Phenomenology of Spirit — G. W. F. Hegel

Tlie Result of Enlightenment 583 tions or distinctions are kept apart, and hence becomes pure thought in the sense of a pure thing. This, now, is just the dull, silent, unconscious working and weaving of the spirit at the loom of its own being, to which behef, as we saw, sank back when it lost all distinction in its content.

And this is at the same time that movement of pure self-consciousness, in regard to which the essence is intended to be the absolutely external beyond. For, because this pure self-consciousness is a movement working with pure notions, with distinctions that are no distinctions, pure self- consciousness collapses in fact into that unconscious working and weaving of spirit, i.e. into pure feehng, or pm^e thinghood.

The self-aHenated notion — for the notion still stands here at the level of such aHenation — does not, however, know this identical nature constituting both sides, — the movement of self-consciousness and its absolute Reahty, — does not know the identity of their nature, which, in point of fact gives them their very substance and subsistence.

Since the notion is not aware of this insight, absolute Reahty has significance and value merely in the form of an objective beyond, while the consciousness making these distinctions, and in this w^ay keeping the ultimate reality outside itself, is treated as a finite consciousness.

Regarding that Absolute Being, enhghtenment itself falls out with itself in the same way as it did formerly with behef, and is divided between the views of two parties. One party proves itself to be victorious by the fact that it breaks up into two parties ; for in that fact it shows it possesses within it the principle it combats, and consequently shows it has abolished

584 Phenomenology of Mind the one-sidedness with which it formerly made its appearance. The interest which was divided between it and the other, now falls entirely within it, and forgets the other, because that interest finds lying in it alone the opposition on which attention is directed. At the same time, however, the opposition has been lifted into the higher victorious element, where it is cleared 1^7» up and set forth.

So that the schism that arises in one party, and seems a misfortune, demonstrates rather its good fortune. The pure essence itself has in it no distinction ; consequently distinction is reached by two such pure essences being put forward for consciousness to be aware of, or by a twofold consciousness of the pure reality.

The pure absolute essence is only in pure thought, or rather it is pure thought itself, and thus absolutely beyond the finite, beyond self-consciousness, and is merely the ultimate essence in a negative sense. But in this way it is just being, the negative of selfconsciousness. Being negative of self-consciousness, it is also related to self-consciousness.

It is external being, which, placed in relation to self-consciousness within which distinctions and determinations fall, preserves within it the distinctions, of being tasted, seen, and so on; and the relationship is that of senseexperience and perception.

Taking the point of departm-e from this senseexistence, into which that negative beyond necessarily passes, but abstracting from those various ways in which consciousness is related to sense-existence, there is left pure matter as that in which consciousness weaves and moves inarticulately within itself. In dealing with this, the essential point to note is that pure matter is

The Result of Enlightenment 585 merely what remains over when we abstract from seeing, feeling, tasting, etc., i.e. it is not what is seen, tasted, felt, and so on ; it is not matter that is seen, felt, or tasted, but colom-, a stone, salt, and so on.

Matter is really a pm-e abstraction ; and, being so, we have here the pm'e essential natm'e of thought, or pure thought itself, as the Absolute without predicates, undetermined, having no distinctions within it.* The one kind of enlightenment calls absolute Being that predicateless Absolute, which exists in thought beyond the actual consciousness from which this enlightenment started ; the other calls it matter.

If they were distinguished as Nature and Spirit or God, the unconscious inner working and weaving would have nothing of the wealth of developed Hfe required in order to be nature, while Spirit or God would have no self-distinguishing consciousness.

Both, as we saw, are entirely the same notion ; the distinction Ues not in the objective fact, but purely in the diversity of starting-point adopted by the two thought-constructions, and in the fact that each keeps to a special point of view in the thought-process. If they rose above that, their thoughts would coincide, and they would find what to the one is, as it holds, a horror, and to the other a folly, is one and the same thing.

For to the one, absolute Being, in its pure thought — or directly for pure consciousness — is outside finite consciousness, is the negative beyond of finite mind. If it would reflect that in part that simple immediacy of thought is nothing else than pure being, that in part, again, what is negative for consciousness is at the same * Cp. Schopenhauer : " The absolute without predicates is just matter."