Abstract

Freedom and the Unfolding of Being A Process that Runs through all Reality This essay investigates the ontological foundation of freedom through the late metaphysical writings of F.W.J. Schelling, focusing on his `Philosophical Investigations into the Essence of Human Freedom` and the `Ages of the World`. It argues that freedom is not primarily a function of rational subjectivity, but an expression of the deeper structure of being itself — a being that unfolds through tension, contradiction, and becoming. Schelling’s concept of freedom emerges from a divine duality: a dark, unconscious ground and a conscious, self-revealing spirit. The tragic potential for evil and fragmentation is not accidental but intrinsic to this structure. The world is not a finished order but a site of becoming, where spirit actualizes itself through nature and history. This vision is crystallized in Schelling’s ontological formula: “Nature is visible Spirit; Spirit is invisible Nature.” Nature and spirit are not separate substances, but two expressions of a single, dynamic unfolding. The essay thus repositions freedom as a metaphysical rhythm — the movement through which being becomes manifest in time, embodiment, and ethical responsiveness. The study situates Schelling in dialogue with Kant, Hegel, and contemporary phenomenology, offering a powerful reinterpretation of freedom as the visible and invisible motion of being — a unification of spirit, nature, and temporal existence.