The Imagery of Orientation
Kant explicates, “In the dark I orient myself in a room that is familiar to me if I can take hold of even one single object whose position I remember. But it is plain that nothing helps me here except the faculty for determining position according to a subjective ground of differentiation: for I do not see at all the objects whose place I am to find; and if someone as a joke had moved all the objects around so that what was previously on the right was now on the left, I would be quite unable to find anything in a room whose walls were otherwise wholly identical.” Kant’s elucidation of orientation underscores the subjectivity which governs it. Subjectivity is ascribed to the familiarity with the room. Awareness of the location of various objects with a dark room streamlines the progression of navigating through it (which is synonymous to thinking) in the absence of lighting.
The Imagery of Faith
Kant explicates, “Now faith is something which, however, we yet regard as a holy mystery can either be looked upon as divinely dispensed or as a pure faith of reason. Unless impelled by the most extreme need to accept the first kind, we shall make it a maxim to abide by the second.-Feelings are not cognitions; they are not, therefore, the marks of a mystery; and since mystery relates to reason yet it is not something that can be imparted universally, each individual will have to look for it (if there is any such thing) in his own reason.” Kant presents a two-fold imagery of faith to portray its profound furtiveness. Faith which is spiritually inspired is intangible; correspondingly faith can be inspired by subjective reasons. Outlooks of faith are idiosyncratic for they cannot be forced upon individuals; one cannot be pressed to have faith; it is a voluntary resolution.
