Man or Matter: Introduction to a Spiritual Understanding of Nature on the Basis of Goethe's Method of Training Observation and ThoughtLehrs, Ernst
Religion
Man or Matter: Introduction to a Spiritual Understanding of Nature on the Basis of Goethe's Method of Training Observation and Thought
Lehrs, Ernst
Anthroposophy; Cosmology; Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832
The picture of man thus sketched by Traherne is as close to Reid's as
it is remote from Augustine's. This remoteness comes plainly to
expression in the way Traherne and Augustine regard the summons of
Christ to His disciples to become as little children, a summons to
which Reid was led, as we have seen, on purely philosophical grounds.
Let us first of all recall the words of Christ as recorded by Matthew
in his 18th and 19th chapters:
'And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of
them, and said: Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,
the same is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.' (xviii, 2-4.)
'Suffer the little children and forbid them not to come unto me: for of
such is the kingdom of Heaven.' (xix, 14.)
Augustine refers to these words when he concludes that examination of
his childhood memories which he undertook in order to prove the
depravity of the soul from its first day on earth. He says: 'In the
littleness of children didst Thou, our king, give us a symbol of
humility when Thou didst say: Of such is the kingdom of Heaven.'
If we glance back from what Augustine says here to the original
passages in the Gospel just quoted, we see what a remarkable alteration
he makes. Of the first passage only the last sentence is taken, and
this in Augustine's mind is fused into one with the second passage.
Thereby the admonition of Christ through one's own effort to become as
one once was as a child disappears completely. The whole passage thus
takes on a meaning corresponding to that passive attitude to the divine
will inculcated by Augustine and opposed by Pelagius, and it is in this
sense that the words of Christ have sunk into the consciousness of
Western Christianity and are usually taken to-day.
We may see how differently this injunction of Christ lived in
Traherne's consciousness from the following passage out of his
Centuries:
'Our Saviour's meaning, when He said, ye must be born again and become
a little child that will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, is deeper
far than is generally believed. It is not only in a careless reliance
upon Divine Providence, that we are to become little children, or in
the feebleness and shortness of our anger and simplicity of our
passions, but in the peace and purity of all our soul. Which purity
also is a deeper thing than is commonly apprehended.' (Ill, 5.)
With Traherne also the passage in question has been fused together with
another utterance of Christ, from John's account of Christ's
conversation with Nicodemus:
'Verily, verily I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the Kingdom of God.' (John iii, 3.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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