The essence of religion consists in the feeling of an absolute dependence.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that true religion stems from an individual's recognition of their complete reliance on a higher power.
Friedrich Schleiermacher's quote emphasizes that at the core of religious belief is the profound awareness of one's dependence on something greater than oneself. This can be interpreted as a recognition of humanity's connection to the divine or transcendent, asserting that this sense of dependency is fundamental to the practice and experience of religion, rather than mere adherence to doctrines or rituals.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the nature of faith in a philosophy class.
The first, that their pretensions to this possession of an art properly so called in their art of speaking are entirely unfounded; and the second, that they are involved in a profound mistake in their confusion of the good with the pleasant.
Whenever I find a spark of that hidden fire that will sooner or later consume the old and create the new, I am drawn to it with love and hope, regarding it as a sign of my future home.
Either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as is possible, and moves the reader towards him: or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him.
The essence of the religious emotions consists in the feeling of an absolute dependence.
Now the relation which, in the sphere of nature, being and semblance or sensation bear to one another in this antithesis, is the same as that which in ethics exists between good and pleasure or feeling.
Belief must be something different from a mixture of opinions about God and the world, and of precepts for one life or for two. Piety cannot be an instinct craving for a mess of metaphysical and ethical crumbs.
There is in the universe neither center nor circumference.
Be very careful. Giving because we think we will get something back will not work. You must be 100 percent willing to give and never experience any return, or it will not work.
Vice does not lose its character by becoming fashionable.
We know of no spectacle more ridiculous—or more contemptible—than that of the religious reactionaries who dare to re-write the history of our republic. Or who try to do so. Is it possible that, in their vanity and stupidity, they suppose that they can erase the name of Thomas Jefferson and replace it with the name of some faith-based mediocrity whose name is already obscure? If so, we cheerfully resolve to mock them, and to give them the lie in their teeth.
Now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened.
Really I feel less keen about the Army every day. I think the Church would suit me better.
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