Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 117

Chap.

§ 42.

I]

science,

cosmos.

In the sense,

is

THE SPIRITUAL SCIENCES

worthy of the name, This difficulty first

place

all

is

of the spiritual side

Thus

the

the psychic, taken in the ordinary

amorphic, from which

image of the object and place inactive.

of

threefold.

it

follows that the morpho-

logic capacity of our consciousness,

is

93

it

by which we form an must here remain

before us,

while, in the tracing of relations in all that

ponderable, our understanding finds a point of support

in the representation of

the elements

relations exist, here this point of support ing.

among which is

these

altogether want-

This does not imply that the object of these sciences

unreal ; for even with the sciences of ponderable objects In your understanding never penetrates to the essence. you follow your representation you see the form (^fjLopcf)'^} the relations (Jtvac^opai) with your thinking ; but the essence This does not imply that {ovaia') lies bej'ond your reach. tlie spiritual objects may not have something similar among themselves, to what in the non-spiritual we understand b}'^ the forma in the Avorld of thought rather suggests liop^rj the contrary but in either case these forms are a secret to us, and our consciousness is not able to take them up and communicate them to our ego. And since as somatic-psychic beings we are naturally inclined to assimilate every object both plastically and logically, we certainl}^ feel a want with This want induces respect to this in the spiritual domain. us all too easily to interpret this entire realm logically only, and so to promote a false intellectualism or a dangerous is

;

;

;

speculation.

The second labor

is

difficulty

under which the

the instability of their object.

spiritual sciences

You

can classify

and animals, and though in these classifications you must ever be prepared for variations and anomalies, nevertheless certain fixed marks can be deterBut with the mined to distinguish class from class. spiritual sciences, which constantly bring you in touch Even the classification with man, this rule evades you. according to sex frequently suffers shipwreck upon effemiIn " man " only does there nate men and mannish women. minerals, plants

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen