Sartor Resartus · Chapter
Natural Supernaturalism explained
In this chapter, the Professor achieves a transcendental vision by piercing through the illusions of Time and Space, revealing the universe as a spiritual phenomenon where miracles are natural and all existence is a divine apparition.
What happens
In this chapter, the Professor achieves a transcendental vision by piercing through the illusions of Time and Space, revealing the universe as a spiritual phenomenon where miracles are natural and all existence is a divine apparition.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.
- Setup
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
This is the story's dramatic climax because it presents the emotional and psychological peak of Teufelsdröckh'…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Spiritual Crisis and Faith
Teufelsdröckh's struggle with Time and Space represents a spiritual crisis resolved through transcendental faith in the eternal Now.
- Critique of Society and Materialism
The chapter critiques the materialist view of nature as a machine, arguing for a deeper spiritual reality beyond scientific laws.
- The Role of the Artist and Thinker
The Professor's visionary insight exemplifies the thinker's role in piercing illusions and revealing transcendent truths.
Characters to notice
- Diogenes Teufelsdröckh
The Professor becomes a Seer, grappling with and overcoming the phantasms of Time and Space to attain Transcendentalism.
- The Editor
The Editor presents and interprets Teufelsdröckh's section, guiding the reader through the philosophical exposition.
- Napoleon
Mentioned as a spectre whose campaigns have vanished like a ghostly hunt.
- Luther
Referenced in the context of the reality of his vision of the Devil, questioning the nature of madness and reality.
Key passages
“Sweep away the illusion of Time; compress the threescore years into three minutes: what else was he, what else are we? Are we not Spirits, that are shaped into a body, into an Appearance; and that fade-away again into air and Invisibility?”
If we discard the illusion of time and compress a lifetime into moments, we see that we are spirits taking bodily form, appearing and then vanishing into invisibility.
Teufelsdröckh argues that time is an illusion and that human existence is a spiritual apparition.
“Thus, like a God-created, fire-breathing Spirit-host, we emerge from the Inane; haste stormfully across the astonished Earth; then plunge again into the Inane.”
Humanity appears from nothingness, rushes tumultuously through life, and then returns to nothingness.
The passage emphasizes the transient and spiritual nature of human life.
“That Time and Space are not God, but creations of God: that with God as it is a universal Here, so is it an everlasting Now.”
Time and space are divine creations, not God Himself; for God, all places are here and all times are now.
Teufelsdröckh asserts the transcendence of God over the limitations of space and time.
