Eucken speaks of two types of religion--Universal and Characteristic
Religion. The line of division between them is not easy to draw, but the
distinction gives an opportunity for emphasising again the essential
elements of true religion.

_Universal Religion_ is a more or less vague appreciation of the
Spiritual, which results in a diffused, indefinite spiritual life. The
personality has appreciated to some extent the opposition between the
natural and the spiritual, and has chosen the spiritual. He adopts a new
attitude or mood, towards the world in consequence, and that is an
attitude of fight against the world of nature. But everything is vague;
the individual has not yet appreciated the spiritual world as his own,
and feels that he is a stranger in the higher world, rather than an
ordinary fully privileged citizen. He has not yet associated himself
closely enough with the Universal Spirit, everything is superficial,
there is hunger and thirst for the higher things in life, but these have
not yet been satiated.

Some people never get beyond this vague appreciation of the spiritual
until perhaps some great trial or temptation, a long illness or sad
bereavement falls to their lot. Then they feel the need for a religion
that is more satisfying than the Universal Religion with which they have
in the past been content. They want to get nearer to God; they feel the
need of a personal God who is interested in their trials and troubles.
They are no longer satisfied with the conception of a God that is far
away, they thirst for His presence. This feeling leads the individual to
search for a more definite form of religion, in which the God is
regarded as supremely real, and reigns on the throne of love. The
personality enters into the greater depths of religion, and it becomes a
much more real and powerful influence in his life. He has no longer a