22. Credo. The Individual and the Universe

The world of ideas is the source and principle of all being. It is characterized by infinite harmony and blissful peace. That which it does not illuminate with its light would be a dead, inanimate being that has no part in the life of the universe. Only that which derives its existence from the /dee is of any significance in the creation of the universe. The idea is the spirit that is clear in itself, sufficient in and of itself. The individual must have the spirit within it, otherwise it falls away like a withered leaf from that tree, and was there in vain.

But man feels and recognizes himself as an individual when he awakens to his full consciousness. In doing so, however, he has implanted the longing for the idea. This longing drives him to overcome the particular and to revive the spirit within him, to be in accordance with the spirit. Everything that is selfish, that makes him this particular, individual being, man must suspend in himself, strip away in himself, for this is what obscures the light of the spirit. What arises out of sensuality, out of instinct, desire, passion, is what only this egoistic individual wills. Therefore, man must mortify this selfish volition in himself; instead of what he wills as an individual, he must will what the spirit, the idea in him wills. Let the particular drift on its way and follow the voice of the idea in you, for it alone is the Divine! What one wills as an individual is a point of no value on the circumference of the whole world, a point that vanishes in the stream of time; what one wills “in spirit” is at the center, for the central light of the universe is kindled in us; such an act is not subject to time. If one acts as an individual, then one excludes himself from the closed chain of world activity, one separates himself. If one acts “in the spirit,” then one lives in the general world activity. The killing of all selfhood is the basis for the higher life. For he who kills selfhood lives an eternal existence. We are immortal to the extent that we allow selfhood to die in us. What is mortal in us is selfhood. This is the true meaning of the saying: “He who does not die before he dies, perishes when he dies.” That is, he who does not let selfhood cease in him during the time of his life, has no part in the general life, which is immortal, has never been there, has had no true being.

There are four spheres of human activity in which man gives himself fully to the spirit, killing all self-life: knowledge, art, religion and loving devotion to a spiritual personality. He who does not live in at least one of these four spheres does not live at all. Knowledge is devotion to the universe in thought, art in contemplation, religion in the mind, love with the sum of all spiritual powers in something that appears to us as a being of the world that is worthy of our appreciation. Knowledge is the most spiritual, love the most beautiful form of selfless devotion. For love is a true heavenly light in the life of the everyday. Devout, truly spiritual love ennobles our being down to its innermost fiber; it elevates everything that lives in us. This pure devout love transforms the entire life of the soul into another that is akin to the world spirit. To love in this highest sense means to carry the breath of divine life where usually only the most detestable selfishness and heedless passion can be found. One must know something of the sacredness of love, only then can one speak of being pious.

When a person has lived through one of the four spheres, out of particularity, into the divine life of the idea, then he has achieved the goal for which the germ of striving lies in his breast: his union with the spirit; and this is his true destiny. But he who lives in the spirit lives freely. For he has freed himself from everything that is subordinate. Nothing conquers him except what he gladly suffers constraint from, for he has recognized it as the highest.

Let truth become life; lose yourself in order to find yourself in the spirit of the world!