3
2. In order to {give} paint for you {an im} a preliminary image of what
I mean when I speak of conflicts between
ture
which have come into conflict with religion. Most conspicuous
in the last 400 years in the West and in the last 10 50 years
in this country is the conflict between
{deal with it first}. _ {Most} Most noticeable in our daily life is
the conflict with
line of technical culture and the vertical line of religious expe-
rience. – Most embracing of all is the everlasting conflict be-
tween the
and state. – The {most} main point of conflict between them is
{the} at the same time the most fundamental one, the
the introduction of the new generations into the culture. Who shall
do it? and how should it be done. – Introducing into the culture means introducing into
the social relations
4
of {the} classes and authorities {and democratic attitudes and their}
{the religious criticism}. This is the most existential of the conflicts.
– Finally the most revealing possibility: the relation of the
{Only some of them can be discussed.}
II. The concepts of religion and culture.
1. The question: Are these conflicts essential, belonging
to the nature of man? Or are they existential, following from
the distortion of human nature. Are they consequences of
error and will to power? {or are they} Can they be overcome, not
by seperation, but by
therefore I want to speak of the ultimate unity and the
possible reunion of religion and culture. But we must be
realistic and {and that all} remember that everything in history
remains fragmentary. [...] {Fragmentary reunions of religion and}
5
{culture are possible and have been real.} Only fragmentary
unions
while, [...] (and it is certainly a task of the philosopher of
religion) to fight for it.
2. Both, {can f}
life universal they are rooted in functions which are
common to life in all its dimensions. Life in all its di-
mensions from the {anor} anorganic to the organic, to
the psychological, to the spirit {create drive} drives toward self-creation {it-}
{self} and selftranscendence {itself}. Life always and everywhere creates itself and transcends itself, {And it does something else,} in the life of the spirit the first is called culture, the second religion.
{it} And {it} {life} life is driven towards something else, namely towards self-
integration or {towards} centeredness {in a centered being}. In the dimension of the
in the drive towards a totally centered self; and for this we
have the word morality
11
special realm {the logic, experiment, aesthetics, l}| which
must be known and applied in every cultural
tivity
is the {creative} new which is the aim of every creative act.
Nothing new can be created without the conscious appli-
cation of the rules; but the application of the rules does
not make the creative act. This comes out of a {depth} dimension
which is deeper than consciousness. – And out of the creative
depth the third element also comes, the
all form which characterizes a period, a group, a creative
individual. In the style a period expresses its {interpr}
encounter with reality, its concern with life and its answer
to the meaning of life, in short, its religious dimension. De-
ciphring a style of a culture means diciphring its inner
heart, its relation to the ultimate ].
10
group in education and law, in social relations and
politics.
6. This is what
about the cultural
elements first the given
a person, a group, an event; second the
ethical, political; third the
idealistic, expressionistic, archaic, classical, etc. – The
three are always present, but the relation of the creative act
to {eac} each of them is different. The subject-matter can
be chosen freely, everything between heaven and earth. Nothing
ugly, nothing grotesk, nothing perverted is excluded. – The form {is}
{the can act of} makes a cultural object into what it is, a
poem, a scientific essay, a mashine, a {partic} law, a con-
stitution. The form {has to be} is subjected to the rules of the
9
{On the b} 5). On the basis of
tions of receiving reality arise, the cognitive function which leads to science and
philosophy, and the {artistic fun} aesthetic function which leads to art
and litterature. {They will be in the center of our attention} In them the mind receives and transforms reality within itself. But
there is another {group} side in every culture, the reactive
side in which the mind {transform} transfoms the encountered rea-
lity outside of itself. The basic function in this respect is the
radise-myth God asks man both, to cultivate the garden
and [...] to give names to the animals. Man is that being
which alone is able to use a tool as {t} a tool; man is {both},
fabricating man {and speaking man} and this is the other source
of his dignity and greatness. – On the basis of the technical
act, {and} in interdependence with language, the practical culture
develops, the transforming of the individual and of the social
8
4.
sion of
{ters reality and} transforms a given
receiving it or by reacting to it. The first and funda-
mental act of receiving the encountered world is {the}
Every language is the result of a particular encounter be-
tween mind and world. It is not a convential use of words
for the sake of communication. [...] Communication is an element in it; the
{elem} other element is {designation} denotation. {And} In {this} it mind and reality
are united in a particular way; in every language a view
{of life and} of reality and life is hidden. Before prophets have spoken
and philosophers have thought the {human} creation of language {has} was a reve-
lation of the meaning of life. Therefore a language desintegrates
if life loses its meaning; {and becomes a technic} and languages
are distorted if life is distorted (as under dictatorships or the rule of the gadget)
7
a person establishes itself as a person. This is the {deepest}
meaning of
{est reacted,} and with it the dignity and greatness of man is {rooted} {based} based. Therefore
the moral act {is} {a} has unconditional{ly} {demanded,} validits {whatever}
{its content may be} The moral imperative is absolute, al-
though its contents are relative, conditioned by traditions, con-
ventions, {and new insights} particular situations and changing insights. The uncondi-
tional seriousness of the moral act is the religious
{4.}
{dimension in it} element in it, the changing ethical con-
tents are given by man's cultural creativity. This shows that the func-
tions of the spirit are within eachother and are dependent on
eachother. Without {the} morality {act} culture {would be}
is nothing than an unserious play and religion {is a} {combination of emo-}
{tions, and phantasies and} is nothing than unserious emotional ele-
vation. And the person, the bearer of both, loses {at} his center
and desintegrates.
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7. Again and again we have touched at the con-
cept of
spoke of the selftranscende of life. Life drives towards
the sublime in all its dimensions. {In the} It drives to more
refined, to richer and more powerful forms. In the life of the
spirit it drives towards the ultimately sublime, to the
absolutely rich and absolutely powerful form, which we call
the
which all life strifes and which is experienced in {t} man's
{sip} spiritual life. – But as the integration of life in
all dimension is {threatened by} a countered by desintegra-
tion, and as the selfcreation of life is {t} countered by destinc-
tion, so the {selftranscen} selfsublimation of life is countered
by profanisation.
13
8. Man would not strive towards the ultimately
sublime, the
in some way. You cannot {trie to reach} ask for something of which
you know nothing. Nobody can ask for the divine who
has not been already grasped by it. The movement to-
wards the
timate in us. The experience both, of the presence of the
{ultima} holy and our striving towards it, is what we
call
state of being ultimately concerned about that which is
ultimate. (If somebody is uneasy about the term
mate concern
{in whic} state of mind in which {we} something imposes it-
self {to} on us as {ult} unconditionally serious. Therefore one
can say: He who takes his doubt about everything, inclu-
14
ding God, unconditionally seriously, is neither irreligious
nor atheistic; in the absolute character of his seriousness
he {w}witnesses to the divine which he denies.
9. This largest and basic concept of
viates from the ordinary one which is derived from
the historical religions with priests, monks, temples, devotional die-
ties, myths, doctrines, {as} festivals etc. And one {rightly}
{s}says that religion in this ordinary, {and} narrower sense
is a piece of
the whole of a culture. This, therefore, is the place {she}
on which the conflicts between religion and culture have
arisen. All conflicts between culture and religion are
conflicts between {reli} {culture and} religion in the nar-
rower sense and culture. There is no conflict between {religion and}
culture and religion in the larger and basic sense; for
if this sense is meant, religion is the dimension of
16
in a way which justifies such
are they concerned about something which is less than ultimate?
Is the concrete religion distorted by idolatry, as to a
certain degree all religions are? – On the other hand,
one cannot trie to abolish the concrete religion. Only
within their womb the religious principle can develop
and come to birth. Otherwise the {principle} larger concept would be an
abstract principle for a philosophy of religion, but not experienced re-
{ligion} ality. In {the} meditation, prayer and community the
ultimate concern is nourished, otherwise it drives out and
the sublime is replaced by the profane.
15
the sublime, the
well as in morality. The way in which we trie to
solve the conflicts between religion, is the distinction
between the larger concept of religion, religion as the state of
being
religion, religion as a set of obliging symbols and
activities.
10. But the two concepts do not lie besides each-
other: The larger concept of
{a} the constitutive element in all {reli} historical re-
ligions: In Christianity as well as in Buddhism. the total
being with all its strength {and} is asked for. (The Bibli-
cal{l} commandment as the love of God). – Since this
unconditional concern is the core of all religions, it is
also their judgement: It raises the question about them: Do they express the ultimate relation