Encompassing the three modes of communication is a universal will which holds the energy of the lesser modes at its command. This permeating force emerges as the product of reason and Existenz (92). To the theologian, this is a Universal or Divine Will that desires to communicate with man by "breaking through the lesser modes and passing beyond them in the loving struggle of those who will to become themselves" (91). To the Christian, this is the inner work of the Creator and the Holy Spirit encouraging man to experience God's love and share it with others who desire Transcendence. This act of love parallels the Great Commission, which commands the believer to spread the gospel of Christ throughout the world. One must completely surrender the interest of self in order to be filled with the Spirit of God. According to Jaspers, "To be self and to be true are nothing else than to be in communication unconditionally. Here in the depths, to preserve oneself would be precisely to lose oneself" (92). Jaspers compares this goal of mutual transcendence to the worldly "struggles for existence over power, superiority, and annihilation" (91). True Existenz, or meaningful existence, only becomes possible through the interaction of one Existenz with another. Here again, the relation is the key (92).In the Christian sense, this relation, like faith, can only be shared with those who have faith. In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul expresses a similar sentiment when he says, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith'" (Romans 1:17).

             Jaspers next discusses the relative perceptions of truth in the material world. Referring back to the three modes of Encompassing, Jaspers suggests that the concept of truth varies in each realm. For instance, in the empirical community, pragmatism is synonymous with truth because, for them, survival is the foremost value. In this context, the notion of truth can change according to circumstances (81). In the mode of consciousness, truth, like ideas or philosophical truth, is a relative concept. To those living in this mode, the truth constitutes what Jaspers calls cogent evidence, based upon the need for urgency of action, ensures the group's preservation. And finally, in the spiritual mode, truth depends upon the human conviction "which is confirmed out of an idea." Concepts of such as nationalism or Manifest Destiny could, in this case, form ideologies that motivate a person throughout his life. Jaspers also emphasizes that the version of truth selected often depends upon the speaker himself (83), for he communicates the relation. In essence, the person who holds the values of the material world pre-eminent shares one of these concepts of truth. Unfortunately, the need for survival, power, and conviction most frequently supersede a person's desire to attain Transcendence. In this context, circumstances often dictate which variety of truth is acceptable at the time, and therefore, this shifting process also becomes a movement of relations (85-86). Unfortunately, when one variety of truth takes precedence over another, the individuals whose views are rejected suffer a tragic loss of faith. For instance, the community that succumbs to the demands of a dictator for the sake of survival abandons the principle of individual freedom, a universal truth esteemed by members of the conscious mode (87). Many soldiers returning from the Vietnam War suffered from a similar form of loss when they discovered that the American public did not share their idea of truth embodied in the concept of heroism. The same effect results in the spirit mode when one realizes that personal convictions only provide temporary fulfillment. The subject's loss of faith in nationalism, democracy or Divine Providence produce feelings of doubt and disillusionment that induce more intense bitterness and negativity' (88). These thoughts of betrayal and rejection consequently manifest themselves in further loss of trust in God, one's country, and ultimately himself. As a result, he no longer perceives any purpose in life, only meaningless existence. This is the essence of man's existential dilemma. According to Jaspers, "Thus, in the helpless confusion of his empirical existence which ensues, his thoughts and spiritual possibilities vanish above or in him, simply in order to exist here and now" (87). His blind reliance upon the deceptive truths of the empirical and conscious world has robbed him of all spiritual potential. Helping man to eliminate this tragic condition should be man's primary concern, as it is Jaspers'. The purpose of philosophizing, he maintains, is "to elicit those ideas which being forth what is real to us: our humanity" (49).

            Jaspers next discusses the guilt associated with one's allowing the empirical or practical level to dominate the higher levels of consciousness and spirit, which embody one's ideals and moral convictions. Sacrificing one's dreams at the expense of pragmatism robs the individual of hope; however, neglecting the empirical in the name of idealism invites ruin. The three modes must function together by relying upon each level, according to the circumstances. Here again, the interrelation is the key to attainment in each respective domain (89-90). For the believer, however, truth is not a relative concept, but an eternal attribute ascribed to an unchanging God. Jaspers concedes that in this world, a plurality of false truths exists because of the relative perceptions of truth in the empirical, conscious, and spirit modes, but there still remains a single unchanging universal truth which has always existed and encompasses all other levels (102-103). In Jaspers' words, "What will not and what cannot become the same, nevertheless, becomes related through Transcendence which touches the One, which, even if our gods be different, beyond all closer gods, discovers the distant God, which requires of us not to relapse into the distraction of warring multiplicities related only by indifference or the struggle over room to exist" (103). This spiritually fulfilling connection with the One constitutes Transcendence, a pre-eminent divine feature which, in essence, resides in man when he allows the Spirit to fill him with a dialogue of compassion for others. Compassion must come first, not self-interest. According to Jaspers, "To demand fulfillment and salvation in time, or even the picture of salvation, would be to cancel the problem of men, who must always become themselves through communication. It comes to this: never close off authentic possibilities of human development by anticipation "(103). For the believer, this would be equivalent of quenching the Spirit. Thus, in a world of seemingly lost or relative values, as Jaspers suggests, the only hope for man rests in the eternal truth of the Infinite, or God.

              Another idea that Jaspers discusses is the element of risk. The person living in the totality of the Encompassing will inevitably take chances to achieve the goal of communicating Transcendence to another human being. According to Jaspers, "Only a life which remains blind can mask from itself this standing risk and remain between the polarity of supposed safety and a rising, but then immediately forgotten, anxiety" (99). The subject living the faith of action must take the risk "to see the possible pushed to its highest degree, to dare to entice it at the risk one's own openness and bearing responsibility" for both the failures and the successes (100). Taking risks and accepting responsibility for them are essential for the transformation of the individual. The truth underlying the work of Existenz, reason, and Transcendence differs from the relative truths of the material world, and conflict is unavoidable. In Dynamics of Faith (Harper 1957), Paul Tillich voices a similar sentiment when he discusses the life of faith: "Where there is daring and courage, there is the possibility of failure. And in every act of faith, this possibility is present. The risk must be taken." In the same section, Tillich says, "Faith includes an element of immediate awareness which gives certainty and an element of uncertainty. To accept this is courage. In the courageous standing of uncertainty, faith shows most visibly its dynamic character" (Tillich 16-17). Tillich goes one step farther by saying that doubt is a necessary component of faith, as well as a consequence of the risk of faith (Tillich 18). For the believer, the Scripture also contains parallels. For instance, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy that those who choose "to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Man's greatest comfort, however, rests in the thought that even if he thinks he fails in his attempt to serve, he really wins because God knows his heart and promises to reward him accordingly. There are no losers with God! One must be willing to see beyond the earthly consequences of his actions into the realm of God's potential. Tillich describes this relation as man's ultimate concern. He defines faith as the surrender of the total personality to God's purpose, not man's (Tillich 11). This concept of complete and unconditional surrender corresponds with Jaspers' idea of surrender of the Encompassing to reason and Existenz.

            Jaspers also discusses the nature of thought. He uses the term priority of thought, and describes it as the process that "turns everything else into a possibility" through which "the modes of Encompassing can become related to one another "(108-109). He compares thought to a thorn that forces the empirical, conscious, and spirit realms "to order themselves one to the other." In this way, thought itself makes relations possible and serves as the medium of the Whole (109). Jaspers maintains that the three modes work together with reason to transcend their normal limits, but this feat cannot be achieved without the help of the a-logical or non-rational. In other words, every aspect of the human personality longs for fulfillment in the spiritual realm of the Infinite, but can only achieve it when all three combine their efforts with reason and the non-rational element, faith. Only through faith, or the a-logical, can man reach Transcendence (110). It is here that the mysteries of God' wisdom transcends the limitations of human knowledge. As Jaspers expresses it, "Here, a rational a-logic arises, a true reason which reaches its goal through the shattering of the logic of the understanding" (111-112). This is the realm of faith which to the scientific world can only be expressed through riddles and paradoxes (114-115). Jaspers uses these contradictions to show how man must realize that transcendence, or spiritual fulfillment, only comes through faith. Jaspers reinforces this sentiment in the following conclusion: "Instead of there being a demand for universal and unlimited thinking, which as such leads into emptiness and infinity, there is a demand to think out of reality, out of Being itself, and by thought to advance on back into Being. It is not sufficient to say: be rational but rather: be rational out of Existenz, or better, out of all the modes of the Encompassing" (126).

             Jaspers' next concern is the role of philosophy and religion in the contemporary world. He suggests that the material world's various perceptions of truth and philosophy's inability to apply any set of principles to a unified system leaves man with only two options. He can reject both disciplines entirely and become an atheist, or he can accept the inconsistencies and the non-rational aspect through faith, as limitations inherent in his earthly existence. According to Jaspers, "Through a knowledge of exceptions, our souls instead of incapsulating themselves in narrowness can remain open to the possible truth and reality which can speak even in despair, suicide, in the passion toward Night, in every form of negative resolution. To see rationally what is counter-rational shows us not only the possibility of a positive side in the negative, but also the ground on which we ourselves stand" (129). In this respect, man must accept that the unfortunate events in his life may be a part of a larger plan that may or may never be known to him. The key, however, is through acceptance. In his book Man's Search for Meaning (Simon & Schuster 1984), psychiatrist and Nazi concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl suggests a similar approach in treating trauma victims. Frankl calls his method logotherapy, and explains it thus: "The ultimate meaning necessarily exceeds and surpasses the finite intellectual capacities of man; in logotherapy, we speak in this context of a super-meaning. What is demanded of man is not, as some existential philosophers teach, to endure the meaninglessness of life, but rather to bear his incapacity to grasp its unconditional meaningfulness in rational terms. Logos is deeper than logic. Here again, the key word is faith. As Frankl suggests, "And what about man? Are you sure that the human world is a terminal point in the evolution of the cosmos? Is it not conceivable that there is still another dimension, a world beyond man's world; a world in which the question of an ultimate meaning of human suffering would find an answer?" (141). In this case, as with Jaspers, the truth or logic (logos) transcends human understanding, and one must optimistically accept its terms.

             In a section entitled "Possibilities for Contemporary Philosophizing," Jaspers refers to the rise of a new philosophy "which speaks for us and which can preserve the ancient philosophy more truly because [it focuses] more inwardly than before" (Jaspers 136). He suggests that the truth of philosophy remains unchanged throughout the ages despite thinkers' unique claim to it. The distinction, however, lies in the existential theory's emphasis on the present. According to Jaspers, "The recurrent originality of philosophizing is nothing but an appropriation of the truth which is already there, so to speak, although it is always in a communicative process as an historical accomplishment. Indeed, the preservation of the tradition of our fathers is authentic only through a comprehension of the contemporary situation, not through an adherence to their words which ignores the contemporary as though what were past could directly be real and true today." In essence, man can only perceive the truth in his own particular situation, and therefore he must choose to live his life in the present by focusing upon his inner being; the reality of Existenz and reason; and the inner reality of Transcendence. This inner reality, he suggests, embodies "something deeply hidden and inward which remains the same ever since man began to philosophize" (136). Jaspers credits Kierkegaard and Nietzsche with twentieth-century man's increased awareness of this dimension (127-129). This realm, he affirms, contains events and details from the past, but more importantly, here rest "the form of what is immediately worthy of love. As God can not be a developing nature but yet must come to himself, so, from the beginning, philosophizing is a union with the One through the searching thought of existing men, an anchor which is thrown down and which each throws as himself. Even the greatest men do not throw it for others" (136-137). For this is where God's Spirit dwells in man and imparts His love on those deserving it. Jaspers' desire and fulfillment through the God's Spirit constitutes Transcendence, which is also a miracle enshrouded in mystery. God comes down to man so that he can reach upward toward Him; it is a process which a person can only perform for himself. Jaspers compares philosophizing to an anchor which each philosopher must throw in his attempt to find hope in God. In this way, the subject himself becomes the anchor resting in accord with the Infinite. The New Testament also alludes to God as an anchor. The Apostle Paul declares that God is "their hope and strong consolation, an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast" (Hebrews 6: 17-19).

            In his closing remarks, Jaspers suggests philosophy's unique relation with theology. Although philosophy cannot assert one supreme truth, Jaspers suggests that the honesty and flexibility required in its pursuit acts as a deterrent against religious fanaticism on one extreme and atheism on the other. In this respect, philosophy envisions "its own alternative outside itself, to which it is enduringly related, without either absolutely denying it as falsehood or appropriating it as its own truth." In other words, in its quest for philosophical truth, philosophy perceives the possibility of absolute truth, a process which indirectly confirms its existence for the believer. In this way, philosophy provides a more honest and flexible approach to discovering absolute truth through the methods it employs. Jaspers expresses this relation more adeptly when he says, "Philosophizing sees in a more honest way that it is incapable of reaching the meaning of faith in revelation and, against it, asserts its own way of seeking God out of its own resources" (138). In this way, the philosopher's realization that he cannot attain truth rationally awakens in him the possibility of finding it through faith. Thus, theology and philosophy function along similar lines. For Jaspers, however, the solution to man's quest lies neither in orthodox religion nor in atheism, but somewhere between the two extremes, in an idealistic realm of Christian faith and philosophic reason (144-145). In this world, philosophy enables man to turn within himself and unite his total being toward the faith of Transcendence. Here reason guides him, as Divine Wisdom guided Virgil, in developing a meaningful relation with God and his fellow man. According to Jaspers, "Philosophy demands of its hearers that they encounter it [Existenz] with themselves," an encounter which they alone cannot attain without God, who alone awakens them." Human contemplation, says Jaspers, is but a mere occasion for Divine communication, and nothing more, particularly not its fulfillment (147). Thus, Jaspers utilizes elements of Christianity and philosophy that combine Existenz in God through Transcendence. In conclusion, Jaspers recognizes the significance of God in the lives of men, despite their inability to define it. Although man cannot see God, he can recognize the evidence of His existence through man's universal quest to apprehend His truth through empirical, conscious, and spiritual modes of the Encompassing, all of which point to Transcendence.

                                                     Works Cited for Reason and Existenz

Buber, Martin. I AND THOU. Translated by Ronald Gregor Smith. New York: Charles Scribner's                  Sons. 1958. 2nd Edition (with a Postscript by the author added).

Frankl, Viktor. Man' s Search for Meaning. Revised and updated. New York: Pocket Books, 1985.

Jaspers, Karl. Reason and Existenz. Translated with an Introduction by William Earle. New York:             The Noonday Press, 1971.

Tillich, Paul. Dynamics of Faith. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958