Translations:Dialectical materialism/9/en

Hegel believed that what makes the universe intelligible is the understanding of it as an eternal cycle wherein Spirit comes to know itself as Spirit. This Spirit knowing of itself as Spirit comes through logic, though nature, and through mind-Spirit or Geist.^[1] He saw logic as positive pure Spirit. He saw nature as the negative creation of Spirit which bears the mark of its creator, in other words, Matter. He saw Spirit coming to know Spirit through Alpha, through Omega, through the masculine and feminine polarity of the universe; and then through Geist, through self-consciousness, self-expression in history, self-discovery in art, religion and philosophy. That Geist, then, becomes the individual Christ Self positioned in the midst of the Spirit-Matter being which you are, here and now.

↑ Hegel used the word Geist to describe a central principle of his philosophy. The word is the etymological origin of the word ghost, but this term has lost much of its original meaning in English. Analogous words in other languages are the Greek pneuma, Latin spiritus, and Sanskrit prana. One element of the breadth of the original meaning in English is found in the term Holy Ghost. Geist can be translated as “consciousness,” mind or Spirit. Hegel’s use of this term is indicative of his departure from atheistic rationalism.

[1] Hegel used the word Geist to describe a central principle of his philosophy. The word is the etymological origin of the word ghost, but this term has lost much of its original meaning in English. Analogous words in other languages are the Greek pneuma, Latin spiritus, and Sanskrit prana. One element of the breadth of the original meaning in English is found in the term Holy Ghost. Geist can be translated as “consciousness,” mind or Spirit. Hegel’s use of this term is indicative of his departure from atheistic rationalism.

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