that the quality of an act is the Spirit in which it is done. Indeed what I have done is to describe the whole of creation in spiritual terms.
The book is an emasculated twentieth century version of Goethe's Faust, because that is precisely what Goethe did. There is no poetry, because I am not a poet; but perhaps a better scientist; at least I have not dabbled in alchemy, only in prayer. I have a poorer understanding of Kant and Plato than Goethe had, but I am an empiricist. I have little interest in abstract theories of knowledge, that are not relevant to the practical decisions of life, though I agree that one cannot ignore them.
Goethe admired Kant, and gave him full credit for insisting on the sovereignty of ethics; but he rejected all speculative philosophy in preference for the contemplation, study, and measurement of nature, and the philosophy of physical science which flows from that. Goethe not only marvelled at the great mystery of nature, but insisted that all theory be rooted in experience. He had however to find an ethical dimension in the world, when nature in the laboratory or in the field does not show much evidence of being moral. He did this by postulating that God, the divine unfathomable mystery, was both the source of creative force and ethical will; and that God was not only in and through nature, but was nature. All this I agree with, except the last idea; I reject Pantheism. I believe God transcends his creation, as well as allowing his spirit to fill creation with his mystery; although it is fair to say that Goethe, at least at the end of his life, fully acknowledged the unique and majestic spirit of Jesus as revealed in the Gospels. I claim too, with many others, an indwelling with the Most High, and that God's love enters the world through men who are willing to listen to him; and with his love, his righteousness, because as I argue later at great length love and righteousness are inseparable. So far, so good; the mystery of nature is respected, and the world is an ethical place where there is…