The decline of the West, Volume 2 : $b Perspectives of world-historySpengler, Oswald
History
The decline of the West, Volume 2 : $b Perspectives of world-history
Spengler, Oswald
Civilization -- History
But, further, for the Magian human-existence, the issue of the feeling
of _this_ sort of Time and the view of _this_ sort of space is a quite
peculiar type of piety, which likewise we may put under the sign of
the Cavern--a _will-less_ resignation, to which the spiritual “I” is
unknown, and which feels the spiritual “We” that has entered into
the quickened body as simply a reflection of the divine Light. The
Arab word for this is Islam (= submission) but this Islam was equally
Jesus’s normal mode of feeling and that of every other personality
of religious genius that appeared in this Culture. Classical piety
is something perfectly different,[416] while, as for that of our own
Culture, if we could mentally abstract from the piety of St. Theresa
and Luther and Pascal their Ego--that Ego which wills to maintain
itself against, to submit to, or even to be extinguished by the Divine
Infinite--there would be nothing left. The Faustian prime-sacrament
of Contrition presupposes the strong and free will that can overcome
itself. But it is precisely the _impossibility of an Ego as a free
power_ in the face of the divine that constitutes “Islam.” Every
attempt to meet the operations of God with a personal purpose or even a
personal opinion is “_masiga_,”--that is, not an evil willing, but an
evidence that the powers of darkness and evil have taken possession of
a man and expelled the divine from him. The Magian waking-consciousness
is merely the _theatre_ of a battle between these two powers and not,
so to say, a power in itself. Moreover, in this kind of world-happening
there is no place for individual causes and effects, let alone any
universally effective dynamic concatenation thereof, and consequently
there is no _necessary_ connexion between sin and punishment, no
_claim_ to reward, no old-Israelitish “righteousness.” Things of this
order the true piety of this Culture regards as far beneath it. The
laws of nature are not something settled for ever that God can alter
only by the method of miracle--they are (so to put it) the ordinary
state of an autocratic divine will, not possessing in themselves
anything of the logical necessity that they have for Faustian souls.
In the entire world-cavern there is but _one_ Cause, which lies
_immediately_ behind all visible workings, and this is the Godhead,
which, as itself, acts without causes. Even to speculate upon causes in
connexion with God is sinful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account