Living Garment of God

Living Garment of God or Living Nature, is a metaphor coined by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Faust Part One.^[1] This phrase indicates that nature is a garment, or vesture with which God invests himself so as to reveal and impart Himself to man.

Concept[edit]

The conceptualization of the living garment of God is distinguished from Baruch Spinoza's notion of the natural world, which viewed God as identical with nature.^[2] The Faustian concept cites an Earth Spirit that creates all things that transpire in the temporal world and that these constitute the living garment of the Godhead.^[2] This suggests that God wears the garment but he does not create it.^[2]

Interpretations[edit]

Other authors also used the metaphor. For example, Thomas Carlyle drew from Goethe's idea and wrote about "the living garment of God" in his work, Sartor Resartus.^[3] He supported the view that God is not nature, which he described as the garment as well as "God-written Apocalypse".^[4] Carlyle, in his contemplation, was able to develop his "Philosophy of Clothes" (a component of his "Natural Supernaturalism") which treats all things visible - including heaven, Earth, and nature - as symbols or vestures and that they are bound to fade.^[5]

The British physicist Oliver Lodge also likened the metaphor to his notion of the ether, which he said is an omnipresent medium and a primary instrument of the mind.^[3] For Lodge, the ether - within the scheme of physics - is key to achieving the goal of unity with God.^[6]

References[edit]

^ Hastings, Thomas John (2015). Seeing All Things Whole: The Scientific Mysticism and Art of Kagawa Toyohiko (1888–1960). Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 90. ISBN 9781498204088.
^ ^a ^b ^c Seung, T. K. (2006). Goethe, Nietzsche, and Wagner: Their Spinozan Epics of Love and Power. Oxford: Lexington Books. pp. 12–13. ISBN 9780739111277.
^ ^a ^b Navarro, Jaume (2018). Ether and Modernity: The recalcitrance of an epistemic object in the early twentieth century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 9780198797258.
^ Larkin, Henry (1970). Carlyle and the Open Secret of His Life. New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd. p. 354.
^ Ziolkowski, Eric (2011). The Literary Kierkegaard. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. p. 215. ISBN 9780810127821.
^ Johnson, George M. (2015). Mourning and Mysticism in First World War Literature and Beyond: Grappling with Ghosts. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 84. ISBN 9781349673476.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Garment of God, Living". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.

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[1] Hastings, Thomas John (2015). Seeing All Things Whole: The Scientific Mysticism and Art of Kagawa Toyohiko (1888–1960). Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 90. ISBN 9781498204088.

[:0-2] Seung, T. K. (2006). Goethe, Nietzsche, and Wagner: Their Spinozan Epics of Love and Power. Oxford: Lexington Books. pp. 12–13. ISBN 9780739111277.

[:1-3] Navarro, Jaume (2018). Ether and Modernity: The recalcitrance of an epistemic object in the early twentieth century. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 41. ISBN 9780198797258.

[4] Larkin, Henry (1970). Carlyle and the Open Secret of His Life. New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd. p. 354.

[5] Ziolkowski, Eric (2011). The Literary Kierkegaard. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. p. 215. ISBN 9780810127821.

[6] Johnson, George M. (2015). Mourning and Mysticism in First World War Literature and Beyond: Grappling with Ghosts. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 84. ISBN 9781349673476.

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