| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sophist by Plato: second mediated by reflection, the third or highest returns into the first,
and is both mediate and immediate. As Luther's Bible was written in the
language of the common people, so Hegel seems to have thought that he gave
his philosophy a truly German character by the use of idiomatic German
words. But it may be doubted whether the attempt has been successful.
First because such words as 'in sich seyn,' 'an sich seyn,' 'an und fur
sich seyn,' though the simplest combinations of nouns and verbs, require a
difficult and elaborate explanation. The simplicity of the words contrasts
with the hardness of their meaning. Secondly, the use of technical
phraseology necessarily separates philosophy from general literature; the
student has to learn a new language of uncertain meaning which he with
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: time to time evolved those figures as idealizations of its
"heart's desire" and placed a halo round their heads.
The long procession of them becomes a REAL piece of History
--the history of the evolution of the human heart, and of
human consciousness. But with the psychology of the whole
subject I shall deal in the next chapter.
I may here, however, dwell for a moment on two other
points which belong properly to this chapter. I have
already mentioned the great reliance placed by the advocates
of a unique 'revelation' on the high morality taught in the
Gospels and the New Testament generally. There is no
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Poems by Oscar Wilde: No things of air these antics were,
That frolicked with such glee:
To men whose lives were held in gyves,
And whose feet might not go free,
Ah! wounds of Christ! they were living things,
Most terrible to see.
Around, around, they waltzed and wound;
Some wheeled in smirking pairs;
With the mincing step of a demirep
Some sidled up the stairs:
And with subtle sneer, and fawning leer,
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