102 Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path
completely indifferent to ourselves. It is only because we
have self-feeling along with self-cognition, and pleasure
and pain along with the perception of things, that we live
as individual beings whose existence is not limited to our
conceptual relation to the rest of the world, but who also
have a special value for ourselves. Some might be tempt-
ed to see in the life of feeling an element more richly im-
bued with reality than thinking contemplation of the
world. The reply to this is that the life of feeling has this
richer meaning only for my individuality. For the world
as a whole, my feeling life can attain value only if the
feeling, as a percept of my self, combines with a concept
and so integrates itself indirectly into the cosmos.
Our life is a continual oscillation between our individ-
ual existence and living with the universal world process.
The farther we rise into the universal nature of thinking,
where what is individual continues to interest us only as
an example, an instance of a concept, the more we let go
of our character as particular entities—as completely spe-
cific, separate personalities. The more we descend into
the depths of our own life, allowing our feelings to reso-
nate with the experiences of the outer world, the more we
separate ourselves from universal being. A true individu-
al will be the person who reaches highest, with his or her
feelings, into the region of ideals. There are people for
whom even the most universal ideas entering their heads
still retain a special coloring that shows them unmistak-
ably connected with their bearer. There are others whose
concepts meet us so completely without trace of owner-
ship as to seem unconnected to anyone of flesh and blood.
[13]
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