No choicer¹ gift can any man give to another than his spirit’s intimate converse with itself.1 For this affords the highest² boon there is, a clear and undistorted insight into a free being. No gift is more enduring, for nothing can destroy the satisfaction, which such an insight has once granted you,³ and its intrinsic truth assures your love so that you delight in beholding it again. None is surer proof against the lust and guile of others, since it arouses no desire that is not spiritual, and offers no secondary attractions that could lead to its abuse. If anyone stands aloof, and looks askance at this precious treasure, attributing to it absurd features which your honest eye does not detect, let not such idle mockery rob you of your joy. Heed it as little as I shall let myself repent of having shared with you that which I had to give. Come, take the gift, ye who can understand my spirit’s thought!⁴ May my feelings here intoned be an accompaniment to the melody within yourselves, and may the shock which passes through you at the contact with my spirit, become a quickening impulse in your life.
Note: [Note: The numerical notes refer to changes made in the text by Schleiermacher himself in the second and third editions. These changes are given on pp. 104-111.]
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Footnotes
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That the Soliloquies virtually do represent Schleiermacher’s inner conversation during years of growth I have explained on p. xl (Introduction). Pp. xli-xlvi give a brief analysis of the work. ↩