SPECIAL EDITION: Hegel's Philosophy of Three – Part 3
#38. Transcending God & Nature: The History of Geist in the World
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Tuesday, July 5, 2022
“History in general is therefore the development of Spirit in Time, as Nature is the development of the Idea is Space.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, The Phenomenology of Spirit
SPECIAL EDITION PART 3 – CONSIDERATION #38: “Transcending God & Nature: The History of Geist in the World”
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
A bit long, but the final Special Edition Newsletter on Hegel and the last newsletter considering Book One is here! It completes and reconsiders our thirty-eight-week journey, and transitions us into the next phase of our consideration of reality. Congratulations!
“…you’re going to find that it’s [Hegel’s philosophy] about the world. It’s about History. It’s about everything. All philosophies are about everything if they’re any good at all, so it’s not especially illuminating to find out that it’s about the world, it’s about “what is,” and stuff like that.
So, let me take as my point of departure the idea of Spirit. In German, Geist. It’s central to Hegel’s philosophy. It’s central to his conception of reasoning. To his conception of History. To the big topics in Hegel’s thinking. Now Geist… it's the part of the world, the part of that “which is,” which isn’t nature; which isn’t matter or isn’t exclusively matter; isn’t exclusively physical. It’s the part of the world that isn’t the tables and chairs, the animals and plants, simple brute matter. Geist… is exactly everything that isn’t nature. Geist is Mind, Spirit, Reason…”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
In Kant’s philosophy, subjectivity, or individual personality, is not limited to the world of human beings. There are other rational, free, moral agents, or subjects, that are not human beings such as God, Angels, and even Nations. Kant’s Categorical Imperative would apply to these subjects as it would to any other free rational agent. Therefore, Kant’s idea of subjectivity of personality is not limited to physicality or physical human beings.
“Hegel argues that there is a “collective consciousness” reflecting a kind of “oversoul” representing the entire species…”
Hegel uses Kant’s idea of a “collective subject” that is manifested through things more substantial and complex than human beings, such as states and nations. However, Hegel moves beyond the idea of only Nations representing a collective moral agency. Hegel argues that there is a “collective consciousness” reflecting a kind of “oversoul” representing the entire species of human beings from the beginning of human existence. This Geist, or Spirit, or Mind unfolds itself through the History of the entire human race. Geist is often recognized as “the Spirit of an age,” or “the Spirit of the times.”
“The collective human experience begins in the infancy of the senses, much like a baby.”
Following the growth of Geist is like following the growth of a human being. Human beings grow and develop through phases such as infant, toddler, child, adolescent, adult; the Geist grows and develops through Historical Phases. The collective human experience begins in the infancy of the senses, much like a baby. Everything is about what we can touch, taste, feel, smell, and see. We are just beginning to experience the world. As we grow, we understand children’s tales in the form of myth, which helps us understand and interact with the world we are encountering, a world of magic and superstition.
“We become creators. Starting with simple cave drawings and finger paintings…”
However, as we mature and develop, our stories mature and develop with us. We begin to express our understanding of the world through the development of art and music. We become creators. Starting with simple cave drawings and finger paintings, and eventually advancing to the art of DaVinci, Michelangelo, and Bach. Human beings then sought the source of their inspiration and began to consider the notion of something beyond themselves and the physical world. Who was their Creator? Theology, through the practice of faith and devotion, moves the Geist to the next level.
“Christian theology leads to the development of science, which becomes the next step in human growth and development.”
Hegel considers the peak of theology to be Christianity. Christian theology leads to the development of science, which becomes the next step in human growth and development. Actively seeking the Creator through attempting to understand His creation, over time becomes manifested through the Spirit of Objective Science. An evolution from superstition to reason; Geist, evolving through individual human beings, moving closer to its purpose of self-actualizing Absolute Truth.
“So, the human species comes into existence in a kind of infancy, ignorance, superstition, and an inadequate understanding of its own qualities, of its own capacities, and of its own potentials. In other words, primitive human beings didn’t understand the nature of the entire human project, of all of human existence, for the same reason that five and six-year-olds don’t understand what it’s like to be an adult; because they lack the appropriate experience, and they lack the appropriate development and knowledge that comes from experiencing the world.
Hegel holds the view that all human beings, taken together on a global, or universal scale… Hegel thinks that all human beings form one giant collective subject; and that means that we can go back and look at the actual phases of human history as the kind of life story of this giant subject. And he thinks that it is possible not only to look back on these phases of development, but actually discern the process of maturation. The process of development. The process by which this giant subject, this ultimate subject, realizes the potentials that were in it from the very beginning.”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
This is the process of reaching an inherent purpose, or potential, for both individual human beings and the collective spirit of Geist. Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis. Art/Emotion & Inspiration - Religion/Faith & Devotion - Science/Reason & Logic. All three phases represent an understanding of Absolute Truth. However, the ultimate evolution of human beings and Geist, through time, is toward the reason and rationality of the one True Idea. A unity of consciousness between humans and humanity; the individual and the collective. We can trace our development toward this goal by recognizing the key turning points in our Culture and History.
From experience to expression; art. From expression to devotion; religion. From devotion to understanding; philosophy/science. These are the becoming of Geist in the world.
CONSIDERATION #38 – Transcending God & Nature: The History of Geist in the World
Part 3 – Transcending God & Nature
“The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, “The Philosophy of History” (page 19)
“America is therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that lie before us, the burden of the World's History shall reveal itself.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, “The Philosophy of History” (page 86)
Hegel’s philosophy attempts to unify the physical and metaphysical worlds by offering an argument against their apparent duality. There was not two separate worlds, dimensions, or possibilities forever separated by the laws of time and space. According to Hegel there were two complementary and actively interrelated realities working together in a symbiotic relationship with the ultimate teleological purpose of individual and collective self-actualization of the Absolute Truth, Absolute Idea, or Absolute Collective Consciousness; previously known as God. As individual human minds evolved, so did the entire Collective Consciousness of Humanity. The Spirit, or Geist, of Humanity discovers itself through us. This interplay of individual and collective consciousness plays out in the world of reality as History. Here’s how that process works.
“All the German metaphysicians, Kant as well as Hegel, connect the idea of freedom and rationality. Freedom and rationality are always closely bound up. Now the Geist is the essence of human existence. It’s the part of human beings that isn’t meat, that isn’t the corpse we carry around with us; it’s our spirit, our soul. And each historical epoch has a different spirit, or soul, and that spirit is expressed in the characteristic cultural productions of that time...
Common intellectual concerns, common intellectual questions, interact with each other and influence each other in the same concrete historical moments. So we have these abstract ideas of moving our intellectual orientation, say from God to nature, which is characteristic of the Enlightenment. Well, you can see those concerns not just in physical science, but also in political science, in moral theory, and also in visual art, in music, in all the cultural products. And the cultural products of our society are the expressions of its Spirit.”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
Primitive human beings experienced mostly the reality of the senses. Their reason consisted of identifying patterns in nature that allowed them to survive as a species. This led to myths and superstitions designed to help educate them and help develop behaviors that would likely increase their survival. Over time, these cautionary tales became the reality of early human experience. If Zeus was angry and throwing a lightening tantrum it was best to stay inside! This kept many human beings from being struck by lightning, even if the bolts were not actually being thrown by Zeus!
“Eventually, human beings began to express this understanding through art.”
The focus of primitive human beings was the outside physical world and how to survive in it. The key focus for accomplishing such a “physical goal” was the five senses that allowed us to experience “physical reality.” Eventually, human beings began to express this understanding through art. Early human beings depicted the things they encountered in their physical world, reflecting their experience. However, as individual and collective consciousness grew, our History reflects a focus away from expressing our knowledge of the physical world, to expressing the divine nature of its Creator.
“It turns out that the soul of humanity, that the Spirit, is becoming progressively more knowledgeable both about the world around it and about itself. As Spirit, which is kind of the general collective universal soul, becomes more conscious of itself, it becomes more conscious of its essential characteristics. And the essential characteristics of Spirit are that it’s not nature. In other words, that it’s free, and that it has the potential for autonomous rationality.”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
The second stage of individual and collective human development peaks in the Renaissance; representing the apex of human artistic accomplishment and the transition from Art to God. These artists utilized not only emotional inspiration for their work, but more importantly, the divine spark of reason as well. The mathematics they embedded into Renaissance art encompasses a key aspect of its beauty; it is rational and objective. Renaissance artists utilized divine reason to express divine inspiration. Renaissance art is not about subjective expression, it is about expressing divinity itself; through itself.
However, art could only reflect the inspiration generated from the sacred world. Human beings longed to explore this possibility through more than just expression, they wanted to understand how it worked. This occurs through philosophy and theology, the next steps in the evolution of Geist and individual human beings.
“This unlikely combination of reason, logic, faith, and devotion developed a theological system of thought related to the possibility of God that produced highly sophisticated systems of divine logic…”
The attempt to understand the physical and metaphysical world through abstract reasoning leads to classical Greek philosophy and theology. These roots are used to develop what Hegel considers the highest level of theology, Christian theology. This unlikely combination of reason, logic, faith, and devotion developed a theological system of thought related to the possibility of God that produced highly sophisticated systems of divine logic including the Logos and the Holy Trinity.
Theological philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine merged the abstract principles of the ancient Greek philosophers with the new emerging Christian ideology making the first modern institutional religion possible. This system of rational thought used to create logical theological systems eventually leads to the birth of science. The demarcation for this transition is Rene Descartes and the Age of Reason.
“Now, Spirit, in developing its consciousness and becoming more conscious of itself, learns essentially modern Newtonian physics; it learns how to push nature around. Which is what physics is; you apply it to your physical knowledge of the world, what you get is technology. The ability to push nature in ways that satisfy you.”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
The Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment, expresses a shift from trying to understand God to trying to understand God’s creation, the physical world. The attention of Geist becomes focused on nature. Why did God create things the way they are and how does everything work? The laws of God become the Laws of Nature. This is the beginning of modern science, political philosophy, and social science. This attempt at discovering the natural laws of God results in the physical sciences. It also increases individual and collective freedom in the world that leads to the founding of the United States of America.
“In Hegelian terms, it is likely that we are currently in perhaps the last phase of human development and evolution.”
Hegel sees this as an important Historical consequence. It marks a shift from a consideration of nature to a consideration of self. At this point, human consciousness has evolved from a focus on the physical senses, to a focus on God, to a focus on Nature, to a focus on self-realization (Human Equality/God given Natural rights) and self-actualization (pursuit of happiness). In Hegelian terms, it is possible that we are currently in perhaps the last phase of human development and evolution. However, there is no way to know how long this phase might last.
“Now, it’s a commonplace of Enlightenment thought, goes back at least as far as Descartes, that knowledge is power. And what that means is that since our knowledge, both of the world around us and of ourselves, has increased throughout History; has been a progressive addition of new elements of knowledge to the Human Spirit. By implication, we have also increased the amount of power that we have, because knowledge is power, and progressively increasing knowledge means progressively increasing power. Now, we have to ask ourselves, what happens when we calculate out the trajectory of this?
When we figure out, more-or-less graphically, where this gradual increase of knowledge and power goes. Where it goes is to the absolute completion of all of knowledge and all of power. Where else would it go, if you stop and think about it? If we continue this on more-or-less forever, because although individual human beings die the species seems to go on without much of a chance of dying; well then, add the idea of not just temporality, but eternal temporality to this process. What does that mean?
It means that human beings are progressing in self-consciousness. Which means that they are progressing in their knowledge of themselves and the things around them. Which means that they are gradually increasing their knowledge. Which means they are gradually increasing their power. And the final limit, the final end, the ultimate purpose of human existence, is the finishing of this project of increasing our knowledge and our power…
All of human culture. All the products of the human mind and spirit, gradually allow us to climb the ladder of self-consciousness. And when we complete the product of self-consciousness, we have completed the purpose of Spirit.”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
Hegel sees the Age of Reason and the Birth of the United States as key factors in reaching our ultimate purpose in the world. They represent, for the first time in History, a recognition of our true purpose; to expand individual and collective freedom in the world through individual and collective self-actualization. Hegel becomes the transition from a focus on the natural world, leading to our current scientific, political, and social reality, to a focus on individual and social self-realization and self-actualization that he believes will eventually lead us to our ultimate purpose: manifesting Absolute Truth through the Absolute Idea bringing Ultimate Unity to the world resulting in a uniquely new kind of individual and collective Human Consciousness. In the New Testament, Jesus referred to this Collective Unity as “The Kingdom of Heaven.”
POSTSCRIPT
“Most of the people who think that they are breaking this new ground are traveling well-worn paths and changing the vocabulary with which they articulate that. And not only that, but most of them don’t recognize that fact, and if you point it out, or if you told them that most of this is implicitly Hegelian, they would laugh at you and say that you don’t understand…
Ever since Hegel gave us the idea that History had a meaning, and that all of human existence has some cohesion to it, everyone has felt that they were in a privileged position of knowing that they were somehow at the end of this…
When you temporalize and turn the history of philosophy into a series of phases the last phase has to be you. And last phase has been us for about 150 years now…”
– Dr. Michael Sugrue, Hegel’s Philosophy of History (Lecture)
It could be argued that Hegel’s philosophy is in many ways like religion or the Bible. First, it is so metaphysical, substantial, and complex that people tend to read into it whatever they want to get out of it. Karl Marx got atheism out of it. However, Paul Tillich got a complete theology of God acting in the world out of it. It is also like the Bible in that most people actually haven’t read it, but still feel they have some knowledge of it through various other references or connections. People often argue about Hegel and the Bible, even though they most likely have never read, nor understood, either completely. They heard something, or read something, or saw something relating to Hegel. Finally, they both have affected and influenced our reality in ways most people do not truly appreciate or understand; many because they think it isn’t relevant, or important, or just doesn’t matter. However, there are perhaps a few important lessons we can learn from Hegel in our search for the truth about reality.
“Only one man ever understood me, and he didn't understand me.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
One important concept to understand regarding Hegel’s philosophy is that people are imperfect creatures acting the best they can with the consciousness they have at any given time. The History of Geist reflects the same concept. If you were to open your diary at the age of eighty-five you might be surprised at your youthful ignorance as you begin to read. However, most of the time you would laugh at your younger self, not condemn your younger self. You are older and wiser, but you do not blame your younger self for their ignorance.
“The state of man's mind, or the elementary phase of mind which he so far possesses, conforms precisely to the state of the world as he so far views it.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Our collective history is analogous to this. We should not look back at our “younger humanity” and expect it to have the same kind of knowledge and understanding that we have. Infants aren’t bad human beings because they poop in their diapers. However, given no physical or mental limitations, we do expect them to grow out of it eventually! More importantly, we don’t laugh at them and demean them forever about it once they do! We learn from, and grow out of, our past. It should be used as a measurement of progress, not ridicule. It is part of the entire “becoming” of Humanity. However, if we are really evolving, we won’t keep repeating the same mistakes of the past. In a truly Enlightened society, History actually would stop repeating itself.
“What history teaches us is that neither nations nor governments ever learn anything from it.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Hegel also cautions against directly trying to impose our will on the Geist. We cannot force Humanity, or individual human beings, into understanding the Absolute Truth. Individual human beings, in addition to their collective consciousness, are moving through phases. Consciousness, even in terms of morality, must naturally flow from individuals into the collective consciousness of its own accord, in its own time. For example, humanity can’t skip its experience with art and religion and go straight to Ultimate Rational Truth out of sheer will. Reality must go through the process of becoming; before finally reaching Unity. It cannot be deprived of its journey.
“The length of the journey has to be borne with, for every moment is necessary.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Many of the “mistakes” in History are the result of attempting to impose a higher morality on Humanity before individual human beings were naturally evolved enough to understand and embrace them. The French Revolution would serve as an example of such a mistake. In addition, evolved societies are often targeted for destruction by lesser evolved societies, slowing down the overall evolution of the Geist. Mistakes, such as these, are generally related to the human ego. Unity between individual human beings and the Geist cannot be manhandled and battered into reality; it is in the process of becoming and will bear fruit when the time is right.
“When individuals and nations have once got in their heads the abstract concept of full-blown liberty, there is nothing like it in its uncontrollable strength.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
A basic understanding of Hegel’s work will help us understand and discuss not only the history and progress related to modern science, religion, social science, and politics, but also the spiritual metaphysics underlying that progress as well. Hegel marks an excellent starting point for understanding the development of what we think of as “our” current reality. Particularly in terms of political and social theory, relativity theory, quantum mechanics, and spiritual mysticism.
“It is because the method of physics does not satisfy the comprehension that we have to go on further.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Much like a religious extremist, people misinterpreting Hegel’s arch of History often insist that the “end of the world” is always now. We are at the “end times.” We are the ones who are enduring the “end of days.” However, Hegel gives us no reason to believe the end is imminent, or that it will end in disaster. However, it will certainly end in an apocalypse.
“The nature of finite things is to have the seed of their passing-away as their essential being: the hour of their birth is the hour of their death.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
An apocalypse is a Revelation, Uncovering, or Disclosure of a divine secret or purpose. Hegel sees the apocalypse as a Revelation of Absolute Truth and Absolute Spirit resulting in the manifestation of Infinite Spirit, the ultimate purpose of individual human beings and their collective consciousness, Geist. For Hegel, the end of History represents a new beginning for Humanity; after finally reaching the end they were ultimately predestined to achieve, together.
“The essence of the modern state is the union of the universal with the full freedom of the particular, and with the welfare of individuals.”
– Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
However, it appears unlikely that we are there, just yet. Although it is perhaps something we might want to consider more seriously if we ever want to reach that potential.
Next week, some final thoughts on Book One, and some first thoughts on the upcoming Second Book: “The Power of Three – Understanding Reality Through Science & Religion.”
P.P.S.
Excerpt from Tomorrow’s 3rd Free Podcast!
“Okay. So, why is this story [The Garden of Eden] so important to understanding our perception of Reality? What are its literary and religious implications? And most importantly, how is it responsible for the dualism created between the physical and the nonphysical world, ultimately resulting in the manifestation of both science and religion? These are the knots we will be untangling in today’s Podcast…
As mythology, the Garden of Eden story utilizes archetypes and metaphors to explain why human beings are different from other animals on earth. It establishes that after obtaining the ability to distinguish opposites, such as good and evil, human beings became more like the Divine, or God. What makes human beings “God-like” is their ability to use reason as a way of understanding how things work. This same reason also gives them the God-like power of Creation, resulting in art, architecture, music, storytelling, and more. As a myth, this story stands alone as a lesson in understanding. It is one of many Creation Stories. However, this particular Creation Myth holds the seed that develops into Western Civilization.
As a religious narrative, the Garden of Eden is not a stand-alone story. It is the opening act of a much larger narrative called the Bible. It not only explains why, and how, human beings became separated from the Unity of God; it also sets up God’s Divine Solution for repairing the relationship. Once becoming “like God” human beings would have to become responsible for understanding God, without the Divine Nature necessary for actually being God…
One of the key considerations to take from this story is that it introduces the concept of sin into our consciousness. Sin directly involves choice. Human beings made a choice to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. Therefore, Free Will was already a part of their nature before eating from the Tree of Knowledge. However, the dichotomy of choice, or duality of choice, is introduced by the Serpent when it “tempts” Adam and Eve to make a “false choice.” Once their “eyes were opened” they no longer lived in the Truth of Unity with God and Nature.”