Magical idealism
The Magic idealism is a central element of the early Romantic period that pervades especially the literature and philosophy of Novalis.
- " If her thoughts are not indirectly [...] make audible can, the outer things does make reversed immediately [...] heard [...]. Both operations are idealistic . He who has both completely in his power is the magical idealist . "(III, 301, 338)
The term “magical idealism” denotes a central aspect of thinking and writing at Novalis . It is an operation to bring outer and inner worlds into harmony. At Novalis, “magic” is the “ sympathy of the sign with what is designated ” or “theory of alternation of representation of the universe ” (III, 266, 137). He assumes that man is a mirror image of the infinite universe and that he therefore has an infinity inside. "Magic" in this sense is the " art of using the world of the senses arbitrarily " (II, 546, 109). The aim of magical idealism at Novalis is to realize in the outside world the lost ideal harmony between people and the whole, which one can only suspect from within, which Novalis himself tried to show through his poetic activity.
religion
Mediator between the human and the absolute
After the death of his fiancée Sophie von Kühn , Novalis elevated his love for Sophie to religion:
- “ I have religion to Sofchen - not love . Absolute love, independent of the heart, founded on faith, is religion ”(II, 395, 56).
" Xstus and Sophie " (IV, 48) are equated as objects of faith. At Novalis, every object of faith is a “ middle link” (II, 440 / 441ff. 73/74) that connects people with the absolute. Here be Pantheismus and monotheism interconnected. All religions are attempts to reach the absolute through the “mediator”. In this sense, he regards both his occupation with natural science and poetic work as a religious activity, because behind the natural objects he always sought “ the unconditional ” (II, 412/413, 1), which he expressed through the medium of poetry tried.
Bible
When Novalis conceived the result of his scientific studies as an encyclopedia , he described his conception as the " religion of the visible universe " (IV, 255). His real goal was to “ describe the Bible ” (III, 365, 571). He was of the opinion that the Bible is " the literary central form and therefore the literary central form of every book ", but " the journal, the novel, the compendium, the letter, the drama, etc. should in a certain sense be the Bible " (IV , 506f.).
The Bible, as Novalis understands it, is therefore not a finished work, but “ growing ” (III, 569, 97). His Bible project does not end with his encyclopedia. He considered all of his subsequent writing to be a "Bible" because the purpose of his writing is always to reveal the infinite in the world. The Bible is supposed to play the role of reestablishing the lost covenant between man and the Absolute.
Poetry and novel
" Poësie [...] mixes everything for its great purpose of ends - the elevation of man above himself ." (II, 535, 42) For Novalis, poetry is the means of his biblical program. Poetry should reveal to man the inner feeling for the absolute.
- It is therefore considered to be a “ representation of the mind - the inner world in its entirety ” (III, 650, 533). Novalis called the process of bringing higher and lower worlds into harmony " romanticizing " [sic!]. “ The world must be romanticized . [...] Romantisiren is nothing but a qualit [ative] Potenzirung . The lower self is identified with a better self in this operation . [...] By giving the common a lofty meaning, the ordinary a mysterious look, the known the dignity of the unknown, the finite an infinite appearance, I romanticize it - the opposite is the operation for the higher, the unknown, the mystical, the infinite [...]. Bills of exchange increase and humiliation . "(II, 545, 105)
Novalis understands poetry not only to mean poetry in the narrower sense, but also includes all human activities that strive for perfection. To create a higher out of a mixture of the lower is the principle of both his encyclopedia and his literary work.
Novalis saw the most appropriate form of poetry in the novel , because it is able to portray all genres not only of literature, but also of the arts and human activity.
- “ The novel is about life - represents life . [...] The novel, as such, contains no particular result [...]. It is [...] the realization of an idea . But an idea cannot be put into one sentence . An idea is an infinite series of sentences ”(II, 570, 212).
Novalis called the process of “ realizing an idea ” “ transitional years from the infinite to the finite ”. The novel is about the process in which the infinite gradually reveals itself in the finite. The life of a person, which is primarily to be represented in the novel, shows itself as the process of approaching perfection through inner development. As a "Bible", the novel serves to reveal the infinite to the reader. The end of the novel is always to be understood symbolically and in this sense provisional. The development process continues indefinitely.
Nature and nature research
What characterizes the reflection on nature at Novalis is primarily his mineralogy studies at the Freiberg Bergakademie . According to the teacher Abraham Gottlob Werner , the layers of the earth are a sedimentation process of the water. Consequently nature is a “ crystallization ” (III, 163) of the liquid. For Novalis, nature is “ a petrified magical city ” (III, 564, 65), which contains the lost ideal state of prehistoric times. While Werner ruled out the possibility of stone transition, Novalis introduced the concept of chemical transition into mineralogy . Nature is therefore not a frozen being, but something that is in a chemical process of development and that gradually reveals the secret of the ideal world, which must be deciphered by naturalists. According to Novalis' view, all beings from stones to human beings, that is, the inorganic and organic world, are all in one and the same transition process, which he describes as “ poetic ” (III, 587, 221). The decipherment of nature is therefore a poetic, religious activity because it aims at the representation of the absolute unity of the world and the unifying absolute essence.
Bibliography
Novalis writings, The works of Friedrich von Hardenberg, ed. Paul Kluckhohn and Richard Samuel , in collaboration with Hans-Joachim Mähl and Gerhard Schulz , 2nd edition Stuttgart 1960ff.