"A priest is he who lives solely in the realm of the invisible, for whom all that is visible has only the truth of an allegory"

In this quote, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel reveals his understanding of a priest's function and perception of the world. According to Schlegel, a priest is somebody who exists solely within the world of the invisible, the unseen and intangible elements of life. They do not view the world in the very same way as others, as they see the visible world as merely an allegory, a metaphorical representation of much deeper truths. For a priest, the noticeable aspects of life hold no inherent reality, but rather function as symbols or reflections of the concealed truths they look for to understand and interact.