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but themselves. The finding of fault in the other is, above all, the surest sign of weakness in the self, the complete lack of freedom of the imagination, because only in the world of the imagination can one be perfectly free. It is as though this were exactly what Kierkegaard were writing about when he said, The philistine-bourgeois mentality lacks every qualification of spirit and is completely wrapped up in probability, within which possibility finds its small corner; therefore it lacks the possibility of becoming aware of God. Bereft of imagination, as the philistine-bourgeois always is, whether alehouse keeper or prime minister, he lives within a certain trivial compendium of experiences as to how things go, what is possible, what usually happens. (Kierkegaard 1983, pp.83-84.) Without imagination there is no self, and without that people can finally be at peace. The move to unify in Hegel comes about through reconciliation (Verséhnung), as was previously mentioned. Unification could also happen as it does for the Greeks when Eros combines that which has been divided magically, just as in the Hegelian world the spirit reconciles contradiction and dissolves into discovering a new world. It is as though we were hearing Ovid: Her prayer reached the gods. Now the entwined bodies of the two were joined together, and one form covered both. Just as when someone grafts a twig into the bark, they see both grow joined together, and their choices carefully, because afterwards they can blame none but themselves. But humans are nevertheless fallible creatures: “And when he had spoken, he who had the first choice came forward and in a moment chose the greatest tyranny; his mind having been darkened by folly and sensuality, he had not thought out the whole matter before he chose, and did not at first sight perceive that he was fated, among other evils, to devour his own children. But when he had time to reflect, and saw what was in the lot, he began to beat his breast and lament over his choice, forgetting the proclamation of the prophet; for, instead of throwing the blame of his misfortune on himself, he accused chance and the gods, and everything rather than himself.” See Plato: The Republic Book X.
