But time is the most universal form
of all objects of the knowledge which is subject to the will, and the
prototype of its other forms.
Knowledge now, as a rule, remains always subordinate to the service of the
will, as indeed it originated for this service, and grew, so to speak, to
the will, as the head to the body. In the case of the brutes this
subjection of knowledge to the will can never be abolished. In the case of
men it can be abolished only in exceptional cases, which we shall
presently consider more closely. This distinction between man and brute is
outwardly expressed by the difference of the relation of the head to the
body. In the case of the lower brutes both are deformed: in all brutes the
head is directed towards the earth, where the objects of its will lie;
even in the higher species the head and the body are still far more one
than in the case of man, whose head seems freely set upon his body, as if
only carried by and not serving it. This human excellence is exhibited in
the highest degree by the Apollo of Belvedere; the head of the god of the
Muses, with eyes fixed on the far distance, stands so freely on his
shoulders that it seems wholly delivered from the body, and no more
subject to its cares.
§ 34. The transition which we have referred to as possible, but yet to be
regarded as only exceptional, from the common knowledge of particular
things to the knowledge of the Idea, takes place suddenly; for knowledge
breaks free from the service of the will, by the subject ceasing to be
merely individual, and thus becoming the pure will-less subject of
knowledge, which no longer traces relations in accordance with the
principle of sufficient reason, but rests in fixed contemplation of the
object presented to it, out of its connection with all others, and rises
into it.
A full explanation is necessary to make this clear, and the reader must
suspend his surprise for a while, till he has grasped the whole thought
expressed in this work, and then it will vanish of itself.