[21] But there is ALSO, in the whole history of religion^a, a reaction against this factory (namely, man's idol-producing mind)--the reaction of the experience of the uncondi- tional, of that which is of infinite significance, beyond transitoriness, beyond conditioned characteristics, unconditional, a matter of infinite passion. And these two tendencies are fighting everywhere in the history of religion and culture^b. And it is one of the keys to the understanding of the dynamics of culture, a key quite different from the genetic keys of sociology and psychology and economics, namely the key which comes from the realm of meaning and which shows that there is a MEANING in all this. Of course it is mediated by sociological and psychological movements, but it is, at the same time, in spite of this mediation, not meaningless. The history of mankind, in its depths, is the fight between idolatry and true faith, between an unconditional concern which expresses itself in concrete forms which are not really ultimate, and between movements (mystical, humanist, and many others) which drive in the direction of that which is really unconditional. Faith^c, in both respects, has a different character. And let me go into this because it is most important for your understanding of my position (although it goes a little too deep into the philosophy of religion), namely the problem of certainty. The unconditional concern is a mixture of certainty and uncertainty. And that is all living faith. The element of certainty is the element of the unconditional itself. Nobody can deny it, because if he denies it in the name of truth, truth is his unconditional concern. If he denies it in the name of cynicism, then his cynical state of mind proves the despair about lost truth. Nobody is able to escape that element in the structure of man which I call the unconditional, the ultimate, beyond every preliminary and conditional concern. But there is the other side: the concreteness of the concern. One is Buddhist or Confucianist, one is a Mohammedan or Christian, one is Catholic or Protestant, one is existentialist or naturalist. In any case, one is always something concrete. And now the element of uncertainty appears. There is no certainty about the content of faith. There is certainty about its unconditional element, but there is no certainty about its concrete element. In theological groups today, very often, the word of this follower of Jesus is quoted: "I believe; help my unbelief." Now it is good that this is quoted so often, because it can be used as a motto for the state of mind which is characteristic for every