History of the Devil, Vol. I

First Section: Religious Dualism.

...ism The text continues the word "Dualism" from the previous page. of the American Indians, "happiness" is described as "sunshine," "peace" as "tending forest trees" or "burying a hatchet," and "comforting the bereaved" as "covering the grave of the deceased." The Indian can even only adopt foreign words through circumlocution: a candle is translated as Wassa kon-a-cm jegun from wassan (bright object), kon-a (burning), and jegun (tool); a candle-snuffer is translated as Kischke-kud-jegun from kischk (to cut off), ked or skut (fire), and jegun (tool).

Just as the higher vital potential of self-consciousness becomes evident in language—which in turn influences human development—the mastery of the self-conscious being is particularly noticeable in labor. The significance of labor lies in its transformative effect on an object (initially on nature) and, furthermore, in its formative counter-effect on the worker themselves. A person works by acting upon the world and receiving a reciprocal effect from that act; by mentally transforming an object, they are themselves mentally formed. Therefore, only the human being can "work" in the true sense, as a spiritual, self-conscious entity. When a person overcomes the opposition they face in nature by consuming its products and assimilating them into their physical body, they offer a parallel to the animal, which also transforms its food into flesh and blood. However, as the human being tills the field or processes animal hides into clothing, they transform nature. The result is a reciprocal one: with the cultivation of nature, the BildungThe German term "Bildung" refers to both formal education and the internal process of self-formation and personal development. of the human being goes hand in hand. In this sense, an animal never "works" because it never achieves self-consciousness. When a bird builds its nest or a bee collects honey and wax, this is a diligent industriousness, yet it lacks the reciprocal element of personal formation that characterizes true labor. ¹ It has indeed been elevated to an axiom,

¹ "Animals sometimes build quite ingenious dwellings," aptly notes Lange (original: "Geschichte des Materialismus" History of Materialism, p. 416), "but we have not yet seen them use artificial tools for their construction"—"precisely that perseverance applied to the production of an instrument, which only moderately rises above the... The text cuts off mid-sentence at the bottom of the page.