Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/24

 independent existence, and present themselves as independent Persons—Persons of the Godhead who are God, who are the Whole itself, so that that primary element vanishes in this particular shape or form, but on the other hand they again vanish in the one Power. The alternations—according to which we have now the One, now the distinction as entire totality—are the perplexing inconsistencies which present themselves in this sphere to the logical understanding, but they are at the same time that consistency of reason which is in accordance with the Notion, as contrasted with the consistency of the abstract self-identical understanding.

Subjectivity is Power in itself, as the relation of infinite negativity to itself; it is not, however, only potentially power, but rather it is with the appearance of subjectivity that God is for the first time posited as Power. These determinations are indeed to be distinguished from one another, and stand in relation to the subsequent conceptions of God, and are also of primary importance to the understanding of the preceding ones. They are therefore to be considered more closely.

Power, in fact, at once in religion in the general sense, and in the wholly immediate and crudest religion of nature, is the fundamental determination, as being the infinitude which the finite as abrogated posits within itself. And in so far as this is conceived of as outside of it, as existing at all, it nevertheless comes to be posited merely as something which has proceeded out of that finite as its basis. Now the determination which is all-important here is, that this Power is, to begin with, posited simply as the basis of the particular shapes or existing forms, and the relation to the basis of the inherently existing Essence is the relation of Substantiality. Thus it is merely power potentially—power as the inner element of the existence; and as Essence which has Being within itself or as Substance, it is only posited as the Simple and Abstract, so that the determinations or