All Things are Nothing to Me[1]
What is not supposed to be my concern[2]! First and foremost, the Good Cause,[3] then God's cause, the cause of mankind, of truth, of freedom, of humanity, of justice; further, the cause of my people, my prince, my fatherland; finally, even the cause of Mind, and a thousand other causes. Only my cause is never to be my concern. "Shame on the egoist who thinks only of himself!"
Let us look and see, then, how they manage their concerns—they for whose cause we are to labor, devote ourselves, and grow enthusiastic.
You have much profound information to give about God, and have for thousands of years "searcged the depths of the Godhead," and looked into its heart, so that you can doubtless tell us how God himself attends to "God's cause," which we are called to serve. And you do no conceal the Lord's doings, either. Now, what is his cause? Has he, as is demanded of us, made an alien cause, the cause of truth or love, his own? You are shocked by this misunderstanding,
- ↑ ["Ich hab' Mein' Sach' auf Nichts gestellt," first line of Goethe's poem. "Vanitas! Vanitatum Vanitas!" Literal translation: "I have set my affair on nothing."]
- ↑ [Sache]
- ↑ [Sache]
