Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/236

 and God and man say of each other—That is spirit of my spirit. Man is Spirit just as God is Spirit. He has also, it is true, finitude and the element of separation in him, but in religion he discards his finitude since his knowledge is the knowledge of himself in God.

We accordingly now pass to the Religion of Humanity and Freedom. The first form of this religion, however, is itself infected with the element of immediacy and naturalness, and thus we shall see the Human existing in God under what are still natural conditions. The inward element, the Idea, is indeed potentially what is true, but it has not yet been raised above the state of nature, which is the first and immediate form of its existence. The human element in God expresses His finitude only, and thus this religion, so far as its basis is concerned, belongs to the class of finite religions. It is, however, a religion of spirituality, because the mediation which, as separated and divided up into its moments, constituted the foregoing transition stages, is now put together so as to form a totality, and constitutes the foundation of this religion.

II.

THE RELIGION OF BEAUTY.

This Religion of Beauty, as has been already indicated, is seen in a definitely existing form in the religion of the Greeks, which, both in its inner and outer aspects, presents us with an infinite amount of inexhaustible material, beside which, owing to its sympathetic attractiveness, its grace, and charm, one would fain linger. Here, however, we cannot enter into details, but must confine ourselves to the essential characteristics of its notion or conception.

We must thus (A.) indicate the notion or conception of this sphere of religious thought; then (B.) consider the