XV

Preface.

appropriate and almost neces-
sary for certain things. If, however, they are not un-
derstood even there where everyone could under-
stand them, this is not their fault, but rather
stems from the lack of receptivity: Unreizbarkeit, a state of being unresponsive or numbed to spiritual stimuli of those who are accustomed only to certain signs, and know no further prospect beyond the atmosphere: Dunstkreis, literally a circle of haze or vapor; used here to describe a limited, foggy intellectual horizon of their interchangeable words: Wechselwörter, conventional jargon or synonyms used repetitively without true understanding. A large part of the Tableau: Likely a reference to Tableau Naturel des Rapports, a seminal 1782 work by the "Unknown Philosopher" Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin requires only a quiet, receptive soul, capable of spiritual flight: Schwung, an energetic, upward movement of the soul or imagination, to feel the interest and full weight of what is presented in the most refined and dignified language. Nothing is
closer to the author's original: Verf., abbreviation for Verfasser (author) heart than to draw man’s at-
tention to the rights of his nature and its
true enjoyment, to lead him back to the feeling and
vision of his original dignity, but also to show dan-
gers where few—walking in vanity, degeneration: Verwilderung, the state of having grown wild or lost one's spiritual cultivation, or in sleep-drunkenness: Schlaftrunkenheit, a metaphor for spiritual lethargy or a lack of awareness—suspect them. In the allego-
rical field, on the other hand, both speak the dialect: Dialekt, here referring to the specialized symbolic language used by a specific circle of thinkers of their own for more than one reason.
Of certain things, one can only [speak] in a certain