acid (break up):

scientific use-acid can be used to break things down as it attacks other substances with protons, these react with the substance at hand, causing them to break down into other, smaller substances. The bonds between molecules break, causing the substances to break down.

 

Nature-knowledge:

Spengler’s term for natural science, the knowledge of objects or processes observable in nature, such as biology or physics

 

man-knowledge:

Spengler’s term for spiritual or inner knowledge, knowledge of the Soul, of Destiny

 

Numen:

Latin for "divinity", or “divine presence" or "divine will"; numen (divinity) is not personified & should be distinguished from deus (god).

 

numina:

the plural of numen.

 

likenesses (Faust 2):

a representation, picture, or image, especially a portrait; Goethe in Faust II takes the reader into a "realm of the mothers" (end of Act I) which represents the psyche and here he retrieves the ideal form beauty which is incorporated in Helen of Troy; her image evokes beauty beyond the power of words to describe.

 

Goethe ("a god gave it to say what he suffered"):

quote from the Marienbad Elegy by Goethe (1823).   In 1821, age 73 Goethe was at the spa town of Marienbad where he fell in love with the 17-year-old Ulrike von Levetzow.  He returned to Marienbad in the summer of 1823 to celebrate his birthday & on that occasion, he asked Ulrike to marry him. She declined.  The full prelude reads:

When man had ceased to utter his lament,

A god then let me tell my tale of sorrow.

 

ineffable:

adjective- incapable of being expressed or described in words; inexpressible

 

the World-as-Nature:

Spengler’s  term for the Faustian, scientific paradigm, defining reality with a view  of nature based solely on cause/effect & the physical or material

 

divine:

verb- to discover or declare (something obscure or in the future) by divination; prophesy.

 

physiognomic:

the face or countenance, especially when considered as an index to the character; the outward appearance of anything, taken as offering some insight into its character

 

meditated:

to engage in thought or contemplation; reflect