Page:Popular Works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1889) Vol 2.djvu/290

 does not consist in the mere perception or contemplation of life, or of anything else, and that it cannot arise from such perception or contemplation. By the most careful observation of phenomena we can go no further than to know that so and so is the case, but by no means to reject or disallow this as mere appearance, and to seek a higher significance behind it. The Religious mode of thought can thus never be the result of mere observation of the world, since, on the contrary, this mode of thought rests on the imperative maxim—not to accept this world and all Earthly Life in it as in itself true and real existence, but to assume another Higher Existence superior to the world. This maxim must be developed in the mind itself, as an essential element originally implanted there;—and no man can ever arrive at this truth by mere empirical observation, since it entirely abolishes empirical observation as the highest and decisive test of reality. It is clear that this maxim stands in direct opposition to the principle which we have indicated as that which guides the thought of our Age; that this thought can never attain to it; and that, by means of the very first supposition of something higher than the World, we raise ourselves above such an Age and cease to be its product. In short, not mere observation, but Pure Thought, in itself and by itself, is the first element of Religion. In the language of the schools:—Metaphysic, that is, the Super-sensual, is the element of Religion. From the beginning of the world down to the present day Religion, whatever shape it may have assumed, has been Metaphysic; and he who despises and derides Metaphysic,—that is, everything a priori,—either knows not what he means, or else he despises and derides Religion.

Are we set free from this limitation and bondage in the Apparent?—then the next step towards the attainment of True Religion is our second maxim:—To place the