Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/177

 form, remain shut up within itself and belong to itself; on the contrary, it has to be realised. The question now comes to be, supposing that wisdom has to act, that the end has to be realised, what is to serve as the material or sphere for this? This can be nothing else than Spirit in general, or, to put it more definitely, Man. He is the object of the Power which determines itself, which acts in accordance with this determination, namely, wisdom. Man, or finite consciousness, is Spirit in the character of finitude. The act of realisation is a positing of the Notion of a kind which is different from the mode in which the absolute Notion realises itself, and consequently it assumes the mode of finitude, which, however, is at the same time spiritual. Spirit is only for Spirit; it is here characterised as self-consciousness, and the Other, in which it realises itself, is the finite spirit, and there too it is equally self-consciousness. This sphere or universal reality is itself something spiritual. It must be a sphere in which Spirit at the same time actually exists or is for itself. Man is thus conceived of as an essential end, as the sphere of divine power or wisdom.

Finally, Man thus stands to God in an affirmative relation, for the fundamental determination is that he is self-consciousness. Man, who constitutes this aspect of reality, is accordingly self-consciousness; he is consciousness of the absolute Essence as being his own, consequently the freedom of consciousness is posited in God, and thus Man is here at home with himself. This moment of consciousness is an essential one, it is a fundamental determination, though not as yet the complete expression of the relation. Man exists for himself as a self-constituted end, his consciousness is free in God, it is justified in God, exists essentially for self, and is directed towards God. This is the principle in a general form, while the definite forms are the particular religions, those of Sublimity, of Beauty, and of Utility or Conformity to an End.