Section One.

Religious Dualism.

1. Humanity and Religion in Relation to Nature.

Man is born into nature, forms a part of the world-whole, and is subject through the senses to the impressions of the surrounding external world. He himself, as an organic whole whose life rests upon a perpetual self-activity self-activity: Selbstthätigkeit – a philosophical concept, common in 19th-century German thought, suggesting that life is defined by its own internal drive and capacity for independent action, is positioned opposite nature, which presents him with an opposition to be overcome. With birth—associated with suffering for the child—the struggle with the external world begins; it is in this sense that some have wished to interpret the words of Shakespeare, which he has King Lear speak: "When we are born, we cry..." Original German: „Wenn wir geboren werden, weinen wir.“ From Shakespeare's King Lear, Act IV, Scene 6. Roskoff uses this to illustrate the inherent "suffering" of entering the material world.

The most immediate opposition following birth is presented by the atmospheric air. For the embryo in the mother's womb, the blood turned red by the mother's breathing sufficed for its plant-like existence; the newborn, however, must now breathe the air directly. It is placed in direct communication with the atmosphere and, with breathing, performs the first act of self-activity. By the direct inhalation of air, it provides its blood with a development appropriate to its independent life and is simultaneously stimulated to express its sensations freely. Upon the sneeze, which usually occurs as a result of the irritation caused by the air in the nasal cavity, we would like to call out an encouraging "May it benefit you!" Original Latin: Prosit – a common blessing or toast, used here to welcome the infant to the world's challenges. to the little inhabitant of the earth, for the happy overcoming of all those oppositions through which he is to attain that free independence which is, after all, his destiny.