Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/73

, that it is its nature not to act in opposition to the objective, not to give it form, but to leave it to itself, so that this stillness is produced in it. This is the Absolute; man has to make himself nothingness. The value of man consists in this, that his self-consciousness has an affirmative relation to that theoretical substantiality. This is the opposite of that relation which, since the object has no determination for it, is of a merely negative nature, and for that very reason is only affirmative, as being a relation of the subject to its own inwardness, which is the power to transmute all objectivity into a negative, that is to say, is affirmative in its “vanity” alone.

That still, gentle state of mind has, in the first place, momentarily in worship the consciousness of such eternal repose as essential divine Being, and this gives the tone and character to the rest of life. But self-consciousness is at liberty too to make its entire life a permanent state of that stillness and contemplation without existence; and this actual withdrawal from the eternal conditions of the needs and activities of life into the tranquil inner region, and the consequent attainment of union with this theoretical substantiality, must be considered as the supreme consummation. Thus great religious associations take their rise among these peoples, the members of which live in community in repose of the spirit, and in tranquil contemplation of the Eternal, without taking part in worldly interests and occupations.

If a man assumes this negative mental attitude, defends himself not against what is external, but only against himself, and unites himself with nothingness, rids himself of all consciousness, of all passion, he is then exalted to the state which among Buddhists is called Nirvana. In this condition man is without gravity, he has no longer any weight, is not subject to disease, to old age, to death; he is looked upon as God Himself; he has become Buddha.