The Vocation of Man

Editorial Note: The original manuscript shows faint bleed-through text at the top of the page, along with foxing and ink spots, though the primary text remains legible.

I seize hastening nature nature: Natur in her flight and hold her still for a moment; I fix my gaze firmly upon the present moment and reflect upon it! — upon this nature, through which my power of thought power of thought: Denkkraft, the faculty or capacity for intellectual activity has been developed until now, and for whose realm the conclusions that hold sway there were formed. —

I am surrounded by objects objects: Gegenstände, the external things or "items" of perception which I feel compelled to regard as self-existing wholes, separate from one another: I behold plants, trees, animals. I ascribe to each individual thing properties properties: Eigenschaften, the inherent qualities or attributes of an object and characteristics characteristics: Merkmale, the distinguishing features used for identification by which I distinguish them from one another; to this plant such a form, to another a different one; to this tree such leaves, to another leaves of a different shape.

Every object has its definite number of properties, none more than that,