The Religious Principle, The Juridical Order

The desire to unite with the whole is the essence of what Soloviev calls the "religious principle." The contrast with the juridical order is clear: law demarcates, delimits, distinguishes, divides; religion connects, embraces, unites. Put another way, religion is about love—the loving union realized in "a mystical or religious community, that is to say, the church." Loving union with the whole of things is the absolute end.

—Paul Valliere, "Vladimir Soloviev (1853-1900): Commentary" (2007)