situation, _an eternal truth_." This nucleus lies deeper in Christianity
than in any other religion. But even Christianity itself is not a pure
spiritual nucleus. Much, as we have already noticed, has gathered around
it--much that reveals a lower grade of spirituality. All this
constitutes the clothing of Christianity. The clothing has been changed
again and again in the past. What reason is there for affirming that it
cannot be changed again? It is therefore necessary to differentiate
between the _Substance_ of Christianity and its _Existential-form_. The
Substance constitutes the fundamental Life superior to the world, and
has been present throughout the whole of the Christian era; and it is
this Substance which has raised men beyond the merely human situation;
it is the Substance that has enabled men to overcome the world, and
afterwards to see the world from the standpoint of the Divine. In this
work of differentiation we are dependent in a very large measure upon
the results of knowledge. Such results do not grant us the Substance of
Christianity, because this is something which has to be lived into in
order to be possessed. The transformation which occurs on account of a
change in the Existential-form may indeed prove helpful to the spiritual
nucleus itself, because it represents a truth of the intellect-a truth
which does not conflict with any [p.185] knowledge outside its own
sphere. There are many dangers to be discovered in this process of
interpreting the spiritual nucleus. A mode of interpretation whose
meaning has very largely passed away is bound to prove injurious,
because it comes into sharp conflict with a newer and more comprehensive
meaning, and consequently Christianity fails to win the support of those
who are acquainted with the new Existential-form. And even the
individual who retains the old clothing, and looks upon it as being
something of the same nature as the spiritual nucleus, is in danger of
basing a portion of his religion on a foundation of sand. But, on the
other hand, he who is aware of the flaws of the old Existential-form