phenomenology of mind-第130部分
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medium of thought 'in the case of Stoicism'。 Trust in the eternal laws of the Gods is likewise
silenced; just as the oracles are dumb; who pretended to know what to do in particular cases。 The
statues set up are now corpses in stone whence the animating soul has flown; while the hymns of
praise are words from which all belief has gone。 The tables of the gods are bereft of spiritual food
and drink; and from his games and festivals man no more receives the joyful sense of his unity with
the divine Being。 The works of the muse lack the force and energy of the spirit which derived the
certainty and assurance of itself just from the crushing ruin of gods and men。 They are themselves
now just what they are for us — beautiful fruit broken off the tree; a kindly fate has passed on
those works to us; as a maiden might offer such fruit off a tree。 Their actual life as they exist is no
longer there; not the tree that bore them; not the earth; and the elements; which constituted their
substance; nor the climate that determined their constitutive character; nor the change of seasons
which controlled the process of their growth。 So too it is not their living world that Fate preserves
and gives us with those works of ancient art; not the spring and summer of that ethical life in which
they bloomed and ripened; but the veiled remembrance alone of all this reality。 Our action;
therefore; when we enjoy them is not that of worship; through which our conscious life might attain
its complete truth and be satisfied to the full: our action is external; it consists in wiping off some
drop of rain or speck of dust from these fruits; and in place of the inner elements composing the
reality of the ethical life; a reality that environed; created and inspired these works; we erect in
prolix detail the scaffolding of the dead elements of their outward existence; — language; historical
circumstances; etc。 All this we do; not in order to enter into their very life; but only to represent
them ideally or pictorially (vorstellen) within ourselves。 But just as the maiden who hands us the
plucked fruits is more than the nature which presented them in the first instance — the nature which
provided all their detailed conditions and elements; tree; air; light; and so on — since in a higher
way she gathers all this together into the light of her self…conscious eye; and her gesture in offering
the gifts; so too the spirit of the fate; which presents us with those works of art; is more than the
ethical life realized in that nation。 For it is the inwardizing in us; in the form of conscious memory
(Er…Innerung); of the spirit which in them was manifested in a still external way; — it is the spirit
of the tragic fate which collects all those individual gods and attributes of the substance into the
one Pantheon; into the spirit which is itself conscious of itself as spirit。
All the conditions for its production are present; and this totality of its conditions constitutes the
development of it; its notion; or the inherent production of it。 The cycle of the creations of art
embraces in its scope all forms in which the absolute substance relinquishes itself。 The absolute
substance is in the form of individuality as a thing; as an object existing for sense experience; as
pure language; or the process of that form whose existence does not get away from the self; and is
a purely evanescent object; as immediate unity with universal self…consciousness when inspired
with enthusiasm; as mediated unity when performing the acts of the cult; as corporeal embodiment
of the self in a form of beauty; and finally as existence lifted into ideal representation (Vorstellung)
and the expansion of this existence into a world which at length gathers its content together into
universality; a universal which is at the same time pure certainty and assurance of itself。 These
forms; and; on the other side; the world of personality and legal right; the wild and desert waste of
content with its constituent elements set free and detached; as also the thought…constituted
personality of Stoicism; and the unresting disquiet of Scepticism — these compose; the periphery
of the circle of shapes and forms; which attend。; an expectant and eager throng; round the
birthplace of spirit as it becomes self…consciousness。 Their centre is the yearning agony of the
unhappy despairing self…consciousness; a pain which permeates all of them and is the common
birthpang at its production; — the simplicity of the pure notion; which contains those forms as its
moments。
Spirit; here; has in it two sides; which are above represented as the two converse propositions:
one is this; that substance empties itself of itself; and becomes self…consciousness; the other is the
converse; that self…consciousness empties itself of itself and makes itself into the form of 〃thing〃; or
makes itself universal self。 Both sides have in this way met each other; and in consequence; their
true union has arisen。 The relinquishment or 〃kenosis〃 on the part of the substance; its becoming
self…consciousness; expresses the transition into the opposite; the unconscious transition of
necessity; in other words; that it is implicitly self…consciousness。 Conversely; the emptying of
self…consciousness expresses this; that implicitly it is Universal Being; or — because the self is pure
self…existence; which is at home with itself in its opposite…that the substance is self…consciousness
explicitly for the self; and; just on that account; is spirit。 Of this spirit; which has left the form of
substance behind; and enters existence in the shape of self…consciousness; we may say;
therefore…if we wish to use terms drawn from the process of natural generation — that it has a real
mother but a potential or an implicit father。 For actual reality; or self…consciousness; and implicit
being in the sense of substance are its two moments; and by the reciprocity of their kenosis; each
relinquishing or 〃emptying〃 itself of itself and becoming the other; spirit thus comes into existence
as their unity。
In so far as self…consciousness in a one…sided way grasps only; its own relinquishment; although its
object is thus f or it at once both existence and self and it knows all existence to be spiritual in
nature; yet true spirit has not become thereby objective for it。 For; so far; being in general or
substance; would not essentially from its side be also emptied of itself; and become
self…consciousness。 In that case; then; all existence is spiritual reality merely from the standpoint of
consciousness; not inherently in itself。 Spirit in this way has merely a fictitious or imaginary
existence。(5) This imagination is fantastic extravagance of mind; which introduces into nature as
well as history; the World and the mythical ideas of early religions; another inner esoteric meaning
different from what they; on the face of them; bear directly to consciousness; and; in particular; in
the case of religions; another meaning than the self…consciousness; whose religions they were;
actually knew to be there。 But this meaning is one that is borrowed; a garment; which does not
cover the nakedness of the outer appearance; and secures no belief and respect; it is no more than
murky darkness and a peculiar crazy contortion of consciousness。
If then this meaning of the objective is not to be bare fancy and imagination; it must be inherent and
essential (an sich); i。e。 must in the first place arise in consciousness as springing from the very
notion; and must come forth in its necessity。 It is thus that self…knowing spirit has arisen; it has
arisen through the knowledge of immediate consciousness; i。e。 of consciousness of the existing
object; by means of its necessary process。 This notion; which; being immediate; had also; for its
consciousness; the shape of immediacy; has; in the second place; taken on the form of
self…consciousness essentially and inherently; i。e。 by just the same necessity of the notion by which
being or immediacy; the abstract object of self…consciousness; renounces itself and becomes; for
consciousness; Ego。 The immediate entity (Ansich); or 'objectively' existent necessity; is;
however; different from the 'subjective' thinking entity; or the knowledge of necessity — a
distinction which; at the same time; does not lie outside the notion; for the simple unity of the
notion is itself immediate being。 The notion is at once what empties or relinquishes itself; or the
explicit unfolding of directly apprehended (angeschaut) necessity; and is also at home with itself in
that necessity; knows it and comprehends it。 The immediate inherent nature of spirit; which takes
on the form of self…consciousness; means nothing else than that the concrete actual world…spirit
has reached this knowledge of itself。 It is then too that this knowledge first enters its
consciousness; and enters it as truth。 How that came about has already been explained。
(2)。 The Ultimate Content of Revealed Religion; the realty of the Incarnation of God
That Absolute Spirit has taken on the shape of self…consciousness inherently; and therefore also
consciously to itself — this appears now as the belief of the world; the belief that spirit exists in
fact as a definite self…consciousness; i。e。 as an actual human being; that spirit is an object for
immediate experience; that the believing mind sees; feels; and hears this divinity。(6) Taken thus it
is not imagination; not a fancy; it is actual in the believer。 Consciousness in that case does not set
out from its own inner life; does not start from thought; and in itself combine the thought of God
with existence; rather it sets out from immediate present existence; and recognizes God in it。
(a) in an individual
The moment of immediate existence is present in the content of the notion; and present in such a
way that the religious spirit; on the return of all ultimate reality into consciousness; has become
simple positive self; just as the actual spirit as such; in the case of the 〃unhappy consciousness〃;
was just this simple self…conscious negativity。 The self of the existent spirit has in that way the form
of complete immediacy。 It