When the Thinker, said a third, treads the strenuous path as Adept, and seeks by a skilful application of his spiritual activities to reduce the Sum of Things to a simple enigmatic Figure, one might say 'Nature dances,' and when he describes in words the curves of her movements the Lover of Nature must admire this audacious undertaking, and rejoice too at the success of this human enterprise. The Adept reasonably esteems action highly. His existence is Action and Production by Knowledge and Will, and his Art consists in applying his tools to everything, in representing the world in his fashion. Hence the principle of his world is Action, and his world is his Art.
German poet and writer (1772-1801)
Baron Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801) was an author, philosopher and poet of early German Romanticism. He is most commonly known by the pseudonym Novalis (denoting a "clearer of new land" — derived from a tradition of his ancestors, who had called themselves de Novali).
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Alternative Names:
Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg
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Friedrich von Hardenberg
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Актът на надскачане на себе си е навсякъде най-висшият, изначалният момент, генезисът на живота... Така всяка философия започва там, където философстващият философства себе си, т.е. едновременно разгражда себе си... и се самообновява... Така всяка жива моралност започва с това, че от добродетелност извършвам нещо против добродетелта; с това започва животът на добродетелта, чрез който капацитетът ѝ нараства до безкрайност.
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Blood will stream over Europe until the nations become aware of the frightful madness which drives them in circles. And then, struck by celestial music and made gentle, they approach their former altars all together, hear about the works of peace, and hold a great celebration of peace with fervent tears before the smoking altars.
The true reader must be an extension of the author. He is the higher court that receives the case already prepared by the lower court. The feeling by means of which the author has separated out the materials of his work, during reading separates out again the unformed and the formed aspects of the book — and if the reader were to work through the book according to his own idea, a second reader would refine it still more, with the result that, since the mass that had been worked through would constantly be poured into fresh vessels, the mass would finally become an essential component — a part of the active spirit.
Through impartial rereading of his book the author can refine his book himself. With strangers the particular character is usually lost, because the talent of fully entering into another person’s idea is so rare. Often even in the author himself. It is not a sign of superior education and greater powers to justifiably find fault with a book. When receiving new impressions, greater sharpness of mind is quite natural.
The ideal of Morality has no more dangerous rival than the ideal of highest Strength, of most powerful life; which also has been named (very falsely as it was there meant) the ideal of poetic greatness. It is the maximum of the savage; and has, in these times, gained, precisely among the greatest weaklings, very many proselytes. By this ideal, man becomes a Beast-Spirit, a Mixture; whose brutal wit has, for weaklings, a brutal power of attraction.