Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 124

100

§ 42.

vestigatioii

THE SPIRITUAL SCIENCES

you know

of plant

and animal.

[Div. II

If

we maintain

the etymological root-idea of science, in the sense that what

known forms its content, you maim your science when you deny it access to spiritual objects. There is no other course therefore than to construct tlie spiritual sciences /row the subject itself ; provided you do not

is

(verlook that the subject of science

is

not this ini[uirer or

but the human consciousness in general. It was seen that with visible things all distinguishing knowledge would that,

be inconceivable, if the archetypic receptivity for these objects were not present, microcosmically, in the human

And

consciousness.

may

with reference to spiritual objects

it

in a like sense be postulated, that the presence of such

an archetypic receptivity for right, love, etc., is also found Otherwise, these would simply have in our consciousness. for us. But with this receptivity by itself the no existence task is not ended. An action must be exerted by the object of

your science upon

this receptivity.

It is indifferent for the

present whether this action comes to you mediately or immediately.

We

do not become aware of right, for instance, own spirit, but as a power which We perceive the working of that power even

as a poetic product of our

dominates us. when our feeling for right is not aroused, as in a concrete case by an occurrence outside of us. Entirely independently of the revelation, violation or application of right in given

we know

we must do

right; and this power of right, to which sense cannot be in us, except that we feel ourselves subjected, moves and touches us in our This becomes possible since we possess the reinner being.

circumstances,

ceptivity for right, but

is

that

only established

when

right itself,

power which dominates us, works upon that receptivity, and by it enters into our consciousness. The question lying back of this, whether right itself exists as universal, or is simply an expression for what exists in God, need not detain It is enough as long as we but know that in the i,is.

as a

taking-up of the object of the spiritual sciences as well as in the perception of the ol)ject of the natural sciences, we

must

distincruish in the object lietween the element

and

its

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