RELIGION AND HISTORY
The subject of history has obtained a most prominent position in the
whole of Eucken's philosophy. All his books deal with the subject, and
in a manner resembling one another, whatever the particular subject
dealt with may be. But the most exhaustive treatment of history
presented in his volumes is to to be found in the chapter on history in
_Systematische Philosophie_("Kultur der Gegenwart," Teil I., Abteilung
VI.), and in the latter half of _The Truth of Religion_. In the former
volume Eucken deals with history in its relation to civilisation and
culture, and in the latter the place of history in the religions of the
world is strikingly expressed.
We have already noticed in the previous chapter how he set out to
discover the presence of a mental or spiritual life in the very act of
knowing the physical world and in the constructions which form both the
basis and the apex of physical science. It was shown [p.71] here that a
life higher than the physical was present in order to be able to read
the meaning of the world. Such a life became a standpoint to view
Nature, and is the possession, more or less, of each individual. But
although the possession of individuals and _above_ Nature, the
consciousness that knows Nature is still carried beyond its own
individual life. The meaning of the physical world appears in
consciousness, through the syntheses it forms, as objective, although it
is not an object of sense but of thought; and, further, this very
objectivity subsists in the form of generalisations and meanings which
create standards for each individual in his relations with the physical
world. Eucken then concludes that there is a trans-subjective aspect
present in the conclusions of physical science itself.[19] And it is on
this fact that he bases the presence of a mental or spiritual life in
the very act of knowing at all. But it is evident that the whole of
man's potencies and relations are not confined to the knowing of Nature
and framing interpretations concerning it. There are other provinces to
which man is related--other objects besides physical ones to which his
attention is called to frame interpretations concerning them also.
History is one of these provinces. The subject-matter here is entirely
[p.72] different from the subject-matter of physical science. In the
latter the objects are physical; in the former the objects are not
things, but _will-relations._[20] We are in history dealing with the
effects of heredity and physical environment upon all organic life--man
included. But it has been already shown that man, though rooted in the
natural world and dependent upon it, is still the possessor of a world
which is above the physical. Man's roots in Nature have been unearthed
in a large measure; and his dependence on the world from which he has
emerged is greater than was suspected, and probably it will be
discovered in the future that he is still more dependent on what is
below him. But however deep his connection with Nature may prove itself
to be, he will still remain an unsolved problem if he is coolly stripped
of all the qualities he has gained since he emerged from the bosom of
Nature.
We are consequently led to the higher aspects of history where the
centre of gravity of the matter lies in the _relations of wills_.
By will-relations is meant the impact of individuals upon one another
from the side of _meaning_. It is through the expressions of the meaning
of our concepts that we are able to construct an intelligible world. The
individual's [p.73] deeper reality does not consist in the percept we
obtain of him, but in the mental attitude he has expressed towards a
mental attitude of ours. The _clothing_ of meaning is certainly
physical; there is our friend's physical body in front of us, and his
speech is audible in a physical sense to physical ears. But neither body
nor speech is absolutely necessary for the expression of meaning to
another. We have neither seen nor heard many of the individuals who have
exercised great influence over our lives. Words have answered the
purpose. By this is not meant that we have not lost something of great
value in having to depend on print alone. Something of every individual
reveals itself in his body and speech which is missed when we have to
depend on paper and ink as mediums of meaning. But meaning is something
other than its medium; it is a mental or spiritual content. This content
has to be classified and interpreted. The interpretation forms here
again, as on the level of natural science, syntheses and generalisations
larger than any one individual. These are the resultants of mind with
mind and will with will. When human beings come into contact with each
other, there originates a state of things in which something is
_thought_ and _done._ What is thought and done deals with situations
outside the situation of each individual. The interpretation of these
situations is, therefore, an objective reality which becomes a [p.74]
norm for each individual. Mankind has thus created a reality which is
beyond that of the content of each individual's experience _as an
individual_.
We thus see that there are presented in such norms two aspects of a very
different nature. On the one hand, we discover the contribution of each
individual, and witness events dealing with situations which succeed one
another with greater or less rapidity. This aspect is in constant flux.
It constitutes the capability of meeting the needs of the moment. All
this works well so long as the needs of the moment involve no great
complexities. But immediately the situation becomes complex there is a
turn to something besides this mere flow of things.[21] To what? It is a
turn to something whose nucleus of meaning and value has persisted in
the midst of all the flow. This is no other than one or other of the
highest of the ideal constructions which formed the basis of the life of
the community. The community had been unconsciously garnering something
over-individual and over-historical for its future use. Thus, in history
itself there is the presence of a reality higher than the individual,
and higher than the ordinary meaning of the [p.75] hour. This becomes the
standard by which everything has to be measured. Of course, this norm
does not remain static in regard to its own content. But its growth of
content depends upon the contributions made to it by individuals in
their will-relations. Something over-individual issues out of all these
relations, and this enters into the still higher over-individual norms
which are the heritage of society. Eucken consequently shows that
history itself is dependent upon something which works within
it--interpreting its events, and absorbing into itself something that is
of value. What other can this be but a spiritual life higher not only
than physical things but even than the will-relations which accrue from
moment to moment? It has already been noticed that on these lower levels
the spiritual life is ever present--present as a potency and experience
when viewed from the standpoint of the individual's creativeness, and
present as norms and values when viewed as an object of thought brought
forth through general conclusions founded on situations beyond any
single situation of the individual. Thus, we get in Eucken's teaching
the over-historical as the power which operates within the events of
history. It is what philosophy has termed the Ideal, and what religion
has termed the revelation of God. It is not correct, then, to say that
we are dependent upon the content of the moment apart from the presence
of the [p.76] content of the past in that moment in order to grasp
reality. The Past does not mean a mere series of events which occurred
some hundreds or thousands of years ago, and before which we bend and
towards which we try to turn back the world, for that would mean what
Eucken terms "mere historism." The Past has rolled its meaning down to
the Present: the Past mingled with the content of the Present is at each
point of its course something other than it was before.[22] But in any
case this aspect of the Past as presented by Eucken shows that human
life requires a great span of time which has already run in order to
create its ideals and to be raised from the triviality of the mere
moment. Goethe perceived the importance of the same truth:--
"Wer nicht von drei tausend Jahren sich weiss
Rechenschaft zu geben,
Bleib' im Dunkeln unerfahren, mag von Tag
Zu Tage leben!"
At certain epochs in the history of the world great events have
happened. Often such epochs are followed by epochs of inertia. Men bask
in the sunlight of the glory that was revealed to humanity; they receive
help and strength from what had been. But the greater the interval
between the occurrence [p.77] of that greatness and the contemplation of
it, the more difficult does it become to grasp and to possess something
of the true meaning, value, and significance of such greatness. The
greatness, as the interval grows, becomes something to be known,
something which is believed to fall upon us in an external, miraculous
manner; and finally it often becomes an object of wordy dispute and
strife. Certain periods in the history of the Christian Church give
abundant evidence of the truth of this statement. Eucken points out in
his _Problem of Human Life_ how barren in creative power, for instance,
was the fourth century. Why? An interval of nearly three centuries had
passed away since the Master and his followers had proclaimed truths and
experiences which were the burning convictions of their deepest being.
Gradually, and often unconsciously, men glided down an inclined plane,
until at last the spiritual nucleus of Christianity had largely
disappeared and little more than the husks remained. At the close of
such intervals religion becomes a number of conflicting intellectual
theories, and the worst passions are called to its support. Dogmatism
and intolerance prevail, and a blight comes over the choicest potencies
of the soul. All this happens because certain great events and
experiences of the past are conceived of as marking a terminus in the
history of the moral and spiritual evolution of the world. The [p.78]
soul is not stirred to its depth to preserve such experiences and, if
possible, enhance them. Thus the world leaves such a rich spiritual
content largely behind itself; and when this happens, it becomes a
matter of the greatest difficulty to recover it. And even when it is
recovered, something of infinite value has been for ever lost. The
present moment of the soul has to live on itself; and such a life
remains alien to depths of reality which have been plumbed by the great
personalities of history in the past. It is a want of conviction in
truth and reality that makes us seek finality in the past. It may be
that the highest personalities of our day are not able to scale such
spiritual heights as were scaled by the Christians of the primitive
Church; but unless they believe that the same power is present in their
souls they will never have courage even to make the attempt. It is a
vision of the nature of the reality which was climbed by the
personalities of the past, coupled with the consciousness of the same
spiritual power in the present, that will enable Christianity to be
lived on such a "grand scale" in the present and the future. The
spiritual experiences of the past have become over-individual and
over-historical norms for our lives; but such norms are no more than
ideas until the will enters into a relation with them. When this
happens, the individual does not only observe a goal in the distance but
also starts to move towards such [p.79] a goal with the whole spiritual
energy of his nature. And every individual who moves in the direction of
such norms brings some contribution of value from the present to be
added to the norms of the past. The spiritual life is thus individual
and over-individual, historical and over-historical, transcendent and
immanent.
Eucken has worked for many years at this difficult problem--a problem so
important in the life of civilisation and religion. It has already been
hinted that the conception bears striking resemblances to aspects of
Hegel's philosophy. But there are differences. One of these was pointed
out long ago by Eucken: "The gist of religion is with Hegel nothing but
the absorption of the individual in the universal intellectual process.
How such a conception can be identified with moral regeneration of the
Christian type, with purification of the heart, is unintelligible to
us."[23] Eucken's philosophy, on the other hand, is pre-eminently a
spiritual activism. The life-process is shaped by the collective
activity of individuals; and when this activity slackens the ideals of
the over-world suffer. Man is thus called to be what he _ought to be_;
and in the process he heightens something of the value of the Ought. An
Ought and a Will are involved in the creativeness of the individual life
and of the Life-process; so that it is a mistake to conceive [p.80] of
Eucken's activism as some stirring of the individual to realise merely
his own needs as these present themselves to him from moment to moment.
He is called and destined to do infinitely more; he is to be a creator
of the Life-process and a carrier in the making of a new world; but all
this can be done only from the standpoint of a vision of a spiritual
life superior to history and to the individual himself. Vision and
action are to be ever present. In the light of the vision man becomes
more than he now is; through action the vision increases in depth and
value.
What relation this has to the conception of the Godhead will be dealt
with in a later chapter. It is enough at present to bear in mind that,
as far as we have gone, a reality above sense, time, history, and the
content of the individual life has become evident. And it is such a
reality which gives meaning to the events of history.
It has to be borne in mind that much which is natural and of the earth
enters into history. Such effects have become clearly discernible in
modern times. Physical conditions do exercise an influence, and hem the
course of the spiritual life. The indifference of the physical order of
things to the ethical values of history is a problem which constantly
perplexes every thinking mind. No solution to the puzzles of life is to
be found in Nature. What do we discover there? "We discover enchainments
[p.81] of phenomena which seem to conduct to the creation of great
misery and which, with unmerciful callousness, drive man over the brink
of an abyss. The faintest hint would have sufficed to hold him back from
such a catastrophe; but this is not given, and consequently destruction
takes its course. Petty accidents destroy life and happiness; a moment
annihilates the most toilsome work. Often, also, we discover a chaotic
medley, a sudden overthrow of all potency, a seeming indifference
towards all human weal and woe, a blind groping in the dark; we discover
gloomy possibilities constantly sweeping as dark clouds over man and
occasionally descending as a crashing tempest."[24] Hundreds of similar
examples may be found in Eucken's books, and all point to the
insufficiency of the natural process for satisfying the deepest needs of
our being. But in spite of the fact that the natural process accompanies
Life everywhere, man has built a world beyond the world of sense.
With the entrance of the spiritual life a new mode of history makes its
appearance. This fact is to be witnessed in the tools invented by man in
order to overcome physical barriers. The growth of technics in our own
day is a proof of Nature yielding here and there to the demands of life
and intellect. This has all been brought about by mentality, and new
modes of living are the result.
[p.82] And when we enter the domain of human society the superiority of
the spiritual life becomes evident here as well. It is true that we are
as yet far from any ideals of human society which include the good of
all, and which bind all together in spite of radical differences that
will continue to persist. Systems of various kinds are presented--often
at variance with one another; but even these are evidence of a spiritual
life far above the achievements of any single individuals. What must we
do? We must all work on in the direction of the highest: and the higher
we mount the nearer we are to a point of convergence of all the
different syntheses; and out of the union there will be born a synthesis
which will include the whole family of man. We possess already such a
synthesis partially realised here and there in the lives of the greatest
personalities of history; but to the mass of mankind such a synthesis is
little more than a name, even though that name be God or Infinite Love.
The content of the name has to be realised: and this can never come
about except through a deep stirring and longing, through enormous
sacrifices, painful and recurring failures, to issue finally in a
conquest--a height attained by mankind on which the content of God and
Infinite Love will be born in the soul as a living, personal, and
durable experience. When this comes to be--and every genuine effort in
the movement of our higher being brings us nearer to it--there issues
[p.83] an incomparably higher mode of life. Thus a new history is framed
through the spiritual activities of individuals; and something of its
very nature and of the mode by which such a reality can be reached will
become an atmosphere into which future generations will be born, as well
a higher condition than has ever previously existed to hail the entrance
of human souls into the world.
Eucken insists that it is not the movement of democracy towards better
social conditions that will be effective in bringing about such a
change. Much, of course, can be effected by better social conditions.
There are needs to-day in connection with labour which ought to be met.
But at the best they can do no more than touch the periphery of human
existence. A poverty in the "inward parts" will still exist in the midst
of external plenty. But if men and women could be brought to the
consciousness of spiritual ideals and their efficacy, a disposition of
soul and character would be created which would rapidly change the evil
conditions of life and the perplexing problems of capital and labour.
Several writers have gone astray when they have imagined that Eucken has
but scant sympathy with the social needs of our times. It would be
difficult to find anywhere a man of a more tender heart. But he sees
deeper than the level of material and social needs and their fulfilment.
He sees that it is only by a change [p.84] of disposition and attitude
of the soul that permanent changes in the material well-being of the
world can come about. For it is in the soul's relation with its
over-individual and over-historical ideals that permanent qualities can
be created and preserved: it is in our own deepest being, through a
conviction of the values of sympathy, sacrifice, and love that any
genuine history can find its birth and nurture. We require to pay no
less attention to the things of the body; but the things of the spirit
must step into the foreground of life once again. Then we are working at
the heart of the Life-process--a Life-process which is the beginning of
a new cosmic process; and what will issue out of such a result will
probably be greater and better than anything we can dream of. Men are
called to this work to-day. They understand but little its significance
and its trend; they must be willing to learn from those who have lived
through these problems, and who see ramifications of the problems into a
soil deeper than is perceptible by the masses. The masses must be
willing to be taught in the things of the spirit. Hence we see the need
of great personalities who will combine in their own souls a penetrating
knowledge and an intense enthusiasm for the real welfare of mankind. A
true history can never be born outside this region; the world, without
such a conviction, can only wander out of one morass into [p.85]
another; and failure after failure will be the inevitable result of all
the attempts. Movements will have value and duration only in so far as
they are the outcome of a need of a spiritual life which includes
demands of intellect, morality, and religious idealism.
Eucken shows at the close of his remarkable article in _Beiträge zur
Weiterentwickelung der Religion_ that some form or other of the Eternal
must enter into time and its changes, and become a norm towards which
mankind will move. When this happens, mankind will not be content to
look merely beyond the grave for the redemption of the race and the
annihilation of sin. The very world in which we live is surrounded by an
over-world of ideal truth and goodness. Why should we live on "hope and
tarrying" when there is so much to be done and gained? The energies of
men run on such lines into "sickly sentimentalism" and "watery wishes,"
and nothing great issues out of our activities on the surface of life.
History becomes no more than a succession of changes of which the later
are of no more value than the earlier. All this happens, because there
is no Eternal--no over-world of over-individual and over-historical
values--present. In a large measure our very religion grants us here but
little help. It is either a contemplation of certain events in the past
which were delivered for once and for all or an immersion in the social
environment. [p.86] We remain aliens to the truth that these events can
be repeated to-day. We are not convinced as to the possibilities of our
own nature and of the realisation of the Divine in the making of
history. Our age is an age of stripping things of their connections and
qualities and of finding their essence in what they _were_ and not in
what they _are_ and _ought to be_. Even history is brought back to its
origin from savagery; and its explanation is sought in its _beginnings_
and not in its _ends_; the aspirations of the soul are supposed to be
explained in their totality when biological and psychological names are
given them; enthusiasm and conviction, which leave the level of the
daily rut and the conventionalities of society, are branded as signs of
shallowness and even of insanity. We are in the midst of plenty, and
feed on husks. The situation will not be altered until we turn from
intellect to intuition--which is no other than a turn from the mere way
in which things are put together to what the things essentially are and
ought to be in their meaning and value. When this happens, a new meaning
will be given to history, and the events of the day will be illumined
and valued in the light of the standard of spiritual ideals. Can we then
doubt that there works in history a Divine element which is
over-historical, and which alone gives their meanings and values to the
events of history itself?
* * * * *