2 4 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 6 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 0 from decay the visitations of the divinity in man ” (Shelley 1972, 55). This is in line with the ability Schleiermacher ascribes to poets to “ bring deity closer to those who normally grasp only the finite and trivial ” (Schleiermacher 2015, 7). To give a just expression to the experience of thePower is nevertheless a difficult task with which Shelley struggles. Like the moment of fusion between intuition and feeling cannot be captured in words, as Schleiermacher states, it is also impossible to fully record the experience of the very moment of visitation: “ evanescent visitations of thought and feeling … elevating and delightful beyond all expression ” (Shelley 1972, 54). In the last stanza Shelley asks the Power to supply him with calmness for the rest of his life. He wishes that everyone who is filled with this Powerwould respect oneself and “ love all humankind ”. It is a hopeful open ending, paralleling Schlei - ermacher, who tries to be open and hopeful and not to be determinate or moralistic. With such an open ending Shelley puts the imagination of the readers to work: he gives no ready-made pictures, but wants to awaken a feeling for spir - itual beauty in the readers, as a true poet – in his romantic perspective – should do. Notwithstanding Shelley’s doubts concerning religious mat - ters, he experiences this sudden, overwhelming moment of inspiration as a visitation that comes from somewhere else – from outside his own questioning, from outside the traditions wherein he could find no answers. Although only a very brief moment, it determines his idea of being a poet. From that moment onward he is going to dedicate his own expressive poetical power to the Power that revealed itself to him. In the act of writing this poem Shelley answers indeed to the call of inspiration and tries to fulfill his task as a romantic poet. In the end he even refers to universality through his wish that the binding principle of the Power effectuates to “love all humankind”. Shelley thus meets Schleiermacher’s idea of a poet, prophet or mediator, and hopes to fulfill this task to the level of the transcendental unifying meaning Schleiermacher attributes to religion. 4 Commonality: Peregrinatio vitae In all three examples from romantic poetry we see parallels with Schleiermacher’s “ love scene ” where the religious experience is an exciting, instantaneous experience of both intuiting and feeling the universe. The experiences in all these examples are on the bases of inner feeling . All describe a melting together or at least an intense grasp of something beyond. The three poems show that the romantic religious experience finds shelter in the arts, in accordance with Schleiermacher’s point of the closeness of religion and art. By giving expression to the experience of something mystical the poet becomes amediator . Religion has its own domain in the human mind, but it seems to coincide with the artistic domain. What can the approach to religion via its esthetic dimension, contribute to the question concerning the crisis of the meaning of religion? An important clue can be found in the trope of all of these poems. The poets show a consciousness in development by a literary journey in which they, on a certain moment, reach a superior level towards their starting point. This is a typical form of romantic literature and it is derived from an ancient trope: peregrinatio vitae , “the pilgrimage of life” [10]. Abrams, in his essaySpiritual Travelers in the Literature of the West , notices that this plot form appears in individual histories – often partly fictionalized biographical accounts – as well as in the description of the history of humankind (Abrams 2012, 202). In the original form the journey of life led to admission to an otherworldly city. The Romantics use the spiritual peregrinationevertheless in a modern way: “ the goal of the journey has been transferred from heaven to earth and has been internalized and secularized. ” (Abrams 2012, 202). In the new, romantic form the journey becomes a process of self-education, self-discovery, and self-fulfillment in this world. Not only in poetry, but also in romantic theology traces of this peregrinatio vitae can be found. As Schleiermacher notes, the first religious experience in a person’s life is so impressive that it is decisive for the development of his/her religious personality. He states, as cited before, that “ each religious personality is also a completed whole, and your understanding of it rests on your seeking to fathom its first revelations ” (Schleiermacher 2015, 107). The centuries-old form of the peregrinatio vitaewas not forgotten throughout history. In the Enlightenment it turns up, in a progressive linear way. The Romantics – consistent with their distrust of Enlightenment’s ever-ongoing progressive thought and attitude – adopt the circular form of the ancient trope. In the circular form the journey ends where it started:
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