hat everything which is separated into various parts
and embraced in different divisions, must be opposed and contradictory
to itself; but consider, I pray you, how Life is manifested in a great
variety of forms, how the most hostile elements seek out one another
here, and, for this very reason, what we separate in contemplation all
flows together in life. They, to be sure, who on one of these points
bear the greatest resemblance to one another, will present the
strongest mutual attraction, but they cannot, on that account, compose
an independent whole; for the degrees of this affinity imperceptibly
diminish and increase, and in the midst of so many transitions there
is no absolute repulsion, no total separation, even between the most
discordant elements. Take which you will of these masses which have
assumed an organic form according to their own inherent energy; if
you do not forcibly divide them by a mechanical operation, no one
will exhibit an absolutely distinct and homogeneous character, but the
extreme points of each will be connected at the same time with those
which display different properties and properly belong to another
mass.

If the pious individuals, who stand on the same degree of a lower
order, form a closer union with one another, there are yet some always
included in the combination who have a presentiment of higher things.
These are better understood by all who belong to a higher social class
than they understand themselves; and there is a point of sympathy
between the two which is concealed only from the latter. If those
combine in whom one of the modes of insight, which I have described,
is predominant, there will always be some among them who understand
at least both of the modes, and since they, in some degree, belong
to both, they form a connecting link between two spheres which would
otherwise be separated. Thus the individual who is more inclined to
cherish a religious connection between himself and nature, is yet by
no means opposed, in the essentials of religion, to him who prefers to
trace the footsteps of the Godhead in history; and there will never be
wanting those who can pursue both paths with equal facility. Thus in
whatever manner you divide the vast province of religion, you will
always come back to the same point.

If unbounded universality of insight be the first and original
supposition of religion, and hence also, most naturally, its fairest
and ripest fruit, you perceive that