The Phenomenology of Mind Chapter Summary & Analysis - A Natural Religion: a God as Light, Plants and Animals as Objects of Religion, The Artificer Summary

A Natural Religion: a God as Light, Plants and Animals as Objects of Religion, The Artificer Summary and Analysis

Natural religion comes first because the movement of consciousness is from the immediate to the more abstract or transcendent ,followed by the integration through mediation of the transcendence with the immediacy to reach new 'heights' of awareness.

Hegel first addresses God as Light, within the context of Light & Darkness and their respective roles. Conscious activity is analogous to the Light. Conscious awareness and ego are what Hegel likens to Light and to the Sun. For those reasons, these are closely associated with God in terms of Natural Religion. He also points out that the relationship, including what is exposed to consciousness as an effect of the Light, incorporates the lordship and bondage facets of consciousness. The force of Darkness as such, not as 'evil' but literally as the Dark, provides the contrast within consciousness and perception of the world. Self-consciousness and...
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