Die Ros' ist ohn Warum

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of a Catholic church in Wittenberg to launch the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Centuries later, this country would become swallowed up in atheism, nihilism, and nazism. I have often thought about how Germany arrived at a complete 180.

One of the quintessential Western ideas is that nothing is without reason. Fundamentally things can be understood through reason, empirical study, or the scientific method. People often think that Germany is a a prime example of rationalism. Indeed, the champion of the cause, Leibniz, was himself German.

However, it is my assertion that Germany suffers from a dualistic zeitgeist, or an identity crisis of sorts. Caught between the East and the West, Germany is equally given to reason and mysticism. As early as the fourteenth century, a German mystic named Meister Eckart wrote that the rose is without why--a statement that is diametrically opposed to rationalism. Although this is just one example, the philosophy of mysticism was interwoven throughout German idealism: the German liberals, Schopenhauer's will, Hegel's idealism, and full circle to Heidegger's embrace of Eckart and the Dasein which transcends even metaphysics. Basically, you have a series of philosophers that use vagueness and ambiguity to arrive at precision. Moreover, throughout its history, Germany often found themselves embracing Eastern concepts. Unable to reconcile reason with mysticism, Germany abandoned truth and God.

In undergrad, I wanted to do my senior paper on the elements of eastern mysticism in Germany and how they shaped the ideals of the country. My professor rejected the idea. When I asked him why, he said that I should not question some questions. What a mystical phrase; I wonder if he grasped the irony.