In reality, where everything passes on naturally, the copy follows the original, the image the thing which it represents, the thought its object, but on the supernatural, miraculous ground of theology, the original follows the copy, the thing its own likeness."it is strange" says St. Augustine, "But nevertheless true, that this world could not exist if it was not known to God." That means the world is known and thought before it exists; nay it exists only because it was thought of. The existence is a consequence of the knowledge or of the act of thinking, the original a consequence of the copy, the object a consequence of its likeness. Ludwig Feuerbach
About This Quote

This quote is taken from the famous book of Augustine. It is quite simple in itself, but it has a deep meaning when put to use. It says that the world is known before it exists, the existence being a consequence of the knowledge or of the act of thinking. The world was thought before it existed.

This means that the world is created by our thoughts, and all things come into being due to our thoughts. The real meaning of this quote is that everything that exists, in all its forms, comes into being through our thought processes.

Source: The Essence Of Christianity

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  1. To theology, ... only what it holds sacred is true, whereas to philosophy, only what holds true is sacred.
  2. I would rather be a devil in alliance with truth, than an angel in alliance with falsehood.
  3. If therefore my work is negative, irreligious, atheistic, let it be remembered that atheism – at least in the sense of this work – is the secret of religion itself; that religion itself, not indeed on the surface, but fundamentally, not in intention or according...
  4. Christianity set itself the goal of fulfilling man’s unattainable desires, but for that very reason ignored his attainable desires. By promising man eternal life, it deprived him of temporal life, by teaching him to trust in God’s help it took away his trust in his...
  5. Faith does not limit itself by the idea of a world, a universe, a necessity.
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