Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 3.djvu/19

 I.

GOD IN HIS ETERNAL IDEA IN-AND-FOR-SELF.

Thus, regarded in the element of thought, God is, so to speak, outside of or before the creation of the world. In so far as He is thus in Himself, He represents the eternal Idea which is not yet posited in its reality, but is itself as yet merely the abstract Idea.

Thus God in His eternal Idea still exists in the abstract element of thought, and not in that of notional comprehension. It is this pure Idea with which we are already acquainted. This is the element of thought, the Idea in its eternal presence, as it exists for free thought, whose fundamental characteristic is the untroubled light, self-identity, an element which is as yet unaffected by the presence of Being other than itself.

Within this sphere or element (1.) Determination is necessary, inasmuch as thought in general is different from thought which comprehends or grasps the process of Spirit. The eternal Idea in its essential existence, in-and-for-self, is present in thought, the Idea in its absolute truth. Religion has thus a content, and the content is an object; religion is the religion of men, and Man, besides his other qualities, is a thinking consciousness, and therefore the Idea must exist for thinking consciousness. But this is not all that Man is, for it is in the sphere of thought that he first finds his true nature, and it is only for thought that a universal object exists, only to thought can the essence of the object show itself; and since in religion God is the object, He is essentially an object for thought. He is object inasmuch as Spirit is consciousness, and He exists for thought because it is God who is the object.

For sensuous or reflective consciousness God cannot exist as God, i.e., in His eternal and absolute essentiality. His manifestation of Himself is something different from