Free thought; Modernism (Christian theology) -- Catholic Church; Religion and science; Teaching, Freedom of
“Varied, according to character, are the demands made by heart and mind,”
assures us a representative of modern philosophy, “corresponding to them
is the image of the world to which the individual turns by inner
necessity. He may waver hither and thither, uncertain as to himself; at
last, however, his innermost tendency of life will prevail and press him
into the view of the world corresponding to his individuality. Upon its
further development worldly and local influences will play a very
important part. But the deciding factor in giving the direction is
personality.” “And,” continues Prof. _Adickes_, “the sharper and more
one-sided a character type is brought to expression, the more it will be
urged into a certain metaphysical or religious tendency, and this man will
find no rest, nor feel himself at home in the world, until he has found
the view of life that fits him. Nor does man assemble his metaphysics with
discrimination on the grounds of logical necessity, choosing here,
rejecting there, but it grows within himself by that inner compulsion
identical with true freedom.” Hence, not unselfish yielding to truth, no,
the inclinations of heart and mind, the “personality” must form the view
of the world. Let every type of character therefore develop itself sharply
and one-sidedly, let every one get the view of the world corresponding to
himself, without regard to objective truth and logical necessity. This
precisely is the “true freedom.” “For when is a man more free, than when
he chooses and does—without any compulsion, even resisting compulsion—what
his innermost soul is urging him to choose and do? How could he be more
true to himself, more like himself?” With such a freedom “the outer
compulsion” of an absolute truth, to say nothing of the duty to believe,
will not agree. “The core of one’s very being,” so _Harnack_ informs us,
“should be grasped in its depths, and the soul should only know its own
needs and the way indicated by it to gratify them.” “According to my
character,” says _Adickes_ again, “is the world reflected within myself by
intrinsic necessity just as my creed represents it, and no opponent is
able to shake my position by arguments of reason or by empirical facts.”
Hence it is not only true, as has been known from the beginning, that the
inclinations of the heart are trying to prevail upon reason to urge their
desires, and to oppose what displeases them, and that reason must beware
of the heart—no, inclination and character are now directly called upon to
shape our religion and view of the world. Every type of man, every period,
may construct its own philosophical system, or, if this is beyond it, at
least its own ideas; it may also shape its own Christianity, according to
its experience. As the individual chooses his clothes, and puts his
individuality into them, in like manner may the individual put on the view
of life that fits him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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