Page:Popular Works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1889) Vol 2.djvu/291

 of the world neither in Chance, which in other words is to accept a foundation of the world and yet not to accept it; nor in blind Necessity, which in other words is to accept an absolutely inconceivable and dead foundation of the world, and of all the life in the world; nor yet in a living, but evil, capricious, and man-hating Cause, as Superstition has done at all times in a greater or less degree;—but in the One, absolutely and unchangeably good, Divine Existence. We said that our first maxim,—not to accept Apparent Existence in Time as in itself true and real, but to assume a Higher Existence beyond it,—must be developed within the mind itself; and even so our second maxim,—to regard this Higher Existence as Life, and as a good and Blessed Life,—must likewise be developed in the mind itself as an inherent element originally implanted there. At most, we can only receive help from without by the communication of such thoughts from others with the invitation to test them by our own sense of Truth; by which, if it be but rightly interrogated, and if the mass of preëxisting errors and prejudices be not too powerful, they will doubtless be confirmed. There is no logical means by which this insight may be forced upon man, for even the dullest and rudest form of mere Egoism is consistent in itself, and he who determines with stiff-necked obstinacy to abide there cannot be compelled to quit it.

In a word,—as we have already clearly set forth in our last Lecture,—In the view of Religion, all the phenomena of Time, without exception, are regarded as necessary and progressive developments of the One, Ever-blessed, Original Divine Life, and hence each individual phenomenon is regarded as the necessary condition of a higher and more perfect life in Time which shall arise from it. Now,—and this is to be particularly remarked,—this one, essentially abiding and unchanging view of Religion, is itself divided in its form, and assumes a double aspect. Namely,