Plone. But on this occasion I cannot go beyond such intima tions. We do not knov what horrors the present period of calearal disruption has yer instore, but hope to have shown tha philoso- phy isnot quite helpless in the noetic penetration of its problems, Perhaps its persuasion can help to restore the rule of razon, ‘On Hegel: A Study in Sorcery ‘when the gr re expelled from the cosmos, the word they have left becomes boring In the seventeenth century, the ennui ex plored by Pasal was sil the mood ofa man who had lst his faith tnd must protect himself fom the blackness of anxiety by diver tissements, after che French Revolution, the ennui was recognized by Hegel asthe syndtome of an age in history. I had taken a cen ‘uty and a half for the lostness in a word without God to develop from a personal malaise of existence to a socal disease" Die Langeweile der Welt, the horedom ofthe world, is Hegel sym- bol for the spiriqual sate of «society for whom its gods have died, “The phrase appears in the So-called Fortsetzung des "Systems der Siilchket,” written about 1804-1805 while Hegel was working fon the Phinomenologie.” According to the Ms the state of Lan {seweile has occurred twice in Western history. Once in antiquity in the wake ofthe Roman imperil conquest; and a second time in mo- 5 idm Gm Yr 5-6: reed ven he pet er ema As ee 6 = 7 hry of munch an edom, fe recat by wasps Mt Gea aon eh hy ‘edi Dekumesice su ses Eatwnhfons angry eae In ACRRM TL etncnctned n bDle tngee de Wek fiomUMLSIED BSAYS,1966—1985, dernity inthe wake of the Reformation. Hegel describes the state of boredom inthe two cases a follows: “The expansion of the Roman Empire had destroyed the fre sates fof the ancient workd and with them the vitality of ther gods i ‘whom the Spirit had become objective: with the Living individuality ‘of tir gods and cults the peoples of the empire had lost ner mo- tality; and over their singularity had spread the empty generat of imperial rule. In ths divempton ofthe word into» singularity that ‘Shot linked tothe Spink and a generat that is wanting in divine life, the "primordia entity” had to rise with #s “ternal force” to overcome the “Infinite pain” and to reconcile ina new wholeness what had been torn asunder-—oe mankind would have perished swthin itself (D 518). Christ beeame the founder ofa religion, be- cause he could articulate the “suffering of 2 whole age" fom the fanermost depth, theowgh the divine power ofthe Sprit, chrough the absolute certainty of reconciliation he carved in himself and because by his own confidence he could generate confidence in others (D 319), ‘The reconciliation achieved bythe “primordial identity” ehrough the incarnation of God ina man was preserved by the church. The {nivalreconeilaton of the Spirit with ality ehough the vsacr- {cation of man was even expanded to embrace society and nature; sacredness was extended tothe rling power of the monarch, and in every country the messengers of God left their traces, s0 that each had it own sacred history of reconciliation. The whole world hhad become a "temple of reawakened Ife” (D 323. “The great diremption of the new reconciliation was caused by the Reformation. Protestantism has abolished “the poetry of sacralty” by tearing the new fatherland of man asunder into the inwandness[Innerlichkert) of spiritual life and “an undisturbed en sagement (Versenken) in the commonness (Gemeinheit) of em: pirical existence and everyday necessity.” "The Sabbath of the ‘world has disappeared, and life has become a common, unholy workday” (D333. The “beauty and sacrality” of the pre-Reformation world i lst for goo history cangot be turned back; we have to advance toward 1 new religion which understands the former reconciliation 35 an “alien sacralization” and replaces i bya sacraliation through the Spirt that has become “inward” "The Spirit as to sacralize ise «as Spirit in its own frm.” The diremption will e overcome when “free people” has the audacity no to receive religous form, but to take one for itself “omits own sil and by is owen majesty” {D Seal In Protestantism, this elation between Spint and reality has achieved it breakthrough to consciousness through philosophy. ‘Thenew philosophy restores it liveness to Reason and its Spit to Nature” The philosophy ehat emerges from the Protestant di ‘emption is destined to follow Catholicism and Protestantism 28 ‘the new, third religion |D 325}, [Ages of diemption (Zeressentet) and boredom (Langeweile) do not just happen, nor will new religions simply emerge. The eternal force ofthe primordial identity operates concretely through such human beings as Christ and Luther If philosophy isto be the third religion, succeeding Catholicism and Protestantism, who will e- ‘coed Christ and Luther asthe founder ofthe new religion’ Perhaps Hegel? “The question had Hegel so badly worried that its pressute formed bhisexistence asa philosopher. In onder 1 gauge its impor i will be apponite fst to distinguish the various strata ofthe question TAs a philosopher in the classic sense, Hegel knew that he ‘ould not diagnose the ditemption ofthe age without exempting himself somehow from its boredom. Some degre of reconciliation hd tobe realized in his own existence ar he could not have recog nized the ditemption for what it was, a8 a philosopher he had to be *piriually healthy enough to diagnose che spiritual stat of society ‘5 diseased, even more, the analysis ofthe socal disease had tobe ‘come to Hegel, as to every philosopher, the meditative action by ‘which the physician, who s orn as the child of his ag, heals fst (ofall himself Only when through the diagnosis ofthe evil sur rounding him he has atived, God's grace permitting, at insight {nto the truth of his own existence asa man can he become effec- tiveasareconcler and restore of existential onder to his ellowmen. "h The second stratum is represented by the pnewmatism of the incr man and the inet light. The sectarian spizituals of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the godded men and homines _nori, were followed i the eighteenth century by the occultists vi Slonaries, and Schirmer, by the illuminists and theosophs, by Swedenborg, Martinez, Saine Martin, and Caglesto, by Lavater,PUBLISHED ESSAYS, 1965—1985 Jung tilling and so forth, Beginning with the French Revolution, then, a cloud of new Christs descended om the Western word — Saint-Simon, Fourier, Comte, Fiche, and Hegel hse. The life time of Hegel 772-2831} rns parallel with the period studied by ‘Auguste Vist? inhi Les Soures oecultes du romanusme, 1770— 1830 (2927) 1965) Hegel's own inwardness is fiemly elated to Jacob Boehme andthe German Pest 3. The third suatum i he imaginative construction of ages that wall permit the imaginator to anticipate the fucure curse of his tory. By means of this construction, the imaginator can shift the meaning of exstece from life in the preseace under God, with its personal and social duties of the day tothe role ofa functionary of history, che reality of existence willbe eclipsed and replaced by the Scennd Reality of the imaginative projec. In order to ful his purpose, the projet must est of all eclipse the unknown future by ‘he image ofa Kaown future, it must further endow che construe son of the age with the certainty of @science—of = Wissen Schaftslehve, 2 “system of science” 2 philosophic positive, = ‘wissenschaficher Sozalismus; andi mus, finaly, conceive the future age in sch a manner chat the present imainator becomes its inaugurator and master. The purpose of sccuring a meaning of existence, with certainty, in a mastetly role hetrays the motives of the constration nthe imaginator’s existential insecurity, anxiety, tnd libido dominandi. This is megalomania on the grand scale Stil, the messsss of the early nineteenth century have let 20 deep an imprint on the socalled moder age that we have Become sceustomed to their madnese, ur sensitivity forthe element of the rotesque in cheirenterprse as bocome dulled, In order to sharpen it somewhat, let us imagine a Jesus running around and announ- ing co everybody the good news that he isthe man from short he a of Christ willereckoned-as Comte announced bi et orb that with the completion of his work in 1864 the era of Conse had begun. “he interaction of the three strata in Hegel's existence makes him a characterisucally modern thinker. Theses a sensitive phi losophier and spintualis, a noetcaly and pneumatically compe tent enc of theage an intellectual fore ofthe frst rank, and yet, he cannot quit gain the stature of his true selfas.a man under God. From the darkness ofthis existential deficiency, then, rises the 1 a6 sid domiand arb theme conten 2 da cna cng heim fa a lt ac tml the set hy cae be eth Sno Realty fhe Se om execs ne lo pty cnet HS Sean sen ube te SR ELSE venoms Coan vl a reese el tanga ied with excellent philosophical and bistorial Shem de tcl ued nt ne se an bal es heme) sy by he st nei tea woe Sn apes ldng oe ner in exces eda era ree bee a etiam come sone nay damian Ne el ce en oo te ee selena or Porch 1 te exinence of modern man i compat In Pasa lam Tee OLE Sytem of Sune advertisement. The piso Be Hee obel the dca soiey snc able o achive eee ois owm exience bt dcvlos farther dcrpcon ea tM lompuclinerion of his uc sla the atl a asl and tole in he imagnaie oj of Fare Mood dirempton nthe plosopher exten, hus pod chon te nt one whch be ay oc ged he seat ncaa ofc The ests the nse pater of rare et crn stores emotion that mou time falls dao eo cl and pesoalcatestuobes without the 1 SEE uno opt a a ay ey cone he Fry Seely detent men who ald themselves at ane The Did Set An 1: qn of th er Sf La