ature constructs at the same time a new world within the spiritual life
over against it all; he who finds himself confined by contradictions of
all kinds, which immediate existence in no way can solve, yet struggles
after a further depth of reality and after the 'narrow gate' which opens
into religion. Through and beyond all the particular problems of life
and the world, it behoves us to raise the spiritual life to a level of
full independence, to make it simultaneously superior to man as an
individual and to bring it back into his soul. When this comes to be
there is at the same time a transformation of his inmost being, and for
the first time he becomes capable of genuine greatness.... These final
conclusions strengthen the aspiration after a religion of the spiritual
life.... Such a religion is in no way new, and Christianity has
proclaimed it and clung to it from the very beginning. But it has been
interwoven with traditional forms which are now seen through by so many
as pictorial ideas of epochs and times. Earlier times could allow the
Essence and the Form to coalesce without discovering any incongruity in
this. But the [p.205] time for doing this has irrevocably passed away.
The human which once seemed to bring the Spiritual and Divine so near to
man has now become a burden and a hindrance to him. A keener analysis, a
more independent development of the Spiritual and Divine, and, along
with this, the truth of religion, do not succeed in reaching their full
effects if religion is looked upon as merely something to protect
individuals, instead of as that which furthers the whole of humanity
--as that which is not merely a succour in times of trouble and sorrow
but also as that which guarantees an enhancement in work and
creativeness. The situation is difficult and full of dangers, and small
in the meantime is the number of those who grasp it in a deep and free
sense, and who yet are determined to penetrate victoriously into it, so
that the inner necessities of the spiritual life may awaken within the
soul of man. Whatever new tasks and difficulties lie in the lap of the
future, to-day it behoves us before all else to proceed a step upward in
the direction of the summits and to draw new energies and depths of the
spiritual life into the domain of man; for this kind of work will
prevent the coming of an 'old age' upon humanity and will breathe into
its soul the gift of Eternal Youth."[70]

* * *