{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_16835/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_16835","id":"gutenberg_16835","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16835","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Eucken, Rudolf, 1846-1926","Philosophy"],"text":"Produced by Marc D'Hooghe.\n\n\n\n\nAN INTERPRETATION OF RUDOLF EUCKEN'S PHILOSOPHY\n\nBy\n\nW. TUDOR JONES, Ph.D. (Jena)\n\n\nLONDON\n\n1912\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n     [Greek: Hara ohyn, hadelphoi, hopheiletai hesmen, ou te sarki tou\n     kata sarka zen, ei gar kata sarka zete meggete hapothneskein, ehi\n     de pneumati tas praxeis tou somatos thanatoute zesesthe. hosoi gar\n     pneumati theou hagontai, outoi uioi theou ehisin.]--St. Paul\n     (Romans, viii. 12-14).\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\nPREFACE [p.7]\n\n\nThe personality and works of Professor Rudolf Eucken are at the present\nday exercising such a deep influence the world over that a volume by one\nof his old pupils, which attempts to interpret his teaching, should\nprove of assistance. It is hoped that the essentials of Eucken's\nteaching are presented in this book, in a form which is as simple as the\nsubject-matter allows, and which will not necessitate the reader\nunlearning anything when he comes to the author's most important works.\nThe whole of the work is expository; and an attempt has been made in the\nfoot-notes to point out aspects similar to those of Eucken's in English\nand German Philosophy.\n\nIt is encouraging to find at the present day so much interest in\nreligious idealism, and it is proved by Eucken beyond the possibility of\ndoubt that without some form of such idealism no individual or nation\ncan realise its deepest potencies. But with the presence of such\nidealism as a conviction in the mind and life, history teaches us that\nthe seemingly impossible [p.8] is partially realised, and that a new\ndepth of life is reached. All this does not mean that the individual is\nto slacken his interests or to lose his affection for the material\naspects of life; but it does mean that the things which appertain to\nlife have different values, and that it is of the utmost importance to\njudge them all from the highest conceivable standpoint--the standpoint\nof spiritual life. This is Eucken's distinctive message to-day. The\nmessage shows that an actual evolution of spirit is taking place in the\nlife of the individual and of human society; and that this evolution can\nbe guided by means of the concentration of the whole being upon the\nreality of the norms and standards which present themselves in the lives\nof individuals and of nations. No one particular science or philosophy\nis able to grant us this central standpoint for viewing the field of\nknowledge and the meaning of life. The answer to the complexity of the\nproblem of existence is to be found in something which gathers up under\na larger and more significant meaning the results of knowledge and life.\nThis volume will attempt to elucidate this all-important point of\nview--a point of view which is so needful in our days of specialisation\nand of material interests. It may be, and Eucken and his followers\nbelieve it is, that the destiny of the nations of the world depends in\nthe last resort upon a conception and conviction of [p.9] the reality of\na life deeper than that of sense or intellect, although both these may\nbecome tributaries (and not hindrances) to such a spiritual life.\n\nI have to thank Professor Eucken himself for allowing me access to\nmaterial hitherto unpublished, and for encouraging me in the work. I am\nbold enough to be confident that could I say half of what our revered\nteacher has meant for me and for hundreds of others of his old pupils,\nthis volume would be the means of helping many who are drifting from\ntheir old moorings to find an anchorage in a spiritual world.\n\n                                                W. TUDOR JONES.\n\n  Highbury, London, N.,\n\n        _November_ 1, 1912.\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n\nPreface                                                   7\n\n1. Introduction                                          13\n\n2. Religion and Evolution                                26\n\n3. Religion and Natural Science                          57\n\n4. Religion and History                                  70\n\n5. Religion and Psychology                               87\n\n6. Religion and Society                                 108\n\n7. Religion and Art                                     119\n\n8. Universal Religion                                   128\n\n9. Characteristic Religion                              151\n\n10. The Historical Religions                            166\n\n11. Christianity                                        180\n\n12. Present-Day Aspects of Philosophy and Religion      206\n\n13. Eucken's Personality and Influence                  227\n\n14. Conclusion                                          236\n\nList of Eucken's Works                                  245\n\nIndex                                                   249\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nAN INTERPRETATION OF RUDOLF EUCKEN'S PHILOSOPHY\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nINTRODUCTION [p.13]\n\n\nRudolf Eucken was born at Aurich, East Frisia, on the 5th of January\n1846. He lost his father when quite a child. His mother, the daughter of\na Liberal clergyman, was a woman of deep religious experience and of\nrich intellectual gifts. When quite a boy he came at school under the\ninfluence of the theologian Reuter, a man of wonderful fascination to\nyoung men. The questions of religion and the need of religious\nexperience interested Eucken early, and these have never parted from him\nduring the long years which have since passed away.\n\nAt an early age he entered the University of Goettingen and attended the\nphilosophical classes of Hermann Lotze. Lotze interested him in\nphilosophical problems, but did not [p.14] satisfy the burning desire\nfor religious experience which was in the young man's soul. Lotze looked\nat religion and all else from the intellectual point of view. His main\nbusiness was to discover proofs for the things of the spirit, and the\nvalue of his work in this direction cannot be over-estimated. Hermann\nLotze's works are with us to-day; and he has probably made more\nimportant contributions to philosophy and religion from the scientific\nside than any other writer of the latter half of the nineteenth century.\nBut he seems to have been a man who was inclined to conceive of reality\nas something which had value only in so far as it was _known_, and left\nvery largely out of account the inchoate stirrings and aspirations which\nare found at a deeper level within the human soul than the _knowing_\nlevel. Life is larger and deeper than logic, and is something, despite\nall our efforts, which resists being reduced to logical propositions. It\nis quite easy to understand how a young man of Eucken's temperament and\ntraining should acquiesce in all the logical treatment of Lotze's\nphilosophy, and still find that _more_ was to be obtained from other\nsources which had quenched the thirst of the great men of the past.\n\nWhen Eucken entered the University of Berlin he came into contact with a\nteacher who helped him immensely in the quest for religion, and in the\ninterpretation of religion as the [p.15] issue of that quest. Adolf\nTrendelenburg was a great teacher as well as a noble idealist, and his\ninfluence upon young Eucken was very great. Indeed, it seems that\nTrendelenburg's influence was great on the life of every young man who\nwas fortunate enough to come into contact with him. The late Professor\nPaulsen, in his beautiful autobiography, _Aus meinem Leben_ (1909),\npresents us with a vivid picture of Trendelenburg and his work. Under\nhim the pupils came into close touch not only with the _meaning_ but\nalso with the _spirit_ of Plato and Aristotle. The pupils were made to\nsee the ideal life in all its charm and glory. The great Professor had\nall his lifetime lived and meditated in this pure atmosphere, and\npossessed the gift of infusing something of his own enthusiasm into the\nminds and spirits of his hearers. Eucken has stated on several occasions\nhis indebtedness to Trendelenburg. The young student entered the temple\nof philosophy through the gateways of philology and history. This was a\ngreat gain, for the barricading of these two gateways against philosophy\nhas produced untold mischief in the past. At present men are beginning\nto see this mistake, and we are witnessing to-day the phenomenon of the\nindissoluble connection of language and history with philosophy. In\nfact, the new meanings given to language and history are meanings of\nthings which happened in the [p.16] culture and civilisations of\nindividuals and of nations, and such a material casts light on the\nprocesses, meaning, and significance of the human mind and spirit.\n\nEucken learnt this truth in Berlin at a very early age, and his life and\nteaching ever since have been a further development of it. This fact has\nto be borne in mind in order that we may understand the prominence he\ngives to religion, religious idealism, spiritual life, and other similar\nconcepts--concepts which are largely foreign to ordinary philosophy and\nwhich are only to be found in that mysterious, all-important borderland\nof philosophy and religion.\n\nAfter graduating as Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Goettingen,\nwe find him preparing himself as a High School teacher, in which\nposition he remained for five years.\n\nIn 1871 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy in the University of\nBasel. In 1874 he received a \"call\" to succeed the late Kuno Fischer as\nProfessor of Philosophy in the renowned University of Jena. It is here,\nin the \"little nest\" of Goethe and Schiller, that Eucken has remained in\nspite of \"calls\" to universities situated in larger towns and carrying\nwith them larger salaries. It is fortunate for Jena that Eucken has thus\ndecided. He, along with his late colleague Otto Liebmann, has kept up\nthe philosophical tradition of Jena. In spite of modern developments and\nthe presence of [p.17] new university buildings, Jena still remains an\nold-world place. To read the tablets on the walls of the old houses has\na fascination, and brings home the fact that in this small out-of-the-way\ntown large numbers of the most creative minds of Europe have studied and\ntaught. The traditions of Goethe and Schiller still linger around the\nold buildings and in the historical consciousness of the people. Here\nFichte taught his great idealism--an idealism which has meant so much in\nthe evolution of the Germany of the nineteenth century; here Hegel was\nengaged on his great _Phenomenology of Spirit_ when Napoleon's army\nentered the town; here Schopenhauer sent his great dissertation and\nreceived his doctor's degree _in absentia_; here too, the Kantian\nphilosophy found friends who started it on its \"grand triumphant\nmarch\"--a philosophy which raised new problems which have been with us\never since, and which gave a new method of approaching philosophical\nquestions; here Schelling revived modern mysticism and attempted the\nconstruction of a great _Weltanschauung._ But only a small portion of\nthe greatness of Jena can be touched on. Eucken has nobly upheld the\ngreat traditions of the place, not only as a philosophical thinker but\nalso as a personality.\n\nWhat is the secret of Eucken's influence? It is due greatly, it is true,\nto his writings and their original contents, for it is not possible for\n[p.18] a man to hide his inner being when he writes on the deepest\nquestions concerning life and death. A great deal of Eucken's\npersonality may be discovered in his writings. Opening any page of his\nbooks, one sees something unique, passionate, and somehow always deeper\nthan what may be confined within the limits of the understanding, and\nsomething which has to be lived in order to be understood. And to know\nthe man is to realise this in a fuller measure than his writings can\never show. He has to be seen and heard before the real significance of\nhis message becomes clear. His personality attracts men and women of all\nschools of thought, from all parts of the world, and they all feel that\nhis message of a reality which is beyond knowledge--though knowledge\nforms an integral part of it--is a new revelation of the meaning of life\nand existence. Professor Windelband, in his _History of Philosophy_ and\nelsewhere, describes Eucken as the creator of a new Metaphysic--a\nmetaphysic not of the Schools but of Life. This aspect will be discussed\nat fuller length in later pages, so that it may be passed over for the\npresent.\n\nEucken believes in the reality and necessity of his message. He is aware\nthat that message is contrary to the current terminology and meaning of\nthe philosophy of our day. Some of his great constructive books were\nwritten as far back as 1888, and have remained, almost until our own\nday, in a large measure unnoticed. [p.19] The _Einheit des Geisteslebens\nin Bewusstsein und Tat der Menschheit_ is a case in point. It is one of\nhis greatest books, and its value was not seen until the last few years.\nBut the philosophy of the present day in Germany is tending more and\nmore in the direction of Eucken's. Writers such as the late Class and\nDilthey, Siebeck, Windelband, Muensterberg, Rickert, Volkelt, Troeltsch\n--naming but a small number of the idealistic thinkers of the present\n--are tending in the direction of the new Metaphysic presented by Eucken\nin the book already referred to as well as in the _Kampf um einen\ngeistigen Lebensinhalt_.\n\nThe philosophy of Germany at the present day is making several attempts\nat a metaphysic of the universe. Much critical and constructive work has\nbeen done during the past quarter of a century and is being done to-day.\nThe attempts to construct systems of metaphysics may be witnessed on the\nsides of natural science and of philosophy. Haeckel, Ostwald, and Mach\nhave each given the world a constructive system of thought. But these\nthree systems have not, except in a secondary way, attempted a\nmetaphysic of human life. Haeckel's system is mainly poetico-mythical,\nchiefly on the lines of some of the pre-Socratic philosophers. Ostwald's\nattempt is to show the unity of nature and life through his principle of\nEnergetics; and Mach's may be described as an inverted kind [p.20] of\nKantianism in regard to the problem of subject and object.\n\nNone of these has attempted a reconstruction of philosophy from the side\nof the content of consciousness; in fact, they all find their\nexplanation of consciousness in connection with physical and organic\nphenomena observed on planes below those of the mental and ideal life of\nman. Such work is necessary; but if it comes forward as a _complete_\nexplanation of man, it is, as Eucken points out again and again, a\nwretched caricature of life. To know the connection of consciousness\nwith the organic and inorganic world is not to know consciousness in\nanything more than its history. It may have been similar to, or even\nidentical with, physical manifestations of life, but it is not so _now_.\nEucken admits entirely this fact of the history of mind; but the meaning\nof mind is to be discovered not so much in its _Whence_ as in its\npresent potency and its _Whither_.[1] A philosophy of science is bound\nto recognise this difference, or else all its constructions can\nrepresent no more than a torso. Physical impressions enter into\nconsciousness, [p.21] and doubtless in important ways condition it,\nbut they are _not physical_ once man becomes _conscious_ of them. A union\nof subject and object has now taken place, and consequently a new beginning\n--a beginning which cannot be interpreted in terms of the things of\nsense--starts on its course. This is Eucken's standpoint, and it is no\nother than the carrying farther of some of the important results Kant\narrived at.\n\nThis difference between the natural and the mental sciences has been\nemphasised, at various times, since the time of Plato. But the\ndifference tended to become obliterated through the discoveries of\nnatural science and its great influence during the latter half of the\nnineteenth century. The key of evolution had come at last into the hands\nof men, and it fitted so many closed doors; it provided an entrance to a\nnew kind of world, and gave new methods for knowing that world. But, as\nalready stated, evolution is capable of dealing with what _is_ in the\nlight of what _was_, and the _Is_ and the _Was_ are the physical\ncharacteristics of things. In all this, mind and morals, as they are in\ntheir own intrinsic nature operating in the world, are left out of\naccount. A striking example of this is found in the late Professor\nHuxley's Romanes Lecture--_Evolution and Ethics_. In this remarkable\nlecture it is shown that the cosmic order does not answer all our\nquestions, and is indifferent [p.22] and even antagonistic to our\nethical needs and ideals. Huxley's conclusion may be justly designated\nas a failure of science to interpret the greatest things of life. Before\nculture, civilisation, and morality become possible, a new point of\ndeparture has to take place within human consciousness, and the attempt\nto move in an ethical direction is as much hindered as helped by the\nnatural course of the physical universe. This lecture of Huxley's runs\nparallel in many ways with Eucken's differentiation of Nature and\nSpirit, and Huxley's \"ethical life\" has practically the same meaning as\nEucken's \"spiritual life\" on its lower levels.\n\nNumerous instances are to be found in the present-day philosophy of\nGermany of the need of a Metaphysic of Life, and of the impossibility of\nconstructing such from the standpoint of the results of the natural\nsciences either singly or combined.\n\nProfessor Rickert's investigations are having important effects in this\nrespect. In his works he has made abundantly clear the difference\nbetween the methods and results of the sciences of Nature and the\nsciences of Mind. And even amongst the mental sciences themselves,\nall-important aspects of different subject-matters present themselves,\nand render themselves as of different _values_.\n\nProfessor Muensterberg has worked on a similar path, and has insisted\nonce more on the nature of reality as this expresses itself in [p.23] a\nmeaning which is over-individual. Professor Windelband's writings (_cf.\nPraeludien, Die Philosophie im XX. Jahrhundert_, etc.) have emphasised\nvery clearly the need of the presence and acknowledgment of norms in\nlife, and of the meaning of life realising itself in the fulfilment of\nthese norms.[2]\n\nWhen we turn to the great neo-Kantian movement, we find alongside of\ndiscussions concerning psychological questions important ethical aspects\npresenting themselves. The works of the late Professor Otto Liebmann of\nJena (_cf_ the last part of his _Analysis der Wirklichkeit_) and of the\nlate Professor Dilthey and Dr. G. Simmel point in the same direction.\nProfessors Husserl, Lipps, and Vaihinger, as their most recent important\nbooks show, work on lines which insist on bringing life as it is and as\nit ought to be into their systems. The same may be said of Professor\nWundt's works in so far as they present a constructive system.\n\nBut the ground was fallow twenty-five years ago when some of Eucken's\nimportant works made their appearance. Even as late as 1896 he complains\nof this in the preface of his _Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt_:\n\"I am aware that the explanations offered in this [p.24] volume will prove\nthemselves to be in direct antagonism to the mental currents which\nprevail to-day.\"[3] He states that his standpoint is different from that\nof the conventional and official idealism then in vogue. By this he\nmeans, on the one hand, the \"absolute idealism\" which constructed\nsystems entirely unconnected with science or experience--systems whose\nAbsolute had no direct relationship with man, or which made no appeal to\nanything of a similar nature to itself in the deeper experience of the\nsoul; and, on the other hand, the degeneration of the neo-Kantian\nmovement to a mere description of the relations of bodily and mental\nprocesses.\n\nProbably enough has been said to show that the idealistic systems of\nGermany are tending more and more in the direction of a philosophy which\nattempts to take into account not only the results of the physical\nsciences and psychology, but also those of the norms of history and of\nthe over-individual contents of consciousness.\n\nIt has been stated by several critics in England, Germany, and America,\nthat Eucken has ignored the results of physical science and psychology.\nThis was partially true in the past, when his main object was to present\nhis [p.25] own metaphysic of life. The problems of science and\npsychology had to take a secondary place, but it is incorrect to state\nthat these problems were ignored. It is remarkable how Eucken has kept\nhimself abreast of these results which are outside his own province.[4]\nBut he has been all along conscious of the limitations of these results\nof natural science and psychology. The results fail to connote the\nphenomena of consciousness and its meaning. While Eucken has accepted\nthese results, I have not seen any evidence that any of his conceptions\nconcerning the main core of his teaching--the spiritual life--are\ndisproved by any of them. He shows us, as will be elucidated later, that\nas sensations point in the direction of percepts, and percepts in the\ndirection of concepts, so concepts point in the direction of something\nwhich is beyond themselves. And as the meaning of reality reveals itself\nthe more we pass along the mysterious transition from sensation to\nconcept, so a further meaning of reality is revealed when concepts\nsearch for a depth beyond themselves. This is the clue to Eucken's\nteaching in regard to spiritual life. It is a further development of the\nnature of man--a development beyond the empirical and the mental. And\nthe object of the following chapters will be to show this from various\npoints of view.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER II [p.26]\n\nRELIGION AND EVOLUTION\n\n\nEucken accepts gladly the theory of descent in Darwinism, but insists\nthat the theory of selection must be clearly distinguished from it.\nHe agrees with Edward von Hartmann that the doctrine of selection is\ninadequate to explain the phenomena of life. But, as he points out,\nthere is much which is true and helpful in the theory of selection\neven in regard to human life. \"In all quarters there is a widespread\ninclination to go back to the simplest possible beginnings, which\nexhibit man closely related to the animal world, to trace back the\nupward movement not to an inner impulse, but to a gradual forward\nthrust produced by outward necessities, and to understand it as a mere\nadaptation to environment and the conditions of life. It seems to be a\nmere question of natural existence, of victory in the struggle against\nrivals.\"[5] But he is not satisfied that such an explanation covers the\n[p.27] phenomena of consciousness. If there were no more than this at\nwork in the higher forms of life, the things of value--the things which\nhave meant so much in the upward development of humanity--would be\nreduced to mere adjuncts of physical existence. If mental and moral\nvalues mean no more than this, they are simply annihilated. But the\nvalues of life are something quite other than any physical manifestation;\nand however much they are conditioned by physical changes it is\ninconceivable that what is purely physical should be the sole cause of\nthem. Man would never have risen so far above Nature, and become able to\nbe conscious of his own personality and of the meaning of the world, had\nthere not been present from the very beginning some spiritual potency\nwhich could receive the impressions of the external world and bind them\ntogether into some kind of connected Whole. This connected Whole may be\nno more in the beginning than a potency without any content, and its\nroots may be discerned in the world below man; but without such a\npotency, different in its nature from physical things, the whole meaning\nof the evolution of mind and spirit is utterly unintelligible. But what\ncan this potency mean but something which includes within itself the\ngerm of that which later comes out in the form of the values which have\nbeen gained in the life of the individual and of the race?\n\n[p.28] In order to understand Eucken's conceptions concerning Spirit,\nWhole, Totality, and other similar terms, this fact has to be borne in\nmind. The capacity for _more_ is present in man's nature. It may remain\ndormant in a large measure, but it is not entirely so, as witnessed by\nthe fact that men have scaled heights far above Nature and the ordinary\nlife of the day. And humanity, on the whole, has climbed to a height to\ngive some degree of meaning to the life of the day--a meaning superior\nto physical impressions, and which is able to see somewhat behind,\naround, and beyond itself. Wherever this happens, it comes about through\nthe presence and activity of the life of the spirit within man. The\nspiritual life is, then, a possession of man, but it is a possession\nonly in so far as it is used. It is subject to helps and hindrances from\nthe world; it is not freed from its own content; it can never say,\n\"So far and no further according to the bond and the duty\"; it has to\nundergo a toilsome struggle before it can ever become the possessor of\nthe new kind of world to which it has a right.\n\nIn all this we notice something in the _new world of consciousness_\nsimilar to what happens within the physical world. In the world of\nnature no animate (and probably no inanimate) thing has received a\n_donum_ which it may preserve as its own without effort. Everything that\nhas value has to be preserved through [p.29] struggles necessitated by\nthe changing conditions of the impinging environment as well as\nstruggles between contrary characteristics within the nature of the\nthing itself. Otherwise nothing could maintain its identity and\nindividuality at all. There must be some core in everything which exists\nas an individual thing. This individuality is seen more clearly as the\nscale of existence is mounted. In the organic world each thing lives in\na more or less degree its own life, however much that life is\nconditioned and even hindered by the environment. What is it, then, that\nkeeps the thing together? It is some point of union of elements\notherwise scattered. When we come to man we see this more clearly than\nin the world below him. This core is a kind of Whole made up of isolated\nimpressions mingling with a potency different in nature from themselves,\nand transmuting them to its own nature in the forms of self-consciousness,\nmeanings, values. This potency--this Whole--although present from the\nvery beginning as the condition of becoming conscious of anything, yet\nremains in constant change. Impressions pour in through the senses,\nenter the Whole that is already present; they drop their content into\nthat Whole by means of the senses, and the miracle of transmutation,\nentirely mysterious, takes place.\n\nThis point is not new. It is a fact well [p.30] known in the history of\npsychology, and played a very prominent part in the psychology of Kant.\nBut Eucken has deepened the conception in such a way as to be able to\nrid himself of the postulates of Kant concerning God, Freedom, and\nImmortality. The germs of these, according to the meaning of Eucken,\nare within the spiritual life itself, and not transcendent in the form\npresented by Kant or external as presented by Hegel. There is, then,\nwithin consciousness a process in many respects analogous to the natural\nprocess. And as the meaning of the physical universe has become clearer\nthrough the conception of evolution, so the meaning of consciousness,\noriginating in a higher world than Nature, will become clearer if viewed\nin a similar manner. Let us then turn to one of the most important\naspects of Eucken's work, Evolution and Religion.\n\nEucken's deepest, and consequently the most difficult, account of the\nmeaning of religion is to be found in his _Truth of Religion_ and his\n_Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt._ It is important to deal with\nthe concept of the spiritual life at this stage of our inquiry, for it\nis the pivot around which the whole of Eucken's philosophy turns.\n\nThe essence of religion is conceived by him as the possession by man of\nan eternal existence in the midst of time; of the presence of an\nover-world in the midst of this world [p.31]--guiding man to the\nrevelation of a Divine Will.\n\nThis is Eucken's main thesis, and connected with this thesis is the fact\nthat religion can come to birth in the soul of man only through a\nconquest of the ordinary, natural world which surrounds him. The world\nwhich surrounds him hinders more than it helps the birth of religion in\nthe soul. The aim of religion is therefore not the perfecting of man in\na natural sense, but the bringing about of a union of human nature and\nthe Divine. Religion must therefore include a \"world-denial and a\nworld-renewal.\" There is not enough for man's deeper nature either in\nthe physical world or in the ordinary life of the hour. The natural\nworld knows of no complete self-subsistence, for everything is connected\nwith its environment, and it is in this connection with its environment\nthat life below man largely obtains its existence. But in man we\ndiscover a transition stage from the sensuous to the non-sensuous, and\nit is in the latter that the meaning of the former can be obtained. The\nhistory of civilisation and culture is a history of this all-important\nfact. The meaning of man is, therefore, not to be found in his\nrelationship to the physical world, but in his own consciousness.\nAlthough we may not be aware of it, consciousness is the power which, in\nthe long and slow progress of the ages, has overcome the sensuous and\nmade it subservient to the [p.32] meaning and value which its own\ncontent of experience has presented. The necessity and proof of religion\nare not then discovered in anything in the external world, but in the\nrealisation of the fact that we are meant to be citizens of a world\nhigher in its nature, the birthright of which is to be found within our\nown nature. The conquest of nature and the growth of culture are proofs\nto man of his superiority to the world of sense impressions. This denial\nof the sufficiency of the world of sense in the evolution of the human\nsoul, on the one hand, and the affirmation of the potentiality of a\nhigher world of spirit on the other hand, constitute the nucleus of the\nChristian religion. Its superiority consists in giving their rights to\nboth worlds, and also in showing that they do not possess the same\nvalue. This essential nature of Christianity will be demonstrated later.\n\nWe must return, then, to consciousness itself and see what may be\ndiscovered within it concerning the meaning of religion. The great\nthinkers of the ages have all been agreed as to the impossibility of\nfinding sufficient proofs and meanings of religion either from Nature or\nfrom some supernatural source flowing in a miraculous manner towards our\nearth. The growth and interpretation of natural science in modern times\nhave rendered it impossible to find proofs of religion in any external\nmode. Yet the problems of man's [p.33] Whence and Whither raise\nthemselves with energy and even tragedy in our own day. These, as Eucken\npoints out, are \"problems concerning our Whence and Whither, our\ndependence upon strange powers, the painful antitheses within our own\nsoul, the stubborn barriers to our spiritual potencies, the flaws in\nlove and righteousness, in Nature and in human nature; in a word, the\napparent total loss of what we dare not renounce--our best and most real\ntreasures.\"[6] The loss takes place because we have been looking outward\ninstead of inward for support, and prop after prop has given way. This\nis the situation to-day, and it has been brought about by no evil power,\nbut by the gradual dawning of the meaning of things. Still, it is not\nthe whole meaning of things, for, as Eucken points out: \"But we are now\nexperiencing what mankind has so often experienced, viz. that at the\nvery point where the negation reaches its climax and the danger reaches\nthe very brink of a precipice, the conviction dawns with axiomatic\ncertainty that there lives and stirs within us something which no\nobstacle or enmity can ever destroy, and which signifies against all\nopposition a kernel of our nature that can never get lost.\"[7]\n\nThe religio-philosophical problem is, then, a return to _the Whole of\nLife_. It is here that any satisfactory answer can be found if found\n[p.34] at all. It is necessary to investigate the final grounds as well\nas the most complete structure of Life; it is further necessary to\ndiscover whether the movement of Life necessarily leads to religion.\nAs Eucken invariably presents the truth of religion, the meaning and\nsignificance of religion are to be found through self-consciousness.\nThis meaning of consciousness is twofold in nature. On the one hand,\nit is something that may be _known_, and, on the other hand, it is\nsomething that is _active_ through its own inherent energy. Here we find\na difference between what we may _know_ we are and what we _are_. Our\nknowledge of what we are, the conditions of what we are, the history of\nwhat we are--all these are a help for us to be what we are capable of\nbecoming. But all these are not the very movement of the becoming\nitself. That movement is the resultant of the spiritual potency after\nexperiences in the form of cognition have marked out the path for\nconation. This conation is an inheritance; it is present in the form of\ndissatisfaction with the present situation; it moves in the direction of\na goal which is marked out by intellect. Now, however much this conation\nmay be analysed, it resists being decomposed into a number of elements\nwhich make it up, for any such number, except in the very manner they\nare united, could not produce the situation. In other words, whatever\nthe history of this conation may be, it is now a unity or whole. [p.35]\nConditioned as it is by the surrounding world and by its own history, in\nso far as it is this, it is _determined_; but it is still _free_ in so\nfar as it is capable of becoming a new point of departure for life and\nof proceeding on its way in a world of spirit. Unless man's nature\ncontained within itself some unity or whole of the kind already referred\nto, it would mean no more than a receptacle of momentary impressions\nwhich would vanish as soon as their physical effects had passed away.\nBut man is in reality more than all this. In the form of memory and\nexperience he is able to hold together in a core of his being the\n_meaning_ of these impressions after they have filtered into his\nconsciousness. That is what we find, in however obscure a way, as the\nvery beginning of every human life. This unity or whole, as already\nstated, may be no more than a potency in the beginning of life, but it\ngains in content and depth as it passes from impression to impression,\nand from experience to experience. And all further impressions and\nexperiences have to be referred to this nucleus of the nature in order\nthat they may be used and may prove themselves helpful. It is in this\nnucleus of the nature that everything obtains its meaning and value.\n\nThe _Whole_ consequently grows, and gradually man becomes conscious of\nhis personality as over against the environing world and even his own\nbody. This consciousness of [p.36] _inwardness_ is of slow growth,\nbecause the natural tendency of life is to give a primary place to the\nworld from which we have emerged--the world of physical existence, and\nalso because much of that physical world reigns powerfully within our\nnature. But when reflection turns into itself, it becomes aware that the\ninwardness constitutes the kernel of a reality higher in its nature than\nanything either in the physical world or in the physical life which the\nman has to lead.\n\nTwo modes of reality now present themselves to the life, neither of\nwhich allows itself to be conceived of as an illusion. On the one hand,\nwe find the physical world and our own physical nature. We discover that\nwe cannot jump out of these without destroying all we possess; we have\nto come to some kind of understanding with the physical world and our\nown physical existence. Yet, on the other hand, the consciousness of a\nkernel of our being, non-sensuous and spiritual in its nature, has for\never broken our satisfaction with the physical world and our own\nphysical existence. There are only two alternatives on which we can act.\nEither we are to conceive of our spiritual personality as something\nsecondary and subsidiary to the natural world, or we are to insist on\nits independence, and acknowledge it as the beginning of _a new mode of\nexistence._ If the former alternative is chosen, the personality can\nnever pass to a state of self-subsistence, [p.37] but will conceive of\nreality as something which is mainly physical. The consequence is that\nthe personality will suffer seriously in its evolution, for such an\nevolution is brought about through the recognition and willing\nacknowledgment of the breaking forth of _a new kind of reality_ within\nthe spiritual nucleus of life. If the latter alternative is chosen, this\nnucleus of life is now seen as something quite other than a quality\nentirely dependent upon the physical or than a mere flowering of the\nphysical; it is seen as a reality higher in its nature than the physical\nor even than the ordinary life of the individual. Such a situation is\nforced on man when once he reflects upon the inward meaning of the\ncontent of his consciousness. It is true that such questions may be\nthrust into the background, and consequently inhibited from presenting\nus with their full value and significance. And it is this which happens\nonly too often in daily life. The constant need of attention to external\nthings, the absorption of the mind in conventionality and custom as\nthese present themselves in the form of a ready-made inheritance--all\nthese occupy so much of the attention as to prevent man from knowing and\nexperiencing what _his own life_ is or what it is capable of becoming.\nMan has penetrated into the secrets of Nature as well as into the past\nof human society through close and constant attention to external\nthings. [p.38] He has been able to gather fragments together, piece them\ninto each other, and through this frame laws concerning them. It is thus\nthat the external world and society have come to mean more to a human\nbeing than to an animal. The animal is probably almost entirely the\ncreature of its instincts and of the percepts which present themselves\nto it from moment to moment, and which largely disappear. But man rises\nabove this situation. The external world and everything that has ever\nhappened on its face are not merely objects external to himself, which\ncontain all their qualities in themselves. Somebody has to experience\nall this, and that somebody that experiences all this is _mental_ in his\nnature, however much this nature has been conditioned by _physical_\nthings in the past or present.\n\nEucken emphasises this fundamental fact in all his books. Wherever a\nbeing is capable of _experiencing_ impressions and of giving _meanings_\nto these, we are bound to conclude that the power which does this is\nsomething quite other than physical in its nature. It may be that such\na power has never been known except in connection with what is physical;\nit may be that various chemical changes give the truer and clearer\nexplanation of its origin, as far as its origin can be known at all;\nit may be that there was nothing of the _mental_ visible in the early\nstages of its development; but all this is very different from stating\nthat [p.39] no potentiality for mental evolution was there. And it is\nthis potentiality which is the issue at stake. We have no warrant for\nstating that it does not exist because it does not lend itself to be\nverified by the senses. Where does _mind_ manifest itself to the senses?\nIt is something which does not exist in space as a horse or a tree. It\nmay be that consciousness has emanated from simple chemical beginnings\nand combinations, but it is not a simple or a chemical thing _now_. We\ndivide worlds into inorganic and organic. The main principle of division\nis necessitated on account of the fact that some characteristics are\npresent in the former which are absent in the latter. It is precisely\nthe same between Body and Mind, with one difference. Body and Mind are\nindissolubly connected, but one cannot be reduced into the other.\nHowever much the connection on one side may influence the other side,\nthe difference between a _meaning_ and a _thing_ remains. And it is this\nfundamental difference which makes it absolutely necessary to\nacknowledge _a world_ of consciousness in contradistinction to a world\nof matter and its behaviour, whether such matter is to be found in the\nhuman body with its mechanical and chemical changes and transformations\nor in the physical universe outside our body.\n\nIt is only when the mind becomes aware of its own existence--an\nexistence not to be established as being in Space (or entirely in [p.40]\nTime) but as a reality subsisting in itself and in will-relations--that\nthe efforts and fruitions of the spirit of man become intelligible at\nall. But such an awareness has become a permanent possession in a\ngreater or less degree within the life of man. Whenever he becomes\nconscious of the fact that in his own soul a new phenomenon has made its\nappearance, he begins, after the willing acknowledgment of the reality\nof such a phenomenon, to exercise its potency over against the external\nworld and over against much that is present in his own psychical life. A\nHigher and a Lower present themselves to him. The two alternatives force\nthemselves, and there is no third: either this deeper kernel of his life\nmust mean the possibility and, in a measure, the presence of _a new land\nof reality_; or, on the other hand, it means no more than a mere\nepiphenomenon and blossoming of the merely _natural_ life. If the latter\nview is adopted, the spiritual nucleus of man's nature obtains but\nslight attention except on the side of its connection with the\nsurrounding organic world, and consequently what this nucleus is in\nitself as an experience recedes into the background, and descriptions\nand explanations in scientific or philosophical form step into the\nforeground. But a contradiction is imbedded in this very account. Some\nkind of experience of life, apart from, and higher in its nature than,\nthe connection of the spiritual nucleus with its [p.41] physical\nhistory, persists in the life. The man of science is generally a good\nand worthy man. He believes in the moral life, and he does not throw the\nvalues of the centuries overboard. Such belief and valuation are not\nmade up of the content of the explanation of life from its physical\nside, but are an unconscious acknowledgment of the presence of _truths\nand values as experiences and as now subsisting in themselves_, however\nmuch they are caused by physical things.\n\nIf, on the other hand, an acknowledgment of the reality of this\nspiritual life is made, new questions immediately arise. And the most\nfundamental of these questions have always been those farther removed\nfrom any sensuous or physical domain. They are questions concerning the\nvalue and meaning of life. It is a deep conviction of the reality of the\ndeeper kernel of our being that alone constitutes the entrance to a _new\nkind of world_. But to acknowledge the presence of such a new world does\nnot signify the possession of it simultaneously with the acknowledgment.\nThe new world is discovered, but it is not yet possessed. There are\nterrible obstacles in the way; there are enemies without and within to\nbe conquered. It is of little use entering into this struggle without an\nacknowledgment--born of an inward necessity--of the spiritual nucleus of\nour nature. Unless man has accustomed himself to hold fast to this\n\"subtle thing termed spirit\" [p.42] he will soon be swamped in the\nregion of the natural life once more; and when this happens the\nspiritual nucleus loses the consciousness of its own real subsistence as\nsomething higher in its nature than physical things or than the body and\nthe ordinary life of the day. If the enterprise is to issue in anything\nthat is great and good--into a spiritual world with an ever-growing\ncontent here and now--an insistence upon the reality of this deeper life\ncoupled with the highest end which presents itself to the life must be\nmade. Something is now seen in the distance as the meaning and value of\nlife--something which our deeper nature longs for, and which has created\na cleft within the soul between the ordinary things of sense and time\nand that which \"never was on sea or land.\" It is something of this\nnature which Eucken discovers as the germ of all the spiritual ideas of\nreligion as well as of the essence of religion itself. The Godhead,\nEternity, Immortality, are concepts which arise within the soul through\na consciousness of the inadequacy of all natural things and of even\nmental descriptions and explanations to answer and to satisfy the\npotency and longing of human nature.\n\nMost of the great thinkers of the ages have insisted on the necessity of\nthe recognition and acknowledgment of this deeper life which is in dire\nneed of a content. If man is not to be swamped by the external and\nbecome the [p.43] mere sport of the \"wind and wave\" of the environment,\nhe has to enter somehow into the very centre of his being and become\nconvinced that the dictates which proceed from that centre are the most\nfundamental things in life. This has always formed the kernel of\nreligion, however often men, failing to reach that kernel, have lived on\nthe husks. But even this very sham notifies some small attempt in the\nright direction. In modern times--in the various forms of Idealism and\nPragmatism--such a need of getting at the core of being and of being\nconvinced that the effort is worth while, has been emphasised again and\nagain. \"_Launch yourselves with as strong and decided an initiative as\npossible_. Accumulate all the possible circumstances which shall\nre-enforce the right motives; put yourself assiduously in conditions\nthat encourage the new way; make engagements incompatible with the old;\ntake a public pledge, if the case allows; in short, envelop your\nresolution with every aid you know. This will give your new beginning\nsuch a momentum that the temptation to break down will not occur as soon\nas it otherwise might; and every day during which a breakdown is\npostponed adds to the chances of its not occurring at all.\"[8]\n\n\"The Stoic and Butler also said, 'Follow God.' In each case you must\nrealise that, whatever you do, you take your life in your [p.44] hands;\nyou enter on a grand enterprise, a search for the Holy Grail, which will\nbring you to strange lands and perilous seas. For you cannot say,\ninterpreting, 'Thus far and no further, merely according to the bond and\nthe duty.' In following God, you follow by what has been, what is ruled\nand accomplished, but you follow after what is not yet. 'It may be that\nthe gulfs will wash us down'; it may be that the gods of the past will\nrain upon us brimstone and horrible tempest. But he that is with us is\nmore than all that are against us. Whoever keeps his ear ever open to\nduty, always forward, never attained, is not far from the kingdom. The\ngods may be against him, the demi-gods may depart; but he, as said\nPlotinus, 'if alone, is with the Alone.'\"[9]\n\nIt is impossible for us, as Eucken constantly insists, to stop short of\nthis. Who can prescribe limits to the capability of consciousness when\nit is focussed, in the form of a conviction, on the deepest problems\nwhich press themselves upon it? There is only one objection that the\nempiricist can bring forward, and that is that all such ideals can never\nbe proved to exist as things exist in space. But, as already hinted, is\nexistence in space the only form of existence? Is it not necessary for\nsomething which is _not_ in space to make us aware of what is in space?\n\"If not as men of science, yet as [p.45] men, as human beings, we have\nto put things together, to form some total estimate of the drift of\ndevelopment, of the unity of nature.\"[10]\n\nIf the deepest core of consciousness is acknowledged and the vague\nideals and ends which present themselves are attended to, _something new\nhappens_ in the life. Life now starts on the great enterprise referred\nto by William Wallace. It finds its highest reality in an experience\nborn within itself and differentiated for ever from the natural and even\nthe intellectual life. To such a conclusion man is forced; and if the\nsituation is evaded, something within his soul never comes to birth. It\nis seen at once that in order to know the content of this _new world_,\nit is necessary for a long series of struggles to take place. And to\nthis point we now turn.\n\nThe deeper consciousness has relegated the natural world to a secondary\nplace, and has further shown man that the main object of life includes\nnot only finding a footing against the dangers of natural things, but to\nplant oneself within a spiritual world of meanings and values. This\ncannot be done without _an independent and decisive act of the soul_. A\nmeaning of life has now revealed itself beyond that of the \"small self.\"\nThis meaning can be reached only through this decisive act of the soul.\nThis meaning is _over-individual_ in its nature; [p.46] it is a truth,\ngoodness, or beauty, which presents itself as an idea and ideal formed\nby the experiences of many individuals, at different epochs and in\ndifferent circumstances. Thus the individual, in order to realise his\nown life, must work with material presented in the community. Such\nmaterial has been found helpful in the life of the community. It\nconsists of collective results made up of large numbers of single\nfactors. These have been tied together in the form of various syntheses.\nSuch various syntheses comprise a larger meaning than what ordinarily\nhappens from moment to moment in connection with the relation of the\nindividual to the external world or, indeed, within the individual's own\nordinary life. Many of the isolated, fragmentary experiences of the\nindividual have to give way when tested in the light of any larger\nsynthesis. If this were not so, no commercial, social, civilised life\nwould be possible at all. The more real life is now perceived to be that\nof the larger meaning and value. The individual, solitary experiences\nmay be legitimate, for they often express wants and needs of the\nindividual which have a certain right to obtain satisfaction. But the\nextent and limits of these rights have to be measured by some norm or\nstandard other than themselves, or else each individual will proceed on\nhis own course regardless of the rights of others. It is the presence of\nvarious syntheses which express the [p.47] collective life of the\nwhole--of each and every individual--that makes civilisation possible.\nThus, in the very process of civilisation itself, as Eucken points out,\nthere is present a factor which is termed Spiritual, and which is not to\nbe mistaken for a mere flow of cause and effect, or for one mere event\nfollowing another. Eucken emphasises this all-important element of the\nover-individual qualities present in human history. There is here much\nwhich resembles Hegel's Absolute. But there is a great difference\nbetween the two in the sense that Eucken shows the constant need of\nspiritual activism on the part of individuals in order to realise and\nkeep alive the norms and standards which have carried our world so far;\nand there is also the need of contributing something to the values of\nthese through the creation of new qualities within the souls of the\nindividuals themselves.\n\nBut the problems of civilisation and morality are not the only, or the\nhighest, problems which present themselves. But even such problems have\npartially been the means of drawing man outside himself, and of enabling\nhim to see that his self can only be realised in connection with the\ncommon good and demands of the community. He now feels the necessity of\nliving up to that standard. This is an important step in the direction\nof the moral and religious life. It reveals the presence of a spiritual\nnucleus of our being obtaining a content beyond the needs [p.48] of the\nmoment; it shows life as realising itself in wide connections; and the\nindividual becomes the possessor of a certain degree of spiritual\ninwardness in the process. Even as far as this level we find the deeper\nlife--the spiritual life--insisting on the validity of its mental and\nmoral conclusions over against the objects of sense. Without this\ninsistence no knowledge would progress and be valid. The macrocosm is\nmirrored and coloured in a mental and moral microcosm. A replica of the\nexternal world has a reality in consciousness, and this reality is not a\nmere photograph of the external, but it is the external as it appears to\nthe meaning it has obtained in consciousness. The meaning of the world\nis thus something beyond the world itself; it is more than appears at\nany one moment. If the world were less than this, if the percept could\nnot somehow become a concept, all progress would come to a standstill,\nand we should be no more than creatures of sensations and percepts which\nvanished as soon as they appeared. But these do not vanish; they persist\nin various ways, as after-images, concepts, memory. Thus, in the very\nact of knowing anything at all, something greater than the physical\nobject known is present. And Eucken would insist, therefore, that the\nmental and spiritual are present from the very beginning and bring to a\nmental focus the impressions of the senses. In the interpretation of\nEucken's philosophy several writers [p.49] have missed the author's\nmeaning here. They have, through the ambiguity of the term \"spiritual\"\nin English, conceived of \"spiritual life\" as something entirely\ndifferent from the mental life. It is different, but only in the same\nway as the bud is different from the blossom; it means at the religious\nlevel a greater unfolding of a life which has been present at every\nstage in the history of civilisation and culture.\n\nBut, as already noticed, the mental life is passed when we enter the\nlife of a community. The norms and standards, already referred to, make\ntheir appearance and persist in demanding obedience to themselves even\nat the expense of much within consciousness that points in another\ndirection.\n\nBut even such a stage as this does not give satisfaction to man. Much\neffort and sacrifice are needed to live up to the life of the community.\nAnd such effort and sacrifice are often the best means of calling into\nactivity a still deeper, reserved energy of the soul. The soul now\nrecognises a value beyond the values of culture and civilisation. The\nGood, the True, and the Beautiful appear as the sole realities by the\nside of which everything that preceded, if taken as complete in itself,\nappears as a great shadow or illusion. Here we are reminded of Eucken's\naffinity with Plato's Doctrine of Ideas, as well as of his attachment to\nthe revival of Platonism by Plotinus. Values for life, subsisting in\nthemselves, become objects [p.50] of meditation, of \"browsing,\" and of\nthe deepest activity of the soul. Life is now viewed as consisting in a\ngreat and constant quest after these religious ideals. It sees its\nmeaning beyond and above the range of mentality or even morality, though\nit is well that it should pass as often as possible through the gate of\nthe former, and is bound to pass always through the gate of the latter.\nA break takes place with the \"natural self\"; the mental life of\nconcepts, though necessary, is now seen as insufficient; and life is now\nviewed as having a \"pearl of great price\" before its gaze. Here the\n_stirb und werde_ of Paul and Goethe becomes necessary. The real\neducation of man now begins. His life becomes guided and governed by\nnorms whose limits cannot be discovered, and which have never been\nrealised in their wholeness on the face of our earth. What can these\nmean? They cannot be delusions or illusions, for they answer too deep a\nneed of the soul to be reduced to that level. If we blot them out of our\nexistence, we sink back to a mere natural or mechanical stage. When the\nsoul concentrates its deepest attention on these norms or ideals they\nfascinate it, they draw hidden energies into activity, they give\ninklings of immortality. Is it not far more conceivable that such a\nvision of meaning, of beauty, and of enchantment is a new kind of\nreality--cosmic in its nature and eternal in its duration? Man has to\n[p.51] come to a decision concerning this. There is no half-way house\nhere possible without the deepest potencies of human nature suffering\nand failing to transform themselves from bud to blossom and fruit.\n\nAt a later stage in our inquiry this question will recur in connection\nwith the conception of the Godhead. But here it may be observed that to\ndecide on the affirmative side that somehow such norms and ideals which\nmean so much are cosmic realities, is simply to state no more than that\nan evolutionary process is taking place towards a new kind of world as\nwell as a new kind of existence. No outsider is competent to pronounce\njudgment on the validity of the proofs possessed within this spiritual\nrealm. The qualifications here are beyond the range of knowledge,\nalthough knowledge does not cease to act within such a realm. The\nexperiences here cannot be measured or weighed; and that a certain\nobscurity is present in them is only what may be expected, considering\nthat the spiritual nature is farther removed from the region of nature\nwith its physical existence than when it deals with problems on the\nintellectual level. But such spiritual proofs are found in the fact that\nthese realities present themselves only at the height of spiritual\ndevelopment, and in the fact that they produce an _inversion_ of the\nnature of man, and change the centre of gravity of his life to a more\ninward recess of his being [p.52] than is open on the natural or\nintellectual side.\n\nThus, once more, the soul is driven forward by its own necessities to a\nreligious reality. What can it do but grant cosmic origin and validity\nto such ideals? If these ideals are not this, then, as Eucken points\nout, they are the most tragic illusions conceivable.\n\nWhen they are acknowledged as cosmic realities, man is in the midst of a\nreligion of a _universal_ kind. But the acknowledgment of these as\ncosmic realities is something more than a concept. The men who have come\nto this conclusion required something more than logical arguments in\norder to establish this truth. The conclusions were based upon a\n_specific (characteristic)_ religious experience of their own. And such\na religious experience was larger and more real than anything that could\nbe established in the form of concepts concerning it. As we shall notice\nin a later chapter, it is somewhat on this account that Eucken\ndifferentiates between _universal_ and _specific (characteristic)_\nreligion.\n\nIt becomes evident that such contents of the new spiritual world cannot\nbe utilised by man without effort. These realities have to pass from the\nregion of ideas to the region of actual experiences. In other words,\nthey must become man's own religion. Man has now become convinced of the\nreality of a universal spiritual life as constituting, in a measure, the\n[p.53] foundation of the evolution of the soul, and as the goal towards\nwhich he must for ever move. Eucken is unwilling to speculate as to the\norigin or the goal of this. The centre of gravity of life must be laid\nin what may be known and experienced between these two poles. There is\na certainty which is _intermediate_ between man and the Godhead. It is\nwhen this certainty is realised as an actual portion of the soul that\nman becomes competent to carry farther--backward and forward--the\nimplications of this certainty. And implications of a new kind of\n_Weltanschauung_ result from the spiritual experiences of the\n_Lebensanschauung_ of the spiritual life. On this matter we shall touch\nat a later stage in the inquiry.\n\nAt present let us confine our attention to the _intermediate_ reality\nwhich presents itself in a form that is over-individual. It is only when\nwe pass out of the psychology of the subject--a matter that deals with\nthe _history_ of mental processes--that we are able to view the meaning\nof the realities which are over-individual. As already pointed out,\nthese realities are not the creations of man's fancy or imagination\nafter reason has been switched off. They are non-sensuous realities\nwhich have moulded and shaped the lives of individuals and nations in\nvaried degrees. These ideals are not to remain merely objects of\nknowledge; they are to become portions of the inmost experiences of the\nsoul. This they cannot become without the [p.54] calling out of the\ndeepest energy of the individual. His fragmentary spiritual life--small\nas it is--still calls for _more_ of its own nature, and this _more_ has\nbeen seen in the distance as something of infinite value.[11] A\nmountain, as it were, has to be climbed; dark ravines have to be gone\nthrough; and rivers have to be swum across. The whole vision means no\nless than an entrance into _a new kind of world_, the scaling to a new\nkind of existence, and a conquest which will make the pilgrim a\nparticipator in that which is Divine. A struggle has to take place,\nbecause so much that belongs to the life, on the level where it now\nstands, belongs to a world _below_ it. Impulses and passions, the narrow\noutlook, the timidity and hollowness of the \"small self\"--all these,\nwhich have previously remained at the centre of life, have to be thrust\nto the periphery of existence. So that an entrance into the highest\nspiritual world is not merely something to _know_, but far rather\nsomething to _do_ and to _be_. This is the meaning of Eucken's activism.\nIt is not the busying of ourselves over trifles; there is no need of\nencouragement in that direction. It is rather the inward glance on the\nnature of the over-individual ideals; it is a deep and constant\nconcentration upon their value and significance, in order that the soul\nmay plant itself on the shores of the _over-world_. It is in granting a\n[p.55] higher mode of existence to these ideals, and in preserving them\nas the possession of the soul, that man finds the ever greater meaning\nof that spiritual life which was present within him from the very\nbeginning of his enterprise. The process of forcing an entrance into\nthis over-world has to be repeated time after time. There are no enemies\nin front, but the man is surrounded by them from around and behind him.\nThe indifference, in a large measure of the natural process, the rigid\ninstincts of mere self-preservation, the temptation to smugness and\nease, the cold conclusions of the understanding when satisfied with\nexplanations from the physical world, the hardness of the heart--these\nand many other enemies fight for supremacy, and the soul is often torn\nin the struggle. The struggle continues for a great length of time; but\nthe history of the world testifies to an innumerable host of individuals\nwho scaled and fell, who started again and again, until at last their\nconceptions of the Highest Good became a permanent experience and\npossession of their deepest being.\n\nAnd when the spiritual life creates an entrance into this _over-world_\nsomething happens which makes a fundamental difference in the life. The\nlife may again and again sink back to its old level, but what has\nhappened will never allow it to remain satisfied on that level. \"We fall\nto rise, are baffled to fight better, sleep to wake\" (Browning). Life\nnow becomes [p.56] alternately _a quest and a fruition_.[12] The\nindividual has to gather his whole energies together because something\ngreat is at stake. This is nothing less than the possession of a new\nkind of reality. The struggle has yielded a conquest for the time being.\nHe tastes and \"eats his pot of honey on the grave\" of enemies within and\nwithout. This fruition means no less than a taste of \"eternal life in\nthe midst of time\" (Harnack), and the relegating of the whole world of\nphenomena to a subsidiary place.\n\nThis is the kernel of Eucken's _Truth of Religion_. The book deals with\nthe most subtle psychological problems of the soul, and reaches the\nconclusion of an entrance by man into a divine world. All this is far\nremoved from the ordinary traditional conception either of God or of\nreligion. Perhaps the majority of mankind is not as yet ready for such a\npresentation of religion. But I think it may be safely said that it is\nthrough some such mode of conceiving religion as this that the \"great\nand good ones\" of the world found an entrance into a divine world and\ngrasped the conception of the evolution of the soul as a process which\nbegins where organic evolution ends.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER III [p.57]\n\nRELIGION AND NATURAL SCIENCE\n\n\nIn the previous chapter we have noticed how man is able to reach an\nover-world which will grant him a new kind of reality over against the\nwhole remaining domain of existence. But the evidence hitherto brought\nforth has been that of the nature of man himself. We have in this\nchapter to inquire whether there is a warrant for such a conclusion\nwithin the realm of natural science. Does science give any hint of the\npresence of spiritual life anywhere in the universe? Eucken answers\ndistinctly in the affirmative.[13]\n\nThe conclusions of natural science have, in modern times, come into\ndirect conflict with religion. Traditional religion has grown up on a\nview of the universe which has been [p.58] utterly discarded by modern\nknowledge. Religious leaders have often had to be dragged to see the\ntruth of this statement, and, as Eucken points out, many are still far\nfrom realising the seriousness of the cleft between knowledge and\nreligion. The theology of the Middle Ages has not yet disappeared,\nalthough fortunately there are some signs of a great reconstruction\ngoing on in our midst. Fortunately, this naive view of the universe is a\ntheology and not a religion; but doubtless even the religion of the soul\nsuffers when its _knowing_ aspect is perpetually contradicted by\nscientific knowledge. There is such a close connection between \"head\"\nand \"heart\"--even closer than between body and mind--that the use of\ndiscarded theories of the universe and of life cannot but prove\ninjurious to the deepest source of life.\n\nThe mental conceptions of religion have, in the course of the ages,\nundergone many transformations, and there is no reason why another\ntransformation should gradually not come about in the present. In Hebrew\nand Greek times we discover a polytheism, after a long course of\ndevelopment, emerging into henotheism, and finally, here and there, into\nmonotheism. The old conceptions of gods and spirits present in trees and\nwells, mountains and air, are overcome. They are not so much destroyed\nas supplanted by higher conceptions. In pre-Socratic philosophy we find\nthe gods and [p.59] spirits relegated to a secondary place, and Nature\nis conceived as a system of inner energies and strivings. In these\nconceptions Man is drawn closer to Nature, and the connection of his\nlife is shown to be closely interwoven with the life of Nature. But the\nempirical aspect of this teaching was pushed into the background through\nthe teachings of Socrates and Plato. The \"myth\" regained some of its\npristine power in a new kind of way; and \"God transcendent of the world\nand immanent in the world\" came prominently forward as a doctrine of the\nuniverse and of life. This is the kernel of the Christian theology,\nconstructed through the blending of Hebrew and Greek philosophies. Such\na conception remained very largely the philosophy as well as the\ntheology of the Christian Church until the seventeenth century. During\nthis long interval hardly any progress was made in the investigation of\nNature, so that such a theology proved rather a help than a hindrance to\nthe religion of those who understood it. But such a theology has been\ndestroyed, however unwilling many people are to acknowledge the fact.\nBut until this fact is acknowledged, there is very little hope, in\nEucken's opinion, of the Christian religion gaining many adherents from\nthe side of those who understand the modern meaning and significance of\nnatural science. The physical universe has become a problem; and the old\nsolution was a matter [p.60] of speculation based upon scarcely any\nobservation and experiment. Eucken marks the stages which have brought\nabout a revolution in our conceptions of the universe as consisting of\nthe change brought about in the science of astronomy through Copernicus\nin the sixteenth century, the founding of exact science through Galileo\nin the seventeenth century, and the theory of evolution propounded by\nDarwin and his followers in the nineteenth century. The whole tendency\nhas been to describe and explain Nature in terms of mechanism, and to\nextend such mechanism into the life of man. Proof after proof has poured\nupon us, and has been the means, on the whole, of establishing a kingdom\nof mechanism within the realm of Nature and of human nature. Theology\nand speculative philosophy went on their courses unheedful of these\ndevelopments of physical science, until in our day both have had to\nreconsider the tenableness of their position, and to see that Nature and\nits physical manifestations have to enter as all-important factors into\ntheir reconstructions. Miracle is now relegated to a secondary place in\ntheology, and it has disappeared altogether from science; a Supreme\nBeing transcendent of, and immanent in, the world is not known to\nscience, however far it reaches into the secrets of Nature. Doubtless\nthe loss to religion has been here incalculable; for although the\nnatural scientist was able to destroy the old building, [p.61] he was\nunable to construct a new one. And Eucken shows that the natural\nscientist will remain unable to accomplish this, because the material\nwith which he deals is physical in its nature and constitutes no more\nthan a part--a secondary part--of what is found in the world.\n\nThe old mode of conceiving the universe, when driven from its citadel by\nthe new conceptions of physics and astronomy, turned for refuge to the\nmystery of Life itself. Here it supposed itself to be safe. But the\ndevelopment of modern chemistry and biology shows how dangerous it is to\nbase a theological and religious superstructure on the unfilled clefts\nof natural science. The lesson here during the past hundred years ought\nto be a grave warning against its repetition in the future. These clefts\nhave been filled more and more by the investigations and results of\nmodern chemistry and biology, so that the theologian is constantly kept\nin a state of panic, and has to shift his camp and run away when the\ntide of knowledge sweeps in with its newly discovered results. The whole\nsituation seems serious, but it is not so disastrous as it appears at\nfirst sight. Doubtless the gains of science have been numerous, and have\nshaken and practically ruined the old theological and metaphysical\nfoundations; but a halt has now been called on science itself, and its\nlimitations have become perceptible even to its own [p.62] leaders. It\nis not quite so certain that the problem of organic life can be settled\nin terms of chemical combinations and mechanism. Many scientists[14] are\nagreed on this point, although they repudiate the claims of neo-vitalists\nsuch as Driesch and Reinke.[15] No judgment can be pronounced on this\nsubject at the present day, and probably the problem will take a long\ntime before any important results will accrue. And even these results\nwill not solve the problem of organic life, for the manifestations of\nlife, the higher we mount the scale of being, are not things visible to\nthe senses but express themselves in the forms of meanings and\nwill-relations.\n\nThe limits of natural science become clearly perceptible when we enter\ninto the complex problem of the relation of subject and object, [p.63]\nor of mind and body. The final tribunal in regard to the great questions\nof life and religion is not natural science. This is not a matter of a\nmere wish that it should be so on the part of religious teachers who\nignore the findings of science, but is a conviction of the scientists\nthemselves.\n\nNatural science has been so busy with the investigation of the physical\nworld that it has had time to remember but little besides objects in the\nexternal world. And yet what are objects in the external world without\na subject to know them?[16] And what are the hypotheses which science\nframes in order to explain phenomena but syntheses of factors framed in\nconsciousness?[17] What are laws of Nature but mental constructions\nframed concerning similar ways of behaviour on the part of a large\nnumber of objects? What are the fundamental conceptions which serve as\nthe very groundwork of the whole of science but concepts which are\nexplanations of phenomena and not themselves phenomena?[18]\n\nWherever we look, we find that our view [p.64] of Nature is in the first\nplace a result as well as a conviction of the content of consciousness;\nthat we do not perceive things and their qualities in a form of\nimmediacy, but only after they have entered into consciousness are we\nable to know what external objects really are. The constructions of\nscience in the form of hypotheses and laws are a proof that the reality\nof the physical world and its meaning are known only in so far as they\nare known by mind, and in so far as the _universal_ (which is a mental\ncontent) explains the _particular_ (which may or may not be an object in\nthe external world).\n\nEucken emphasises this truth in several of his books, and whenever the\ntruth is borne in mind the scientist becomes aware of the existence of a\nreality beyond that of the objects of sense. And even when the scientist\nis unaware of the mental qualities which operate in perceiving external\nobjects and of the generalisations formed as the result of the\nimpressions left by the objects in the mind, he uses these all the same.\nProfessor Haeckel (one of Professor Eucken's colleagues in Jena) starts\nout in _The Riddle of the Universe_ with the strong hope of reducing the\nwhole universe (including God) into a state of material substance, and\nends with a kind of peroration on the virtues of the new goddesses, the\nTrue, the Good, and the Beautiful.\n\n[p.65] But an increasing number of scientists to-day are aware of the\nlimits of science. They know that the mental models which they have to\nframe in order to interpret phenomena are not material things, and exist\nnowhere except in a world of mind and meaning. Eucken's conclusion then\nis that what knows and interprets is a mental quality. He would rather\ncall it the life of the spirit of man, or the spiritual life. A\nnon-sensuous power has to operate in order that the physical world may\nbe known at all; that power has, further, in a manner unknown, to gather\nthe fragmentary impressions of the senses, turn them into that which is\nmental, combine them into what is termed meaning.\n\nWe are led back to the point made so clear by Descartes--to his\ninsistence on the presence of a thinking subject as the starting-point\nfor the knowledge of all existence. This truth was elucidated later by\nKant in a manner which the world can probably never get rid of.\nTherefore, if so much happens in the mind in connection with the\nknowledge and interpretation of the world, our view of the world _after_\nthis happens in the mind is entirely different from the view which\nexists _before_ it happens. Thought stands over against the sensuous\nobject, transforms the object into a logical construction of meaning.\nWhen one becomes aware of this, not only do the objects themselves\nbecome most problematic [p.66] in their relation to consciousness, but\nthe very tools with which the scientist works--_e.g._ space and\ntime--become so puzzling that only by a return to a metaphysic do they\nbecome partially explainable. And thus we are landed in a region of\nidealism in the very midst of the work of natural science. Naturalism\nhas arisen only because the subject was forgotten in the enchantment of\nthe object. The attention has been turned so long on the object that the\nnature and the results of the attention itself are quite left out of\naccount. We can all believe in what naturalism has to say concerning\norganic and inorganic objects; but it has not said enough when it leaves\nthe power that knows the meaning of what it says out of account.\n\nThe conclusion Eucken arrives at is, then, that we must ascribe reality\nto the quality that knows and interprets as well as to the thing that is\nknown. He ascribes reality to the physical world, but this is not the\nwhole of reality. This cannot be so, simply because we could not know\nthat the physical world was real had it not been that there was\nimplanted in us a mental organisation to know all this. The other\nreality is that of consciousness and the meanings it formulates. Thus\nnatural science itself announces the presence of _more_ than sensuous\nnature. This _more_ which knows the external world is the _more_ which\nhas constructed civilisation, culture, and [p.67] religion. This _more_\nhas formed an independent inner life over against the natural world. Had\nit not been for this power of the _more_ to construct its inner world,\nLife would have been no more than the life of sensuous nature--shifting\nfrom point to point, and entirely at the mercy of a physical\nenvironment. But the progress of mankind shows everywhere the growth of\na life higher in nature than that of physical or animal existence. Some\nkind of total-life has been formed in which the individual can\nparticipate; and in the participation of which he can be carried far\nbeyond physical things and beyond his own individual interests. Mankind\nhas striven after truth, and has discovered something that is beyond the\nopinions of individuals, that does not serve his own petty interests,\nbut overcomes them and reaches out after truths which are valid and good\nfor all.\n\nWhat is all this that has happened? What has brought it about? What is\nthe individual potency that knows the world and passes beyond it? What\nare the ideals and norms which revealed themselves in the co-operative\nmovements of humanity, and only revealed themselves when humanity was at\nits highest attainable level? Enough has been said to show that it is\n_more_ than Nature, that characteristics are found within it entirely\nunknown in Nature. We are bound to take this _more_ into account, for it\nhas constructed all the gains of mankind. [p.68] What can it be, in the\nindividual efforts of the soul and in the ideal constructions of science\nand the higher ethical and religious constructions of life, but a\nreality higher than sense and outside the categories of space and time?\nWhat better name can be given to it than a Spiritual Life in\ncontradistinction to the life of Nature?\n\nWhen this life of the mind and spirit of man is acknowledged, it is seen\nto be the beginning of a new order of existence. There appears within it\na new kind of reality. It is the standpoint from which natural science\nitself has arisen. Such an acknowledgment of life as a new kind of\nreality alters in an essential manner the whole view of the world.\nNature now signifies not the whole of things, but only a step beyond\nwhich the cosmic process progresses. Two worlds, instead of one world,\nnow appear--one growing out of the other, but keeping a connection still\nwith the other. Nature consequently gains a deeper significance of\nmeaning when we recognise that it gives birth to mind and spirit\n--characteristics which merge into consciousness, values, and ideals.\nNature is not discarded in our new view, but it takes a secondary place.\nThe primary place must be given to the spiritual life--the life which is\nactive as an organisation in knowing and being and doing. And when this\ntruth is realised, this life of mental and spiritual activity becomes\nthe [p.69] centre from which the new reality will obtain an ever greater\ncontent. The deepest aspect of reality is then discovered, not without\nbut within. This reality is now conceived as something which belongs to\na new kind of world, and this new world stands above the physical world.\nMan, when he conceives of things in this manner, will be able to bear\nthe indifference of the physical course of existence towards the\nspiritual potencies of his being. The natural process may seem to harass\nand even destroy him; it matters not, for he has been led to a\nconviction of the possession of qualities which have not come into\nactivity and power in any world _below_ him, and which have laws of\ntheir own and goals spiritual in their nature. But all this will not\ncome about as a shower of rain descends. The spiritual life has to\ninsist on its superiority to the natural process, and to construct, with\nthe deepest energy of its being, ever richer moral and spiritual\ncontents for itself; for it is these contents which constitute the\ngrowth of the meaning and value of the new world, as well as of its\nindestructible reality beyond the process of Nature.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER IV [p.70]\n\nRELIGION AND HISTORY\n\n\nThe subject of history has obtained a most prominent position in the\nwhole of Eucken's philosophy. All his books deal with the subject, and\nin a manner resembling one another, whatever the particular subject\ndealt with may be. But the most exhaustive treatment of history\npresented in his volumes is to to be found in the chapter on history in\n_Systematische Philosophie_(\"Kultur der Gegenwart,\" Teil I., Abteilung\nVI.), and in the latter half of _The Truth of Religion_. In the former\nvolume Eucken deals with history in its relation to civilisation and\nculture, and in the latter the place of history in the religions of the\nworld is strikingly expressed.\n\nWe have already noticed in the previous chapter how he set out to\ndiscover the presence of a mental or spiritual life in the very act of\nknowing the physical world and in the constructions which form both the\nbasis and the apex of physical science. It was shown [p.71] here that a\nlife higher than the physical was present in order to be able to read\nthe meaning of the world. Such a life became a standpoint to view\nNature, and is the possession, more or less, of each individual. But\nalthough the possession of individuals and _above_ Nature, the\nconsciousness that knows Nature is still carried beyond its own\nindividual life. The meaning of the physical world appears in\nconsciousness, through the syntheses it forms, as objective, although it\nis not an object of sense but of thought; and, further, this very\nobjectivity subsists in the form of generalisations and meanings which\ncreate standards for each individual in his relations with the physical\nworld. Eucken then concludes that there is a trans-subjective aspect\npresent in the conclusions of physical science itself.[19] And it is on\nthis fact that he bases the presence of a mental or spiritual life in\nthe very act of knowing at all. But it is evident that the whole of\nman's potencies and relations are not confined to the knowing of Nature\nand framing interpretations concerning it. There are other provinces to\nwhich man is related--other objects besides physical ones to which his\nattention is called to frame interpretations concerning them also.\nHistory is one of these provinces. The subject-matter here is entirely\n[p.72] different from the subject-matter of physical science. In the\nlatter the objects are physical; in the former the objects are not\nthings, but _will-relations._[20] We are in history dealing with the\neffects of heredity and physical environment upon all organic life--man\nincluded. But it has been already shown that man, though rooted in the\nnatural world and dependent upon it, is still the possessor of a world\nwhich is above the physical. Man's roots in Nature have been unearthed\nin a large measure; and his dependence on the world from which he has\nemerged is greater than was suspected, and probably it will be\ndiscovered in the future that he is still more dependent on what is\nbelow him. But however deep his connection with Nature may prove itself\nto be, he will still remain an unsolved problem if he is coolly stripped\nof all the qualities he has gained since he emerged from the bosom of\nNature.\n\nWe are consequently led to the higher aspects of history where the\ncentre of gravity of the matter lies in the _relations of wills_.\n\nBy will-relations is meant the impact of individuals upon one another\nfrom the side of _meaning_. It is through the expressions of the meaning\nof our concepts that we are able to construct an intelligible world. The\nindividual's [p.73] deeper reality does not consist in the percept we\nobtain of him, but in the mental attitude he has expressed towards a\nmental attitude of ours. The _clothing_ of meaning is certainly\nphysical; there is our friend's physical body in front of us, and his\nspeech is audible in a physical sense to physical ears. But neither body\nnor speech is absolutely necessary for the expression of meaning to\nanother. We have neither seen nor heard many of the individuals who have\nexercised great influence over our lives. Words have answered the\npurpose. By this is not meant that we have not lost something of great\nvalue in having to depend on print alone. Something of every individual\nreveals itself in his body and speech which is missed when we have to\ndepend on paper and ink as mediums of meaning. But meaning is something\nother than its medium; it is a mental or spiritual content. This content\nhas to be classified and interpreted. The interpretation forms here\nagain, as on the level of natural science, syntheses and generalisations\nlarger than any one individual. These are the resultants of mind with\nmind and will with will. When human beings come into contact with each\nother, there originates a state of things in which something is\n_thought_ and _done._ What is thought and done deals with situations\noutside the situation of each individual. The interpretation of these\nsituations is, therefore, an objective reality which becomes a [p.74]\nnorm for each individual. Mankind has thus created a reality which is\nbeyond that of the content of each individual's experience _as an\nindividual_.\n\nWe thus see that there are presented in such norms two aspects of a very\ndifferent nature. On the one hand, we discover the contribution of each\nindividual, and witness events dealing with situations which succeed one\nanother with greater or less rapidity. This aspect is in constant flux.\nIt constitutes the capability of meeting the needs of the moment. All\nthis works well so long as the needs of the moment involve no great\ncomplexities. But immediately the situation becomes complex there is a\nturn to something besides this mere flow of things.[21] To what? It is a\nturn to something whose nucleus of meaning and value has persisted in\nthe midst of all the flow. This is no other than one or other of the\nhighest of the ideal constructions which formed the basis of the life of\nthe community. The community had been unconsciously garnering something\nover-individual and over-historical for its future use. Thus, in history\nitself there is the presence of a reality higher than the individual,\nand higher than the ordinary meaning of the [p.75] hour. This becomes the\nstandard by which everything has to be measured. Of course, this norm\ndoes not remain static in regard to its own content. But its growth of\ncontent depends upon the contributions made to it by individuals in\ntheir will-relations. Something over-individual issues out of all these\nrelations, and this enters into the still higher over-individual norms\nwhich are the heritage of society. Eucken consequently shows that\nhistory itself is dependent upon something which works within\nit--interpreting its events, and absorbing into itself something that is\nof value. What other can this be but a spiritual life higher not only\nthan physical things but even than the will-relations which accrue from\nmoment to moment? It has already been noticed that on these lower levels\nthe spiritual life is ever present--present as a potency and experience\nwhen viewed from the standpoint of the individual's creativeness, and\npresent as norms and values when viewed as an object of thought brought\nforth through general conclusions founded on situations beyond any\nsingle situation of the individual. Thus, we get in Eucken's teaching\nthe over-historical as the power which operates within the events of\nhistory. It is what philosophy has termed the Ideal, and what religion\nhas termed the revelation of God. It is not correct, then, to say that\nwe are dependent upon the content of the moment apart from the presence\nof the [p.76] content of the past in that moment in order to grasp\nreality. The Past does not mean a mere series of events which occurred\nsome hundreds or thousands of years ago, and before which we bend and\ntowards which we try to turn back the world, for that would mean what\nEucken terms \"mere historism.\" The Past has rolled its meaning down to\nthe Present: the Past mingled with the content of the Present is at each\npoint of its course something other than it was before.[22] But in any\ncase this aspect of the Past as presented by Eucken shows that human\nlife requires a great span of time which has already run in order to\ncreate its ideals and to be raised from the triviality of the mere\nmoment. Goethe perceived the importance of the same truth:--\n\n\n    \"Wer nicht von drei tausend Jahren sich weiss\n       Rechenschaft zu geben,\n    Bleib' im Dunkeln unerfahren, mag von Tag\n       Zu Tage leben!\"\n\n\nAt certain epochs in the history of the world great events have\nhappened. Often such epochs are followed by epochs of inertia. Men bask\nin the sunlight of the glory that was revealed to humanity; they receive\nhelp and strength from what had been. But the greater the interval\nbetween the occurrence [p.77] of that greatness and the contemplation of\nit, the more difficult does it become to grasp and to possess something\nof the true meaning, value, and significance of such greatness. The\ngreatness, as the interval grows, becomes something to be known,\nsomething which is believed to fall upon us in an external, miraculous\nmanner; and finally it often becomes an object of wordy dispute and\nstrife. Certain periods in the history of the Christian Church give\nabundant evidence of the truth of this statement. Eucken points out in\nhis _Problem of Human Life_ how barren in creative power, for instance,\nwas the fourth century. Why? An interval of nearly three centuries had\npassed away since the Master and his followers had proclaimed truths and\nexperiences which were the burning convictions of their deepest being.\nGradually, and often unconsciously, men glided down an inclined plane,\nuntil at last the spiritual nucleus of Christianity had largely\ndisappeared and little more than the husks remained. At the close of\nsuch intervals religion becomes a number of conflicting intellectual\ntheories, and the worst passions are called to its support. Dogmatism\nand intolerance prevail, and a blight comes over the choicest potencies\nof the soul. All this happens because certain great events and\nexperiences of the past are conceived of as marking a terminus in the\nhistory of the moral and spiritual evolution of the world. The [p.78]\nsoul is not stirred to its depth to preserve such experiences and, if\npossible, enhance them. Thus the world leaves such a rich spiritual\ncontent largely behind itself; and when this happens, it becomes a\nmatter of the greatest difficulty to recover it. And even when it is\nrecovered, something of infinite value has been for ever lost. The\npresent moment of the soul has to live on itself; and such a life\nremains alien to depths of reality which have been plumbed by the great\npersonalities of history in the past. It is a want of conviction in\ntruth and reality that makes us seek finality in the past. It may be\nthat the highest personalities of our day are not able to scale such\nspiritual heights as were scaled by the Christians of the primitive\nChurch; but unless they believe that the same power is present in their\nsouls they will never have courage even to make the attempt. It is a\nvision of the nature of the reality which was climbed by the\npersonalities of the past, coupled with the consciousness of the same\nspiritual power in the present, that will enable Christianity to be\nlived on such a \"grand scale\" in the present and the future. The\nspiritual experiences of the past have become over-individual and\nover-historical norms for our lives; but such norms are no more than\nideas until the will enters into a relation with them. When this\nhappens, the individual does not only observe a goal in the distance but\nalso starts to move towards such [p.79] a goal with the whole spiritual\nenergy of his nature. And every individual who moves in the direction of\nsuch norms brings some contribution of value from the present to be\nadded to the norms of the past. The spiritual life is thus individual\nand over-individual, historical and over-historical, transcendent and\nimmanent.\n\nEucken has worked for many years at this difficult problem--a problem so\nimportant in the life of civilisation and religion. It has already been\nhinted that the conception bears striking resemblances to aspects of\nHegel's philosophy. But there are differences. One of these was pointed\nout long ago by Eucken: \"The gist of religion is with Hegel nothing but\nthe absorption of the individual in the universal intellectual process.\nHow such a conception can be identified with moral regeneration of the\nChristian type, with purification of the heart, is unintelligible to\nus.\"[23] Eucken's philosophy, on the other hand, is pre-eminently a\nspiritual activism. The life-process is shaped by the collective\nactivity of individuals; and when this activity slackens the ideals of\nthe over-world suffer. Man is thus called to be what he _ought to be_;\nand in the process he heightens something of the value of the Ought. An\nOught and a Will are involved in the creativeness of the individual life\nand of the Life-process; so that it is a mistake to conceive [p.80] of\nEucken's activism as some stirring of the individual to realise merely\nhis own needs as these present themselves to him from moment to moment.\nHe is called and destined to do infinitely more; he is to be a creator\nof the Life-process and a carrier in the making of a new world; but all\nthis can be done only from the standpoint of a vision of a spiritual\nlife superior to history and to the individual himself. Vision and\naction are to be ever present. In the light of the vision man becomes\nmore than he now is; through action the vision increases in depth and\nvalue.\n\nWhat relation this has to the conception of the Godhead will be dealt\nwith in a later chapter. It is enough at present to bear in mind that,\nas far as we have gone, a reality above sense, time, history, and the\ncontent of the individual life has become evident. And it is such a\nreality which gives meaning to the events of history.\n\nIt has to be borne in mind that much which is natural and of the earth\nenters into history. Such effects have become clearly discernible in\nmodern times. Physical conditions do exercise an influence, and hem the\ncourse of the spiritual life. The indifference of the physical order of\nthings to the ethical values of history is a problem which constantly\nperplexes every thinking mind. No solution to the puzzles of life is to\nbe found in Nature. What do we discover there? \"We discover enchainments\n[p.81] of phenomena which seem to conduct to the creation of great\nmisery and which, with unmerciful callousness, drive man over the brink\nof an abyss. The faintest hint would have sufficed to hold him back from\nsuch a catastrophe; but this is not given, and consequently destruction\ntakes its course. Petty accidents destroy life and happiness; a moment\nannihilates the most toilsome work. Often, also, we discover a chaotic\nmedley, a sudden overthrow of all potency, a seeming indifference\ntowards all human weal and woe, a blind groping in the dark; we discover\ngloomy possibilities constantly sweeping as dark clouds over man and\noccasionally descending as a crashing tempest.\"[24] Hundreds of similar\nexamples may be found in Eucken's books, and all point to the\ninsufficiency of the natural process for satisfying the deepest needs of\nour being. But in spite of the fact that the natural process accompanies\nLife everywhere, man has built a world beyond the world of sense.\n\nWith the entrance of the spiritual life a new mode of history makes its\nappearance. This fact is to be witnessed in the tools invented by man in\norder to overcome physical barriers. The growth of technics in our own\nday is a proof of Nature yielding here and there to the demands of life\nand intellect. This has all been brought about by mentality, and new\nmodes of living are the result.\n\n[p.82] And when we enter the domain of human society the superiority of\nthe spiritual life becomes evident here as well. It is true that we are\nas yet far from any ideals of human society which include the good of\nall, and which bind all together in spite of radical differences that\nwill continue to persist. Systems of various kinds are presented--often\nat variance with one another; but even these are evidence of a spiritual\nlife far above the achievements of any single individuals. What must we\ndo? We must all work on in the direction of the highest: and the higher\nwe mount the nearer we are to a point of convergence of all the\ndifferent syntheses; and out of the union there will be born a synthesis\nwhich will include the whole family of man. We possess already such a\nsynthesis partially realised here and there in the lives of the greatest\npersonalities of history; but to the mass of mankind such a synthesis is\nlittle more than a name, even though that name be God or Infinite Love.\nThe content of the name has to be realised: and this can never come\nabout except through a deep stirring and longing, through enormous\nsacrifices, painful and recurring failures, to issue finally in a\nconquest--a height attained by mankind on which the content of God and\nInfinite Love will be born in the soul as a living, personal, and\ndurable experience. When this comes to be--and every genuine effort in\nthe movement of our higher being brings us nearer to it--there issues\n[p.83] an incomparably higher mode of life. Thus a new history is framed\nthrough the spiritual activities of individuals; and something of its\nvery nature and of the mode by which such a reality can be reached will\nbecome an atmosphere into which future generations will be born, as well\na higher condition than has ever previously existed to hail the entrance\nof human souls into the world.\n\nEucken insists that it is not the movement of democracy towards better\nsocial conditions that will be effective in bringing about such a\nchange. Much, of course, can be effected by better social conditions.\nThere are needs to-day in connection with labour which ought to be met.\nBut at the best they can do no more than touch the periphery of human\nexistence. A poverty in the \"inward parts\" will still exist in the midst\nof external plenty. But if men and women could be brought to the\nconsciousness of spiritual ideals and their efficacy, a disposition of\nsoul and character would be created which would rapidly change the evil\nconditions of life and the perplexing problems of capital and labour.\nSeveral writers have gone astray when they have imagined that Eucken has\nbut scant sympathy with the social needs of our times. It would be\ndifficult to find anywhere a man of a more tender heart. But he sees\ndeeper than the level of material and social needs and their fulfilment.\nHe sees that it is only by a change [p.84] of disposition and attitude\nof the soul that permanent changes in the material well-being of the\nworld can come about. For it is in the soul's relation with its\nover-individual and over-historical ideals that permanent qualities can\nbe created and preserved: it is in our own deepest being, through a\nconviction of the values of sympathy, sacrifice, and love that any\ngenuine history can find its birth and nurture. We require to pay no\nless attention to the things of the body; but the things of the spirit\nmust step into the foreground of life once again. Then we are working at\nthe heart of the Life-process--a Life-process which is the beginning of\na new cosmic process; and what will issue out of such a result will\nprobably be greater and better than anything we can dream of. Men are\ncalled to this work to-day. They understand but little its significance\nand its trend; they must be willing to learn from those who have lived\nthrough these problems, and who see ramifications of the problems into a\nsoil deeper than is perceptible by the masses. The masses must be\nwilling to be taught in the things of the spirit. Hence we see the need\nof great personalities who will combine in their own souls a penetrating\nknowledge and an intense enthusiasm for the real welfare of mankind. A\ntrue history can never be born outside this region; the world, without\nsuch a conviction, can only wander out of one morass into [p.85]\nanother; and failure after failure will be the inevitable result of all\nthe attempts. Movements will have value and duration only in so far as\nthey are the outcome of a need of a spiritual life which includes\ndemands of intellect, morality, and religious idealism.\n\nEucken shows at the close of his remarkable article in _Beitraege zur\nWeiterentwickelung der Religion_ that some form or other of the Eternal\nmust enter into time and its changes, and become a norm towards which\nmankind will move. When this happens, mankind will not be content to\nlook merely beyond the grave for the redemption of the race and the\nannihilation of sin. The very world in which we live is surrounded by an\nover-world of ideal truth and goodness. Why should we live on \"hope and\ntarrying\" when there is so much to be done and gained? The energies of\nmen run on such lines into \"sickly sentimentalism\" and \"watery wishes,\"\nand nothing great issues out of our activities on the surface of life.\nHistory becomes no more than a succession of changes of which the later\nare of no more value than the earlier. All this happens, because there\nis no Eternal--no over-world of over-individual and over-historical\nvalues--present. In a large measure our very religion grants us here but\nlittle help. It is either a contemplation of certain events in the past\nwhich were delivered for once and for all or an immersion in the social\nenvironment. [p.86] We remain aliens to the truth that these events can\nbe repeated to-day. We are not convinced as to the possibilities of our\nown nature and of the realisation of the Divine in the making of\nhistory. Our age is an age of stripping things of their connections and\nqualities and of finding their essence in what they _were_ and not in\nwhat they _are_ and _ought to be_. Even history is brought back to its\norigin from savagery; and its explanation is sought in its _beginnings_\nand not in its _ends_; the aspirations of the soul are supposed to be\nexplained in their totality when biological and psychological names are\ngiven them; enthusiasm and conviction, which leave the level of the\ndaily rut and the conventionalities of society, are branded as signs of\nshallowness and even of insanity. We are in the midst of plenty, and\nfeed on husks. The situation will not be altered until we turn from\nintellect to intuition--which is no other than a turn from the mere way\nin which things are put together to what the things essentially are and\nought to be in their meaning and value. When this happens, a new meaning\nwill be given to history, and the events of the day will be illumined\nand valued in the light of the standard of spiritual ideals. Can we then\ndoubt that there works in history a Divine element which is\nover-historical, and which alone gives their meanings and values to the\nevents of history itself?\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER V [p.87]\n\nRELIGION AND PSYCHOLOGY\n\n\nIt has been noticed in the two previous chapters how Eucken discovered\nthe presence of a mental or spiritual life in the very act of knowing\nany object in the physical world. And the presence of such a life\nenables the percept to turn into a concept. Such a concept is something\nfar removed from the level of the sensuous object or of its mere\nperception. We are in this very act in a world of _meaning_. When such a\nmeaning comes to be acknowledged, it forms a kind of standard which\ninterprets any future facts that enter into it. The further the progress\nof the knowledge of physical objects advances the more the concepts\nbecome removed from the level of the sensuous; as is witnessed, for\ninstance, in the forms of laws and hypotheses, which constitute the very\ngroundwork of physical science. The physical scientist, whether he is\nconscious of it or not, has constructed an ideal world of _meaning_\nwhich constitutes the explanation [p.88] of the external world. This is\na fact so familiar that it needs no further elucidation here. But there\nis great need for calling attention to the power which _does_ all this\nas well as to the reality of the interpretation which that power, in its\ncontact with physical phenomena, has brought forth. That such a power of\nthe mind is connected with physical existence does not in the least\nexplain its nature. It is not physical _now_; it is meaning and value,\nand there is no such thing as meaning or value in the nature of physical\nobjects in themselves. Their meaning and value come into being when they\nserve a purpose which the mind has framed concerning them. Eucken\ninsists that a reality must be ascribed to so much as all this--to that\nwhich knows and interprets Nature. However much Nature and Spirit\nresemble one another, however much the latter is dependent on the\nformer, Nature must be conceived as exhibiting a lower grade of reality\nthan mind. Indeed, Nature could not exist for mind unless there were a\nmind to know it; and this fact inevitably leads us to ask the question,\nwhether Nature could exist at all.[25]\n\nEucken maintains that the insufficient attention paid to this priority\nof the subject is the [p.89] defect of all the systems which have\nreduced life and all its values to their lowest denominator. A naive\nrealism is a relic of past ancestry; it is a failure to conceive\nanything as reality unless it lends itself to the senses. Had men not\ngrasped a higher order of reality than that of the external object, none\nof the mental and moral gains of the world would ever have been\nrealised. Hence, man has to insist that the mental or spiritual life is\nthe possessor of a reality of its own, although much of the material\ncomprising that reality has been drawn from the physical world through\nthe senses. But the spiritual life has proceeded far beyond these\ninitial stages of knowing the world. Material of a kind other than the\nphysical has presented itself to it. Thus, in will-relations we find the\nmaterial itself belonging to a higher order of existence than the\nmaterial of the physical world. It is then what might be expected when\nthe spiritual life, within the domain of events of human history, forms\na Life-system higher in its nature than the natural process.\n\nEucken then concludes that Nature and History require for their\ninterpretation the presence of a spiritual life. Nature involves the\nspiritual in the very power of mind in knowing external things. He would\nnot state that the physical course of things is enough in itself to\nprove the existence of spiritual life. We are uncertain of any working\ntowards [p.90] definite ends in Nature. The whole matter belongs to the\nregion of speculation; and speculation based on something other than\nobservation and experiment has greatly retarded progress in connection\nwith the truest interpretation of the highest things. Eucken would\nreally agree here with the physical scientist pure and simple that,\nhowever far back the investigations of the physical world are carried,\nthe scientist does not seem to come to anything at the furthest point\nwhich bears more affinity to what is mental than was to be discovered at\nthe point from which he set out.\n\nBut in History it is different. We are here dealing with material which\nis not in space, and which has not resulted through any mere succession\nin time. The material, in fact, is timeless, because it is a synthesis\nof factors which cannot be reckoned mechanically, and which requires a\ngreat span of time in order to be constructed by the spirit of man. At\nthis level the spiritual life has gained a reality which is\nover-personal as well as personal. It is true that this over-personal\nreality is in the _mind_ of the individual; but that does not mean that\nthe reality is no more than a private experience. Its content is clearly\nnow higher and more significant than the individual's own life. That we\ncannot locate in space this over-personal aspect of the ideal is\nprobably a disadvantage. But this cannot be helped; and [p.91] it cannot\npossibly be otherwise, simply because the over-personal reality is not a\nspatial thing. The same may be said of the content of individual\nexperience, even when it does not for the time being hold before itself\nany ideal. But such over-personal elements mean more than was to be\nfound on the level of _knowing_ the world. A further development of\nspiritual life has taken place; and reality has become _objective_ in\nits nature and _subjective_ in its apprehension and appropriation by the\nindividual. Reality has, through the over-personal which has evolved in\nhistory, obtained _a cosmic significance_; and it is out of this region\nthat a _Lebensanschauung_ as well as a true _Weltanschauung_ have\ndeveloped.\n\nThis digression from the subject of this chapter has probably prepared\nus to see that the potentiality of consciousness and the presence of\nover-personal elements presenting themselves to consciousness are the\ntwo main elements in the construction of the several grades of reality\nwhich present themselves on the lower level of Nature and on the higher\nlevel of History.\n\nBut our question now is, Does the nature of man himself confirm such\nstatements as have already been made? And it is to man's own nature and\nits content we now turn, as these are presented in Eucken's teaching.\n\nIt is probable that Eucken has done less justice to psychology from the\nside of the [p.92] connection of consciousness with the external world.\nHe is aware, and points out the fact in several of his books, of the\nclose connection between mind and body; but seems to think that the fact\nis sufficiently brought out by text-books on psychology that some kind\nof dualism or parallelism is absolutely necessary to be held in order to\naccount for the content of consciousness. What exact meaning and\nprovince should be assigned to psychology is to-day a matter of serious\ndispute. Textbooks of the nature of William James's _Principles of\nPsychology_ present a double aspect of the subject-matter as well as of\nits mode of treatment. It is often difficult to differentiate in James's\nworks where one aspect ends and another begins. Psychology is presented\nby him as a natural science on one page, and on the opposite page we\ndiscover ourselves in the region of ethics and even of metaphysics and\nreligion. On the one side, we find the _connection_ of consciousness and\nits mode of operation with the physical organism presented in terms\nwhich emphasise the mechanical and chemical sides. On the other side,\nthe _content_ of consciousness itself, _after_ the connection has taken\nplace, is presented as a psychology as well. So that several important\nwriters on psychology have emphasised the need of differentiating one\naspect from the other, and of confining the meaning of psychology to the\ndescription and explanation of the _connection_ [p.93] of mind and\nbody.[26] But when we pass to the content of consciousness, something\nmore than a mere connection of mind and body is discovered. The content\nof consciousness includes the _Will_--the unrest of consciousness in its\nactual situation, a dissatisfaction with its state of inertia, and a\nmovement towards some End. When the Will operates with the content of\nconsciousness we are in a realm which is beyond the physical--a realm,\ntoo, which is other than a passive, descriptive attitude of a spectator\nof things. The realm of _values_ has now been reached; and a content,\ndifferent in its nature from any account it is able to give of itself or\nof its connection with the physical, starts on its own independent\ncourse. The psychologist is \"right in insisting that the atoms do not\nbuild up the whole universe of science. There are contents in\nconsciousness, sensations and perceptions, feelings and impulses, which\nthe scientist must describe and explain too. But if the psychologist is\nthe real natural scientist of the soul, this whole interplay of ideas\nand emotions and volitions appears to him as a world of causally\nconnected processes which he watches and studies as a spectator. However\nrich the manifold of the inner experience, everything, seen from a\nstrictly psychological standpoint, [p.94] remains just as indifferent\nand valueless as the movement of the atoms in the outer experience.\nPleasures are coming and going; but the onlooking subject of\nconsciousness has simply to become aware of them, and has no right to\nsay that they are better or more valuable than pain, or that the\nemotions of enjoyment or the ideas of wisdom or the impulses of virtue\nare, psychologically considered, more valuable than grief or vice or\nfoolishness. In the system of physical and psychical objects, there is\nthus no room for any possible value; and even in the thought and idea of\nvalue there is nothing but an indifferent mental state produced by\ncertain brain excitement. For as soon as we illuminate and shade and\ncolour the world of the scientist in reference to man's life and death,\nor to his happiness and pain, we have carelessly destroyed the pure\nsystem of science, and given up the presupposition of the strictly\nnaturalistic work.\"[27] Wundt presents a standpoint not quite so\npronounced, but which looks in the same direction.[28]\n\nThis fundamental difference has been recognised by Eucken, and forms an\nimportant contribution on his part towards elucidating [p.95] the\nmeaning of spiritual life not only in the process of knowing but in its\nnew beginning in its creation of an \"inner world of values.\" The content\npresent in the construction of this \"new world\" is other than a mental\ncontent expressing connection of psychical and physical. Eucken\ndifferentiates between the two aspects already referred to, and\ndesignates the difference by the terms _Noological and Psychological\nMethods_. These methods are most clearly presented in _The Truth of\nReligion_. He says: \"To explain _noologically_ means to arrange the\nwhole of spiritual life [including mental life] as a special spiritual\nactivity, to ascertain its position and problem, and through such an\nadaptation to illumine the whole and raise its potencies. To explain\n_psychologically,_ on the contrary, means to investigate _how_ man\narrives at the apprehension and appropriation of a spiritual content and\nespecially of a spiritual life, with what psychic aids is the spiritual\ncontent worked out, how the interest of man for all this is to be\nraised, and how his energy for the enterprise is to be won. Here one has\nto proceed from an initial point hardly discernible, and step by step,\ndiscover the way of ascent; thus the psychological method becomes at the\nsame time a psychogenetic method. The main condition is that both\nmethods be held sufficiently apart in order that the conclusions of both\nmay not flow together, and yet may form a fruitful completion.\"\n\n[p.96] \"Such separation and union of both methods and their\ncorresponding realities make it possible to understand how to overcome\ninwardly the old antithesis between Idealism and Realism. The\nfundamental truth of Idealism is that the spiritual contents establish\nan independence and self-value over against the individual, that they\ntrain him with superior energy, and that they are not material for his\npurely human welfare. In the _noological method_ this truth obtains a\nfull recognition. Realism, however, has its rights in the forward sweep\nof the specifically human side of life with all its diversions, its\nconstraints, and its preponderantly natural character. Viewed from this\nstandpoint, the main fact is that life is raised out of the idle calm of\nits initial stages, and is brought into a current; in order to bring\nthis about, much is urgently needful by man, which cannot originate,\nprior to the appearance of the spiritual estimation of values, but which\nbecomes his when he is set in a strong current; then, on the one hand,\nanxiety for external existence, division into parties, ambition, etc.,\nand, on the other hand, the mechanism of the psychic life with its\nassociation, reproduction, etc., are all seen in a new light. These\nmotive powers would certainly never produce a spiritual content out of\nman's own ability; such a content is only reachable if the movement of\nlife raises man out of and above the initial performances and the\ninitial motives. No mechanism, [p.97] either of soul or of society, is\nable to accomplish this; it can be accomplished alone by an inward\nspirituality in man. Through such a conception, Realism and Idealism are\nno longer irreconcilable opponents, but two sides of one encompassing\nlife; one may grow alongside the other, but not at the expense of the\nother. Indeed, the more the content of the spiritual life grows, the\nmore becomes necessary on the side of psychic existence; the more we\nsubmerge ourselves in this psychic existence, the greater appears the\nsuperiority of the spiritual life.\"[29] This difference between noeology\nand psychology is pointed out by Eucken in his delineation of spiritual\nlife along the whole course of its development. The insistence on the\nreality of life within the region of values, brought forth through the\nactivity of the Will, is shown to be absolutely necessary in order that\nlife may not sink into the level of the mere physical object on the one\nhand, and into mere subjectivity and momentary changes of consciousness\non the other hand. It is a decision at this point which constitutes the\ngreat turn to a life of the spirit and to the granting to it of a\n_self-subsistence_ as real as objects in the external world; it is a\nturn which includes, further, a new beginning of a remove from the\ncontent of the moment and from the impinging of the environment upon the\nsubject; it is a realisation by the mind and [p.98] soul that its own\ncontent is now on a path which has to be carved out, step by step, by\nits own spiritual potency. It is in the light of what is attempted and\naccomplished in this respect that the external world and all its\nramifications into the soul are in the last resort to be interpreted.\nWhen the foundation of life is thus placed upon a spiritual content of\nmeaning and value, norm and end, the _first impressions_ of things are\nseen as nothing more than preparatory stages and conditions to a life\nbeyond themselves. To come to a decision, insisted on again and again,\nin regard to the reality of life and its content is not possible without\nthe deepest act of the whole of the soul. Such a conviction concerning\nthe spiritual kernel of our being is not a mere matter either of thought\nor feeling or will. The three make their contribution towards the great\naffirmation which takes place, but they are united at a depth in\nconsciousness which has no psychological name; they come to a kind of\nfocus within the blending of the over-individual norms and the need and\ncapacity of the soul for such norms. When this happens, the individual\nhas created a cleft in his own nature which renders it forever\nimpossible for him to be satisfied with the mere external aspect\nproduced by the first impressions of things. An inverted order of things\nhas come about: the sensuous world is relegated to the circumference,\nand a spiritual world [p.99] dawns within the content of the soul. This\nis the deepest meaning of religion; and, as we shall see at a later\nstage, it constitutes the very nucleus of Christianity with its\nannouncement of conversion, the regeneration of the soul, and the union\nand communion of man with the Divine.\n\nDoubtless all this is difficult of apprehension, mainly on account of\nthe fact that there is no proof for it in a manner that can be made\nintelligible. But the question arises, What is the power that acts and\nbrings forth proofs concerning anything? It is evidently not the whole\nof the potentialities of man's nature: it is no more than the\nunderstanding dealing with the evidence of impressions. But the\nunderstanding, when dealing with the content of the union of individual\npotency and over-individual norms, is dealing with a content infinitely\nlarger and more complex than itself; the material is too great and\nintricate for the understanding to handle; it is a fruitless attempt of\nthe Part to monopolise the meaning and value of the Whole. The proof\nrather lies within the domain of the soul itself, and is not something\nwhich may be tacked on to any kind of external, spatial existence; it is\nthe emergence of a _new kind_ of existence or _self-subsistence._ The\nproof (if we designate it by such an insufficient term) is _within_ the\nexperience and not _without_; it is the spiritual experience itself and\nnot merely an account, [p.100] in the form of even valid logical\nconcepts, concerning such experience.[30]\n\nThe space devoted to this subject may be justified on account of the\nfact that Eucken's meaning of the evolution of spiritual life towards\nhigher levels cannot be understood without an understanding of the\ndistinction between _knowledge_ about experience and the _content_ of\nexperience itself, as this latter reveals itself in the ways\nmentioned.[31] Eucken has lately paid great attention to this matter in\nthe new edition (1912) of _Hauptprobleme der Religionsphilosophie der\nGegenwart_, especially in the chapter on the \"Philosophy of Religion and\nthe Psychology of Religion.\"[32]\n\nThe root of the matter here seems to be the ready acknowledgment of the\ncontent of [p.101] spiritual life as well as of the fact that it\npossesses a higher grade of existence than anything in the world without\nor even within the psychic life. This is granting the manifestation of\nspiritual life a foundation deeper than nature, culture, civilisation,\nand even morality; for it is the norms of the over-world uniting with\nthe spiritual nature of man which have brought forth all these. This\nwilling acknowledgment becomes ever necessary, because something of _two\nworlds_ is now present in the life of the man. On the one hand, the\nnatural world, with its material elements and its instincts and\nimpulses, is present in the soul. But, on the other hand, all these\ncannot be torn away from the life. They constitute a great deal of the\nvitality and the pleasure which are the legitimate possessions of man.\nHow cold and soulless would life be without these! But the danger arises\nwhen there is not present a Standard sufficiently high and powerful to\ngovern these, and to make them serve the higher interests of the soul.\nIn other words, they must be melted in the contents and values of the\nover-individual ideals; they must be sanctified to subserve the higher,\nabsolute ends and demands of the spirit. What can we say, then, of Life\nwhen the natural assists the spiritual and when the individual passes\nout to the realm of the over-individual save that a real point of\ndeparture into _a new kind of world_ has actually taken [p.102] place?\nEven this interpretation is insufficient to explain what happens,\nalthough it happens within ourselves; far less, as we have seen, will\nany other interpretation which explains life in lowest terms suffice.\nWe are then, says Eucken, driven to the conclusion that such a state is\neither the breaking forth of a new kind of reality or the worst of all\npossible illusions. And this great and inexorable _Either_--_Or_\npresents itself in every decision taken towards what is higher than the\nlevel we are standing on. The matter here does not belong to any\nspeculative domain, and is not the result of fancy or imagination out of\nwhich reason has taken its flight. The matter is concrete--tangible\nthrough and through. The history of mankind bears witness to the\nvalidity of it; the experience of each individual in the deepest moments\nof life echoes the experience of the race. The superiority of this _new\nbeginning in the over-world_ has to be established over and over again\nby each individual on account of the danger of sinking back to a lower\nlevel where the main power of spiritual life is not in action. A\ncertainty is therefore requisite in the very beginning of the\nenterprise--an enterprise which is absolute and eternal. No limits are\nperceptible to the possibilities of spiritual life when the fullest\nconceivable content of the soul is seated at the centre of life, and\nwhen every outward is interpreted and governed by an inward. This\nexperience is [p.103] far removed from all attempts to found religion on\nspeculation drawn either from the physical world or from the\ngeneralisations of logic. These have their value--they point to the\npresence of some degree of spiritual life when the human mind has worked\nupon the material presented to it. But the matter at this highest level\ndoes _not_ deal with the _relations_ of life but with _life itself_ in\nthe light of an over-world.\n\nEucken is nowhere finer than when he detects the necessity for the\nacknowledgment of such a spiritual foundation of life. It is not a mere\nindividual need, but the union of an individual need with a reality\nobjective to the need. If the reality were already the possession of\nman, no such need could arise. Still, the reality is present in his mind\nas an idea and ideal; it is present to the individual, but it is not as\nyet the possession of the individual except in a measure at the best. So\nthat the certainty includes within itself a _realisation_ and a further\n_quest_. And the very nature of the quest involves a _struggle_ of the\nwhole nature. The certainty has gone so far as to show that the highest\ngood which presents itself to the soul is the \"one thing needful,\" and\nis possible of partial attainment. When all this burns within the soul,\nsomething of the norm or ideal gets fixed within it, and the individual\nstarts to conquer more and more the new world into which he is now\nlanded. [p.104] Often the life is driven out of its course by alien\ncurrents; a great deal of what the man has now left behind himself still\nclings tenaciously to the new life, and the whole soul becomes an arena\noften of a terrible conflict. The spiritual life and its content of a\nnew reality may be temporarily beaten in this warfare; but the battle is\nfinally won if ever the deepest within the soul has been touched by a\nconviction of the eternal value and significance of the new life. The\nconquest is followed by periods of calm and fruition. Here the deeper\nenergies gather themselves together; they grant a peace which the world\ncannot give and cannot take away; they create new certainties, new\ndemands, and new attempts for the possession of a reality which is still\nhigher in its nature than anything that previously revealed itself.\n\nGradually the soul is forced more than ever to the conviction that the\nwhole matter is too serious to be of less than of _cosmic_ significance.\nAnd it is out of this that the idea of the Godhead arises. It is not a\nspeculative dream but a conclusion forced upon the man by the actual\nsituation; the material for the conclusion is not anything which\ndescends into the soul with a ready-made content. Eucken states that\nsuch a view of revelation belongs to the past history of the race. It is\nnow no less than a revelation springing from the very nature of the soul\nat its highest possible level. [p.105] It occurs only when a foundation,\na struggle, and a conquest have been worked out by the soul in the\nmanner already depicted. No close determinations, as we shall see later,\nare made concerning the meaning and nature of the Godhead. The man is\nhere at an altitude so rare and pure that it forbids any logical or\npsychological analysis. God is not something to be explained, but to be\npossessed. When the attempt is made to explain Him, He is very soon\nexplained away; when he is possessed, He becomes not something other\nthan was present before, but _more_ than was present before; a cosmic\nsignificance is given to the universe and to man's struggle to scale the\nheights of the over-world with all its momentous values.\n\nHere, again, the spiritual life has landed us out of psychology into the\ndeepest experiences of religion and into the consciousness that the\n_intermediate_ realities which presented themselves as over-individual\nnorms and ideals are realities of cosmic significance. The Godhead is\nnow _possessed_. As Jacob Boehme presents it: \"From my youth up I have\nsought only one thing: the salvation of my soul, the means of gaining\npossession of the Kingdom of God.\" Here, as Professor Boutroux[33]\npoints out, \"Jacob Boehme learnt from the mystics what it means to\npossess God. One must take care, so these masters [p.106] teach, not to\nliken the possession of God to the possession of anything material. God\nis spirit, _i.e._ for the man who understands the meaning of the term, a\ngenerating power previous to all essence, even the divine. God is spirit,\n_i.e._ pure will, both infinite and free, with the realisation of its own\npersonality as its object. Henceforward, God cannot be accepted by any\npassive operation. We possess Him only if He is created within us. To\npossess God is to live the life of God.\" This is on lines precisely\nthose of Eucken, and something of this nature seems to be gaining ground\nto-day in a strong idealistic school in Germany. We may soon discover\nthat a true mysticism is the flowering of the bud of knowledge; that\ntrue knowledge constitutes a tributary which runs into the ocean of the\nInfinite Love of the Divine and becomes the most precious possession of\nthe soul.[34]\n\nEucken touches on this subject in an extremely interesting chapter in\nhis _Truth of Religion_. \"This is a question of fact, and not of\nargument.... Because we convinced ourselves that things were so, we\ngained the standpoint of spiritual experience over against a merely\npsychological standpoint. For the [p.107] latter standpoint occupies\nitself with purely psychic processes, and in the province of religion\nespecially it occupies itself with the conditions of the stimulations\nof will and feeling, which are not able to prove anything beyond\nthemselves. The spiritual experience, on the contrary, has to do with\nlife's contents and with the construction of reality; it need not\ntrouble itself concerning the connections of the world except in a\nsubsidiary manner, because it stands in the midst of such connections,\nand without these it cannot possibly exist. Man never succeeds in\nreaching the Divine unless the Divine works and is acknowledged in his\nown life; what is omitted here in the first step is never again\nrecovered and becomes more and more impossible as life proceeds on its\nmerely natural course. If, however, the standpoint of spiritual\nexperience is gained, then religion succeeds in attaining entire\ncertainty and immediacy; then the struggles in which it was involved\nturn into a similar result, and its own inner movements become a\ntestimony to the reality of the new world which it represents.\"[35]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER VI [p.108]\n\nRELIGION AND SOCIETY\n\n\nEucken shows that the problems of history are closely allied with those\nof society. The best accounts of the meaning he attaches to human\nsociety are to be found in _The Main Currents of Modern Thought, Der\nKampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt_, and _Life Basis and Life Ideal_.\nThe conclusions reached in these three books are the same--they are an\ninsistence on the need of spiritual life as a creative power in the\nutilisation of norms and ideals as well as in the creation of further\nnorms and ideals. He points out the devious paths which human society\nhas travelled over: all these, in the case of society and of the\nindividual, are shown to lead to disaster when they depend merely upon\nthe environment or upon the ideals of a utilitarian mode of a\nhistorico-social construction.\n\nSociety has gained much through the necessity of emphasising some\naspects of a Whole--of thinking and acting collectively--instead [p.109]\nof emphasising merely the Parts. The history of human society, in a very\nlarge measure, is the history of shifting the centre of gravity of life\nalternately from the Whole to the Parts and _vice versa_. When the\ncentre of gravity remains in some kind of Whole, a number of individuals\nmove towards the same goal, and much that is subjective has to be\nshifted to the background of life. Now, this is a gain, and it is the\nonly path on which a corporate life becomes possible. Men (and women\ntoo) stand shoulder to shoulder when some kind of Whole or Ideal seems\nto them to be a necessity of their nature. But progress is brought about\nnot only through cementing human beings together in order to move\ntowards _any kind_ of ideal. The energy is in the right place, but the\nquestion has to arise as to the _nature_ of the over-personal ideal\nitself. All over-personal ideals cannot connote the good of _all_, but\nthe good of all must be present as possessing a validity of its own\nbefore any lower over-personal ideal can prevent landing men in\ndisaster. The over-personal ideals which do not include the good of all\noften represent the good of a section alone, and all other sections have\nto become convinced that this is a good. Thus many Life-systems present\nthemselves. Each of these includes a good. The problem is, How is each\nsection to realise that there is a good present in what each other\nsection presents? [p.110] There must be some common standard by which\nthe ideal of each section of the community can be measured, for it is in\nthe light of such a standard alone that the lower good receives its true\nplace, meaning, and value. There are, beyond all sectional over-personal\nideals, values which connote the highest welfare of everyone \"who\ncarries a human face.\" These values are the results of the partially\ncollective experiences of the deepest in life, and have been gained in\nthe history of the race. They are the values which are the needs and\nrights of all. Justice, Sympathy, Love--these and others are the highest\nsyntheses. They have, as yet, been only partially reached; and this\npartial realisation is the possession of a few, and has not yet\nsucceeded in becoming the necessary standard which shall pass judgment\non all lower ideals. \"Rights are rights,\" we are told. This may be true,\nbut something higher has to interpret them, or else one set of rights\ncomes into conflict with other sets and stands but little chance of\nrealisation. And even if realised, a whole series of complexities\nimmediately arises. This has been, in the main, the history of human\nsociety. And are we able to say that society has progressed much during\nthe past century in this direction of illuminating lower needs in the\nlight of higher ones which include the good of all? Eucken doubts\nwhether the progress has been great. And here once more, [p.111] in\nconnection with the deepest meaning of society and the individual, he\nsees the need of ideals which are universally true and universally\nvalid. This means that the spiritual life as it presents itself in the\nuniversally true, good, and beautiful, must become the sun which will\nshine upon all that is below it; it is the Whole in which the Parts must\nfind their function and meaning. If the life of society relates itself\nto anything lower than this, the best within it cannot come to flower\nand fruit. In other words, society will have to return to a conception\nand utilisation of an _absolute spiritual life_ before it can gain any\nnew territory of eternal value. Probably quite as much attention will\nhave to be devoted to the Parts--to the environment, the needs of the\nhour, the material comforts and happiness of life. But granting that the\npossession of all these will come about, what then? We are still\nwretchedly poor in the \"inward parts.\" What we have won has not within\nitself sufficient spirituality to touch the deepest recesses of the\nsoul. Material plenty and pleasure are a good when they are used as they\nought to be used. Where is that \"something\" that teaches us this? Where\nis the Ought? The Ought is something outside and infinitely higher than\nall the gains which the environment or the group is ever able to bring\nforth. \"Life,\" says Eucken,[36] \"cannot be made simply [p.112] a\nquestion of relationship to environment and of the development of mutual\nrelationships (as this tendency would have it) without the independence\nof the isolated factor [spiritual life] being most seriously reduced.\nAnd it must not be forgotten that the individual is the sole source of\noriginal spiritual life; corporate social life can do no more than unite\nand utilise. The maintenance of the strength and freedom of this\noriginal life would be less important, and its limitation would be more\neasily endurable, if human life stood upon a firm foundation and needed\nonly to follow quietly in a naturally appointed direction. In reality,\nlife is not only full of separate problems, but being situated (as it\nis) between the realm of mere Nature and the spiritual world, must begin\nby systematically directing itself aright and ascending from the\nsemi-spiritual to the truly spiritual construction of life. It is hence\ncalled upon to perform great tasks, which cannot be carried out without\nserious efforts and the mobilisation of all our spiritual forces. This\nnecessarily leads us back to the original sources of strength, and hence\nto the individual.\"\n\nThis passage represents well Eucken's main teaching in regard to our\nsocial problems. We shall ever fail in the highest sense if the\nspiritual content of life is no more than a _means_ to reach material\nends, however necessary such ends may be. For in such a [p.113] manner\nspiritual life--the universally true and valid--is reduced to a lower\nplane; it becomes entangled in lower stages, and thus ceases to be a\n\"light on the hill\" illumining the steep upward path. Convictions of a\nspiritual nature--the very forces which have moulded society--are absent\nfrom such a system of life which has no more than the day or the hour to\nlook forward to. Individual and society become the creatures of mere\nimpulses and passions, stimulated to activity by a \"dead-level\"\nenvironment. Something of value is gained when even this kind of\nenvironment is a good; but the response is quite as readily given to\nthat which is injurious, simply because the \"universally true and good\"\nis absent as an inwardness and conviction in the soul.\n\nWithout such an inwardness and its content the deeper energy of life is\nnot touched, and men drift with the tide of the environment. Without the\nideals or syntheses which are, in their very nature, universal and\nabsolute, progress comes to a standstill, and degeneration soon sets in.\nThe ordinary situation, apart from the presence of the content of the\nover-world within the life of the soul, swings like a pendulum between a\nshallow optimism and a blind pessimism. There is no power present in the\nsoul to come to any fundamental decision, but life drifts on a river\nbetween Yea and Nay; a failure to penetrate beneath the [p.114] crust of\nchance and circumstance becomes evident, and the deeper values and\nmeanings of life disappear.\n\nEucken's only solution for our present-day troubles is a return to our\nown deeper nature as this was depicted in previous chapters. The signs\nof the times, he tells us, are encouraging; the utilitarian mode of life\nis wearing itself out; the tastes of material comforts have been with us\nlong enough to experience the poverty of their quality; and the mad\ngamble for the \"things which perish\" is gradually weeding out its\ndevotees. Eucken's solution to the problems of society is a _religious_\none. Where is the conception of religion as the solution of the\nmomentous and intricate problems of our day to be found in the teachings\nand writings of our economists? It is not to be found. These deal either\nwith petty details or with laws which have no spiritual content whatever\nin them. Society may proceed with various Life-systems--individualism,\nsocialism, or any other, but until it gets into touch with its deepest\nsoul, each such system of life is hastening towards its own destruction\nand towards the injury of progress.\n\nThe conception of the State is presented by Eucken in a similar manner.\nHe points out how we stop short in our politics of dealing with the\nuniversally true and good. Party strives against party, and nation\nagainst nation. [p.115] Groups of all hues and cries propound their own\nparticular ideals as the all-important ones. Higher ideals are left out\nof account, so that we find the world to-day spending its energies in\nwarfare concerning many things of minor importance. How can we expect\nfruition and bliss to follow on such lines?\n\nEucken presents in a convincing manner the danger of resting upon the\nexternal in Society and State. \"We are experiencing to-day a remarkable\nentanglement. The older forms of Life, which had hitherto governed\nhistory and its meaning, have become too narrow, petty, and subjective\nfor human nature. Through emancipation from an easy-going subjectivity\nand through the positing of life upon external things and, indeed, upon\nthe whole of the great universe, Life, it was believed, would gain more\nbreadth and truth; and in a noteworthy manner man undertook a struggle\nagainst the pettiness of his own nature and for the drawing out of all\nthat was merely human and trivial. A great deal has been gained through\nsuch a change and new tendency of life. In fact we have discovered far\nmore than we had hoped for. But, at the same time, we have lost\nsomething--a loss which at the outset occasions no anxiety, but which,\nhowever, through painful experience, proves itself to have been the 'one\nthing needful.' Through its own development the work has destroyed its\nown vehicles; it has [p.116] undermined the very ground upon which it\nstood; it has failed, notwithstanding its infinite expansion, through\nits loss of a fundamental and unifying Life-process; and in the entire\nimmersion of man into activity his deepest being has been sacrificed.\nIndeed, the more exclusively Life transforms itself into external work,\nthe more it ceases to be an inner personal experience, and the more\nalien we become to ourselves. And yet the fact that we can be conscious\nof such an alienation--an alienation that we cannot accept indifferently\n--is a proof that more is firmly implanted in us than the modern\ndirection of life is able to develop and satisfy. We acknowledge\nsimultaneously that we have gained much, but that the loss is a painful\none. We have gained the world, but we have lost the soul; and, along\nwith this, the world threatens to bring us to nought, and to take away\nour one secure foothold in the midst of the roaring torrent of material\nwork.\"[37]\n\nEucken shows that the individual will obtain his true place in Society\nand the State only when spiritual ideals have become fixed norms--norms\nwhich form the highest synthesis to be conceived of. And Society and the\nState will discover their vocations in precisely the same manner. It is\nimpossible to shut our eyes to the fact that things are not well with\nthe world to-day. The growth of the material [p.117] interests of the\nworld and of life has become a menace on a scale unknown in the previous\nhistory of civilisation. There is only one refuge in the midst of all\nthis welter and chaos. That indestructible refuge is \"an inner synthesis\nand spiritual elevation of life.\" It is this alone which can prevent the\ndisintegration that is bound to follow in its absence. The petty human\nelement cannot be eliminated from this; and the mere life of the\nhour--the life that has no substance of duration within itself--cannot\nbe stopped on its reckless career without the presence of spiritual\nideals within and without. If the world proceeds in its denial of the\nreality and need of spiritual life and its over-world, the negation,\nwhen it reaches its climax of disaster and despair, will \"turn again\nhome\"--to the necessity of spiritual values--and out of the ruins a new\nhumanity will emerge.\n\nThus, once more we are landed into the province of a religion of\nspiritual life as a necessity in the affairs of the world and of the\nState. Eucken's great plea is that the civilised nations of the world\nshould become aware of all this before it is too late to turn\nback--before the boat has reached too near the rapids to avoid disaster.\nThe remedy is in our own hands. How to create the consciousness of the\nsituation is the problem of problems, and all individuals are called to\nbring the whole of their energies to its solution.\n\n[p.118] It is evident that some kind of uneasiness has to take place in\nthe deepest recess of the human soul, but the best ways and means of\ndoing this are not yet quite evident.[38] We know what we need and what\nprevents decadence of individuals and nations. \"If ye know these things,\nblessed are ye if ye _do_ them\" (Gospel of John). The bridge between a\nknowledge of the Ought and its possession is difficult to construct, but\nits importance is necessary to be brought constantly before the people.\nThe majority of the people have thought fit to leave almost the only\nplace where such an obligation was presented--_i.e._ the Christian\nChurch. Until they return, or some other institution higher than the\nChurch is brought into existence, the peril will remain. No individual\nconviction, based on anything less than spiritual ideals, will suffice.\nWhat we are looking for is in our midst; it is and has been from the\nvery beginning, in spite of an \"existential form,\" largely archaic,\npresent in the spiritual nucleus of the Christian religion.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER VII [p.119]\n\nRELIGION AND ART\n\n\nEucken has written less on this subject than on any of those which\nconstitute the headings of the chapters of this book. But he has treated\nart in precisely the same manner as he has treated all other important\nproblems: he has shown that no great art is possible unless it is rooted\nin a creativeness which is _spiritual_. In his _Main Currents of Modern\nThought_ we get an instructive account of art and its relation to\nmorality. His account of the development of art in modern times, from\nthe Renaissance to the present day, shows the ebb and flow of the\nconception of the Beautiful. The check which the Renaissance received\nthrough the Reformation in relation to art had its good as well as its\nevil side. Intense scorn arose in the Protestant world for every kind of\nimage and decoration, because these were supposed to posit life on what\nwas purely sensuous and natural, and so bar the way to the Divine.\nStill, the obstruction [p.120] created by Protestantism in this\ndirection opened a door in quite another direction. Art of a higher kind\nthan picture or statue arose, which was far removed from the sensuous\nlevel and which emerged from a deeper soil within the soul. The whole\nseries of musical composers produced by Germany is a proof of this. The\nperiod of the _Aufklaerung_ viewed art with scant favour, but with the\nrise of the New Humanism a change in favour of art took place.\n\nThe origin of this change is to be found where one might least expect\nit--in the soul of the sage of Koenigsberg. Kant's _Critique of Judgment_\nis unanimously allowed to be the greatest book ever produced on the\nsubject. Goethe and Schiller were influenced by it--the latter in a\nremarkable manner. We find in these writers an effort to unite the Good\nand the Beautiful. It is impossible to read the poetry of Goethe without\nfinding that great moral problems are imbedded in his conceptions of the\nBeautiful. His poetry is an attempt to bridge the chasm between the\nexternal world and the soul. His nature was too deep to remain satisfied\nwith the mere impressions of the senses. The union of the world\n_without_ with the world _within_ gave him a view of the universe and of\nhuman life full of originality and suggestiveness.\n\nSchiller worked in practically the same direction. A moral standpoint of\na high order [p.121] is to be discovered in his writings, and he\nbelieved this standard to be possible of preservation alongside of a\nlegitimate \"freedom granted in the phenomenon.\" \"Then the two tendencies\nagain became divided. Romanticism gave a peculiar definite and\nself-conscious expression to the priority of art and the aesthetical\nview of life, while Fichte and the other leaders of the national\nmovement exerted a powerful influence in the direction of strengthening\nmorality. The social and industrial type of civilisation, which became\nmore and more powerful during the course of the nineteenth century, was\ninclined, with its tendency towards social welfare and utility, to\nassign a subordinate part to art. Modern art arises in protest against\nthis and is ambitious to influence the whole of life; in opposition to\nmorality it holds up an aesthetic view of life as being alone\njustifiable. Hence at the present time the two spheres stand wide\napart.\"[39]\n\nEucken shows how such an antithesis between morality and art has\npartially existed for thousands of years. But whenever a cleavage takes\nplace both morality and art suffer. On the one hand, morality tends to\nbecome a system of rules for the performance of which a reward is\npromised either in this world or in the world to come. On the other\nhand, art is stripped of the distinction between the values of sensuous\nthings as these express [p.122] themselves in their relation to human\nlife. In the former case, insistence on morality (even on morality\nalone) has deepened human life; it has given it a more strenuous tone;\nand it has created a scale of values which alters the whole meaning of\nlife. But morality conceived as a system of regulations and laws has\nalways the tendency to harden and narrow the life, and to posit the\nindividual too much upon himself. Any justification from without--from\nthe physical side--consequently fails to give any help or satisfaction.\nAnd man needs this help. As it is impossible for him to fly out of the\nworld to some region where mind or spirit alone reigns, he has to do the\nbest he can with the physical world in the midst of which he exists. It\nis within such a world that he has to cultivate the spiritual potencies\nof his own being. It is true that the spiritual potencies of his own\nbeing are higher and of more value than anything in Nature. Still, that\ndoes not mean that Nature has to be discarded or condemned before the\npotencies of his own being can develop. Nature is not a mere blind\nmachine; it has produced all--including man and his potencies--that is\nto be found on the face of it. It is therefore not entirely meaningless,\nand the meaning it possesses is a necessary element in the evolution of\npersonal spiritual life. Man must enter into some relation with Nature.\nBut such a relation produces even more than all this. When viewed in a\nfriendly mood, [p.123] Nature herself wears an aspect higher than a\nmaterialistic or intellectual one. It calls forth the best in\nimagination; it enables us to feel that something of the power that\ndwells within the soul dwells also in all the manifestations of\nphenomena.[40] This fact is evident in all the poetry of the world, and\nwithout the perpetual presence of Nature to the soul in the form of\nwonder, reverence, and admiration, no poetry worthy of the name is\npossible. Nature thus is of value in the fact that when its phenomena\npresent themselves to a consciousness aware not only of its _knowing_\naspect but also of its _feeling_ aspect, the union of Nature and soul\nproduces a feeling of reality which creates an ideal nature. \"The light\nthat never was on sea or land\" becomes now on sea and land; it\nilluminates the whole scene with a \"halo and glory\" which was concealed\nbefore. But there must be present \"an eye of the soul\" united with the\nphysical impressions before all this is possible. Indeed, the effect of\nall this is nothing less than an ideal creation of a world consisting of\nNature and the spiritual potencies of man. It is evident that if the\n_internal_ [p.124] factor, which represents itself in the form of\nmorality or value, is absent, the picture of Nature is quite different.\nAnd this is Eucken's complaint in regard to much of the art of the\npresent day: the internal factor is absent. Seriousness is not blended\nwith freedom in it; or, in other words, the _inward_ has no power to\npass its quality into the _outward_. But when the _inward_ is present in\nthe form of morality or value, then art becomes joyous, serious,\nhelpful, and disinterested. This last aspect of the disinterestedness of\nart was perceived clearly by Kant, and has formed an important\ncontribution to the philosophy and even to the religion of the\nnineteenth century. When a potency of the soul, gained in a province\noutside art (as is the case with morality or value), operates, there is\nno danger of art degenerating into mere subjectivism; otherwise there is\na very grave danger. Loosened from morality it becomes a mere play of\ndecoration and fancy--a mere superficial embroidery of an empty life; it\ncan look on the human world and all its struggles with an indifferent\nand often cynical mood. Why has all this happened? Because the inward\nfactor of the \"strenuous mood\" has been replaced by a sentimental factor\nbased on nothing deeper than the satisfaction of the senses; and the\nresult of this is found in feelings which are more psychical than\nspiritual in their nature.\n\nBut that art is necessary for any completion [p.125] of life is seen by\nthe fact that its contribution to the soul is more than a _thought_\ncontribution. For the deeper life of the spirit of man is more than\nthought, although thought forms an essential element of it; this deeper\nlife has wider demands than can be expressed in the form of logical\npropositions. Eucken shows how true art is therefore indissolubly\nconnected with spiritual life. \"Without the presence of a spiritual\nworld [the resultant of the union of the spiritual potencies and\nexternal objects], art has no soul and no secure fundamental\nrelationship to reality, and in no way can it develop a fixed style.\nWe hear to-day of a 'new style,' and are in the saddle after such a\nconception. But shall we find it so long as the whole of life does not\nfasten itself upon simple fundamental lines and does not follow the main\npath in the midst of all the tangle of effort? How is it possible to\nattain to a unity of interpretation where our life itself fails in the\npossession of a governing unity? We discover ourselves in the midst of\nthe most fundamental transformations of life; old ideals are vanishing,\nand new ones are dawning on the horizon. But as yet they are all full of\nunrest and unreadiness; and the situation of man in the All of things is\nso full of uncertainty that he has to struggle anew for the meaning and\nvalue of his life. If art has nothing to say to him and no help to\noffer--if it relegates these questions far from itself--then art itself\nmust sink to the level of a [p.126] subsidiary play the more these\nproblems win the mind and spirit of man. But if art is capable of\nbringing a furtherance of values to man in his needs and sorrows, it\nwill have to recognise and acknowledge the problems of spiritual life as\nwell as participate in the struggle for the vindication and formation of\na spiritual world. When art does this, these questions which engage our\nattention are also its questions.\"[41]\n\nIn spite of the contradictions of life, in spite of much which seems\nindifferent to human weal and woe within the physical universe, the\ncontradictions may be surmounted by the union of man's spirit with other\naspects of existence which look in an opposite direction. The ideal\nworld of art is not to be discovered by ignoring these contradictions,\nbut by acknowledging them to the full, and by seeing that Nature is\nsupplemented by man and his soul. Such a union, as has already been\npointed out, will create an earnestness and joyousness of life; it will\nenable man, when any teleology of Nature herself fails to give him\nsatisfaction, to realise a teleology within the _substance_ of his own\nlife--spiritual in its essence, infinite in its duration, and the\nflowering of a bud which has grown with the help of the natural cosmos.\nWhen Nature is thus viewed as a preparatory stage for spirit, it will\nwear an aspect very different from the mechanical one. Its real\nteleology [p.127] will be seen: there can be no dispute about it; it has\nactually produced man, and man has now to carry farther the evolutionary\nprocess. Eucken has presented this aspect in a fine manner in his\narticle on Schiller in _Kantstudien_[42] (Band X., Heft 3), _Festschrift\nzu Schillers hundertstem Todestage_. No one in modern times discovered\nthe contradictions of the world in regard to the needs of man more than\nSchiller. And yet no one led a more joyous life than this \"half-poet,\nhalf-thinker.\" Pressed from within and without by many alien elements,\nhe overcame them all and found, despite his physical weakness, what a\ngift life is. It is in the direction of a great synthesis of spiritual\nlife and natural phenomena that true art will discover the qualities for\na permanent duration. Such a synthesis will enrich the spiritual life,\nand will grant it something of higher construction concerning the\nmeaning and value of the union of Nature and Man. So Eucken has once\nmore landed us into the spiritual life as the source and goal of all\ntrue Art.\n\n\n    \"Only the rooted knowledge to high sense\n    Of heavenly can mount, and feel the spur\n    For fruitfullest achievement, eye a mark\n      Beyond the path with grain on either hand,\n    Help to the steering of our social Ark\n      Over the barbarous waters unto land.\"[43]\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII [p.128]\n\nUNIVERSAL RELIGION\n\n\nWe have followed Eucken's system developing step by step from the stage\nof knowing the world up through the evolution of spiritual life in\nhistory, in the soul, in art, and in society. Everywhere the\ninvestigation has revealed a progressive autonomy and duration of\nspiritual life in the midst of all the kaleidoscopic aspects of the\nobjects which presented themselves to consciousness. Something spiritual\nhas persisted and evolved in the midst of all the changes, and the\nchanges have been utilised by this deeper potency of the soul. Through\nthe evolution of this spiritual potency changes have been brought about\nin the external world, in human society, and in the individual soul.\nThis spiritual potency has bent things to subserve its own inherent\ndemands. The union of conation and cognition within the soul has brought\nforth everything that has happened outside the natural process of the\nphysical world, and much even of that world [p.129] has been made\nsubservient to man. When the attention is turned to this \"fact of facts\"\nconcerning the work of spiritual life, individually and collectively, it\nis impossible to consider it as a mere addendum to the natural process,\nhowever closely connected it may be with that process. Sufficient has\nbeen said to prove the superiority of spiritual life over the whole\naspects and manifestations of Nature. The question, then, cannot be laid\naside concerning the nature of the life of the spirit in itself. What is\nit now? What is it capable of becoming? Why should its evolution snap at\nits highest point? Why cannot the power that has accomplished so much in\nthe history of our world, and has always done this the more efficiently\nthe more a remove from the realm of the sensuous took place--why cannot\nsuch a power proceed farther on its course? And what limits can be set\nto it? The pertinency of such and other questions cannot be doubted. The\nspiritual life has ascended too high and accomplished too much to be\ntreated with indifference. And yet that is the way it is being treated\nonly too widely to-day. Men hesitate to grant to it a reality of its own\nbecause of its close connection with mechanical and chemical elements.\nThey half affirm and half deny its reality. The question arises, What is\nreality? Eucken agrees with the great idealists of the world that\nreality in its highest manifestation is [p.130] something that pertains\nto spirit and meaning rather than to matter and its behaviour.[44] Our\nrigid clinging to a meaning of reality from the side of its physical\nhistory is doubtless a remnant of a race--memory which may be largely\nphysical in its nature. We find a difficulty in conceiving as yet a\nreality existing in itself--existing in itself though material elements\nhave helped it on its upward course. But even here it is not at all\ncertain that nothing but material elements have operated in this\nfundamental process. Men have by now known enough of the connection of\nmind with lower processes in order to be aware of a mystery present in\nthe whole operation--a mystery which does not yield itself to the\nsenses.\n\nBut even such a past history of the spiritual life is not all that can\nbe said concerning it. It is _now_ in process of evolution, and its\ngreatest work is always accomplished not by looking backward but\nforward. The whole universe has operated in bringing spiritual life into\nexistence. Are there any reasons whatever for concluding that the whole\nuniverse is not co-operating _now_ in its further development? Life,\ncivilisation, culture, morality, and religion are proofs that this life\nof the spirit is moving onward and upward. It does not move without\nchecks and entanglements [p.131] from without and within, but in every\n\"long run\" it is gaining some new ground and tilling it as its own. It\ndare not turn back; it dare not throw away the pack of the _Sollen_ (the\nOught) off its shoulders. The over-individual norms have planted\nthemselves too strongly in the heart of humanity to be ever uprooted.\nThe meaning and value of life now lie in a _beyond_. It is not a\n_beyond_ within any physical region that _was_; neither is it, so far as\nwe know, a _beyond_ in any physical region that _is to be_. It is a\n_beyond of the spirit_; and as it is the most real and most requisite\npossession of man, how can it have anything less than a _cosmic_\nsignificance? The future of spiritual life is therefore governed not by\nsomething that is _to be_ in the cosmos, but by something that is _now_\npresent in it--by the acknowledgment, assimilation, and appropriation by\nman and humanity of spiritual norms which are far beyond their present\nactual situation.\n\nThe whole meaning here is that something _sub specie aeternitatis_ has\nto take the foremost place in life. We are beings who perpetually\n_move_. Eucken and Bergson are both emphasising this to-day. But the\nlatter deals with the movement alone; he has no notion whither we are\ngoing, nor can he possibly have until he revises very largely his\nconception of the function and meaning of intellect in life.[45] But\n[p.132] Eucken states that we do know whither we are going. What are the\nover-personal spiritual norms and standards but stars by which to steer\nthe direction of our course over the tempestuous sea of time? Everyone\nwho guides his life in connection with reason guides it by means of some\nnorm or other. Even the daily avocation requires this in order to be\nfulfilled. And the norms which furnish guidance to the spiritual life\nhave originated and are utilised in precisely the same manner as those\nof the daily avocation. The only difference is that there is more\nmeaning and value in the former than in the latter. But each is a\n_Sollen_ and constitutes a _beyond_. This _Sollen_ is a certainty; it\nexists, and its existence is _in itself._ It is the star for the\n_Wollen._[46] The Will is our own; the Ought is not our own; the fact\nthat we possess it as an idea is no proof that it has become a\npossession of the whole of life. In this sense the Ought has an\nobjectivity and a subsistence of its own. The Will has to travel in the\ndirection of the Ought, and its course is mapped out by this Ought at\nevery step of its progress. Hence, in order to reach towards the\n_Sollen_ the nature of the _Sollen_ must become known. As noticed in\nprevious chapters, such a movement towards so high [p.133] a goal\nbecomes a difficult task--a task which demands the activity of the whole\nspiritual nature. Man's dependency and the meaning of his life are thus\nset before his eyes, and the aspects of momentary existence are valued\nas of secondary importance. Unless this meaning of the norm becomes\nclear, life will revolve around the reality nearest-at-hand, and will\nconsequently fail to unfold the deeper spirituality of its nature. \"And\nif all depended on the brief flash of the moment, which endures but the\ntwinkling of an eye, only to vanish into the dark of nothingness, then\nall life would mean a mere exit into death. Thus, without eternity there\nis no spirituality, and without connection there is no content of life.\nBut what is enthroned in itself above Time becomes for the man who wins\nsuch a spirituality, first of all, an immense task which allows itself\nto be grasped on the field of Time alone; and, also, the Eternal which\nworks within us and which hovers before us on the horizon of Eternity\ncan become our full possession only through the movement of Time. To\nwish to check the course of Time means not to serve Eternity, but to\nascribe to Time what belongs to Eternity.\"[47]\n\nIt is not said by Eucken anywhere in his writings that the _natural_\nsources at which Life drinks must be abandoned. These remain with us as\nlong as we are in this world of space and [p.134] time. But these are\nnot found in the same place, neither is the same importance attached to\nthem, once the meaning and value of the over-personal norms and the\npotency of spiritual creativeness have come into union with one another.\n\nWhat Eucken means by universal religion is the establishment of this\nindependency and supremacy of spiritual life over all else in the world.\nWe have already dealt with this aspect in former chapters; the\nconclusion was reached that everywhere the presence of a life of the\nspirit made itself felt, and gave a meaning and interpretation to all\nlife and existence. That is the conclusion Eucken arrives at in his\n_Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt._ The problem of religion _qua_\nreligion is hardly touched. But, indeed, what other than religion can\nall these conclusions mean? Norm and potency are emphasised. An\nelevation above the world and above the \"small self\" has taken place.\nBut something still has to be done before we have entered into the very\nheart of the matter. The problems which arise after all the conclusions\npreviously arrived at are acknowledged must be taken into account.\nHaving come so far in regard to the value and meaning of spiritual life,\nwe are bound to go _farther_. No point occurs where we can find a\nterminus. Though we have already been constrained to grant the norms a\nreality of their own, we have only just touched, here and there, [p.135]\nupon their _cosmic_ significance. The matter thus reaches a further\npoint than we have yet touched. What justification is there for granting\nspiritual life this cosmic significance?\n\nAttention has already been called to the fact of a distinction between\nnature and spirit. But attention has now to be directed to the necessity\nof emphasising the reality of spirit. The nature of spirit is revealed\nmost clearly in the life and content of human consciousness. No\nanthropomorphic standard from without can come to our aid to establish\nthe existence of spirit. The standard is to be found within the\nconsciousness itself. A distinction has to be made between _nature and\nspirit_. However much they resemble each other in the beginnings of\nlife, spirit has travelled far beyond nature or matter. It has developed\nfor itself an essence which may be designated as _substance_. The chief\ncharacteristic of matter is that it occupies space; but spirit, though\nconnected with, and largely conditioned by, matter as it exists in\nspace, is now something quite other--something which has to be granted\nan existence of its own, and which forms the beginning of a _new kind of\nworld_ and unfolds a _new kind of reality_.\n\nThe reality of spiritual life is not discovered in anything which is\nexternal to life; it is to be found in life itself. The reality is\nrevealed and, indeed, created by an act of the spirit of man. Such an\nact must be the act of one's [p.136] own deepest being. But although\nsuch a new reality is not to be found in anything external to life, yet\nthe very revelation points, as we have already observed, to something\nwhich is over-individual. Even the meaning of the reality itself, from\nits _immanent_ side, is something quite other than the natural life and\nits contents. It is something revealed, but not as yet possessed; it is\nhard to be reached; and even within the man's own nature obstacles and\nhindrances of various kinds are to be found. But the new reality\npersists in the midst of the hindrances; the man discovers himself as\nthe possessor of a deeper kind of truth than was present and operative\nin the ordinary life. A cleavage is therefore made between the \"small\nself\" and the spiritual life. In the degree the former wins through the\ncalling forth of the deepest activities of the soul, in that degree does\nthe transcendent aspect of the new reality urge itself upon man. And\nwhen the two aspects--immanent and transcendent--of the reality are\nfirmly grasped by the soul, the soul moves upward in the exploration and\npossession of its new world.\n\nThe failure to enter into this region of religion is due to the fact\nthat men often attempt to construct religion on certain so-called\nfaculties of the soul. Some attempt to discover and establish religion\nthrough the power and conclusions of the intellect. It is evident that\nwhen the knowing aspect of consciousness [p.137] takes such a leading\npart, and deliberately ignores the affective and active aspects, no more\nthan a segment of the reality can be discovered, and such a segment\nleaves out of account important elements of human nature. If the\naffective aspect takes the lead at the expense of the other two aspects,\nwe are here again in a region where only certain fragments of our nature\nare touched. If the active aspect busies itself without carrying along\nwith itself the content of meaning and value to be discovered in\nconsciousness, the true element of the greatness of the reality is\nmissing. Eucken shows in his _Truth of Religion_ that there must be a\npoint in the soul, at some deeper level than any of the three, where the\nthree are working conjointly.[48] It must be so, because what is now at\nstake is more than knowing a thing; it is to _be_ the thing we know we\n_ought to be._ It is unfamiliarity with such a truth that brings a\ndifficulty into the mind when face to face [p.138] with the problem of\nreligion. The mind has not learned how to attend to the truth in its own\nself-subsistence, but posits this truth in its relation to the\nconditions in the external world which brought it forth.[49] Thus the\nconception of truth is made up very largely of its history on its\nphysical side, and this history of the truth comes to possess the entire\nmeaning of the truth itself! The road to religion, in its deepest sense,\nis barred to everyone who fails or refuses to grant the deeper reality\nwhich presents itself within the soul _a self-subsistence._ The only\nexistence of such a reality can be its own self-subsistence. The reality\nis now conceived as something quite other than an existence in space; it\nexists for consciousness and can persist within consciousness.\n\nWhen reality is conceived as a substance subsisting in itself, the\npassage to the Absolute is opened. This Absolute is the most universal\nand complete meaning and value which the soul is capable of possessing;\nits very nature forces itself upon man as being true; and its value has\nrevealed itself in its being the only power which will carry farther the\nspiritual evolution of the soul. If such an Absolute is left out of\naccount, it is evident that the most universal [p.139] truth which\npresents itself to life as absolutely necessary cannot enter into the\ndeepest recesses of the soul; it cannot be more than a subsidiary\nelement accompanying lower intellectual elements of life, which are more\nclosely allied on such a lower level with physical processes of the body\nand with the physical world. And when truth is treated in this manner,\nit cannot possibly make its abode and become a power in the soul.\nConsciousness hesitates to create a further cleft within itself because\nthe evidence of truth at such a height as this does not lend itself to\nthe senses. The result is that the full power of the truth fails to\nproduce effects on the consciousness, and thus keeps it on practically\nthe same level as that on which it has been accustomed to work. The\nhigher truth--the higher spiritual life--has not become anything more\nthan a fact of knowledge or a probability. It has not become one's own\nlife. It is only when this higher aspect of spiritual life becomes\n_one's own life_, and is acknowledged and used, that it is ever possible\nfor man to become the possessor of an original energy, of an independent\ngoverning centre, and so to realise himself as a co-carrier of a cosmic\nmovement. This is the presupposition of religion: it testifies that\nwithin man's soul there appears something higher than sense or\nintellect, but which remains surrounded by alien elements which impose\nchecks to its further development. It is quite evident that the\nappearance of [p.140] truths which are absolute and complete within the\nlife is in direct antagonism to much that was previously present within\nit. This fundamental fact, however, is not evident without a great deal\nof attention paid to the nature of the higher elements which present\nthemselves. Without comparing the values of the higher and the lower\nelements, how is it ever possible to know what they are and what they\nmean? When the whole being attends to both elements--higher and\nlower--there is no possibility of making a mistake concerning the\n_different_ values of what are presented. A higher grade of reality\nreveals itself over against all that had been previously gained. The\nsoul is forced to admit that something of a higher nature than it\nhitherto possessed seeks admission. And this Higher, if it enters into\nthe whole of life, so far from revealing itself as a continuation of\nwhat had already happened, reveals itself as something which is\ndiscontinuous with the ordinary life, and superior even to the highest\nattainments of the intellectual life. And it is this aspect which\nproduces the conviction of such a revelation as being _objective_ in its\nvery nature. It belongs to something or somebody outside our own\nindividual experience or achievement. That there is much which is\nmysterious in all this, is only what might be expected. But the very\nfact that the Higher comes with such power when the soul expects,\nassimilates, and appropriates it [p.141] is a proof of its existence\nsomewhere at the core of the universe. It cannot mean an illusion; it\nbrings changes of too fundamental a nature to be no more than that. Its\nvery value and the enormous difficulty of turning it from being an idea\ninto being a possession demand too much energy of the soul to allow of\nits being dismissed without any more ado. It contains elements so\ndifferent in their nature from the ordinary life of the hour as to\nrender it impossible to be considered of no more than of subsidiary\nimportance. For it has to be borne in mind that the values and norms\nfarthest removed from the regions of sense and intellect appear only\nwhen man follows the drift of his own higher being; it is not when he\nremains effortless and satisfied with the life of the hour that such\nvalues and norms appear. They appear when the ordinary life is seen\nthrough as no more than a stage for the further evolution of the soul\nthrough the grasping of a higher kind of reality than has as yet\npresented itself to it. As Eucken says: \"Religion proves itself a\nkingdom of opposites. When it steps out of such opposites, it destroys\nwithout a doubt the turbidity and evanescence of ordinary commonplace\nlife, and separates clearly the lights and shadows from one another. It\nsets our life between the sharpest contrasts, and engenders the most\npowerful feelings and the most mighty movements; it shows the dark abyss\nin our nature, but also [p.142] shows illumined peaks; it opens out\ninfinite tasks, and brings ever to an awakening a new life in its\nmovement against the ordinary self. It does not render our existence\nlighter, but it makes it richer, more eventful, and greater; it enables\nman to experience cosmic problems within his own soul in order to\nstruggle for a new world, and, indeed, in order to gain such a genuine\nworld as its own proper life.\"[50]\n\nAll this is not a matter of speculation, but of fact. And it is in the\nrecognition of this fact that Eucken's philosophy of religion\nconstitutes a new kind of idealistic movement--a movement tending more\nand more in the direction of Christianity. But he differs here again\nfrom the absolute idealists and the pragmatists. The former base their\nAbsolute upon the demands of logic, whilst Eucken bases all upon the\ndemands and potencies of life; the pragmatists emphasise the primary\nplace of the will in the development of the inner life, but they have\ncertainly ignored the presence of over-individual norms, as the goal of\nvolition, whilst Eucken holds to the necessity of both. With the\nabsolutists the relation of the Absolute with the will is not clearly\nperceived, and consequently the Absolute becomes merely an object of\nthought and contemplation; and in all this the individual does not\nbecome aware of a burning desire to move in the direction of the goal.\n[p.143] The pragmatist leaves the individual at the mercy of the\nmomentary content of consciousness; this content is quite as likely to\nbe trivial as to be great; and hence there is no absolute standard\npresent to determine the nature and value of this content of the moment,\nand consequently no more than a life of effortless drifting can issue\nout of all this.\n\nThis blend of absolutism and pragmatism is richer in its content than\neither of the two. Each has missed something of importance, and it is\nhere supplied by Eucken.\n\nNorms and potency become two indissoluble factors in the evolution of\nthe higher life. As already stated, the norms have an objectivity of\ntheir own, and consequently when they enter into life, life becomes\nconscious of their being something _given_ and not brought into\nexistence by its own potency. It is out of this conclusion to which life\nis forced that the doctrine of Grace, found in some way or other in all\nreligions, is to be accounted for. And it is out of the consciousness of\nthe interval between norm and achievement that the sense of _guilt_\nfollows man whenever he penetrates deeply into the deeper experiences of\nthe soul. Grace and guilt--naming only two experiences of the soul--are\nnot remnants of a traditional theology, but essential elements which\naccompany the deepest experience of the soul. When they are wanting, it\nis most probable that the soul has not plumbed its own [p.144] existence\nto its very depths, but has rather chosen to be satisfied with what lies\nbut a little way beneath the surface--with what does not cause too much\nuneasiness, but is sufficient for a life to persist as a good member of\nthe society by which it is surrounded. Only half a religion can become\nthe possession of any individual who does not at least pay as much\nattention to the nature and value of over-individual norms as he pays to\nthe nature of the environment and of the ordinary life. It is always a\nsign that humanity is drifting to the shallows of life when it looks\nupon religion as the flowering of the mere natural life of good custom,\nearthly happiness, and ease. Whenever the tragedy born in the conflict\nbetween norms and ordinary life is absent, the very elements which\nconstitute greatness and the \"taste of eternity\" are also absent. It is\non account of this fact that Eucken insists that no individual or nation\nthat loses its own deeper religious experience can be really great or\ntrue; for the purest spring of human life and conduct is wanting, and\nthe whole life issues from a shallower stream. It is impossible here to\nenter into the truth of this matter; but our individual observation\nconcerning men and communities is almost enough of itself to verify the\nstatement. That such a higher spiritual life is a reality may be\nevidenced further through its effects. It changes the whole relationship\nof the man [p.145] who has experienced it to everything he comes in\ncontact with. New convictions and new points of view have now actually\noccurred within his soul; man has become conscious of a spiritual\ninwardness, brought forth through the presence of an over-personal\nspiritual life coupled with his own spiritual needs. With the possession\nof such spiritual elements, how is it possible for him any more to look\nupon the world and human life with the same eyes as before? The dawning\nof a new reality has made him a new creature; he is now compelled by his\nown deeper nature to preserve and to reflect the light which is within\nhim; and all this brings prominently forward the need of something other\nfor the progress of the world than the first look of things is able to\nshow. It is in such manner as this that we must account for all the\nideals which have moved mankind from the level of animalism and greed to\nthe level of civilisation, culture, morals, and religion. The work is\nfar from being completed: the world still clings to the old level of\nordinary life, and is so slow to grasp the value of the life of\nspiritual ideals. Still, something has been accomplished in the course\nof the ages; and although, probably, the progress has not been\ncontinuous, there has been a gain in the \"long run.\" But the point to\nbear in mind is that it is the power of the over-individual ideal which\nhas carried the race along. Ideals have been perverted, it is true; they\nhave been [p.146] drawn down and mixed with what was inferior in its\nnature, yet they have never been completely destroyed in this evil\nprocess. They have still a marvellous power of disentangling themselves\nfrom human perversions, and of revealing themselves once more in their\npristine power and glory. \"But the spiritual life declares its ability\nalso positively within the human province through a persistent effort to\nmove outside the 'given' situation, through a tracing out and a holding\nforth of ideals, through a longing after a more complete happiness and a\nmore complete truth. Why is not man satisfied with the relativity which\nso obstinately clings to his existence? Why has he a longing for the\nAbsolute in opposition to such relativity, and through this plunges\nhimself into the deepest sorrows and distractions? This has happened not\nonly in special situations of individuals, but in the whole process of\nculture; indeed, the upward march of culture would have been impossible\nwithout a striving of man from a level above his 'given' position and\neven above himself. Was not subjective satisfaction more easily reached\nby him in the semi-animal stages of his existence than in culture and\ncivilisation with all their toils and tangles, and does the progress of\nculture and civilisation with all their mechanical appliances make him\nin the merely human sense happier? What else could compel him to step\ninto this perilous track but the necessity of his own nature [p.147]\nrevealing to him the presence of a new order of things?\"[51]\n\nThe whole of this movement is from within without. Even the physical\nworld has to enter into consciousness before it can be known and\ninterpreted; even the over-individual norms have to be accepted and\ninterpreted by the spiritual potency before the reality which they\npossess in themselves can become our own personal reality. We receive\nfrom without on the plane of Nature and on the planes of mentality and\nspirituality. The consciousness does not evolve its content on any level\nof its progress from itself alone. Material from without has to enter\ninto it. But the whole of this material will become one's own possession\nin the degree it is attended to after it has entered consciousness;\nsomething has to happen to the material _within_ consciousness; it has\nto awaken a potency, and has to distil its own content within that\npotency. But as this potency is not of the same nature entirely as what\npresents itself as possessing value, it is clear that the higher element\nwhich presents itself has to enter into a struggle for the throne of\nlife with elements of a lower order. As this all-important fact has been\ndealt with in a previous chapter, there is no need to dwell on it again;\nbut it is well to bear in mind that the fact [p.148] constitutes an\nimportant element in Eucken's conception of \"universal\" religion.\n\n\"Universal\" and \"Characteristic\" religion do not constitute two\ndifferent religions, but two grades of the one religion. In \"Universal\"\nreligion Eucken deals very largely with the intellectual grounds of\nreligion. He is aware that it is necessary for us to carry our whole\npotencies into religion. Intellect is one of these, and we cannot afford\nto construct our religion on what comes into perpetual conflict with\nintellectual conceptions. Eucken has shown that intellectual\nconclusions, if they are carried far enough and include the whole of\ntheir own meaning, lead us into religion. We have already noticed how\nthe presence of norms and standards were necessitated by the very theory\nof knowledge itself. It is a great gain for man to know that this is\nso--that in so far as knowledge testifies anything in regard to religion\nand spiritual life it affirms more than it negates. It is of enormous\nadvantage to be assured that knowledge is on our side in the quest for\nsomething that is deeper than itself.\n\nFurther, Eucken conceives it as the function of religion on this\n\"Universal\" level to present, on the other hand, the actual situation.\nWhat but knowledge can reveal to us the difference between spiritual\nnorms and ordinary life, between intellect working alone and intellect\nmerged with the spiritual potency of one's [p.149] being? We are bound\nto know these and a hundred other things. They all go to prove that\nthere is justification for the movement of spiritual life in the\ndirection of an over-world, and in its hope for the possession of a new\ngrade of reality. It is well and necessary to affirm all this before we\nenter on the \"grand enterprise.\" When an affirmation, based upon\ninsight, is made, there will be present within the soul a greater power\nto resist hunting after shadows or slipping to a lower level when we are\nin the very midst of the quest. And, indeed, on this very level of\n\"Universal\" religion something besides the mere knowledge of religion\nhas taken place. Values which are intellectually true are bound to\nexercise some influence on the life. Thus, something of the nature of\nthe higher reality has touched the soul and will of man. We _know_ in\nwhat we have believed. This is a stage which must be passed through, for\nwe can never feel certain upon a higher altitude unless we are certain\nof what had led to it. And although, on the higher altitude, there is\nthe merging of intellectual truth in something higher than itself, still\nwhat is discovered on this higher level is richer in content if we can\ncall up at times intellectual affirmations for its support.\n\nBut \"Universal\" religion has its limitations, and has to pass into\nsomething more characteristic, specific, and personal. The over-personal\nnorms, which are spiritual in their very nature, [p.150] have not only\nto be interpreted, they have also to be appreciated and reverenced. The\n_How_ of their appearance, after it is settled, takes a secondary place,\nand the norms in their own value and subsistence are attended to. Thus,\nthey become not merely ideas having some kind of reality of their own,\nbut also become revelations of the very nature of the world; they become\nthe source of all creation; the one spring of all being. In other words,\nthey are made to mean the Godhead; they mean the creation and sustaining\npower of all life. A communion with the Godhead now takes place, and man\nfinds himself in possession of experiences brought about without the\nintervention of the world. Thus \"Universal\" religion culminates in a\n\"Characteristic\" or personal religion. And to this culmination, as it is\npresented by Eucken, we now turn.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER IX [p.151]\n\nCHARACTERISTIC RELIGION\n\n\nOn the level of \"Universal\" religion great changes have taken place in\nlife. The consciousness and conviction of the reality of a new kind of\nworld have arisen; the sensuous, and even partially the intellectual,\ndomains have been relegated to a secondary place: other values, higher\nin their nature and more universal in their scope, have attracted the\nattention of mind and soul. In all this a change has taken place in the\ndisposition as well as in the will. Prior to this change the character\nhad not become conscious of its own inwardness, but remained subservient\nto the norms of social and moral inheritance. Some amount of morality\nand good will have issued forth in this manner, and, indeed, the gain\ncannot be overestimated. But it is evident that something further has to\nhappen if the movement of society is to proceed onward and upward, and\nif the energy for such a movement is to be discovered within the soul.\nThe whole material which enters into consciousness has to obtain a\ndeeper meaning [p.152] than it hitherto possessed. And this happens on\nthe level of \"Universal\" religion. The _spiritual_ is now recognised as\nthe highest manifestation of life; and this spiritual is seen to be\nsomething which has to be gained through a struggle which calls the\nwhole nature into activity. Such a movement from the less to the more\nspiritual proceeds side by side with the _freedom_ of the individual.\nFreedom has now taken a new meaning. Hitherto it meant little more than\nthe consciousness of the individual moving along the line of least\nresistance. The effort to move in such a direction is generally\npleasurable; and when it tends to become painful the individual gives up\nthe effort. The highest norms were not present with a categorical\naffirmation of their reality and value. But when they are present, the\nwill is turned from the direction of ordinary life and its ease to the\nconception of the meaning and value of the highest norms. Something,\nappearing as of intrinsic value, now makes itself felt, and stirs the\nwhole nature. Thus, a _new movement_ begins; the _passive_ attitude of\nthe soul gives way to an _autonomous_ attitude and movement. The will,\nconsequently, is conscious of a deeper need than any hitherto\nexperienced, and therefore calls into being some deeper elements of its\nown in order to reach its goal. The whole nature has now affirmed the\n_idea of the good_, which had dawned upon it as an imperative. It is in\n[p.153] such a moment that the real nature becomes free--it becomes\nconscious, through and through, of the possibility of leaving its old\nworld and of ascending into a new one. This is, in Eucken's words, the\nreal spiritual evolution (_Wesensbildung_) of human nature. This\nevolution, which, prior to this, was considered very largely as a kind\nof gift of the environment, is now perceived as capable of realisation\nonly in so far as the spiritual norms are willed. When we examine the\nprogress of humanity, we discover that it has taken place in this\nmanner; a task had to be set and the whole nature had to be called forth\nto realise it. The result is that a new creation takes place in the\nhistory of the world. Such a creation becomes a new norm in the moral\nworld, as well as a possession in the life of the individual who has\nstruggled to realise it.\n\nSuch a spiritual process, after something of its nature has been\nrealised, finds necessities laid upon it on all hands. Once we have\nstepped into the very centre of spiritual norms and ideals they begin to\nreveal with a wonderful rapidity and impressiveness their own intrinsic\ncontent and value. \"Universal\" religion has enabled us to realise that\nwe are dealing with \"grounds\" which are a demand of the deepest nature,\nand with convictions which seem, without a doubt, \"to ring true.\" The\nman has found a shelter in the midst of all the chaos and welter of the\nnatural process, [p.154] and his deepest reason has not failed to come\nto the assistance of his spiritual need. He now becomes conscious of\nsecurity and even of victory in the enterprise before the battle has\nreally begun on an arena outside his own nature; a conviction is being\nbrought into being within his deepest soul that the best and strongest\nelements in the universe are on his side. Although hindrances and\nentanglements of all kinds increase in number, the increase in spiritual\ncertainty, and faith in the final issue of his life, have grown at a\ngreater ratio. Such a man has settled his destiny; he has come to the\ngreat spiritual affirmation of life--an affirmation which has to be\nrepeated so often, and which each time distils something of a higher\norder within the soul.\n\nIt is evident that such an affirmation of the reality of spiritual\nideals, which have now an existence of their own, should lead us\nfarther. If they mean so much, why cannot they mean more? If they\nsubsist in themselves, they must be what they _are_. They are to us\nmeaning and value of infinite significance. But such and other spiritual\ncharacteristics are _not things_, and, as we have seen, not mere\nprojections of our own individual selves. There is nothing short of\npersonality and over-personality by which they can be even partially\ndesignated and determined. We are forced to this conclusion if they are\nto be objects of communion and union: and we are forced [p.155] further\nto gather the Many into the One. That was what was done on all lower\nplanes. Why stop short here, because infinitely much happens when the\nMany find their points of union and meaning in the One?[52] We have said\nthat infinitely much happens when the Many find their meaning in the\nOne. A need of the nature has arisen which demands this, and it has\narisen at its _highest possible level alone_. Such a nature will never\nbecome absolutely certain of the meaning and value of all that has led\nup to this until the One obtains a self-subsistence. If this effort\nfails, the whole effort of development towards unity and inwardness\nfails. And when such a chain of effort snaps at its highest link of\nspiritual development, everything that had entered into the process at\nall the levels below it snaps along with it in so far as it had any\nvalidity whatever in the light of what is higher than itself.\n\nBut the fact that this conception of the One, conceived as Absolute\nSpiritual Life, has produced so many effects of the highest kind is a\nproof of its existence. Qualities come into being which can never come\nwith such power in any other way. The spiritual experiences, revealed at\nsuch a level, have something to say on this matter. These experiences,\n[p.156] although aware of the meaning of universal concepts, have become\naware of something higher still: Knowledge has given place to Love; a\nregion has been reached beyond all the contradictions of the world and\nbeyond all the dialectics of knowledge. It is a region which includes\nthe good of all without injuring the good of any; and all the meaning of\nthe world and of life is interpreted from this highest standpoint. This\nis the essence of \"characteristic \"or specific religion. On the level of\n\"universal\" religion, God was seen from the standpoint of the world; in\n\"characteristic\" religion the world is seen from the standpoint of God.\nThe appearance of the world is consequently different from each\nstandpoint. All must now be viewed and valued from the standpoint of\n\"characteristic\" religion, from the standpoint of the One--the Godhead;\nand if humanity is ever to be brought to this standpoint, the nature and\nthe meaning of the One have to be presented to it. And it is this, as\nEucken shows, which has been partially accomplished by the religions of\nthe world. Their founders were personalities who had scaled the heights\ntowards the \"holy of holies\" of the One; they descended into the plains\nto reveal what they had seen and heard and experienced on the heights.\nThey had been able to commune with the Alone, and their natures had been\ncompletely transformed. In passing thus from the stage of \"universal\"\n[p.157] religion to the higher stage of \"characteristic,\" men have\ndiscovered a further security and spiritual evolution of their whole\nbeing. Their views of man and the world have become changed; they now\nlong to make mankind the possessor of the \"vision splendid\" which has\nmeant all for them. Communion with the One as Infinite Love has revealed\nto them a peace and a power which are far beyond all the lower unities.\n\nIt is of value, in the midst of all the complexities of life, of the\npartial interpretations of the various branches of knowledge, to have\npassed through the several stages below the One. Some must guard the\nhighest citadel of religion and keep open the avenues to Infinity,\nEternity, and Immortality. And the greater the number who are able to do\nthis, the better for the world and for the individual. But a taste of\nthis Infinite Love can be obtained without all this. Just as some of us\nare able to walk without a knowledge of the bodily mechanism and to eat\nand digest without a knowledge of the history of our bread, so the\ndeeper spiritual potencies inherent in man are able to find a vast\namount of satisfaction by resting upon and trusting in a Love Absolute,\nEternal, and Infinite. Here, man is in a region of infinite calm beyond\nthe distractions of the world and of knowledge. He cannot remain here\nfor any great length of time; he has to return to the world, but he is\nnever [p.158] again the same being after having scaled the \"mount of\ntransfiguration.\" \"Religion holds as certain and conclusive that this\nnew inner foundation is the greatest thing of all and the wonder of\nwonders, because it carries within itself the power and certainty of the\novercoming of the old world and the creation of a new one; it is on\naccount of this that religion longs for the conviction of the whole man,\nand brands the denial of this as pettiness and unbelief. The world may\ntherefore remain to the external view as it appeared before--a kingdom\nof opposition and darkness; its hindrances within and without may seem\nto nullify everything else; they may contract and even seemingly destroy\nman and his spiritual potencies; all his acts may seem fruitless and\nvain, and his whole existence may seem to sink into nothingness and\nworthlessness. Yet, through the entrance of the new life and a new\nworld, everything is transformed from within, and the clearness of the\nlight appears all the more by contrast with all the depth of the\ndarkness. Indeed, in the midst of all the mysteries of existence, hope\nand conviction and certainty will consolidate our experience, so that\nultimately evil itself must serve the development of the good.\"[53] Or\nin the words of Luther: \"This is the spiritual power which reigns and\nrules in the midst of enemies, and is powerful in the midst [p.159] of\nall oppression. And this is nothing other than that strength is\nperfected in weakness, and that in all things I can gain life eternal,\nso that cross and crown are compelled to serve and to contribute towards\nmy salvation.\"[54]\n\nEucken shows how this idea of God comes from the Life-process itself.\nThe Godhead is present, not as an external revelation but as the ever\nfuller meaning and experience which have been carried along in the soul\nin its passage from the natural level to the highest spiritual plane. At\nits summit the development unfolds its true spiritual content of Love.\nThe Highest Power--however much there still remains dark concerning\nit--has had communication with man, is present within his soul, has\nbecome his own life and nature, as well as his self-subsistence over\nagainst the order of the world. Here Love is raised up into an image of\nthe Godhead--Love as a self-communication and as an essential elevation\nof the nature, and as an expression of inmost fellowship.[55] \"There\noriginates a mutual intercourse of the soul and God as between an I and\na Thou.\" It has already been stated that Eucken insists that no close\ndetermination, in an intellectual form, should be given to this\nconception and experience of God. The idea of a personality of God is\nnot an intellectual idea presented in any doctrinal form; it is an idea\n[p.160] born _within_ the _Life-process_ on its highest levels. On such\nlevels it becomes obvious and indispensable. Man may be clearly\nconscious of the symbolism of the idea, and yet, at the same time, grasp\nin it an incontestable intrinsic truth which he knows to be far above\nall mere anthropomorphism. Eucken shows that it is not merely a human\ngreatness that has been transferred to the Divine, but that the whole\nmeaning here is a return to the source of a Divine Life and its mutual\ncommunication with man; and therefore the whole process is not an\nargument of man concerning the Divine, because the Divine has to be\napprehended through the Divine within us. \"All opposition to the idea of\nthe Divine personality is ultimately explained by the fact that an\nenergetic Life-process is wanting--a Life-process which entertains the\nquestion not so much from without as from within. Whenever such a\nLife-process is found, there is simultaneously found, often in overt\ncontradiction to the formal doctrinal statement, an element of such a\npersonal character of God.\"[56] But this _immanent_ aspect of the idea\nof God is accompanied by a _transcendent_ aspect. We have noticed\nalready that the very nature of the _Ought_ included a transcendent and\nobjective aspect.[57] The same fact becomes evident in [p.161] religious\nexperience. The two poles--immanence and transcendence--are\ncomplementary. The former shows that something of the Divine nature has\nbeen implanted within human nature; the latter shows that more is in\nexistence than we have already possessed. Spiritual norms never decrease\nbut increase in splendour the nearer man is to their attainment.\nSomething is here discovered which is not found in the world; it is a\nkind of transcendent summit, a mysterious sublimity. And an approach\ntowards this summit produces experiences never to be possessed in any\nother kind of way. As Eucken himself puts it: \"If this sublimity\nsuperior to the world secures an abode in the soul, and, indeed, becomes\nthe inmost and most intimate part of our being, and enables us to\nparticipate in the self-subsistence of infinity, it opens up within us a\nfathomless depth, in which the existence that lies nearest to our hands\nis swallowed up, and it makes us a problem to ourselves--a problem which\ntransforms the whole of life--whilst it enables us to understand and to\nhandle what at the outset appeared to be its whole life as a mere phase\nand appearance. Thus it is the same religion which opens out from God to\nman and which simultaneously opens itself out in man himself and becomes\na great mystery to him. Therefore, in the idea of God the intimate and\nthe ultimate must both be present if religion is to reach its full\ndevelopment and to [p.162] avoid the dangers which everywhere threaten\nit.\"[58] Both these aspects interlace in one Life-process; the unity is\npresent in the manifold, and the ultimate present in the intimate.\n\nAccording to Eucken, it is out of such an experience as we have noticed\nthat the idea of immortality becomes a firm belief and faith within the\nsoul. The idea cannot be proved scientifically, simply because its\nspiritual content is greater than anything which is _below_ it. The\nwhole proof lies within the experience itself at this, its highest\nsummit. \"The Infinite Power and Love that has grounded a new spontaneous\nnature in man, over against a dark and hostile world, will conserve such\na new nature and its spiritual nucleus, and shelter it against all\nperils and assaults, so that life as the bearer of life eternal can\nnever be wholly lost in the stream of time.\" We are here in a region\nfarthest removed from sense and understanding; but the remarkable thing\nis that the conviction of immortality does not dawn on any lower level;\nit is not on the lower levels a portion of spiritual experience. It\nseems as if an element of immortality is only to be gained at a certain\nheight of the spiritual life. On all levels below, men seek for proofs\nin the analogies of Nature, in the supposed return of the spirits of the\ndead, and in the craving found in their own lives. All these proofs have\none thing in common: they [p.163] are all of a lower order of value than\nthe meaning which the content of experience gives to immortality on its\nhighest level. For at this highest level the proof is not something\nhappening outside the man; it is the deepest part of his own being which\nnow actually possesses a taste of life eternal. It seems, then, that\nthere is no answer to the problem outside ourselves, because it is not\nsomething to be known, but something to be experienced after long toil\nand a stirring of the nature to its lowest depths in the drift of all\nthat is highest and best.[59] It is sufficient for us to possess a life\nwhich is spiritual and timeless in its nature: and when such a life is\npossessed, empirical proofs are neither demanded nor desired. It is\nwithin one's own new and spiritual world that proofs are now discovered,\nand they are timeless and spaceless in their own intrinsic nature. \"Do\nthis, and thou shalt live.\" If the man has to negate all concerning the\npreservation of his natural individuality, the new world he has gained\nfor his soul will have abundant affirmation within itself, without the\nsupport of any earthly props. It is his own highest life which testifies\nto him that \"death does not count\" at all.\n\nEucken's whole plea is that spiritual life at the point of its highest\nmanifestation should not be interpreted by anything below itself.\n[p.164] We have already noticed how, on lower levels, spiritual life was\neven there interpreted by its _norms_, and not by its connections with\nwhat was _below itself_. The disappearance of miracle in religion is an\nindispensable stage which must be passed over. It is necessary only on a\nmid-level of religion, and has really been far more of the nature of a\nsymbol than of a fact. It is at our peril that in religion we give up\nsuch a symbol until a more \"inward wonder\" has happened within our own\nsoul. When the self-subsistence of the spiritual life and the reality of\nthe norms of the over-world, now all united in God, are experienced, all\nmiraculous manifestations of the Divine, imaginary or real, are\nrelegated to a secondary place. They all belong to a point which the man\nhas passed; they are milestones to which he can never return. \"An evil\nand adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign\nbe given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.\" As Eucken points out,\n\"This is no other than the sign of spiritual power and of a Divine\nmessage and greatness.\" The movement from signs and miracles is a\nmovement from the outward to the inward, from percept to spirituality;\nand the essence of religion, as a reality in itself and as an experience\nof the soul, is to be found by taking such a step. The centre of gravity\nof life has now been shifted from the outward to the inward. To\naccomplish this means nothing less than a [p.165] struggle for _the\ngoverning centre of life_. Unless we succeed in this struggle, the inner\nlife will reach no independence and subsistence of its own. Even when\nthe struggle succeeds in gaining its longed-for depth, it has not\nremoved for once and for all the contradictions from without and within.\nDifficulties, from the lower side, will accompany the spiritual life in\nits higher evolution, but once it has become conscious of its own Divine\nnature and certainty it will gain sufficiently in content and power to\nrelegate them all to the periphery. Something has happened within the\nsoul which can never be obliterated. As Eucken says: \"The contradiction\nis now removed from the centre to the periphery of life; it can\ntherefore only touch us from without, and is not able to overthrow what\nis within; it will not so much weaken as strengthen the certainty,\nbecause it calls life to a perpetual renewal and brings to fruition the\ngreatness of the conquest.\"[60]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER X [p.166]\n\nTHE HISTORICAL RELIGIONS\n\n\nWe have noticed in the two preceding chapters how Eucken distinguished\nthe two stages of religion--the \"Universal\" and the \"Characteristic\"\n--and how he showed the necessity of both stages. As man cannot escape\nfrom the conclusions of his intellect, it becomes necessary for him to\ncome to an understanding with those conclusions; and although such\nconclusions do not form a complete account of life in its deepest\naspects, still they are indispensable for him in order to know that he\nis on the path towards a further development of his spiritual nature.\nHence the grounds of religion have to be emphasised by the conclusions\nof the intellect. But though intellectual conclusions, as we have\nalready seen, warrant us in holding fast to the presence and reality of\na life of the spirit and to the possibility of an evolution of such a\nlife, all this does not mean that such an evolution is actually reached\nthrough the affirmations of [p.167] the intellect. The road of spiritual\ndevelopment is marked out, but we have to travel over that road\nourselves. Something more than an intellectual acknowledgment of the\nexistence of such a road is necessary before the actual movement takes\nplace. When the actual movement does take place, when the intellectual\nconclusions come in contact with a will arising from our deepest needs,\nthe matter becomes personal--it becomes something that has to be\naffirmed by the blending of intellect with the deeper spiritual\npotencies. The vision at this higher stage constitutes not only the\ncertainty of a path for man--a path which leads to higher regions--but\nbrings forth hidden energies in order to start him on the enterprise.\nThe whole vision is now seen to be possible of realisation only through\npersonal decisions of the whole nature in the direction of the\nover-personal values which present themselves. These over-personal\nvalues increase as the soul passes along the upward path and as it\ngrants a self-subsistence and unconditional significance to these\nvalues. There follows here an increase of spiritual reflection; the\ncontent of the vision is loosened from sense and time; its\nself-subsistence becomes more and more real and more and more and more\ndifferent from all that was experienced on any level below; knowledge\nsteps into the background, and love and appreciation now guide the whole\nmovement of [p.168] the soul. As we have already seen, when this\nhappens, the idea of God as Infinite Love presents itself, and the\nsoul's main task is to climb to the summits \"where on the glimmering\nlimits far withdrawn God made Himself an awful rose of dawn.\" Religion\nis at such a level more than an intellectual insistence upon its\ngrounds; the soul looks now rather to its summits. Hence the two stages\nof Universal and Characteristic religion become necessary. And it is not\nalways true that the Universal mode ceases once the Characteristic mode\nis partially realised. The soul has to descend from the heights into the\nordinary world below. And as it now sees the world with new eyes, it\nsees much more to be condemned than was previously possible for it to\nsee. There comes the constant need of certifying the validity of its\nexperience on the heights, and of getting others who have never\nattempted the experiment to do so. The man possessed of something of the\nvision within his own soul proclaims his \"gospel,\" and conceives of all\nkinds of ways and means by which humanity can be drawn towards the same\ngoal.\n\nThis is the meaning which Eucken attaches to the origin and development\nof the union of universal and specific religions as these have been\nrevealed in human history. The intellectual grounds of religion as well\nas something of the actual spiritual experiences are presented by the\nfounders. Every kind of [p.169] religion has originated in this manner.\nThey are all attempts at showing that a _here and now_ and a _beyond_\nhave united and become potencies of life, and can become actualities.\nThe _here and now_ always points to a _beyond_, and the _beyond_, when\nit is realised, returns to the _here and now_ and always transforms it.\nThus, we are in the midst of two worlds which are continuous with one\nanother just as the valley is continuous with the base of the mountain.\n\nSuch historical religions do not, then, originate in the collective\nexperiences of humanity, but in what has actually happened in the life\nof unique personalities. These personalities have become, as it were,\nmediators between God and man. Such religions adopt the most diverse\nforms, because the personalities have given of the content of their own\npersonal experiences, and no two experiences view anything from\nstandpoints precisely identical. The historical religions may\nconsequently be narrow in their outlook. The personalities are dependent\nupon their race, place, training, and inheritance for the particular\nintellectual presentation of their religion. Thus, each historical\nreligion has its own view of the universe and its own morality. But the\nvalue of no historical religion is to be judged from this standpoint\nalone. Such views of the universe and such morality must have appeared\nto them somehow as a good--as [p.170] ways and means to what lay\n_beyond_. We may have outgrown such ways and means; other ways and means\nhigher in their nature may have become our inheritance. But these higher\nways and means could not have evolved out of their lower stages had not\nsome element of the _beyond_ instilled itself into them. The historical\nreligions could never have flourished on immorality and superstition,\nhowever much of these we may discover in them. It is the _beyond,\nover-personal_ element which has kept them alive, and this element has\nalways had a hard struggle to overcome and transform _the here-and-now_\nelements. Whenever the historical religions are traced back to their\nsources, there is discovered an element _above_ the world in the souls\nof their founders and of their immediate followers. As Eucken puts it:\n\"To these founders the new kingdom was no vague outline and no feeble\nhope, but all stood clear in front of them; the kingdom was so real to\ntheir souls and filled them so exclusively that the whole sensuous world\nwas reduced by them to a semblance and a shadow if they could not\notherwise gain a new value from a superior power. The new world could\nattain to such immediacy and impressiveness only because a regal\nimagination wrestled for a unique picture in the tangled heap of life,\nand because it invested this picture with the clearest outlines and the\nmost vivid colours. Thus the new world dawns on humanity with [p.171]\nfascinating power, rousing it out of the sluggishness of daily routine,\nbinding it through a corporate aim, raising inspiring ardour through\nradiant promises and terrible threats, and creating achievements\notherwise impossible. This prepared road into the kingdom of the\ninvisible, this creation of a new reality which is no merely serene kind\nof play but a deep seriousness, this inversion of worlds which pushes\nsensuous existence down into a distance and which prepares a home for\nman within the kingdom of faith--all this is the greatest achievement\nthat has ever been undertaken and that has ever worked upon human soil.\n... Their works seemed to carry within them Divine energies; wonders\nsurrounded their paths; their life and being bridged securely the gulf\nbetween heaven and earth.\"[61] Now, Eucken shows that it is of great\nimportance to acknowledge these personalities in order that life may be\nbrought into a safe track. Enough has already been said of the\nimpossibility of finding a sufficiency for life and death within the\nspan of ordinary existence. And as this is so, a whole span of past and\npresent has to be taken into account. The world cannot move a step\ntowards the heights of the future without this. The real future is the\nblend of what _was_ and _is_ forming the standard and the receptacle for\nwhat is _to be._ We have already noticed how such a standard [p.172]\nevolves; and how, when it is followed to its utmost limits, it merges\ninto the conception of God. But as all this is a conception spiritual in\nits nature--devoid of flesh and blood as its clothing--it becomes\nextremely difficult for the majority of mankind to hold fast to its\nreality in a world where flesh and blood mean so much. Something more\ntangible is craved for by man as a proof of an over-world and of an\nover-personal life. Such proof men are able to obtain in the great\nreligious personalities of the world without having to go through the\nintellectual processes of discovering the grounds of religion. Men are\nable to view this spiritual truth as they view a picture. It becomes\neasy to understand how such personalities have been raised beyond all\nhuman valuations to a likeness to God and even to an equality with God.\nSuch personalities were the highest conceptions which men could possess\nof the Godhead. This seems to have been a necessary stage in the\nevolution of the religious life as well as of religious conceptions. And\neven to-day attention is not to be diverted from such personalities. The\nquestion whether they were or were not gods has become meaningless. What\npsychology is able to fathom the soul of any individual? Every attempt\nat doctrinal formulation states less than was present within the souls\nof such personalities. But, on the other hand, it does seem necessary,\n[p.173] according to Eucken's teaching, to avoid confusing such\npersonalities with the All. They were great; they possessed elements\nabove the world; but none of them possessed the whole that is in\nexistence.\n\nThe truth concerning these founders of religion seems to lie in the fact\nthat they realised a depth of life beyond the world, the intellect, and\nthe span of ordinary life. It is this fact that needs to be brought\nprominently forward in our day. And such a fact becomes an experimental\nproof of the presence and efficacy of the Divine within the soul and\npoints to an upward direction the total-movement of the world. If such a\nfact does not succeed in holding for itself a primary place, other\nsubsidiary facts will colour and weaken its true spiritual content and\nvalue. This is the road on which speculative and superstitious ideas\nhave found an entrance into the historical religions. When such is the\ncase, the spiritual reality is gradually weakened, is lowered to the\nlevel of intellectualistic dogma, until it ultimately becomes, though in\nthe guise of religion, the worst enemy which spiritual religion has to\nencounter. All hard and fixed dogmatic settings of religion usurp the\nsupremacy of the spiritual life itself.\n\nEucken shows this in connection with religious\ninstitutions--institutions which were meant by their founders to be\nessential but [p.174] still subservient to the needs and aspirations of\nspiritual life. Thus, genuine religion is measured by a doctrinal\nstandard or by a sacrament. These may possess an incalculable value in\nreligion, when used as means and not as ends; but they may, and often\ndo, issue in its degradation to a stage which is hardly a spiritual one.\nEvery historical religion possesses some absolute truth, but does not\npossess the whole truth; and also each historical religion possesses\nsome elements which have to pass away. But this matter will be dealt\nwith in a later chapter.\n\nThe main service of the historical religions is to bring home to us the\nfact that in the course of human history a spiritual life above the\nworld has again and again dawned on mankind through the experiences and\nworks of great personalities. To realise intensely such a fact is to\nrealise the fact that all this can happen again in a more concentrated\nform than is actually presented in the slow and toilsome effects of the\nresults of the collective life of the community.\n\nIt may be well to refer here to Eucken's classification of the religions\nof the world. This classifications consists of _the Religions of Law and\nthe Religions of Redemption_. The Religions of Law maintain that the\nkernel of religion lies in \"the announcement and advocacy of a moral\norder which governs the world from on high.\" God has revealed His will\nto man; [p.175] if man obeys, rich rewards await him in a future life;\nif he disobeys, painful punishment is sure to follow. Man himself has to\nselect one of the two alternatives, and he believes himself able to\nchoose. The Religions of Redemption consider such a view false and\nsuperficial. Now, there is no doubt that the Religions of Law are stages\nwhich are of value when men are incapable of grasping the difficulties\nand complexities of religion. The whole of religion on this level of Law\nis a replica of the relations which obtain on a smaller scale between a\nsovereign and his subjects, or between a master and his slave. Authority\nis something purely external. The two Religions of Redemption--the\nIndian and the Christian--seek the meaning of religion in a very\ndifferent manner. They both agree that human capability, which seems so\nevident to the Religions of Law, is the most difficult and important of\nall questions. They agree further that the essence of religion does not\nconsist in guiding life for the sake of something that life is to\nparticipate in or to avoid in the future; they agree that a change must\nhappen within the soul in this world, and that this change only comes\nabout through the aid of a supernatural power. But these two religions\ndiffer fundamentally in their different ways of looking at the world. To\nthe Indian religions, the existence of the world is an evil; the world\nis itself a kingdom of illusions. \"All in it is transient [p.176] and\nunreal; nothing in it has duration; happiness and love are merely\nmomentary, and men are as two pieces of wood floating on the face of an\ninfinite ocean which pass by one another, never to meet again. Fruitless\nagitation and painful deception have fallen upon him who mistakes such a\ntransient semblance for a reality and who hangs his heart upon it.\nTherefore it behoves man to free himself from such an unholy arena. This\nemancipation will take place when the semblance is seen through as\nsemblance, and when the soul has gained an insight right into the\nfoundation of things. Then the world loses its power over man; the whole\nkingdom of deception with its evanescent values goes to the bottom, all\nthe excited affections caused by the world are extinguished, and life\nbecomes a still and holy calm; it reaches the depth of a dreamless\nsleep, enters, through its immersion into an eternal essence, beyond the\nshadows; it passes, according to Buddhism in its most definite\ninterpretation, into a state of entire unconsciousness.\"[62]\n\nHow different a spirit from all this breathes in Christianity! In\nChristianity the world is good as far as it goes, but it does not go far\nenough. Something of the revelation of the Divine may be discovered\nwithin it, but this is only a segment of a greater whole which comes to\nrealisation within the soul. Here, the world is not cast away, despite\nall its limitations, but [p.177] is perceived as the only sphere where\nspiritual experience may exercise itself and draw out its own hidden\npotencies. Tribulation is to be found in the world; but a standpoint\n_above_ the world, gained by cutting a path right through the world, is\npossible. When such a standpoint is reached, the world is seen as it\nought to be seen and used as it ought to be used. But this aspect of the\nmeaning of the world in the Christian religion will be dealt with later.\nIt is sufficient to state here that Eucken considers Christianity\nsuperior to all other religions by virtue of the fact that it overcomes\nthe world, not by fleeing from it, but by transforming it. It views the\nphysical world as a stage upon which the life of the spirit has to\nrealise all its possibilities; the world and all that is within it take\na secondary place: the primary place is now accorded to the world of\nideals and values as these merge into love and the conception of the\nGodhead.\n\nThe question of the finality of the Christian religion in its purely\nhistorical sense has been discussed by Eucken in his _Truth of Religion,\nChristianity and the New Idealism_, and _Koennen wir noch Christen sein_?\nIn these three works he arrives at the conclusion that no one religion\nhas a claim to the name \"absolute religion,\" because even Christianity\nitself cannot be more than a partial, though the highest, manifestation\nof the Divine. And what Christianity has been and is in [p.178] itself\nas a force in the history of the Western world cannot be the same as\nwhat it was in the personal experience of its Founder. It is not\nsomething which descended once and for all into the world, and so\nremains its permanent inheritance. It is the most priceless inheritance\nwe possess; but such an inheritance has to be discovered again and\nagain. All this cannot come about without calling up to-day the same\nspiritual energies as were needful for the tasks that were present when\nChristianity started to conquer the world. Its aspects of \"world-denial\nand world-renewal\" render Christianity the very religion we need. \"It is\nthe religion of religions,\" but a statement of this fact does not mean\nthe realisation of the fact. The same energy and aspiration are needful\nto-day as in the days of yore. Christianity, whenever it has lived on\nits highest levels, has struggled for two tremendous facts at least: the\ninsufficiency of the world and the regeneration of the world in the\nlight of the Divine. It is not a repetition of what the Founder said\nconcerning religion. What the Founder said cost him enormous labour to\ndiscover and to possess. We shall gain so much and no more of the same\nspiritual substance as we put the same kind of energy in motion. In\norder that we may unravel the complexities of our day, a spirit similar\nto his spirit must become ours. When such a spirit ceases to exist,\nChristianity will become merely a [p.179] name; its power will have\ndisappeared, and men can delude themselves into believing that they\npossess it when in fact they are the possessors of but little of its\nspirit and of much of its form. But the possession of the same spirit as\nthat of Jesus constitutes the further development of Christianity, and\nthis further development is nothing other than what we have already\nseen--the experience and efficacy of an eternal order of things in the\nmidst of all the changes of time. Thus we are thrown back once more, not\nupon our bare individual selves, but upon the presence of the Divine\nwithin the spiritual life itself. Christianity is therefore not\nsomething that has been completed in the past, but the highest mode of\nconceiving and of experiencing Life in the present; it becomes an\ninward, personal and spiritual experience; and its duration and\nexpansion depend upon the increase and depth of such a spiritual\ninwardness.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER XI [p.180]\n\nCHRISTIANITY\n\n\nIt has been noticed how \"Characteristic\" or \"Specific\" religion means\nthe carrying farther of the implications of \"Universal\" religion. It is\nnot only necessary to know the \"grounds\" of religion, as these reveal\nthemselves within the conclusions of the intellect: we have to plant\nourselves upon these \"grounds\"; we must _be_ what they _mean_. Thus,\nreligion becomes a personal task--something that can never be realised\nuntil the whole nature comes to constant decisions of its own and acts\nupon those decisions in the light of what has expressed itself in the\nform of those over-personal norms which have further developed into a\nconception of, and communion with, the Godhead. We have noticed further,\nhow this essence of religion was realised in the lives of great\npersonalities in history, as well as in the religions which they helped\nto found.\n\nEucken does not hesitate to affirm that the highest of these religions\nis the Christian [p.181] religion. The core of the Christian religion\nconsists, as we have already noticed, in its presentation of \"a\nworld-denial and world-renewal\" in a far higher degree than any of the\nother religions, and also in the fact that it presents the union of the\nhuman and the Divine in a clearer light than before. We have noticed,\ntoo, how the Indian religions had to condemn the world in order to\npenetrate to the very essence and bliss of religion. Mohammedanism\naffirmed the world in too strong a manner, and its eternal world\nconstituted a kind of replica of the present material world on an\nenlarged scale. The Jewish religion evolved through a series of stages\nwhich finally culminated in Christianity. The Roman and the Greek\nreligions presented too many pluralistic aspects to be able ever to\nreach the highest synthesis whereby the Many found their meaning,\ninterpretation, and value in the One.\n\nAlthough the Christian religion cannot be designated as absolute\nreligion, still it may be designated as the highest and most perfect\nmanifestation of the Divine. The meaning of the term \"absolute religion\"\ninvolves a conception impossible to maintain, on account of the fact\nthat in all religions some spiritual truth is discerned and realised.\nThe term \"absolute religion\" is also false on account of the fact that\nno religion can contain the whole that is to be revealed and\nexperienced. Christianity [p.182] is best valued when it is seen, not as\na completion of the revelation of the Divine to man, but as a revelation\nwhich has to be preserved, deepened, and carried farther. In the soul of\nthe Founder of Christianity there was doubtless present far more than is\nexpressed in the Biblical records, and far more than actually filtered\ninto the individual and collective consciousness of the earliest\nChristian communities. But we cannot live on what has occurred in the\nlife of any other individual or community except in so far as this\nenters also into our own individual and the collective consciousness. We\nhave already touched on this aspect of the impossibility of obtaining\nsufficient strength for the warfare of the present in anything that\noccurred in the past. Some measure of strength--and no psychology is\nable to say how much--can be obtained from a vision of the spiritual\nmeaning and significance of the life of the Founder. But there is very\ngreat danger in looking here alone for the sole source of all the help\nwe need. The spiritual principles of Christianity have been operating in\nthe world ever since the Master presented the Gospel which he lived and\ndied for. The problem of Christianity is thus a twofold problem. On the\none hand, we have constantly to go back to the Fountain-head, because it\nis here that the stream is purest. But we have, on the other hand, to\nenter into the religious current which surrounds us; and this may be not\nso [p.183] pure as it was at its source. Alien waters have entered into\nthe current--waters of very different taste from those which even the\nFounder expected. These have doubtless polluted the stream. But, on the\nother hand, good elements--primary and secondary--have entered into the\ndeepest nature of Christianity itself. These have to be taken into\naccount. They have been necessitated by the new and ever more complex\nsituations and conditions into which Christianity has had to enter from\ngeneration to generation. It was comparatively easy for Christianity in\nits early beginnings to include within its compass the whole of life.\nBut by to-day life has branched off in so many new directions;\nperplexing problems of knowledge and life have made their appearance. We\ndare not dismiss these to a region outside the sphere of influence of\nChristianity. Christianity, if it is to remain and increase as a living\nforce, has to interpret these problems; it has to help us to distinguish\nbetween the chaff and the wheat.\n\nWhat, then, is the true meaning of Christianity? Eucken shows that it is\nnot possible to determine the nature of Christianity without realising\nthat the nucleus common to all religions lies in the fact \"that they\nmanifest and represent a Divine Life, and that such a Life in its inmost\nfoundation is superior to its external configuration and activity, and\nis able to withstand all the changes of time, and to [p.184] maintain\nwithin itself, in spite of all its curtailment through the human\nsituation, _an eternal truth_.\" This nucleus lies deeper in Christianity\nthan in any other religion. But even Christianity itself is not a pure\nspiritual nucleus. Much, as we have already noticed, has gathered around\nit--much that reveals a lower grade of spirituality. All this\nconstitutes the clothing of Christianity. The clothing has been changed\nagain and again in the past. What reason is there for affirming that it\ncannot be changed again? It is therefore necessary to differentiate\nbetween the _Substance_ of Christianity and its _Existential-form_. The\nSubstance constitutes the fundamental Life superior to the world, and\nhas been present throughout the whole of the Christian era; and it is\nthis Substance which has raised men beyond the merely human situation;\nit is the Substance that has enabled men to overcome the world, and\nafterwards to see the world from the standpoint of the Divine. In this\nwork of differentiation we are dependent in a very large measure upon\nthe results of knowledge. Such results do not grant us the Substance of\nChristianity, because this is something which has to be lived into in\norder to be possessed. The transformation which occurs on account of a\nchange in the Existential-form may indeed prove helpful to the spiritual\nnucleus itself, because it represents a truth of the intellect-a truth\nwhich does not conflict with any [p.185] knowledge outside its own\nsphere. There are many dangers to be discovered in this process of\ninterpreting the spiritual nucleus. A mode of interpretation whose\nmeaning has very largely passed away is bound to prove injurious,\nbecause it comes into sharp conflict with a newer and more comprehensive\nmeaning, and consequently Christianity fails to win the support of those\nwho are acquainted with the new Existential-form. And even the\nindividual who retains the old clothing, and looks upon it as being\nsomething of the same nature as the spiritual nucleus, is in danger of\nbasing a portion of his religion on a foundation of sand. But, on the\nother hand, he who is aware of the flaws of the old Existential-form\nwithout having assimilated the Spiritual Substance which lies beneath\nit, is in danger of drifting from religion altogether. The only way of\nserving best and carrying farther the development of the Christian\nreligion is to grasp and experience deeply the fact that the Spiritual\nSubstance is something entirely different from its form of existence.\nIts form of existence is an attempt to account for the Substance; it\nconsists of intellectual concepts. And as with everything else in this\nworld so with religion; mere intellectual concepts change, and cannot be\nmore than receptacles used by the human mind to enshrine the things\nwhich are presented as meanings and values within the soul.\n\n[p.186] Eucken pays great attention to the necessity of this process of\ndifferentiation between the two elements in Christianity. There is a\nneed to-day of a new form of existence for Christianity; but the\nsatisfaction of this need will not grant us the spiritual nucleus\nitself. The spiritual nucleus is something to be gained not by means of\nknowledge, but by means of love. Eucken goes so far as to state that the\nidea of love and love of one's enemy as presented in Christianity forms\na new element for the redemption of the individual and of the race. To\ngrasp this idea and to penetrate into its nature is to solve all the\nproblems of life and death. This is the Eternal element in the Christian\nreligion. It is found, it is true, in other religions; but why should we\nlook for it elsewhere when it blossomed with such divine glory in the\nlife of the Founder? This is the highest spiritual synthesis\nconceivable. The world has known nothing greater, and nothing greater is\nto be known. This is the Eternal element in Christianity which has to be\npossessed and preserved and furthered. If we ask the question concerning\nthe success or failure of Christianity in the future, the answer is to\nbe found by answering the question, Is Love to God and Love to man found\nwithin it to-day? If we are able to answer in the affirmative, we are\nthereby answering the question in regard to the future duration and\nconquests of Christianity. And if it possesses [p.187] this element\ndeeply enough, it can adopt any existential-form which appears true\nwithout any kind of alarm. If we have to answer in the negative, there\nis no guarantee as to persistence of Christianity in the future.\nAnything less than the spiritual nucleus of Love is lacking in strength\nnecessary to withstand the storms of the future.\n\nWe thus see that the essence of Christianity and its durability do not\nlie in any kind of theology: it lies within the Spiritual Substance\nwhich has abode within it throughout the centuries. Here will the world\nfind its peace and power; here will all social complexities be solved;\nhere will the meanings and blessings of the spiritual over-world of\ngoodness and love become the possession of man. This is what Eucken\nmeans by contending that it is not the business of Christianity to deal\nwith social problems in any light but the light of Infinite Love.\nWithout an experience of this deepest source of Christianity, we do not\npossess the equipment for doing anything more than patching and\nre-patching the evils of the world. And all our patching, when but a\nsmall span of time has passed away, will leave the situation just as it\nwas, or probably worse. Every solution will give birth to a new\ncomplexity; the world may be incessantly active in connection with the\nbetterment of the social situation,'but we shall never heal the wounds\nof individuals and of nations until they are [p.188] brought to the\ndepth of the spiritual life revealed in Christianity as Eternal Love. \"A\nwarm love towards all humanity runs through Christianity; it longs to\nredeem every individual; it gives man a value beyond all special\nachievements and on the other side of all mental and moral deeds; it has\nbeen the first to bring the pure inwardness of the soul to a clear\nexpression. But it has also, through the linking of the human to a\nDivine and Eternal Order, raised life beyond all that is trivial and\nmerely human with its civic ordinances and social interests. He who,\nwith the best intention, views Christianity as a mere means for the\nbetterment of the social situation, draws it from the heights of its\nnature, and deprives it of the main constituent of its greatness--the\nemancipation from the petty-human within the depths of the human itself.\nIt is essentially the nature of Christianity that it transplants man\ninto a new world over against the world that is nearest to our hands; it\nhas planted the fundamental conviction of Platonism of the existence of\nan Eternal Order over against the world of Time amongst a great portion\nof the human race, and has given a mighty impetus to all effort. But it\nhas, though it separated the Eternal from Time, brought it back again\ninto Time; and through the presence of the Eternal it has, for the first\ntime, proposed to mankind and to each individual a fundamental inner\nrenewal, [p.189] and through this has inaugurated a genuine\nhistory.\"[63]\n\nAcknowledging such a nucleus as constituting the very substance of\nChristianity, Eucken proceeds to show the necessity of preserving and\nunfolding the nucleus against the changes of Time. The nucleus has to be\npreserved over against Nature. It has been noticed in previous chapters\nhow modern science has presented us with a view of Nature immensely\nvaster than that presented in Christian theology. Such a view has\ndestroyed for ever a large number of the theological conceptions of the\npast. The earth has been reduced to a subsidiary place within the\ncosmos; and any attempt to return to the old conceptions is bought at\ntoo high a price. A new mode of thought in regard to the interpretation\nof the physical universe has come to stay, and the sooner the Christian\nChurch comes to an understanding with it the better for the Church\nitself. And this new mode may be gladly accepted, because it cannot\ntouch the nature and destiny of the _soul_ of man. We are not able to\nview the perfect circle of things, but we are able to [p.190] trace a\nsegment of it in the fact of the unmistakably cosmic character of the\nspiritual life. The progressive intensifying of the Life-process has\nmade the fact abundantly clear that Nature is not the final reality it\nwas supposed to be by the scientific mode of the past, but that it\nsignifies no more than a \"human vista of reality.\" And, as we have\nalready observed in connection with the Theory of Knowledge, the nature\nof that \"vista\" is determined by a mental process and a construction\nbeyond Nature. Nature appears as no more than an environment when once\nthe power of Eternal Life has appeared within the soul. An insistence on\nthis power and _its_ capacity has raised man to a level from which he\nrecognises the \"priority of spirit\" in spite of all the \"palpableness of\nsensuous impressions.\" Man thus appears great as against Nature; but\nthere is more than enough to make him humble when he views himself in\nthe light of that truth which constitutes the Spiritual and Eternal\nSubstance of Christianity.\n\nNot only do we find the two different elements present in the\nChristianity of our day; they are also apparent in the presentation of\nChristianity found within the Gospels themselves. The miraculous\nelements in the Gospels exhibit a number of contradictions; and an even\nmore serious objection to them is the fact that they come into direct\nconflict [p.191] with the scientific interpretation of Nature. As Eucken\nsays: \"To place a miracle in that one situation would mean an overthrow\nof the total order of Nature, as this order has been set forth through\nthe fundamental work of modern investigation and through an incalculable\nfulness of experiences. What would justify such a breach with the total\nmode of reality ought to appear to us with overwhelming, indisputable\nclearness. Has the traditional fact this degree of certainty, and cannot\nit be explained in any other way? Who is able to assert this with entire\nassurance? If the superiority of the Divine was, on this particular\noccasion, to be proclaimed in a tangible manner, why did all this happen\nfor a small circle of believers alone, and why did it not happen to\nothers? There seems, however, to have been necessary a certain state of\nthe souls of the disciples to make them see what they thought they saw;\nbut in all this there is found a psychic and subjective factor in\noperation--a factor whose potency is very difficult to define and to\nmark its boundaries. It would have been a fact of a wonderful nature if\nthe souls of the disciples, from within, became suddenly and without\nintermediary convinced of the continuation of the life and the presence\nof the Master: all this would have been no sensuous miracle--no break in\nthe course of Nature. But we have to bear in mind how times of strong\nreligious agitation and [p.192] convulsion are so little qualified to\njudge concerning external phenomena, and how easily a psychic state\nsolidifies into a supposed percept! Within and without Christianity\nthere are numerous examples of the sensuous appearance of a dead person\nbeing considered to be fully authenticated by the narrower circle of\nfriends. Savonarola appeared more than a hundred times after his death,\nbut always to those whose hearts clung to him; and to fifteen nuns of\nthe convent of St Lucia he gave the consecrated wafer through the\nopening in their _grille_.\"[64]\n\nEucken shows that an inability to accept the miraculous element in the\nGospels need not prevent anyone from being the possessor of the\nSpiritual Substance. The spiritual content of Christianity is a content\nwhich lies beyond the region of physical phenomena, whether those\nphenomena are natural or are supposed to be supernatural. Christianity\nis dragged down to a lower level by confusing its mode of existence with\nits spiritual kernel. Religion is able to subsist without such aids\nsimply because it has discovered the true wonder within the spiritual\nlife itself. We do not know what future investigations may reveal from\nthe scientific side. It may be that Nature will appear more and more\nmechanical in many of its manifestations; but even if this should prove\nto be the case, it can produce no injury whatever to the nature [p.193]\nand content of spiritual life. It may be, on the other hand, that the\nscientific movement now proceeding in the direction of neo-Vitalism will\nproduce results which will modify and even overthrow the mechanical\nconceptions of life, and thus enable the future to construct a\nMetaphysic of Nature.[65] The battle between these two schools of\nscience is proceeding to-day. But even if the final issue should be a\ndecision in favour of mechanism, the destiny of Christianity or of the\nhuman soul does not depend upon such a decision. If the issue should\nturn in favour of the vitalistic conception, great gains are bound to\naccrue to religion; for thus a warrant for a belief in a reality higher\nin nature than what is termed physical will be established and shown to\nbe at work in the origin and constant \"becoming\" of physical phenomena.\nThe main point for us to-day is to hold fast to the superiority of\nspiritual life to all that we know concerning the physical universe.\nUnless this is done, we shall lose the deeper inward connections of\nlife, and shall be in danger of sinking back to the level of\nnaturalism--a level from which the culture and religion of the Western\nworld have partially emerged. Further, the spiritual nucleus of\nChristianity [p.194] must be preserved over against the changes of\nhistory. Changes in human society threaten Christianity more directly\nthan even the changes of Nature. These changes, in so far as they are\njudged by a spiritual standard to be good, can be accepted by\nChristianity, but only on the presupposition that Christianity has\nlearned how to differentiate between its Eternal Substance and its\ntemporal form of existence. The mere flow of the events of Time is\ninsufficient to produce a religion of substance and duration, for here\nwe are dependent upon the content of the moment. This aspect has been\nalready dealt with in the chapter on Religion and History.[66] A similar\nnecessity for differentiating between the Eternal and the temporary\nwhich Eucken enforced in regard to Christianity applies in his view to\nall the movements of the world. Whatever form--scientific,\nphilosophical, social, theological--these movements may take, they have\nall to find their meaning in a Standard which is Eternal. Whenever such\na Standard has been recognised, mankind was able to move in an upward\ndirection; whenever it was absent, the complexities of knowledge and\nlife increased and had no light to reflect upon themselves, and no power\nto [p.195] raise themselves to a higher plane. When the Eternal and\nSubstantial is present at the governing centre of life, all of reality\nthat can possibly present itself to man is viewed in an entirely\ndifferent light. Great spiritual movements cannot possibly arise from\nany shallower source. There must be present in all such movements a\nconsciousness of something of Eternal value, and a faith in the\npossibility of attaining a higher grade of reality in the midst of all\nthe fragmentary factors which present themselves. Religion is thus\nviewed as a movement which takes place not by the side of life, but\nwithin life itself. A power of immediacy grows within the soul; it is\nnow able to sift and winnow, to select and to reject; it is able to\npenetrate into the difference between first and second things, and to\nrelegate all minor things to their lower sphere.[67]\n\nIt is of no avail to ignore this difference; and neither is it of any\navail to ignore the difference between the _old_ and the _new_\nexistence-forms of Christianity. The old and the new conceptions cannot\npossibly flow together. One mode has to take a primary place, and the\nother a secondary place. The old intellectual presentation of\nChristianity has, in many ways, become inadequate. But [p.196] still it\ncannot be thrown overboard in any light-hearted manner, if for no other\nreason than that it has grown along with the growth of the Spiritual\nSubstance itself. Some kind of shock, and even loss, may be temporarily\nexperienced in parting with it; but this is a process that has to be\npassed through; and once it is passed through, the new clothing of\nChristianity cannot but help man to see a richer meaning in the Eternal.\nIt may not fit quite so compactly for a time; it may not merge easily\nwith the Spiritual Substance. We are far less comfortable in a new suit\nof clothes than in an old one; but comfort is not the only criterion in\nregard to the things of the body or of the soul. There may be a need for\na change, and our needs are of more significance than our comforts. The\nchange from old to new can be accomplished when the difference of\nSubstance and Form is clearly perceived, and when the Substance is\npreserved in the midst of the change. This is one of the greatest tasks\nset to the Christian Church to-day, and no one is competent to undertake\nit if he has not experienced in the very depth of his own soul the\nmeaning of the Eternal as the essence of the Christian religion. Eucken\nhas grasped this truth in an unmistakable manner; and he sees nothing\nbut disaster for religion in any attempt to present a new clothing at\nthe expense of ejecting the Eternal kernel. But still he insists that in\n[p.197] theology the claims of the new forms are overwhelmingly\nnecessary and just.\n\nWhen we turn to Eucken's conception in connection with the place of the\npersonality of the Founder in the Christianity of the present, we are\ntreading on very difficult ground. This is a question which cannot be\ndecided by the cold, calculating intellect. Without a doubt, there is\nhere something unique in the history of the world--something which no\npsychology can fathom and no logic can construct into exact\npropositions. But here once again, the two elements--the Spiritual\nSubstance and its Form--are apparent in the life of the Founder, and in\nour conceptions concerning his life and death. But we need not fear that\nany real loss will accrue if we hold fast to the indisputable fact of\nthe presence of a divinity within his life--a divinity which has to be\nrepeated on a smaller scale in our own lives before we are ever able to\nhave even a glimmer of it. It is out of such a spiritual experience that\nthe life of the Master can gain its real value and significance for us.\nBut in the past there has been a tendency to see a good deal of this\nsignificance in theological constructions which have now ceased to\ncontain any genuine meaning. At the best these constructions could never\nmean more than the best intellectual presentations of good men.\nSomething besides them--deeper than them all--had to appear before any\nsoul could be [p.198] converted to the things of Eternal Life. Here\nEucken shows that metaphysical concepts such as the Trinity have tended\nto become purely anthropomorphic and mythological, probably necessary at\na certain level of religion, but which have now been superseded by truer\nconceptions of life and existence. There is no longer any meaning in\nasking whether the Founder was a \"mere man\" or a God. He was an\nintermediate reality between the two. To measure the depth and content\nof his soul is a presumption of shallow minds; to determine in a\nspeculative manner the exact nature of his divinity, and to formulate\nimposing doctrines out of all this is quite as presumptuous. It is\nsufficient for us to know that he overcame the world, that the Godhead\ndwelt in a form of immediacy within his soul. All this is an\nexperimental proof of the working of the Divine upon the plane of Time.\nBut such Divine breaks in pieces if it is subjected to exact\ndeterminations. Some account of it we must have: the understanding\ndemands this; but that account must include what the best light of\nknowledge has to throw on the subject. But when all is said, something\ninfinitely greater remains unsaid, and yet to be experienced--something\nthat requires the soul to exert itself in order to experience what all\nthis means. When face to face with the meaning and value of the life and\ndeath and spiritual resurrection [p.199] of the Founder of our\nChristianity, we are face to face with an eternal reality revealed\nwithin the soul of the \"son of man.\" At such a depth of our nature, the\npetty questions concerning how much or how little was present disappear\ninto the background of life, and we are able through such a vision to\npass to the Father. When emphasis is laid on such a fact as this,\nChristianity will again become a religion of the spirit--a religion\nwhich will unite all mankind at a point of unity beneath all close\nintellectual determinations and differences. And Eucken points out that\nit is not in the life of Jesus alone that we can obtain such a vision.\nBut we do not gain the vision by merely _saying_ this. If we know of any\nother character who _was_ so much and who _did_ so much, probably we\nshall obtain there what we need. But in the Western world at least we do\n_not_ know any such character; the essence of his life and personality\nhas been always connected with the conception of God. But this is not\nthe sole conception and, as Eucken says, we cannot bind ourselves\nentirely to this one point in Christianity. The narrow paths which lead\nto religion are many; we have to draw help from all quarters where the\nDivine has been revealed. But the danger lies in merely knowing so many\nsuch paths while walking on none of them. The personality of Jesus will\nremain in Christianity, and the world in its darkness will turn again\nand [p.200] again to that palpable proof of the Divine seen on such a\nsummit, and endeavour to scale the same everlasting hill of God. \"Here\nwe find a human life of the most homely and simple kind, passed in a\nremote corner of the world, little heeded by his contemporaries, and,\nafter a short blossoming life, cruelly put to death. And yet, this life\nhad an energy of spirit which filled it to the brim; it had a Standard\nwhich has transformed human existence to its very root; it has made\ninadequate what hitherto seemed to bring entire happiness; it has set\nlimits to all petty natural culture; it has stamped as frivolity, not\nonly all absorption in the mere pleasures of life, but has also reduced\nthe whole prior circle of man to the mere world of sense. Such a\nvaluation holds us fast and refuses to be weakened by us when all the\ndogmas and usages of the Church are detected as merely human\norganisations. That life of Jesus establishes evermore a tribunal over\nthe world; and the majesty of such an effective bar of judgment\nsupersedes all the development of external power.\"[68]\n\nWe may bring this chapter to a close by once more pointing out Eucken's\ninsistence on the Spiritual Substance of Christianity and the need of a\nnew Existential-form. The Substance was present in the life of the\nFounder; mankind has to turn to that fact for one of [p.201] the\nexperimental proofs of the Divine. But such a fact is not sufficient. It\nis something which happened in _someone else_, and not in ourselves. The\nfact is to serve as an inspiration that something similar shall and can\nhappen _in ourselves_. When this is realised, we become conscious of the\npower of the Divine within the soul; and the problems of our own day are\nseen and interpreted in the same spirit as that in which Jesus faced and\ninterpreted the problems of his day. Such a spiritual experience will\nbecome a power to use all the good of life, and thus sanctify it in the\nvery using of it. The over-personal norms and standards have now become\nour own possession; they enable us to see the world as it ought to be\nseen and to work for the realisation of the vision; and the norms mean\neven more than this, for we have already seen that they point to\nsomething _beyond_ themselves and yet continuous with themselves. They\npoint to Infinite Love as the very essence of the Godhead. The reality\nof the over-individual norms and the conception of the Divine as\nInfinite Love thus induce in us a conviction of the possibility of an\nevolution of the spirit and of a reality beyond sense and time. The\nEternal thus enters into Time and overcomes Time. This is Eucken's final\nconclusion in regard to the Christian religion and the destiny of man.\nBut all this has to be experienced before it [p.202] can be realised.\n\"The task to-day is to work energetically, to labour with a free mind\nand a joyful courage, so that the Eternal may not lose its efficient\npower by our rigid clinging to temporal and antiquated forms, so that\nwhat we have recognised as human may not bar the way to the Divine as\nthat Divine is revealed in our own day. The conditions of the present\ntime afford the strongest motives for such work. For once again, in\nspite of all the contradictions which appear on the surface of things,\nthe religious problem rises up mightily from the depth of life; from day\nto day it moves minds more and more; it induces endeavour and kindles\nthe spirit of man. It becomes ever plainer to all who are willing to see\nthat mere secular culture is empty and vain, and is powerless to grant\nlife any real content or fill it with genuine love. Man and humanity are\npressed ever more forcibly forward into a struggle for the meaning of\nlife and the deliverance of the spiritual self. But the great tasks must\nbe handled with a greatness of spirit, and such a spirit demands\nfreedom--freedom in the service of truth and truthfulness. Let us\ntherefore work together, let us work unceasingly with all our strength\nas long as the day lasts, in the conviction that 'he who wishes to cling\nto the Old that ages not must leave behind him the old that ages'\n(_Runeberg_), and that an Eternal of the real kind cannot [p.203] be\nlost in the flux of Time, because it overcomes Time by entering into\nit.\"[69]\n\nEucken is aware of the various Life-systems which present themselves on\nevery side as all-inclusive. But he sees no hope for a real spiritual\neducation of mankind until every Life-system shall seek for a depth\nbeyond the _natural_ man and all his wants. And such a movement is\nvisible amongst us to-day. It needs to be possessed and proclaimed. The\nredemption of the world depends upon its success. The Christian religion\nis such a Gospel. \"But a movement towards a more essential and\nsoul-stirring culture--to a progressive superiority of a complete life\nbeyond all individual activities--cannot arise without bringing the\nproblem of religion once more to the foreground. Our life is not able to\nfind its bearings within this deep or to gather its treasures into a\nWhole unless it realises how many acute opposites it carries within\nitself. Life will either be torn in pieces by these opposites, or it\nmust somehow be raised above them all. It is the latter alone that can\nbring about a thorough transformation of our first and shallow view of\nthe universe as well as the inauguration of a new reality. Man has\nemerged out of the darkness of nature and remains afflicted with the\nafflictions of nature; yet at the same time, with his appearance upon\nthe earth the darkness begins to illumine, and [p.204] 'nature kindles\nwithin him a light' (Schopenhauer); he who is a mere speck on the face\nof a boundless expanse can yet aspire to a participation in the whole of\nInfinity; he who stands in the midst of the flux of time yet possesses\nan aspiration after infinite truth; he who forms but a mere piece of\nnature constructs at the same time a new world within the spiritual life\nover against it all; he who finds himself confined by contradictions of\nall kinds, which immediate existence in no way can solve, yet struggles\nafter a further depth of reality and after the 'narrow gate' which opens\ninto religion. Through and beyond all the particular problems of life\nand the world, it behoves us to raise the spiritual life to a level of\nfull independence, to make it simultaneously superior to man as an\nindividual and to bring it back into his soul. When this comes to be\nthere is at the same time a transformation of his inmost being, and for\nthe first time he becomes capable of genuine greatness.... These final\nconclusions strengthen the aspiration after a religion of the spiritual\nlife.... Such a religion is in no way new, and Christianity has\nproclaimed it and clung to it from the very beginning. But it has been\ninterwoven with traditional forms which are now seen through by so many\nas pictorial ideas of epochs and times. Earlier times could allow the\nEssence and the Form to coalesce without discovering any incongruity in\nthis. But the [p.205] time for doing this has irrevocably passed away.\nThe human which once seemed to bring the Spiritual and Divine so near to\nman has now become a burden and a hindrance to him. A keener analysis, a\nmore independent development of the Spiritual and Divine, and, along\nwith this, the truth of religion, do not succeed in reaching their full\neffects if religion is looked upon as merely something to protect\nindividuals, instead of as that which furthers the whole of humanity\n--as that which is not merely a succour in times of trouble and sorrow\nbut also as that which guarantees an enhancement in work and\ncreativeness. The situation is difficult and full of dangers, and small\nin the meantime is the number of those who grasp it in a deep and free\nsense, and who yet are determined to penetrate victoriously into it, so\nthat the inner necessities of the spiritual life may awaken within the\nsoul of man. Whatever new tasks and difficulties lie in the lap of the\nfuture, to-day it behoves us before all else to proceed a step upward in\nthe direction of the summits and to draw new energies and depths of the\nspiritual life into the domain of man; for this kind of work will\nprevent the coming of an 'old age' upon humanity and will breathe into\nits soul the gift of Eternal Youth.\"[70]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER XII [p.206]\n\nPRESENT-DAY ASPECTS OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION\n\n\nIn this chapter some of the most important problems of the present day\nwill be touched upon in the light of Eucken's Philosophy of Religion.\nReference has already been made to Eucken's account of the limitations\nof various Life-systems, of their struggle with one another, and of the\nnecessity for a religious synthesis which will include their most\nimportant results within itself.[71] The answer as to the possibility\nand necessity of such a synthesis constitutes the kernel of Eucken's\nPhilosophy of Religion. He has succeeded in a remarkable manner in\nassessing the results of science, philosophy, sociology, art, and\nreligion. In them all he has discovered the presence of a reality which\nis non-sensuous in its nature, and, which reveals itself [p.207] in\njudgments of value that carry within themselves their own _necessity_\nand _self-subsistence_. This is his conclusion in regard to the work of\nthe spirit of man on whatever plane of knowledge or experience that\nspirit works. Man's spirit has to carry all its knowledge and experience\ninto its own conative spiritual potencies. We thus see that everything\nbecomes an aid to the unfolding of an ever greater degree of reality\nwithin the spirit of man. It is then within the _spirit_ of man that\neverything finds its interpretation and value. Whatever interpretation\nis given to anything apart from the union of the _whole_ potency and\ncognition of man's spirit is only a partial interpretation. And it is in\nthe failure to recognise this truth that so many Life-systems have set\nthemselves against the higher aspects of philosophy and religion. The\nmost important question has not been asked: What is the relation and\nvalue of all results in connection with the deepest potency and\nnecessity of man's spirit? Are these results capable of enriching that\nspirit of man when he becomes conscious of them? These are the questions\nwhich Eucken continually asks and answers in his great works; and it is\nthis fact which makes his teaching so valuable and superior to all the\nLife-systems of our day. It is difficult to think of any aspect of\nexperience which Eucken has left out of account. He has not, indeed,\ninterpreted [p.208] in detail all the Life-systems in vogue, and no\nhuman being is capable of achieving such a task; but he has clearly\nperceived the flaws which lie in them all. And this discovery of his has\nrevealed a flaw common to them all. That flaw consists in ignoring the\npresence of a spiritual life as the great workshop where every form of\nreality finds its truest meaning. This flaw is so serious in that\nseveral Life-systems have thus over-estimated the importance of their\nresults by neglecting to take into account the potentialities and\nnecessities of man's spirit. Let us, then, try to trace this defect in\nconnection with some of the most important Life-systems in vogue to-day.\nWhen the various systems of _Idealism_ are estimated, they seem to\npresent aspects of reality with vast portions of human potencies and\nexperiences left out of account. _Absolute Idealism_ is based upon the\ndemands and implications of logic. Its doctrines would have taken a very\ndifferent colouring had it considered that the necessities of Logic have\nto be adjusted to the necessities of Life. Such systems are of little\nvalue to the soul, because the needs of the soul were not taken into\naccount when they were formulated. This fact was the main cause of the\nlate Professor James's rebellion against all forms of Absolute Idealism.\nHe felt that they bore no relationship to human life and its needs, and\nconsequently could not exercise any important [p.209] influence on life;\nthey could not move the will, for no possibility of reaching the\nAbsolute was offered to man. All the conclusions were in the realm of an\n_intellectual universal_ and not in the realm of _spirit_. They must be\nunreal in the highest sense on account of this very failure. They have\npresented their half-gods as realities outside Nature, human nature, the\npressing ideals of life, and even God Himself.\n\nEucken shows that any true Life-system has to start with Life itself.\nThere may be interpretations needful which have no implications for\nLife, and these have a right of their own; but when such interpretations\nare carried further, when the subject who _knows_ such interpretations\nand who _uses_ them is taken into account, then the interpretations\nfound on this level are something quite different from what they were\nwhen the whole spirit of man was not taken into account. Eucken\nconsequently comes to the conclusion that philosophy has not completely\nfulfilled its vocation until it has become a philosophy of _Life_--until\nthe truest meaning of every object is discovered in its relation to all\nthe necessities of the spirit. And it is here that his teaching comes\ninto conflict with so much that goes by the name of Idealism. How can\nany system be more than a half-truth when its final meaning is presented\nwith but little attention to the highest aspect we know in the world\n--to human life in its struggles and conquests, [p.210] in its living\nand loving, and its forward movement towards some distant goal? The\nspecial value of Eucken's teaching lies, then, in the fact that it\ninterprets what happens, can happen, and ought to happen within life\nitself. No system which leaves out the soul with its possibilities is\ncomplete. This has been done too often in the past, and is being done\nto-day. Is it, then, a wonder that philosophy has given so very little\nhelp to Life in its complex problems without and its sharp opposites and\ncontradictions within? Life is more and needs more than a philosophy of\nwords, devoid of power, can offer it. Life, when at its best, believes\nin the all-power of its own spiritual potency; it has faith in the\npossibility of ascent from height to height, as well as in the\npossibility of an incessant progress not only of individuals but of the\nwhole of mankind.[72] A System stands or falls according as it is able\nto conceive of Life in such a manner. And Eucken has done this as\nprobably no other living philosopher has done it.\n\nIf we turn to _Immanent Idealism_, we discover the same failure. It\nemphasises the presence within consciousness of what is idealistic and\nnoble, but it leaves out the objective and imperative character of what\nis present. It also forgets that the possession of ideals as ideas is\nonly the initial stage of such ideals becoming a very portion [p.211] of\nthe deepest substance of soul itself. We may deceive ourselves even with\nthe contemplation of the best ideals; they can never become truly ours\nuntil the will is set in motion and the whole nature is stirred to its\ndepths in order to press forward to what it perceives as having infinite\nvalue. Something has inevitably to happen within the depth of the soul\nbefore its real creation can advance. Eucken here, again, has perceived\nthis truth and presents it everywhere with great power. His Philosophy\nis an _Activism_ of the most powerful type. He is aware that to _know_\nand to _be_ are so far apart. But his Activism is not a mere movement of\nthe individual's will, brought forth by anything that has grown within\nit as a private inheritance. The Activism is started and kept going on\nits course by the over-personal norms and values already referred to. It\nis the union of norm and will that constitutes the full action. Life's\ngreater meaning and value is, therefore, not a ready-made possession; it\nis rather something already possessed, and a vision of something _more_\nin the distance to be possessed.[73] The presence of the Divine within\nthe soul is not the same prior to the search and after the search. This\nis [p.212] one of the most distinctive features of Eucken's teaching,\nand constitutes a necessary supplement to certain presentations of\nImmanent Idealism prevalent in various forms to-day.\n\nWhen we pass to _Materialism_ in its various forms, we find Eucken\nconscious of its poverty and its caricature of life. It is caused by\nexcessive absorption in the sensuous object with all its manifold\nrelations. But it is possible to believe in all that it states; for it\ncan never really say anything concerning the deeper meaning of spiritual\nlife if for no other reason than that it cannot penetrate into life's\ndeeper experiences. It is a stage in human thought which is passing\naway. What will become of it after Professor Haeckel's passing is\ndifficult to imagine. One thing at least is certain: as a complete\nsystem of the universe or of life it is doomed.[74] A mechanical\ninterpretation of the universe is legitimate: we may have to adopt more\nof such interpretations in the future. But there is no need for any\nalarm from the sides of philosophy and religion. Their citadel is not\nbuilt upon a _thing_, but upon a _thought_; and the gap between the two\nincreases in the degree in which our knowledge of Nature and Man\nincreases. Eucken has many great things to say on this subject in his\nlarger works. Doubtless he would agree with some of the [p.213]\nadvocates of _Naturalism_ in regard to the meaning of the physical\nuniverse, but such agreement would not be an admission that _all_ had\nbeen said that could be said concerning the need and the possibility of\na _Metaphysic of Life_.\n\nThe one word _More_ constitutes all the difference. This _More_, with\nEucken, is the beginning of a new order of existence and of value where\nthe physical order ends. His work consists in interpreting this _More_,\nand we have already seen whither the _More_ leads us: it leads us into\nspiritual norms and their values, and these in their turn led us into\nInfinite Love in the Godhead. The failure to see the value of all this\nis due to the inattention of the advocates of Naturalism in regard to\nthe non-sensuous structure of mind: the _Thing and its relations_\nmonopolise them so completely that they are blind to every reality\nnon-sensuous in its nature, although they possess some amount of such\nreality in their very knowledge and adoration of the _Thing_. Our\ntroubles will continue to accumulate, and the prospect of the future\nwill grow extremely dark, if the grip which physical things have on the\nworld to-day be not relaxed. The very physical powers which we have\nhelped to create, and which hitherto have proved of service to men, will\nmean our destruction unless something of the _More_ which is beyond them\nbe found as a possession and an activity within the governing centre of\nlife. This is Eucken's [p.214] plea over against the various forms of\nthe Naturalism and Materalism of our day. These are not enough for man.\nBut man is so slow in recognising this fact. The appeal of Spiritual\nIdealism is considered to be something which is vague and useless. Our\ndeepest reality and the source of all true energy have been robbed of\ntheir efficacy by our absorption in scraping together physical elements\nof chaff and dust. How often does Eucken show our dire poverty in the\nmidst of all this external plenty! The all-sufficiency of all forms of\nNaturalism condemns itself through its failure to pass beyond itself.\nHad there not been some who did pass beyond the _Thing and its\nrelations_ the spiritual values of the race would have been annihilated.\n\"As soon as we demand to pass beyond mere awareness to a genuine\nknowledge, we discover our deplorable poverty, and must confess that\nwhat is termed certain seems on clearer investigation to rest upon a\ntotally insecure foundation.\"[75] \"It is not natural science itself\nwhich leads to naturalism, for, indeed, no natural science could arise\nif reality exhausted itself in the measurements of naturalism; but it is\nrather the weakness of the conviction of the spiritual life; it is the\nfailure of certitude in regard to the presence of a spiritual existence;\nit is the unclearness concerning the _inner_ conditions of all mental\nand spiritual activity which a shallow and popular philosophy [p.215]\npresents--it is all this which turns natural science into a\nmaterialistic naturalism.\"[76] The strength of materialistic _monism_\ndoes not lie in any proof of there being nothing but mechanism in this\nwide universe, but in its energetic propaganda against certain\ntraditional theological forms of ecclesiastical religion--forms which\nare rapidly being disowned by the leaders of religious thought. Even\nmonism concedes that \"it is better being good than bad, better being\nsane than mad.\" This concession, and the attempt to live according to\nit, constitute a proof of the presence in some form of a non-sensuous\nreality and value in the constructions of materialistic monism itself.\nHence, Eucken's conception of spiritual life cannot be got rid of after\nall. It will remain so long as men live above the animal level and\nstrive to ascend to something higher still.\n\nWhen the _neo-Kantian_ movement is examined, we find that its long and\nhonourable history presents us with gains which cannot be measured. But\nwe have already noticed that in so far as this movement has specialised\nwithin the domain of the connections of mind and body, and has attempted\nto reduce psychology to the limits of the relations between the two, it\nis largely outside the _inner_ meaning and value of the life of\nconsciousness. [p.216] Its work has proved useful in many important\nrespects. It has made man realise that the connection of body and mind\nis not so simple a matter as materialistic naturalism would lead us to\nsuppose; and it has shown, on the whole, the impossibility of reducing\nconsciousness to mechanical elements. Even in the various forms of\npsycho-physical parallelism the factor of mind and meaning stands apart\nin its origin from the factors of bodily movement. But neo-Kantianism\nhas developed on higher lines than those of physiological psychology. It\nhas dealt with the presence of an inner world of thought--a world of\nvalues and judgments of values, of norms, imperatives, and\nideals--realities which are not presented in any scheme of natural\nscience. It is impossible to read such a great book as the late\nProfessor Otto Liebmann's _Analysis der Wirklichkeit_[77] without\ndiscovering this truth. In this great work, as well as in his _Gedanken\nund Thatsachen_, Liebmann shows how man is more than a natural product.\n[p.217] \"Natural science,\" he tells us, \"is a very useful, and, indeed,\nan indispensable handmaid to philosophy, but it is in no manner the\nfirst, the deepest, the most original basis of philosophy.\"[78]\nLiebmann's successors, especially Windelband, Rickert, Muensterberg,\nAdickes, and Vaihinger, work on similar lines. And there is a great deal\nin Eucken's teaching which tends in the same direction. But he goes a\nstep further than all the neo-Kantians. We have already noticed how he\ngives judgments of value and spiritual norms a _cosmic_ significance. He\nfinds that when these norms and values have awakened with great\nclearness within man's spirit they inevitably lead to the conception of\nthe Godhead. And it is in this work that Eucken's Metaphysic of Life\nbecomes a _religious metaphysic_. As values and norms mean so much when\na reality is granted them by the truest of the neo-Kantians, they come\nto mean infinitely more when they are acknowledged as somehow\nconstituting the foundation and the acme of all existence. Eucken's main\ndesire is to establish such norms and values beyond the possibility of\ndispute and beyond the constant changes of Life-systems. They mean for\nhim what is present within their spiritual content as a realisation as\nwell as the _More_ to which they still point. His teaching is not\ncontradicted by anything in the neo-Kantian movement;[p.218] he accepts\nits transcendental reality and lifts it out of the realm of\nindividuality and of history into a cosmic realm. After having followed\nthe implications of the neo-Kantian movement so far, he feels compelled\nto take the next step. For unless that next step is taken, some of the\ndeepest potencies of human nature fail to come to flower and fruit. When\nthe step is taken, they do blossom and bear fruit. Is not this a\nsufficient justification for taking the \"next step\"? It is; for man\ncannot allow any potency of his being to remain dormant without\nsuffering a loss; and on this highest level of all the loss must be\nincalculable. \"Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart will\nnever find its rest until it rests on Thee.\" That confession of\nAugustine is Eucken's confession also; and it is the implication which\nsuch a confession contains that constitutes the significance of his\nmessage to the world. He is in the line not only of the philosophers but\nof the prophets and the mystics. The ladder of knowledge reaches, like\nJacob's ladder, up to heaven itself--to that pure atmosphere where\nknowledge, merged in a deeper reality, becomes something so different\nfrom what it was before. An eternal blessedness has now become the\npossession of man.\n\nEucken has a great deal to say regarding the _Historical_ Life-systems\nof the present day. [p.219] He is aware that the neglect by German\nthinkers of the fundamental importance of Hegel's teaching on this\nquestion has meant a heavy loss. That loss is already perceived, and\nHegel's value in the realm of the Philosophy of History is being\nrediscovered. Men are more and more feeling the necessity of conceding a\nvalidity and objectivity to the concepts of History. The work of the\nlate Professor Dilthey[79] in this respect is of great importance, and\nhas strong affinities with Eucken's teaching on the same subject. But\nDilthey's objectivity and validity stopped short of religion in the\nsense in which religion is presented by Eucken. Dilthey gave the norms\nof History a transcendental objectivity and considered them sufficient\nfor man. But Eucken, as already stated, while granting all this and even\ninsisting upon it, finds that the norms of History do not include the\nwhole that human nature needs. The \"next step\" has to be taken whereby a\nreality is revealed beyond the confines of the best collective\nexperiences of the human race. Once more, we are landed in the\nconception of the Godhead. The step became inevitable, because the best\n[p.220] historical concepts, in their totality, pointed to something\nstill beyond themselves.\n\nDuring the past few years Eucken has devoted much attention to the\nLife-system presented in _Pragmatism_. He is alive to the value of much\nof the work of the late Professor William James and of Dr F.C.S.\nSchiller. He feels that Absolute Idealism is too abstract and too remote\nfrom life to move the human will. It is too much like placing a man\nbefore a mountain, and asking him to remove it. The very magnitude of\nthe object weakens instead of strengthening the will. Pragmatism has the\nmerit of insisting that the task be done piecemeal, so that man may not\nlose heart at the very outset. And some kind of goal is present in\nPragmatism. But Eucken's main objection to Pragmatism is that, however\nadequate it may be at the beginning of the enterprise, it will tend, as\ntime passes, to turn man in the direction of the line of least\nresistance, and so be degraded to the level of the ordinary life and its\npetty demands.[80] His Activism is entirely different from James's\nPragmatism. James depended too much upon the \"span of the moment\" and\nits immediate experience. There is in this \"span\" often no cosmic\nconviction present in consciousness to proclaim that the action is\n[p.221] \"worth while\" at all costs. While constantly demanding the need\nof effort in order to experience the deeper potencies of spiritual life,\nEucken insists that such effort can enter into a current only in so far\nas norms and values are clearly perceived as the meaning and goal of\nspiritual life. A _universal_ of meaning and value must be perceived,\nhowever imperfectly it may be, before the individual can call his\ndeepest nature into activity. And what is such a _universal_ but\nsomething beyond the flow of the moment and beyond the realm of ordinary\ndaily life? Such a _universal_, too, must have an existence of its\nown--an existence and a value which are beyond the opinions of any\nindividual or of any group of individuals, even if such a group were to\ninclude the whole human race. It is clear, then, why Eucken parts\ncompany with Pragmatism.\n\nIf, finally, we view his attitude towards the _Religious_ Life-systems\nof our generation, we find words of warning and of encouragement. His\nwhole work culminates in religion. But he teaches us that we have to\nlearn from the sides of knowledge already presented in this chapter. And\nit may be said that the Christian Church (or any other Church) has yet\nto learn this lesson. It still seeks to find its revelation in what\n_was_, and in modes which come constantly into direct conflict with the\nresults of the various Life-systems already referred to. It wants the\nfruits of religion without tilling [p.222] the ground and nurturing its\nplants. Its insistence on placing the basis of religion in myth and\nmiracle dooms it to a greater disaster in the future than even in the\npast. Eucken sees no hope for a \"revival\" of religion in the soul until\nan inverted order of conceiving reality takes place. The religious\nsynthesis from the intellectual side is to be obtained by passing\nthrough the grades of reality explicit in the various Life-systems, and\nby abstaining from the imposition of barriers which forbid anyone\nroaming and \"ruminating\" within these. If one condition is obeyed, this\nis the most fruitful way to construct a new religious metaphysic which\nwill supplant traditional theology. That condition is that the various\nLife-systems form a kind of scale which extends from Matter up to the\nGodhead. The new religious metaphysic will then mean a real philosophy\nof values.\n\nDoes this constitute an impossible task for the Christian Church? It\nwill remain impossible so long as we look upon the essence of\nChristianity as something which descends upon us apart from the exertion\nof our own spiritual potencies. It is a consolation to know that the\nhighest reality may be experienced without having to undergo a training\nin the methods and implications of science, history, or metaphysics. But\nthe experience here cannot possibly mean so much as the experience which\npasses through and beyond the implications of knowledge to the [p.223]\nDivine. Such an experience as the latter must be richer in content. And\neven apart from this, it produces something of value on the intellectual\nside--something which grants religion a security in the eyes of the\nworld. When the Church tends in this direction, its faith will come into\ncomradeship with the various branches of human knowledge as these reveal\nthemselves on level above level. Christianity has nothing to fear, but\neverything to gain, from the development of all the branches of human\nknowledge. Its source being Spiritual and Eternal, why should opposition\nbe presented to any development of the lower realities in science,\nBiblical criticism, history, and philosophy? This lesson is not yet\nlearned, and Eucken pleads for its acknowledgment. \"If we consider how\nmuch is involved in such a change in the position of the spiritual life,\nand if we also present before ourselves what transformations\ncivilisation, culture, history, and natural science carry within\nthemselves, we see clearly the critical situation in which religion is\nplaced, because these surface-changes are not of the essence of\nreligion. Through the mighty expansion and the fissures which these\nchanges bring about, the old immediacy and intimacy of the soul have\nbecome lost, and religion has now receded into the distance, and is in\ndanger of vanishing more and more. The derangement of things which such\nchanges cause occurs [p.224] not only in connection with their own facts\nand material and against their old forms, but the effect proceeds into\nthe very character and feelings of man and into his religion. And yet,\nwhen we examine the matter more closely, we find that such changes cause\nnot so much a breach with Christianity as with its traditional form, and\nthat they seek to bring about a fundamental renewal of Christianity. For\nwhen we penetrate beyond the motives and dispositions of men to their\nspiritual basis, all the changes are unable to contradict what is\nessential to Christianity, but they even promise to assist this\nessential element in its new, freer, and more energetic development. But\nwe have to bear in mind that all this will not descend upon us like a\nshower of rain, but will have to be brought forth through immense labour\nand toil. It becomes necessary to replace that which must pass away, and\nto reconsolidate the essentials which are threatened. All this cannot\ncome about save through an energetic concentration and deepening of the\nspiritual life, save through a struggle against the superficiality of\nTime regardless of all consequences, and save through a vivification and\nintegration of all that points in the right direction.\"[81]\n\n[p.225] This passage illustrates well Eucken's whole attitude regarding\nChristianity. It is evident that much remains to be done within and\nwithout the Church. Within, radical changes are to take place; but\nalways in the light and with the preservation of the spiritual\nsubstance. Without, the indifference of a vast portion of the civilised\nnations of the world has to be reckoned with. It is an immense problem,\noften enough to dishearten good men and women. How can men be moved from\ntheir inertia and their resentment against the deeper demands which\nspiritual life makes upon every human being? That is the problem of\nproblems and the task of tasks to-day. No clear solution of it is yet\nperceptible. But in the meantime, those who care for Divine things and\nwho have experienced some of their power within their own souls must\nhold fast to all they possess, and labour unceasingly to increase the\nspiritual value of their possession. Probably catastrophes have to\nhappen in order to bring the world home to religion and God.\n\nRudolf Eucken's gospel is a proclamation of the necessity of religion\nand the possibility of its possession. This, according to him, is the\nfinal goal of all knowledge and life. If religion is not this, it is the\nmost tragic deception conceivable. \"Religion is either merely a\nsanctioned product of human wishes and pictorial ideas brought about by\ntradition and [p.226] the historical ordinance--and, if so, no art,\npower, or cunning can prevent the destruction of such a bungling work by\nthe advance of the mental and spiritual movement of the world; or\nreligion is founded upon a superhuman fact--and, if so, the hardest\nassaults cannot shatter it, but rather, it must finally prove of service\nin all the troubles and toils of man; it must reach the point of its\ntrue strength and develop purer and purer its Eternal Truth.\"[82]\n\nThe fact that the influence of Rudolf Eucken's personality and teaching\nis spreading with such rapidity and power from west to east and from\nnorth to south is a proof that an increasing number of men and women are\naspiring after a religion of spiritual life such as was presented by the\nFounder of our Christianity. All the Life-systems of our day must\nconverge towards such a conception of religion.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII [p.227]\n\nEUCKENS PERSONALITY AND INFLUENCE\n\n\nIn this chapter an attempt will be made to present in a brief form some\nof the most important aspects of Eucken's personality and influence. His\ntraining and the relation of his teaching to the German philosophical\nsystems of the present have already been touched upon in some of the\nearlier chapters. But no account of Eucken's teaching is complete\nwithout a knowledge of his personality.\n\nWe cannot understand his personality without bearing in mind Eucken's\nnationality. He is a man of the North. A mere glimpse of the deep blue\neyes reveals this immediately. His ancestors lived in close contact with\nNature, and faced the perils of the great deep. The history of the men\nof the North has witnessed, along the centuries, a struggle for\nexistence as severe as any struggle known in the history of our world. A\ntrait of Eucken's character almost entirely unknown in England is his\ndeep sympathy with the small nations [p.228] of Europe, and especially\nwith those of the North. He has written and pleaded on behalf of Poland,\nFinland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. He finds that small nations, when\ntheir independence is preserved, have the tendency to bring forth\noriginal characteristics of thought and life, which are only too apt to\nget lost in the bustle and mechanism of the great nations. He has shown\nus on several occasions how much the world is indebted to its small\nnations for the ideas and ideals which have shaped its destiny. He\nbelieves with his whole soul that _size_ does not necessarily mean\n_greatness_. When we compare the greatness of Palestine and Greece with\nthat of the larger countries of the world, the latter sink into\ninsignificance when weighed in the balances of the spirit. He has,\nduring the past few years, several times pointed out a danger to\npersonality and character from the vast organisations which have been\ncreated in the various departments of life during the latter half of the\nnineteenth century. The deeper personality of man has receded more and\nmore into the background through the growth of such organisations. This\nfact is clear in the realms of commerce and of politics. We call a\nnation \"great\" in the degree in which it succeeds in outstripping other\nnations in its exports and imports, or in forming alliances with its\nneighbouring states or with other nations. A large portion of the gains\nwhich accrue from such [p.229] unions is purely accidental, and these\ngains cannot possibly touch the essentials of life. The explanation of\nthis is the fact that the centre of gravity has been shifted from mental\nand moral racial qualities to qualities which are far inferior in mental\nand moral potency and content. Thus, we witness the painful inversion of\nvalues which has taken place during the past fifty years. Every \"small\nnation\" has to take a secondary place, has to become subservient to a\nnation which may possess for its inheritance but few qualities besides\nthose of expansiveness and force. The small nation is forced to submit,\nto develop on lines entirely alien to its original potencies, and to\nlabour with might and main to fill the coffers of the rich nation. The\nold calm and peace, as well as the originality of the small nations have\nthus too often been cruelly uprooted; the characteristics of working on\ntheir own original lines, and of producing something of essential value\nin the history of the world, have been largely shorn of their initiative\nand freedom in the case of several of the small nations of Europe.\nSuperficiality and indifference to deep national and spiritual traits\nbecome the primary things, and the life of the small nations, as time\npasses, tends to become mechanical and servile.\n\nWhen we survey the work of the small nations of the Western world, we\ndiscover achievements which have been of immense [p.230] value in the\ncivilisation, culture, morals, and religion of Europe. And what a\ndistressing sight it is to witness the attempts of larger nations to\ncrush the spirituality of the smaller ones! The attitude of Russia\ntowards Finland and Poland is known to all. A greed for territory and a\npassion for ready-made values are characteristics which are only too\nevident to-day in the case of some of the Great Powers of Europe. We\nneed, as Eucken points out,[83] a new standard of valuing the national\ncharacteristics and the relationship of nation with nation. Such\nstandard must include moral judgments and human sympathy. It is the\npresence of spiritual powers such as these which constitute the really\ndeep and durable elements in a nation's progress. \"When righteousness\ngoes to the bottom, then there is nothing more worth living for on the\nearth.\" Eucken's philosophy cannot be understood apart from his intense\ninterest in mankind and its spiritual development. He goes, indeed, so\nfar as to say that this is the sole goal of philosophy; its message is\nto create new spiritual values in the life of the individual and of the\nrace. Our systems of philosophy are painfully defective in this respect\nto-day. Man, as a being with a soul, is little taken into account in\nmost of them. Is it surprising, therefore, that philosophy has not\nsucceeded, [p.231] for centuries, in interesting or influencing the\nintelligent world at large?[84] It will not succeed in doing this until\nthe deepest needs of mankind are taken to be something more than objects\nof psychological analysis or of logical generalisations.\n\nEucken's personality is rooted in a deep love for humanity and its\nspiritual qualities; and herein lies the essential reason of his\nchampioning of weak nations and pleading for the preservation of their\noriginal spiritual characteristics. These qualities are pearls of too\ngreat a price to be lost in a world where so much tinsel passes as what\npossesses the highest value.\n\nIt is not difficult to see why the small nations of the North feel that\nin Eucken they possess a true friend who sees clearly what they feel\ninstinctively, and who points out to them the path of their spiritual\ndeliverance.\n\nIt is impossible, also, to understand Eucken's system of philosophy\nwithout taking into account his religious experience. This aspect has\nalready been touched upon, but it requires elucidation from a more\npersonal point of view. Eucken's philosophy is the result of the\nexperience of his own soul. It is something which can never be\nunderstood until it is lived through. Everything is brought back to its\nroots in the needs, aspirations, and inwardness of the soul. One must\nbecome \"converted\" [p.232] before he can understand Eucken's teaching.\nSomething has not only to be understood but to be lived through; the\nbody and the external world have to be relegated to a subsidiary place;\nthe intellect has to merge into the spiritual intuition which is deeper\nthan itself. It is after one has been willing to pass through this fiery\nfurnace that the great \"illumination\" begins to appear. And such an\nillumination will increase in the degree that service and sacrifice are\nwillingly undertaken for the sake of the infinite spiritual gains which\nremain in store.\n\nThis element in Eucken's personality draws him to everybody he comes in\ncontact with, and draws everybody to him. He has drunk so deeply of the\nexperiences of Plato and Plotinus, of the great Christian mystics and\nmoralists of the centuries, that he sees the value of every soul that\ncomes to him for help. It is far from Eucken's wish for these matters to\nbe published. And the present writer will only state the fact that\nnobody, however ignorant and obscure, has failed in Eucken to find a\nfather and guide. Hundreds of men who had either lost or had never found\ntheir moral and spiritual bearings in life have succeeded in doing so\nthrough coming into contact with him. The present writer remembers well\nmany a conversation among students of six or more different\nnationalities, concerning the secret of Eucken's teaching [p.233] and\ninfluence. Imagine Servians, Poles, Swedes, Scotch, English, and Welsh\nmeeting together after a philosophical lecture to discuss the question\nof the spiritual life and wondering how to discover it! Eucken's\npersonality had created in their deepest being a need which could never\nmore be filled until the Divine entered into it. In the class-room the\ngreat prophet makes it impossible for us to content ourselves with\nmerely preparing for examinations. The teacher's exposition and\ninspiration are creating a deep uneasiness in us. We feel how limited\nand shallow our nature has been when we are face to face with a man who\nreveals to us the eternal values of the things of the spirit; and who\nreveals them not as they have merely been revealed by the great thinkers\nof the world, but as he himself has felt and lived them. We all become\nimpressed with the fact that we are in the presence of a power above the\nworld; and the feeling of pain is changed into a feeling of strong\noptimism in regard to the possibilities of our own nature. We feel that\nwe, too, in spite of our limitations, can become the possessors of\nsomething of the very nature akin to that which our great teacher\npossesses. Eucken works a change in every man and woman who remain with\nhim for a length of time. Many of us understand something of what Jesus\nChrist meant to his disciples; how he created an affection within their\nsouls which all the obstacles of the world [p.234] could never\nobliterate. Eucken has done something of the same kind, on a smaller\nscale, for hundreds of his old pupils.\n\nThese pupils are found to-day from Iceland in the North to New Zealand\nin the South, and from Japan in the East to Britain and America in the\nWest.[85] Many of them have risen to eminence, and all of them have\nexperienced something of a spiritual anchorage in the midst of the\ntempestuous sea of Time; all alike cherish an affection for their old\n[p.235] teacher--an affection which is one of their dearest possessions.\nThey have helped to spread his spiritual teaching, and, along with his\nbooks, have made his name known in all the civilised countries of the\nworld. Some of Eucken's most important works have already appeared in\nhalf a dozen languages. The demand for them increases everywhere. This\nreceptivity is a good omen of better days. The world is beginning to get\ntired of the mechanism and shallowness of our age, and is once more on\nthe point of turning to the spiritual fountains of life. Where can it\nfind a better guide to lead it to the waters of life than in Rudolf\nEucken?\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV [p.236]\n\nCONCLUSION\n\n\nIt will probably prove helpful at the conclusion to indicate the main\ncontents of Eucken's greatest works in order that the reader who turns\nto them for the first time may be able somewhat to find his bearings.\nThe whole of Eucken's works turn around the conception of the _spiritual\nlife_. This fact must be constantly borne in mind. The term has been\nrepeated so often in all the previous chapters that the reader may be\ninclined to think that some other expression might well have been\nexchanged for it. But no other term serves Eucken's meaning, and the\nrecurrence of the term has to be endured in order that it may yield of\nits rich content.\n\nIt has been shown how Eucken establishes a _new world_ with its own laws\nand values within the spiritual life. The spiritual life possesses\ngrades of reality: it reveals itself from the level of connection of\nbody and mind and of ordinary life right up to Infinite Love in [p.237]\nthe Godhead. Such a reality is created within the total activity of the\nsoul; but it is not mere subjectivism by virtue of the fact that its\nmaterial comes to it from without.[86] And Eucken shows that it is thus\na life partly given to man, and partly created by him. The \"given\"\nelements have to enter into man's soul. This they cannot do without much\nopposition. With the persistent energy of the total potency of the soul\na world of independent inwardness is reached--a world which will have an\nexistence of its own within the soul, and which will become the standard\nby which to measure the values of all the things which present\nthemselves.\n\nIt is this superiority of the spiritual life which constitutes the\nessential factor in the evolution of the individual's personality as\nwell as in civilisation, culture, morality, and all the rich inheritance\nof the race. Such an inheritance can be developed farther by the [p.238]\nfull consciousness of the spiritual life and by the exercising of it\nfrom its very foundation.\n\nIn _The Problem of Human Life_ Eucken sees in the message of every one\nof the great thinkers of the ages, however much he may differ from them,\nthe vindication of a life higher than that of sense or even of\nin-intellectualism. In one form or another, they all present some world\nof values which is born and nurtured within the mind and soul. All these\nthinkers stand for something which is great and good. Eucken attempts to\ndiscover this core in their teaching; and in the midst of all the\ndifferences some spiritual truth and value make their appearance. This\nvolume has undergone many changes, and is now in its ninth edition.\n\nIn _The Main Currents of Modern Thought_ Eucken deals, in the first part\nof the book, with _the fundamental concept of spiritual life_ as this\nreveals itself in the meanings of Subjective--Objective,\nTheoretical--Practical, Idealism--Realism. The middle portion of the\nbook deals with the _Problem of Knowledge_ as this is shown in Thought\nand Experience (Metaphysics), Mechanical--Organic (Teleology), and Law.\nThe third portion of the volume deals with the _Problems of Human Life_\nas these are presented in Civilisation and Culture, History, Society and\nthe Individual, Morality and Art, Personality and Character, and the\nFreedom of the Will. The final portion deals [p.239] with _Ultimate\nProblems_; and the two chapters on the Value of Life and the Religious\nProblem bring out the deeper meaning of spiritual life.\n\nThis volume has undergone many changes. When it appeared in 1878 it was\nlittle more than a history of the concepts we have already referred\nto.[87] But at the present time it deals with the history of the\nconcepts, a criticism of these, and finally the presentation of the\nauthor's own thesis regarding the reality of an independent spiritual\nlife.\n\nIn _Life's Basis and Life's Ideal_ he analyses the various systems of\nthought which have been presented to the world. He finds many of these\ndeficient; but although something that is contained in them has to pass\naway, they possess some spiritual element which requires preservation,\nand which is valid for all time. None of these systems is final; they\nhave to preserve what is spiritual within them, and also merge it in\nsome newer revelation gained for mankind. Every system of the universe\nand of life has to move; it has perpetually to drop something of its\naccidentals, and continually strengthen and increase its essentials.\nEverywhere emphasis is laid on the fact that the spiritual element\n[p.240] must be preserved and increased at whatever cost, for it is an\nelement of the highest value for the world, and constitutes the energy\nof the world's upward march.\n\nIn the _Einheit des Geisteslebens_, as well as in the _Prolegomena_ to\nthis, the necessity of a spiritual conception of knowledge comes to the\nforeground. All systems of Naturalism lack enough spiritual life within\nthemselves to meet the deepest needs of the race. Man is _more_ than all\nsuch systems. Even on the grounds of the Theory of Knowledge itself man\ncan be proved to be _more_. Eucken deals in these two books with the\ncontent of consciousness: that content reveals what is a Whole or\nTotality, what is beyond sense, what includes within itself the isolated\nimpressions of the senses or of the understanding, and what is therefore\n_spiritual_ in its nature.\n\nIn the _Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt_--a book of the greatest\nvalue--we find Eucken at his best. His attempt here is to deal with the\nstruggle for the spiritual life and the certainty of its possession. He\nshows how man has emerged out of Nature, and how he has moved in the\ndirection of gaining an inner world during the long course of\ncivilisation, culture, morality, and religion. Through titanic struggles\nthis inner world becomes man's possession, and constitutes the true\nvalue and significance of his life. Man now realises that it is this\nworld of spirit and values [p.241] which constitutes the only really\ntrue world. Issuing out of this possession of the ever richer contents\nof this inward, spiritual world, the personality constantly becomes\nsomething quite other than it was, and its possession adds to the\ninheritance of the spiritual ideals of the world. At this source man is\nin possession of a power of a new kind of creativeness in any field of\nknowledge or life he may be obliged to work. Nothing blossoms or bears\nfruit without the presence and the power of spiritual life in the\ndeepest inwardness of the soul.\n\nIn _The Truth of Religion_ Eucken roams in a vast territory. All the\noppositions of the ages to religion are brought on the stage, and are\nmade to reveal their best and their worst. He shows how every system of\nthought, devoid of the experience and activity of the deepest soul,\nfails to engender religion. He shows over against all this the\nintellectual warrant for religion, and passes from this to the personal\nsearch by the soul for what is warranted by the intellect and by the\ndeepest needs of one's own being. This has been the meaning of the\nreligions of the world, and this meaning finds its culmination in\nChristianity.\n\nEucken's smaller books, such as _The Life of the Spirit, Christianity\nand the New Idealism, Koennen wir noch Christen sein?_, and _The Meaning\nand Value of Life_, present certain aspects of the larger volumes in a\nsimpler form.\n\nEucken is at present engaged upon the [p.242] completion of a work of\ngreat importance dealing with _The Theory of Knowledge_. His system has\nbeen stated to be in need of this important corner-stone, and he has\nhastened to meet the demand. The book will deal with the \"grounds\" of\nthe life of the spirit in an even more fundamental manner than any of\nhis books. A preparatory work, small in bulk--_Erkennen und Leben_--has\njust appeared in German, and will be issued in English in the spring of\n1913.\n\nIn _Erkennen und Leben_ Eucken shows the need of clearness in regard to\nthe concept of the spiritual life. This work is an introduction to his\nforthcoming work--_The Theory of Knowledge_. He shows that the Problem\nof Knowledge can only be answered through a further clarification of the\nProblem of Life. It is, therefore, necessary to show what such a Life is\nand how it may be lived, and, finally, how it makes Knowledge possible.\nThis is the only way by which the final convictions of Life are able to\npossess greater depth and duration.\n\nKnowledge is possible only in so far as man participates in a\nself-subsistent life. Without such a self-subsistent life many\nintellectual achievements are possible, but they do not deserve the name\nof Knowledge.\n\nSuch a self-subsistent life must be operative in the foundation of our\nnature, but it must constantly receive its material from the most\n[p.243] important meanings and values of the world. The self-subsistent\nlife dare not feed on the mere analysis of consciousness or on the\nmaterial which it already possesses.\n\nHistory shows how a self-subsistent life is not created through the mere\nsuccession of events, but is always found as a life which is superior to\nthe perpetual changes of Time. Consequently, every real Knowledge has\nsomething _sub specie aeternitatis_ as its essence, and this\ndifferentiates it from all mere relativism.\n\nThe movement of History culminates alternately in _Concentration_ on the\none hand, and in _Expansion_ on the other: _Positive_ and _Critical_\nepochs alternate. Both aspects are necessary for the growth of life.\n\nIn modern times the growth of the Expansion-side of life has destroyed\nin a large measure the equilibrium of life; and the task to-day is to\nconstruct a new Concentration-side.\n\nSuch a new Concentration is possible: the experience of History\ntestifies to its presence in several epochs; and there is a deep longing\nfor it in many quarters to-day.\n\nIn order to attain to such a Concentration the \"dead-level\" life of the\npresent must be overcome, and a turn must take place towards a new\nMetaphysic of Life.\n\nSuch is the problem to-day, and no complete answer is to be found in the\npast systems of Metaphysics. \"The possibilities of Life and [p.244] of\nKnowledge are in no way exhausted, but it is only through our own\ncourage and actions that the possibilities can become actualities\"\n(_Erkennen und Leben_, p. 161).\n\nThe various systems of Thought need a synthesis which will include them\nall. It is difficult to-day to obtain a theory of life which does not\nleave out of account some essential elements. Is there a possibility of\ndiscovering such a synthesis? I believe that Eucken's works answer this\nquestion. But we wait eagerly for the appearance of his greatest work,\nand I think that, when it appears, he will more than ever deserve\nWindelband's designation of him as \"the creator of a new Metaphysic.\"\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nAPPENDIX [p.245]\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nLIST OF EUCKEN'S WORKS\n\n\n1866. \"De Aristotelis docendi ratione.\"  Pars I. De particularis. This was\n       the Doctor's dissertation at Goettingen University.\n\n1868. \"Ueber den Gebrauch der Praepositionem bei Aristoteles.\"\n\n1870. \"Ueber die Methode und die Grundlagen der Aristotelischen Ethik\"\n       (Separatabdruck aus dem Programm des Frankfurter Gymnasiums von 1870).\n\n1871. \"Ueber die Bedeutung der Aristotelischen Philosophie fur die Gegenwart\"\n       (Akademische Antrittsrede gehalten am 21 November, 1871). This was in\n       Basel.\n\n1872. \"Die Methode der Aristotelischen Forschung in ihrem Zusammenhang mit\n       den philosophischen Grundprincipien des Aristoteles.\"\n\n1874. \"Ueber den Wert der Geschichte der Philosophie\" (Antrittsrede, Jena,\n       1874).\n\n1878. \"Die Grundbegriffe der Gegenwart.\" This was translated by Stuart\n       Phelps in 1880, and published by Appleton of New York. The fourth\n       edition has been translated  by M. Booth, and has been published by\n       T. Fisher Unwin in 1912. The title of the third German edition was\n       changed to \"Geistige Stromungen der [p.246] Gegenwart.\"\n       The English edition is entitled \"The Main Currents of Modern Thought.\"\n\n1879. \"Geschichte der philosophischen Terminologie.\"\n\n1880. \"Ueber Bilder und Gleichnisse in der Philosophie\": Eine Festschrift.\n\n1881. \"Zur Erinnerung an K.Ch.F. Krausse\" (Festrede, gehalten zu Eisenberg\n       am 100 Geburtstage des Philosophen).\n\n1884. \"Aristoteles Anschauung von Freundschaft und von Lebensguetern.\"\n\n1885. \"Prolegomena zu Forschungen ueber die Einheit des Geisteslebens in\n       Bewusstsein und Tat der Menschheit.\"\n\n1886. \"Die Philosophie des Thomas von Aquino und die Kultur der Neuzeit.\"\n\n1886. \"Beitraege zur Geschichte der neueren Philosophie.\" (Second edition,\n       1906, under the title \"Beitraege zur Einfuehrung in die Geschichte\n       der Philosophie.\")\n\n1888. \"Die Einheit des Geisteslebens in Bewusstsein und Tat der Menschheit.\"\n       This will be published by Williams & Norgate.\n\n1890. \"Die Lebensanschauungen der grossen Denker.\" The ninth edition\n       appeared in 1911. Changes and additions have been made in each\n       succeeding edition. English translation (1909) by W.S. Hough and\n       W.R. Boyce Gibson under the title \"The Problem of Human Life, as\n       viewed by the Great Thinkers from Plato to the Present Time\"\n       (published by Charles Scribners' Sons, New York; and T. Fisher\n       Unwin, London).\n\n1896. \"Der Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt.\" (Second edition, with\n       many changes, 1907.) A translation of this volume will be published\n       by Williams & Norgate in the spring of 1913.\n\n1901. \"Das Wesen der Religion.\" (First and second editions.) This essay\n       was translated by W. Tudor Jones in 1904, and was published for\n       private circulation. It is now out of print, but will soon reappear\n       together with another essay, \"Wissenschaft und Religion.\"\n\n1901. \"Der Wahrheitsgehalt der Religion,\" 1901. (Second edition, with\n       numerous changes, 1905; third edition, with changes, 1912.) The\n       second edition was translated by W. Tudor Jones, and published by\n       Williams & Norgate in 1911 under the title of \"The Truth of Religion.\"\n       A translation of the third German edition will be published at the\n       close of 1912.\n\n1901. \"Thomas von Aquino und Kant: ein Kampf zweier Welten.\"\n\n1903. \"Gesammelte Aufsaetze zur Philosophie und Lebensanschauung.\"\n\n1905. \"Was koennen wir heute aus Schiller gewinnen?\" (Kantstudien: Sonderdruck).\n\n1905. \"Wissenschaft und Religion.\" This comprises a chapter in the collection\n       of essays entitled \"Beitraege zur Weiterentwickelung der Christlichen\n       Religion.\"\n\n1907. \"Grundlinien einer neuen Lebensanschauung.\" This volume was translated\n       by Alban G. Widgery, and published by A. & C. Black in 1911 under the\n       title of \"Life's Basis and Life's Ideal.\"\n\n1907. \"Hauptprobleme der Religionsphilosophie der Gegenwart.\" (First edition,\n       1907; fourth and fifth editions (with additions), 1912.) The first\n       edition was translated by W.R. Boyce Gibson and Lucy Gibson under the\n       title \"Christianity and the New Idealism: a Study in the Religious\n       Philosophy of To-day.\" This is published by Harper & Brothers, London\n       and New York.\n\n1907. \"Philosophie der Geschichte.\"  This is an essay in the volume entitled\n       \"Systematische Philosophie\" in the series \"Kultur der Gegenwart.\"\n\n1908. \"Sinn und Wert des Lebens.\" Third edition (with many additions), 1911.\n       The first edition was translated by W. R. Boyce Gibson and Lucy Gibson\n       under the title of \"The Meaning and Value of Life\" (Publishers:\n       A. & C. Black).\n\n1908. \"Einfuehrung in eine Philosophie des Geisteslebens.\" Translated by the\n       late F.L. Pogson under the title of \"The Life of the Spirit\" (third\n       edition, 1911).\n\n1911. \"Religion and Life\" (the Essex Hall Lecture for 1911). This is\n       published by the Lindsey Press, London.\n\n1911. \"Koennen wir noch Christen sein?\" A translation of this is in\n       preparation.\n\n1912. \"Naturalism or Idealism?\" (the Nobel Lecture, translated by\n       A.G. Widgery). This is published by Heffer & Sons, Limited,\n       Cambridge.\n\n1912. \"Erkennen und Leben.\" A translation of this work, by W. Tudor Jones,\n       is in preparation, and will be published by Williams & Norgate in\n       the spring of 1913 under the title of \"Knowledge and Life: An\n       Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge.\"\n\n1913. \"Erkenntnistlehre.\" This volume will appear early in 1913. The\n       translation will also appear during 1913, and the book will be\n       published by Williams & Norgate under the title of \"The Theory\n       of Knowledge.\"\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n\n     [1] It is not only in Germany, but also in England, that natural\n     scientists forget this important fact. The Presidential Address of\n     Professor Schaefer at the British Association (September 1912) is an\n     instance of attempting to explain life in terms of its history and\n     of its lowest common denominator. And huge assumptions have to be\n     made in order to explain as little as this.\n\n     [2] A fuller treatment of this subject will be found in my\n     forthcoming volume, _Pathways to Religion_. It is incorrect to\n     state with Professor Sorley (_Recent Tendencies in Ethics_, p. 30)\n     that \"her [Germany's] philosophy betrays the dominance of material\n     interests.\"\n\n     [3] An important article on this book appeared in _Mind_ during\n     1896, and, as far as I can trace, this seems to be the first\n     serious attention which was given to Eucken's writings in England.\n     A translation of the volume will appear shortly by Messrs Williams\n     & Norgate.\n\n     [4] Cf. _Main Currents of Modern Thought_, translated by Dr M.\n     Booth (1912).\n\n     [5] _Main Currents of Modern Thought_, p. 259.\n\n     [6] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 6l.\n\n     [7] _Ibid._, p. 62.\n\n     [8] W. James's _Text-Book of Psychology_, p. 145.\n\n     [9] William Wallace's _Lectures and Essays on Natural Theology and\n     Ethics_, p. 210.\n\n     [10] Edward Caird's Introduction to William Wallace's Gifford\n     Lectures, pp. xxx, xxxi.\n\n     [11] On this conception of the spiritual as _More, cf._ Bosanquet's\n     _Psychology of the Moral Self_.\n\n     [12] _Cf._ Wicksteed's _The Religion of Time and the Religion of\n     Eternity_, in Carpenter and Wicksteed's _Studies in Theology_.\n\n     [13] Eucken's best account of this subject is found in Parts I.,\n     II., and V. of his _Truth of Religion_ and in _Beitraege zur\n     Weiterentwickelung der Religion_, pp. 240-281. This latter is a\n     volume of ten essays by well-known German religious teachers.\n\n     [14] The President of the British Association (1912) states in his\n     address that it is not within his province to touch the question\n     concerning the nature of the soul. I take the report of his address\n     from _Nature_, 5th September. Dr Haldane goes much further in the\n     direction of Vitalism (discussion at British Association on the\n     subject).\n\n     [15] _Cf._ Driesch: _Philosophy of the Organism_; _Vitalismus als\n     Geschichte und Lehre_; his article in _Lebensanschauung_ (a\n     collection of essays by twenty German thinkers, 1911); Reinke's\n     _Philosophie der Botanik_; McDougall's _Body and Mind_; Thomson's\n     _Heredity, Evolution_, and _Introduction to Science_ (the two\n     latter in the Home University Library). Bergson's _Creative\n     Evolution_ deals with the subject, but the value of this book is\n     greater in other directions. T.H. Morgan's _Regeneration_ is a\n     weighty contribution to the subject.\n\n     [16] A revival of the study of Kant's first _Critique_ would be of\n     great value to our natural scientists. Green, in his _Prolegomena\n     to Ethics_, has interpreted this aspect in a manner that ought not\n     to be forgotten. _Cf._ further Edward Caird's _Evolution of\n     Religion_, vol. i.\n\n     [17] Ward's _Naturalism and Agnosticism_, vol. i., is a reply to\n     this important question.\n\n     [18] _Cf._ Muensterberg's _Psychology and Education_, and his\n     _Eternal Values_; also Royce's _The World and the Individual_.\n\n     [19] This trans-subjective aspect has been worked out in an\n     original way by Volkelt in his _Quellen der menschlichen\n     Gewisskeit_.\n\n     [20] The works of Muensterberg and Rickert deal with great clearness\n     on this difference of subject-matter in science and history.\n\n     [21] The main weakness of Bergson's philosophy seems to be in not\n     recognising this problem. Bosanquet, in his _Principle of\n     Individuality and Value_, has very clearly recognised and\n     interpreted it upon similar lines to Eucken.\n\n     [22] In this respect Eucken and Bergson seem to agree, although it\n     is difficult to reconcile this aspect of Bergson's with his\n     statements concerning the grasping of reality in the perceptions of\n     the moment.\n\n     [23] \"Hegel To-day,\" _The Monist_, April 1897.\n\n     [24] _Truth of Religion_, p. 328.\n\n     [25] Green has dealt with this aspect in the first part of his\n     _Prolegomena to Ethics_ in practically the same way as Eucken.\n     _Cf._ also Nettleship's _Life of Green_ and his (Nettleship's)\n     _Philosophical Remains_.\n\n     [26] This need of differentiation has been presented by Muensterberg\n     in a powerful manner in his _Psychology and Life, Eternal Values_,\n     and _Science and Idealism_.\n\n     [27] Muensterberg's _Science and Idealism_, p. 10; _cf._ also his\n     _Grundsuge der Psychologie_, Bd. i., 1900.\n\n     [28] Wundt's _Grundriss der Psychologie_ and the article\n     \"Psychologie\" in _Philosophie im beginn des Zwanzigsten\n     Jahrhunderts (Festschrift fur Kuno Fischer_, art. 1).\n\n     [29] _The Truth of Religion_, pp. 178 _f_.\n\n     [30] It is a great merit of Bergson, too, to have perceived this\n     fundamental difference. The difference between intellect and\n     intuition, in his larger volumes, is more illuminating on the side\n     of intellect. The relation of both is expressed by him more clearly\n     in his short _Introduction to Metaphysics_ (soon to appear in\n     English).\n\n     [31] Troeltsch, in his _Psychologie und Erkenntnistheorie_, has\n     perceived the difference very clearly, but in a manner quite\n     different from Bergson. Troeltsch has dealt with the presence of\n     the content of the over-empirical as something which is higher than\n     any psychology of the soul, and which is at the farthest remove\n     from the percept.\n\n     [32] Richard Kade, in his new book, _Rudolf Euckens noologische\n     Methode_, points out very clearly Eucken's contributions on this\n     point from 1885 downwards. Kade further deals with the later\n     developments of Windelband, Rickert, Troeltsch, and Wobbermin in\n     the same direction.\n\n     [33] _Historical Studies in Philosophy_,1912, p. 176.\n\n     [34] _Cf._ the two remarkable volumes of Baron von Huegel, _The\n     Mystical Elements of Religion_,1908, and especially vol. ii. These\n     books are a mine of rich things, but I have not observed that many\n     in our country have as yet realised this fact.\n\n     [35] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 456.\n\n     [36] _Main Currents of Modern Thought_, p. 353.\n\n     [37] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 59.\n\n     [38] _Cf. Decadence_, Henry Sidgwick Memorial Lecture, by the Rt.\n     Hon. Arthur James Balfour, M.P., 1908. Mr Balfour has perceived the\n     problem in a more optimistic manner than Professor Eucken; but he,\n     too, is conscious that much is required of the people. \"Some kind\n     of widespread exhilaration or excitement is required in order to\n     enable any community to extract the best results from the raw\n     material transmitted to it by natural inheritance\" (p. 62).\n\n     [39] _Main Currents of Modern Thought_, p. 398.\n\n     [40] This aspect has been developed in modern times by\n     Schopenhauer, Ed. von Hartmann, and others. Bergson seems to me to\n     be greatly indebted to Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer's Will and\n     Bergson's _elan vital_ are practically the same (_cf_.\n     Schopenhauer's _Ueber den Willen in der Natur,_ and Bergson's\n     _Creative Evolution_). Edward Carpenter, in his _Art of Creation_,\n     has worked out a similar point of view independently of Bergson.\n\n     [41] _Der Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt_, Zweite Auflage,\n     1907, S. 331.\n\n     [42] Sonderdruck, 1905.\n\n     [43] George Meredith, _The Sage Enamoured and the Honest Lady_.\n\n     [44] _Cf._ the closing passages of Bradley's _Appearance and\n     Reality_ for a similar view; also the latter part of Ward's _Realm\n     of Ends_.\n\n     [45] This weakness of Bergson's philosophy is shown in the whole of\n     Bosanquet's _Principle of Individuality and Value_.\n\n     [46] It is a great merit of Windelband to have brought this aspect\n     of the _Ought_ prominently forward in contradistinction to the\n     over-importance attached to the _Will_ alone by the Pragmatists.\n     _Cf._ his _Praeludien_.\n\n     [47] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 175.\n\n     [48] Modern psychology would agree with such a view, but probably\n     not with the implications given to it by Eucken. The \"faculty\"\n     psychology as it was presented by Kant has now disappeared, and\n     consciousness is conceived as a unity in which the three aspects\n     referred to are present, and even the single aspect that is in the\n     foreground of consciousness is influenced by the others which are\n     in the background. Another point made clear by Hoeffding (_cf_. his\n     _Psychology)_ and others is the difference between the activity of\n     consciousness in the \"drifting\" process of association of ideas and\n     its power to stem the association current, and to turn it into new\n     directions by means of the reflective power of consciousness\n     itself.\n\n     [49] It is a great merit of Bergson's philosophy to have pointed\n     this out. It is a conception presented several times in the history\n     of philosophy, but there is great need of re-emphasising it to-day,\n     especially as things in space have gripped the soul with such power\n     and disastrous results.\n\n     [50] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 243.\n\n     [51] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 200. _Cf._ also _Koennen wir noch\n     Christen sein_? pp. 91-141.\n\n     [52] _Cf._ Ward's _The Realm of Ends_, chapters ii. and xx.; also\n     Caird's _Evolution of Religion_ has many valuable hints throughout\n     the two volumes pointing in the same direction.\n\n     [53] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 436.\n\n     [54] Quoted in _The Truth of Religion_, p. 436.\n\n     [55] Cf. _The Truth of Religion_, pp. 429 ff.\n\n     [56] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 430.\n\n     [57] This fact is very clearly interpreted by Rickert in his\n     _Gegenstand der Erkenntnis_.\n\n     [58] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 431.\n\n     [59] I cannot but believe that the supposed proofs brought forward\n     by Sir Oliver Lodge and others are so empirical as to be of very\n     little value to religion.\n\n     [60] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 533.\n\n     [61] _The Truth of Religion_, pp. 367, 368.\n\n     [62] _The Truth of Religion_, pp. 11, 12.\n\n     [63] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 545. It is on this fact that\n     Eucken builds his conception of immortality. Such a conception is\n     not a matter of speculation or of scientific proof, but a matter of\n     an experience born on the summit of the evolution of spiritual life\n     within the soul. It is useless to attempt to press such an\n     experience into a conceptual mould.\n\n     [64] _The Truth of Religion_, pp. 550, 551.\n\n     [65] Driesch is attempting the construction of such a Metaphysic of\n     Nature, and a similar attempt is to be discovered in Bergson's\n     philosophy, especially in its later developments.\n\n     [66] Troeltsch has also emphasised this truth in his _Absolutheit\n     des Christentums und die Religionsgeschichte_ and in his _Bedeutung\n     der Geschichtlichkeit Jesu fuer den Glauben_. These two small\n     volumes are of great value.\n\n     [67] Cf. _Koennen wir noch Christen sein_? pp. 150 to 210; _Das\n     Wesen der Religion; Life's Basis and Life's Ideal_, p. 332 ff.;\n     _Christianity and the New Idealism_, chapter iv.; _The Truth of\n     Religion_, pp. 539 to 616.\n\n     [68] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 360.\n\n     [69] _Das Wesen der Religion_, S. 16.\n\n     [70] The closing sections of _The Truth of Religion._ A similar\n     aspect is presented in the final chapter of _Koennen wir noch\n     Christen sein?_\n\n     [71] _Cf._ J.S. Mackenzie's _Outlines of Metaphysics_ on the\n     various constructions of the Universe and of Life. The whole volume\n     is of the greatest value. _Cf._ also A.E. Taylor's illuminating\n     volume, _Elements of Metaphysics_.\n\n     [72] Cf. _Der Kampf um einen geistigen Lebensinhalt_, S. 98 ff.\n\n     [73] _Cf._ Wicksteed's remarkable address _The Religion of Time and\n     the Religion of Eternity_, already referred to. There are some\n     striking similarities between Eucken and Wicksteed, who have,\n     however, worked each quite independently of one another.\n\n     [74] Men of science themselves feel this, and are conscious of the\n     one-sidedness of the results of the scientific side of materialism.\n\n     [75] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 103.\n\n     [76] _Die Lebensanschauungen der grossen Denker_, 9te Auflage,\n     1911, S. 504.\n\n     [77] Liebmann passed away in January 1912. He had been Eucken's\n     colleague in Jena for many years. Windelband designates him as \"the\n     truest of Kantians and the Nestor of Philosophy.\" _Cf._ my article\n     on his life and work in the _Nation_ for February 3, 1912. The best\n     presentation in England of the Kantian philosophy and its\n     development is to be found in Caird's _Critical Philosophy of Kant_\n     and Adamson's _Development of Modern Philosophy. Cf_. also G. Dawes\n     Hicks's valuable articles in the _Proceedings of the Aristotelian\n     Society_ during the past ten years.\n\n     [78] _Analysis der Wirklichkeit_,3te Auflage, 1900, S. vii.\n\n     [79] _Cf._ Dilthey's _Erlebnis und Dichtung_; his article \"Die\n     Typen der Weltanschauung und ihre Ausbildung in den metaphysichen\n     Systemen\" in _Weltanschauung_; _Philosophie und Religion in\n     Darstellungen_, 1911 also, \"Das Wesen der Philosophie\" in\n     _Systematische Philosophie_ (\"Kultur der Gegenwart\").\n\n     [80] _Cf._ Eucken's _Hauptprobleme der Religionsphilosophie der\n     Gegenwart_, 5te Auflage, 1912, chapter iv. Also, _Erkennen und\n     Leben_ (1912), ss. 35-51.\n\n     [81] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 574. Many hints in this and other\n     respects may be found in W.R. Boyce Gibson's valuable work, _Rudolf\n     Eucken's Philosophy of Life_(3rd edition, 1912).\n\n     [82] _The Truth of Religion_, p. 71.\n\n     [83] \"Gesammelte Aufsaetze\": _Die Bedeutung der kleiner Nationen_,\n     pp. 47-52.\n\n     [84] This truth is pointed out most forcibly by L.P. Jacks in his\n     _Alchemy of Thought_, chap. i.\n\n     [85] Eucken visited England for the first time during Whitsun-week\n     1911. He had been invited by the Committee of the British and\n     Foreign Unitarian Association to deliver in London the _Essex Hall\n     Lecture_ for the year. A large audience gathered together to see\n     and hear him, and he received a most cordial reception. He spoke in\n     German on _Religion and Life_, and the lecture has since appeared\n     in English. The Rev. Charles Hargrove, M.A., of Leeds (President of\n     the Association) presided over the meeting, and spoke of the great\n     importance of Eucken's growing influence. Interesting addresses\n     were also delivered by Dr J. Estlin Carpenter, Principal of\n     Manchester College, Oxford; and Dr P.T. Forsyth, Principal of\n     Hackney College. At the luncheon which followed, Professor\n     Westermarck, Dr R.F. Horton, and others spoke. The lecture was\n     repeated at Manchester College, Oxford, during the same week. On\n     Whitsunday Eucken preached in the evening at Unity Church,\n     Islington, London, N., at the invitation of the writer of this\n     volume.\n\n     In September 1912 Eucken sailed for the United States of America to\n     deliver a course of lectures at Harvard University covering a\n     period of six months.\n\n     In both countries he was greeted by a large number of his old\n     pupils, many of whom travelled long distances to see and hear him\n     once more.\n\n     [86] Eucken follows Kant in the fact that after the union of\n     subject and object has taken place a _new kind of objectivity_ has\n     to be taken into account. This result has to be admitted before\n     knowledge becomes possible at all. Eucken has not dealt in a\n     thorough manner with this problem, although several hints are given\n     concerning the importance of this transcendental aspect in Kant's\n     philosophy. The implications of such a _new_ kind of objectivity\n     avoid the danger of subjectivism, on the one hand, and of\n     empiricism on the other hand. Eucken's forthcoming _Theory of\n     Knowledge_ will deal with this important matter. In _Erkennen und\n     Leben_ certain aspects of the problem are touched.\n\n     [87] The volume was translated into English and published in the\n     United States of America by Stuart Phelps in 1880. I am not aware\n     that the work exercised any great influence at the time either in\n     England or America. Eucken's \"day\" had not then dawned.\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nINDEX OF NAMES\n\n\nAdamson, R.\nAdickes.\nAristotle.\n\nBalfour, A.J.\nBergson.\nBoehme.\nBosanquet, B.\nBoutroux.\nBradley, F.H.\n\nCaird, E.\nCarpenter, E.\nCarpenter, J. Estlin.\nClass, G.\nCopernicus.\n\nDarwin.\nDescartes.\nDilthey, W.\nDriesch, H.\n\nFichte.\nFischer, Kuno.\nForsyth, P.T.\n\nGalileo.\n\nGibson, W.R.B.\nGoethe.\nGreen, T.H.\n\nHaeckel.\nHaldane.\nHargrove.\nHarnack.\nHartmann, Ed. von.\nHegel.\n\nHicks, G. Dawes.\nHoeffding, H.\nHorton, R.F.\nHuegel, F. von.\nHusserl.\nHuxley.\n\nJacks, L.P.\nJames, W.\nJesus, _cf._ chapters on Historical Religions and Christianity.\n\nKade, R.\nKant.\n\nLiebmann, Otto.\nLipps.\nLodge, O.\nLotze.\nLuther.\n\nMacDougall, W.\nMach, E.\nMackenzie, J.S.\nMeredith, G.\nMorgan, T.H.\nMuensterberg, H.\n\nNettleship, R.L.\nOstwald, W.\n\nPaul.\nPaulsen, F.\nPhelps, Stuart.\nPlato.\nPlotinus.\n\nReinke.\nReuter.\nRickert, H.\nRoyce, J.\nRuneberg.\n\nSavonarola.\nSchaefer, E.A.\nSchelling.\nSchiller.\nSchiller, F.C.S.\nSchopenhauer.\nSiebeck, H.\nSimmel, G.\nSocrates.\nSorley, W.R.\n\nTaylor, A.E.\nThomson, J.A.\nTrendelenberg.\nTroeltsch, E.\n\nVaihinger\nVolkelt.\n\nWallace, W.\nWard, J.\nWestermarck, E.\nWicksteed, P.H.\nWindelband, W.\nWundt, W.","title":"An Interpretation of Rudolf Eucken's Philosophy","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":57231}