, object), and spirit,
which is free from the one-sidednesses of mere potentiality and of
mere being, and master of itself (subject-object); to these is added,
further--not as a fourth, but as that which has the three predicates and
is wholly in each--the absolute proper, as the cause and support of these
attributes. The original unity of the three forms is dissolved, as the
first raises itself out of the condition of a mere potency and withdraws
itself from pure being in order to exist for itself; the tension extends
itself to the two others--the second now comes out from its selflessness,
subdues the first, and so leads the third back to unity. In creation
the three potencies stand related as the unlimited Can-be, the limiting
Must-be, and the Ought-to-be, or operate as material, formal, and final
causes, all held in undivided combination by the soul. It was not until the
end of creation that they became personalities. Man, in whom the potencies
come to rest, can divide their unity again; his fall calls forth a new
tension, and thereby the world becomes a world outside of God. History, the
process o progressive reconciliation between the God-estranged world and
God, passes through two periods--heathenism, in which the second person
works as a natural potency, and Christianity, in which it works with
freedom. In the discussion of these positive philosophy becomes a
_philosophy of mythology and revelation_. The irresistible force of
mythological ideas is explained by the fact that the gods are not creations
of the fancy, but real powers, namely, these potencies, which form the
substance of human conciousness.

The history of religion has for its starting-point the relative monotheism
of humanity in its original unity, and for its goal the absolute monotheism
of Christianity. With the separation into nations polytheism arises. This
is partly simultaneous polytheism (a plurality of gods under a chief god),
partly successive polytheism (an actual plurality of divinities, changing
dynasties of several chief gods), and develops from star worship or Sabeism
up to the religion of the Greeks. The Greek mysteries form the transition
from mythology to revelation. While in the mythological process one or
other of the divine potencies (Ground, Son, Spirit) was always predominant,
in Christianity they return into unity. The true monotheism of revelation
shows God as an articulated unity, in which the opposites are contained,
as being