Faust, Part One

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

My sweet beloved child, don’t misconceive My meaning! Who dare say God’s name? Who dares to claim That he believes in God? And whose heart is so dead That he has ever boldly said: No, I do not believe? Embracing all things, Holding all things in being, Does He not hold and keep 3440 You, me, even Himself? Is not the heavens’ great vault up there on high, And here below, does not the earth stand fast? Do everlasting stars, gleaming with love, Not rise above us through the sky? Are we not here and gazing eye to eye? Does all this not besiege Your mind and heart, And weave in unseen visibility All round you its eternal mystery? 3450 Oh, fill your heart right up with all of this, And when you’re brimming over with the bliss Of such a feeling, call it what you like! Call it joy, or your heart, or love, or God! I have no name for it. The feeling’s all there is:* The name’s mere noise and smoke—what does it do But cloud the heavenly radiance?

You cant trap God in a name except in name only. Our emotions felt in Him are closer to God than anh reasoning we deduce of His existence