ABSTRACT
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's central metaphysical term is Geist, a word with multiple meanings and connotations in ordinary German. One possible translation is "ghost"; Heilige Geist means "Holy Ghost" or "Holy Spirit." Hegel distinguishes three kinds of absolute Geist, namely, art, religion, and philosophy. Art expresses its own culture in "feeling"; theology expresses it in devotional terms that describe a Deity or deities patterned on the given culture. As Hegel observes in his early theological writings, "The God of a people is nothing else but a 'mirror' of the people, the picture of their time". Philosophy expresses itself in thought. As Hegel observed, "The more powerless and passive people feel, the more almighty their God is as compensation". In Prussia, Hegel supported the reform party, in government from 1807-1822, which was attempting to institutionalize representative government, a limited monarchy, and bourgeois freedom.
