I And Thou

Through every sphere shines the one present.

We can, however, remove each sphere from the
present.

From our life with nature we can lift out the " physi-
cal " world, the world of consistency, from our life
with men the " psychical" world, the world of sensibility,
and from our life with spiritual beings the " noetic "
world, the world of validity. But now their transparency,
and with it their meaning, has been taken from them ;
each sphere has become dull and capable of being used—
and remains dull even though we light it up with the
names of Cosmos and Eros and Logos. For actually
there is a cosmos for man only when the universe becomes
his home, with its holy hearth whereon he offers sacrifice ;
there is Eros for man only when beings become for him
pictures of the eternal, and community is revealed along
with them; and there is Logos for man only when he
addresses the mystery with work and service for the
spirit.

Form's silent asking, man's loving speech, the mute
proclamation of the creature* are all gates leading into
the presence of the Word.

But when the full and complete meeting is to take
place, the gates are united in one gateway of real life,
and you no longer know through which you have entered.

Of the three spheres, one, our life with men, is marked
oub. Here language is consummated as a sequence,
in speech and counter-speech. Here alone does the word
that is formed in language meet its response. Only
here does the primary word go backwards and forwards
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