Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 11.djvu/425

 424 CRITICAL NOTICES : is at bottom perfectly true. For each individual being, when it was part of the no longer existing " transcendent sphere " of " simple unity repose freedom," willed all that now happens to it in the " immanent sphere " of " multiplicity motion necessity". In the reality of things, that is to say, nothing happens to any being in the world that has not been willed by that being. But Christianity expresses the truth that is in Buddhism while not excluding the truth that the pan- theism of the Brahmans failed in its attempt to express. In making the individual only " half-independent " it recognises " the fate of the world," the "real relation" in which things stand to one another. That there is a constraint exercised on the in- dividual will as if by an external power which appears to the undisciplined mind now beneficent and now terrible is the truth that is contained in all theism. The error is in attributing this constraint to a personal God existing " lesiile the world". This is the error of Judaism, but not of Christianity. The personal God of Christianity was in reality a concession to Jewish monotheism, as its doctrine of a future life was a concession to the in- sufficiently tamed Jewish vitality. " Esoteric Christianity " is atheistic ; in a veiled form it teaches the doctrine of the self- annihilation of the godhead that existed " before the world " : and the real reward of the Christian virtues is the " beatitude felt as contrast through reflection of not-being". This meaning of Christianity is developed in a remarkable essay on '' The Doctrine of the Trinity" (vol. ii. 190-232). As characteristic examples of Mainlander's interpretations of Christian theology, it may be mentioned that in his view " the Holy Ghost is the way of God to not-being," and is identical on the one hand with " the fate of the world," on the other hand with " the Christian virtues " by which that fate is directly accelerated ; while "Satan is the per- sonified means to the end," " the wild struggle of individual wills ". Those to whom this seems mere paradox should read the essay ; perhaps they will be rewarded by learning the secret of pessimism. Of one thing there can be no doubt ; and that is, Mainliinder's really strong sympathy with Christian theology and with the Christian view of life in what some may call its exaggerated, others its distinctive form. It is not to Catholic organisation that he is attracted, but rather to the mysticism and asceticism of the Middle Age, to Catholicism as a personal religion. Mixed with this kind of mediaeval reaction there is a larger infusion than is to be met with in the ordinary mystic or ascetic of the " pity for humanity" characteristic of Christianity and Buddhism in their origin. It is this that gives Mainlander his sympathy with the revolutionary movements of modern times. Here, however, he makes a reservation in favour of German patriotism. A " cosmopolitan ideal " such as socialism is not to be pursued in the immediate future. It must be kept in view by those who aim at an ideal state ; but in the meantime the first duty of the citizen is to be patriotic.