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     Consciousness, the awareness of self as distinct from
the world, distinct especially from society, confronts us at
the very beginning of our cultural tradition, when the voice
of the gardener reminded Adam and Eve that they had disobeyed
his instructions and had made them ashamed; it was in
protection of their self-consciousness that they resorted to
fig-leaves.  The requirements of social interaction are
forever degrading the consciousness of self.  "Und es fordert
die Seele Tag fuer Tag der Gebrauch uns ab."  (And day after
day custom and usage confiscate our souls.)  (Hoelderlin) And
like the budding of trees and the bursting forth of flowers
in the spring, the consciousness of self is forever
resurging.

     It has long been observed, and indeed the Garden of Eden
fable appears to corroborate that there is a compelling
relationship between the awareness of self and the
celebration of deity. From one perspective, where deity is
socially most powerful, individuality fades to virtual
nothingness; while the individual mindful of his integrity is
intolerant of the public deity that society forces upon him.

     One method for resolving the incongruity between self
and deity by assuming that God is within man; that man's
subjectivity is divine. Such teaching is made plausible by
the Platonic doctrine of the divinity of the soul.  That
teaching became the foundation of much doctrine, was adopted
most pointedly by the mystics of the fifteen, sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries.  The Protestant reformation with its
emphasis on salvation by individual faith provided a fertile,
supportive environment.

     When I scan the texts of what may properly be
denominated as German philosophy from the seventeenth century
to the present, I think I understand that this theological-
psychological topic of the relationship of deity and
individuality to each other and to the world are its dominant
theme.

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Copyright 2006, Ernst Jochen Meyer
