It is the assertion of self in indignation and wild defiance,
instead of the former misery of a man merely haunted by himself. This is
that "Baphometic Fire-baptism" or new-birth of spiritual awakening,
which is the beginning of true manhood. The Everlasting No had said:
"Behold, thou art fatherless, outcast, and the Universe is mine (the
Devil's); to which my whole Me now made answer: I am not thine, but
Free, and forever hate thee!"
The immediate result of this awakening is told in "Centre of
Indifference"--_i.e._, indifference to oneself, one's own feelings, and
even to fate. It is the transition from subjective to objective
interests, from eating one's own heart out to a sense of the wide and
living world by which one is surrounded. It is the same process which,
just about this time, Robert Browning was describing in _Paracelsus_ and
_Sordello_. Once more Teufelsdroeckh travels, but this time how
differently! Instead of being absorbed by the haunting shadow of
himself, he sees the world full of vital interests--cities of men,
tilled fields, books, battlefields. The great questions of the
world--the true meanings alike of peace and war--claim his interest.
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