Encyclopedia of sacred theology - pagina 154

130

FAITH

§ 46.

two

links wliicli

it

[Div. II

ought to connect lose their point

of

union.

This comes out at once in the self-consciousness by which we say I. A child, in which self-consciousness has not yet the third person. There is and a certain amount of knowlThere is a property, edge, bvit it is not yet his possession. but the owner is still anonymous. Meanwhile, this selfTo say that consciousness is an impenetrable mystery to us. it originates through comparison is a vain attempt to soothe oneself with words, for the very subject to be compared is

awakened, speaks of some thinking in the

here in question.

itself in

child,

Neither can it be said that self-consciousness

is identical with the nature of our soul, for then

it ought also and ought to stay with us under all circumstances of life, and that sort of insanity by which one thinks himself to be another would annul our human nature. Self-consciousness, therefore, is an entirely unaccountable phenomenon in the life of the soul, which reveals its activity only at a certain age, which sometimes may slumber, and

to be active in the child,

may

lose itself for years in insanity.

It is a

phenomenon

that stays by us in the unconscious condition of our sleep, for in our all

things

also it is ourselves who suffer anxiety and move themselves about our person. Neither is

dreams

an accidental something to that science On this self-consciousness hangs which we the subject that investigates, and without that subject no investigation is conceivable. He with whom this selfconsciousness is still wanting is, like the child, unable to separate himself from the object, and equally unable Thus to draw conclusions from his inward perceptions. this self-consciousness

seek to obtain.

the

starting-point

actually

and there must ever be

lies

a

gap

in if

this

this

self-consciousness,

self-consciousness

From this it also follows, that be not duly considered. without faith you miss the starting-point of all knowledge. The

expression,

"you must

believe in yourself," has cer-

tainly been abused in humanistic circles to weaken both the denial of ourselves and our faith in God, but it is actually the case that he who does not begin hy believing in himself

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