternal, in
heaven, there will be revealed all that is now hidden, since we will clearly see what
we are here only piecemeal and how through a mirror in the dark word, as we will all
face each other face to face and Christ Jesus, whom we have hung together with him
and through him in spirit. I believe that this temporal life is a preparation for the
eternal,
9) I believe that the purpose of the divine commandments is not to atrophy man's
happiness and joy, but to arrange and direct their will and action in such a way that
the greatest possible happiness of all can coexist. I believe that, in this sense, man has
to develop his will and action in all relationships, as a result of which he will satisfy
the purpose of the divine commandments even where they have offered nothing. I
believe that man can not act in the sense of the greatest possible happiness of all,
without acting in the sense of his own greatest possible happiness (XIV XVIII).
10) I believe that the evil produces consequences, through which it punishes itself
in the course of time, the good consequences by which it pays itself in the course of
time. I believe that the consequences of this world will reach out into the hereafter
and there justice will be carried out, which is only raised above. I believe that the
punishment of evil and the reward of good, the longer it is postponed, will finally
break in more, and one day grow until evil is forced to repent, the good feels itself in
the eternal course of divine grace. I believe that the free will of man can only change
the way to this goal, not the goal itself. I believe that this is the meaning of not a dead
world order, but that it is the living living of the divine Spirit in the world,
11) I believe that only good knowledge can exist before God, that every cognition
is in vain, reprehensible, and once rejected, that does not serve the best, and that truth
and good in the highest sense are one and the same (XIX. ).
12) I believe that the reason of the babes is too modest before a higher reason,
which proved its right in history through the education of the mature. I believe that
the reason of the sinners of their own error should remember the possibility and be
careful that they do not, wanting to improve on what was previously established,
shake the foundations of the good itself, to preserve it above all and above all else. I
believe that everything new that should exist can only grow out of what has already
existed, not through the overthrow, but rather through the further education of the
rejuvenation of the existing or the existing. I believe that in the rejuvenation only old
cases can fall, but fresher, higher, further must drive the old core (XIX A.).

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Zend - Avesta

about the things of heaven and the hereafter

From the point of view of nature

About the things of the hereafter.

XV. Annex to the third section.

A. Additions to the aesthetic assessment of the

C. About the liquid of the earth.

E. About the imponderable potencies.

(Humboldt's Ans. IS 34.)

XVI. Annex to the fifth section.

XVII. Appendix to the eighth section.

Additional considerations about the sensory area of the earth.

XVIII. Appendix to the ninth section.

Accessories over the step structure of the world.

XIX. Appendix to the eleventh section.

A. Practical argument for the existence of God

In the realm of material as well as spiritual events we distinguish many laws; in

If we generally need the higher numerical references to

change , hence by or k once and for all l, by expressing yourself.

other meaning than to lead to the calculation of what belongs to a connection, a

within the limits in question.

In the near future attention is paid to the discontinuity relations of the

complex. But now occurs discontinuity of and hereby a difference of strength is

expression a similar meaning to higher phenomena than to the

phenomenon, where b, the value of b for the zero value of the

XX. Overview of the doctrine of the things of the sky. 1)

To be sure, I can only give the following as rational possibilities, reasonable in so

XXI. About the importance of human death and the relationship of

new church of the Lord. Tübingen. Publisher to "Guttenberg" 1830th

§ 42. "The angelic clubs in the heavens are also spatially

well as here, everything appears in temporal and local conditions; Basically,

P. 119. Question. "The ability to know something about other

XXIII. From the physical underlay of the future life.

XXIV. Difficulties of various kinds.

A. Question how man's inner education and

Passavant says: "Many somnambulists saw all that was living

Ferrus tells of a general who had lost a large part of his

compelled to stand still on the standpoint of objective doubt as to the wonders

XXV. Analogies of death with birth.

XXVI. About the usual attempts to justify the immortality

It is undeniable that there is no surer, indeed no other tenable, conclusion on the

2) Töllner, Syst. theolog dogm. p. 708. sq.

XXVII. Direct justification of the immortality doctrine.

P. 271. "Therefore, if the immortality-faith were really

9) Lessing, Schlosser, Jean Paul, more recently Droßbach and

c) The younger spruce (in see idea of the personality).

death in Hades until the resurrection.

XXX. References of our doctrine to Christian doctrine in particular.

The points of reference of our doctrine of the things of heaven to Christian

XXXI. Overview of the doctrine of the things of the hereafter.

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