" Wilhelm says,
"Well, tell me what it is." "It is," says the eldest,
"reverence--_Ehrfurcht_--Reverence! Honour done to those who are
grander and better than you, without fear; distinct from fear."
_Ehrfurcht_--"the soul of all religion that ever has been among
men, or ever will be." And he goes into practicality. He practically
distinguishes the kinds of religion that are in the world, and he
makes out three reverences. The boys are all trained to go through
certain gesticulations, to lay their hands on their breast and look
up to heaven, and they give their three reverences. The first and
simplest is that of reverence for what is above us. It is the soul
of all the Pagan religions; there is nothing better in man than that.
Then there is reverence for what is around us or about us--reverence
for our equals, and to which he attributes an immense power in the
culture of man. The third is reverence for what is beneath us--to
learn to recognise in pain, sorrow, and contradiction, even in those
things, odious as they are to flesh and blood--to learn that there
lies in these a priceless blessing.
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