. The Open court. n admission into the circle ofmy thoughts. I considered the men who lived without God, whosehearts were shut against the trust in and the love of the Invisible,as already so unhappy, that a hell and external pains appeared topromise rather an alleviation than an increase of their misery. Ihad but to look upon the persons, in this world, who in their breastsgave scope to hateful feelings; who hardened their hearts againstthe good of whatever kind, and strove to force the evil on them-selves and others; who shut their eyes by day, that so they might GOETHE S RELATION TO WOMEN.
. The Open court. n admission into the circle ofmy thoughts. I considered the men who lived without God, whosehearts were shut against the trust in and the love of the Invisible,as already so unhappy, that a hell and external pains appeared topromise rather an alleviation than an increase of their misery. Ihad but to look upon the persons, in this world, who in their breastsgave scope to hateful feelings; who hardened their hearts againstthe good of whatever kind, and strove to force the evil on them-selves and others; who shut their eyes by day, that so they might GOETHE S RELATION TO WOMEN. 87 deny the shining of the sun. 1 low unutterably wretched did thesepersons seem to me! Who could have devised a hell to make theirsituation worse? Finally through the influence of her uncle and a friendly coun-sellor whom she calls Philo she found composure of mind whichshe expresses thus: It was as if my soul were thinking se])arately from the body:the soul looked upon the body as a foreign substance, as we look. SUSANNA VON KLETTENBERG IN HER FORTY-FOURTH the National Museum at Weimar. upon a garment. The soul pictured with extreme vivacity eventsand times long past, and felt, by means of this, events that wereto follow. Those times are all gone by; what follows likewise willgo by; the body, too, will fall to pieces like a vesture; but I, thewell-known I, I am. She does not consider her life as a sacrifice but on the contraryas the attainment of an unspeakable joy. She says at the conclu-sion of her autobiography: 88 THE OPEN COURT. I scarcely remember a commandment: to me there is nothingthat assumes the aspect of law; it is an impulse that leads me,and guides me always aright. I freely follow my emotions, andknow as little of constraint as of repentance. God be praised thatI know to whom I am indebted for such happiness, and that I cannotthink of it without humility! There is no danger I should ever
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887
