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Page 24
He is ever suspicious of intellectual contemplation, and this leads him
to attribute less importance than perhaps he should to _mysticism_, to
prayer, adoration, and worship. He admits that mysticism contains a
truth that is vital to religion, but complains that it becomes for many
the whole of religion. Its proper function is to liberate the human mind
from the narrowly human, and to emphasise a total-life, the great Whole.
It fails, however, "because it turns this necessary portion of religion
into the sole content. To it, religion is nothing other than an
absorption into the infinite and eternal Being--an extinguishing of all
particularity, and the gaining of a complete calm through the suspension
of all the wear and tear of life."
Eucken's discussion of _faith and doubt_ is very illuminating. He
protests against the conception of faith which concerns itself merely
with the intellectual acceptance of this or that doctrine. This narrows
and weakens its power, confining it to one department of life; whereas
faith is concerned with the whole of life.
Faith is for Eucken "a conviction of an axiomatic character, which
refuses to be analysed into reasons, and which, indeed, precedes all
reasons ... the recognition of the inner presence of an infinite
energy."
If faith concerns itself with, and proceeds from the whole of life, it
will then take account of the work of thought, and will not set itself
in opposition to reason. But it will lead where reason fails. It is not
limited by intellectual limitations, though it does not underrate or
neglect the achievements of the intellect. Faith enables life to
"maintain itself against a hostile or indifferent world; ... it holds
itself fast to invisible facts against the hard opposition of visible
existence."
The vital importance of such faith to religion is clearly evident; and
bound up with this is the significance of doubt. Doubt, too, becomes
now, not an intellectual matter, but a matter for the whole of life. "If
faith carries within itself so much movement and struggle, it is not
surprising ... if faith and doubt set themselves against each other, and
if the soul is set in a painful dilemma." Eucken considers it to be an
inevitable, and indeed a necessary accompaniment of religious
experience, and his own words on the point are forcible and clear.
"Doubt ... does not appear as something monstrous and atrocious, though
it would appear so if a perfect circle of ideas presented itself to man
and demanded his assent as a bounden duty. For where it is necessary to
lay hold on a new life, and to bring to consummation an inward
transformation, then a personal experience and testing are needed. But
no proof is definite which clings from the beginning to the final
result, and places on one side all possibility of an antithesis. The
opposite possibility must be thought out and lived through if the Yea is
to possess full energy and genuineness. Thus doubt becomes a necessary,
if also an uncomfortable, companion of religion; it is indispensable for
the conservation of the full freshness and originality of religion--for
the freeing of religion from conventional forms and phrases."
Eucken's views on _immortality_ have already been dealt with. He does
not accept the Christian conception of it, for he seems to limit the
possibility to those in whom spiritual personalities have been
developed, and he evidently does not believe that the "natural
individuality with all its egoism and limitations" is going to persist.
In discussing the question of _miracle_, Eucken weighs the fact that a
conviction of the possibility of miracle has been held by millions in
various religions, and particularly in Christianity. He considers that
the question of miracle is of more importance in the Christian religion
than in any other, one miracle--the Resurrection--having been taken
right into the heart of Christian doctrine. He finds, however, that the
miracle is entirely inconsistent with an exact scientific conception of
nature, and means "an overthrow of the total order of nature as this
has been set forth through the fundamental work of modern
investigation." He does not consider such a position can be held without
overwhelming evidence, and does not feel the traditional fact to have
this degree of certainty, or to be inexplicable in another way. He
considers that the explanation of the miracle probably lies in the
psychic state of the witnesses.
Eucken shows in general extreme reluctance to make a historical event a
foundation of belief, and this no doubt accounts to some extent for his
attitude with regard to miracles. He points out that "the founders of
religion have themselves protested against a craving after sensuous
signs," and that this protest "is no other than the sign of spiritual
power and of a Divine message and greatness." He considers that the
belief in, and craving for, sensuous miracle is an outcome of a
"mid-level of religion," where belief is waning and spirituality
declining. While, thus, he does not believe in sensuous miracle, he
acknowledges and lays the greatest stress on one miracle--the presence
of the Spiritual Life in man. It is, indeed, this miracle that renders
others unnecessary.
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