Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/109

 so far as it is posited as natural in the character of what belongs to nature, is death. It is therefore the death of the god, and this characteristic presents itself for the first time here.

The negative element, this abstract expression, has very many determinations—it is change, in fact; change also contains partial death. In the natural sphere this negation shows itself as death; thus negation is still in the natural sphere, and not as yet purely in Spirit, in the spiritual subject as such.

If it is in Spirit, this negation shows itself in the human being itself, in Spirit itself as this determination, namely, that its natural will is for it another will; it distinguishes itself in its essence, in its spiritual character from its natural will. This natural will is here negation, and man comes to himself, is free Spirit, in overcoming this natural character, in having the natural particularity, this Other of rationality reconciled with rationality, and so being at home with himself, not outside of himself.

It is only by means of this movement, of this course of thought, that such inner harmony, such reconciliation, comes to exist. If the natural will shows itself as Evil, then negation shows itself as something found. Man, in the act of raising himself to his true nature, finds this natural determination to be something opposed to what is rational.

A higher conception, however, is that negation is that which is posited by Spirit. Thus God is Spirit, in that He begets His Son, the Other, posits the Other of Himself, yet in Him is still with Himself, and beholds Himself, and is eternal love. Here the negation is likewise the transient or vanishing element. This negation in God is therefore that definite essential moment. Here, however, we have only the general idea of subjectivity, subjectivity in the general sense. Thus it comes to pass that the subject itself passes through these different states as its own states, in such a way that this negation