Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/129

 form or shape, and this last is posited by means of subjectivity itself, and produced freely. But this its assumption of form, which to begin with as the 1 = 1, is as yet reflected into itself, must also have the determination of differentiation expressly in such a way that this differentiation is merely determined by means of subjectivity, or, in other words, that it merely appears in this which is at first still something external. This first freedom further comes to have an additional element, namely, that the outward embodiment produced by the subject is taken back into subjectivity. What is First is thus the creation of the world; what is Second is the reconciliation, namely, that it reconciles itself in itself with the true First. In the subjectivity which is before us at this stage, this return is not as yet present, its mode of existence being as yet of an implicit character; its existence as subject is found outside of it in the form of Beingfor-other. The Idea is not as yet there; for to it belongs that the Other should of its own act reflect itself into the primal unity. This second part of the process which pertains to the divine Idea is not as yet posited here. If we consider the determination as end or aim, then the primal action of subjectivity regarded as an end is still a limited end; it has reference to this particular people, this definite particular end, and if it is to become universal, a truly absolute end, the return is essential, and the doing away with what is merely natural in respect of the outward form is essential likewise. Thus, the Idea is first present when this second part of the process is added to the first, the part which annuls the natural character, the limitation of the end, and it is owing to this that it becomes for the first time an universal end. Here Spirit as regards its manifestation is only the half way of Spirit; it is still one-sided finite Spirit, in other words, subjective Spirit, subjective self-consciousness; it is the outward form of the god, the mode of his existence for an “Other.” The work of art is merely something