Can anyone give me a paragraph or two describing Hegel’s ‘World Spirit?’

Hegel's notion of the World Spirit

Hegel believed that Reason was the law of the world and the law of world history. He also thought that universals were of greater importance than individuals. To Hegel, Spirit (universal) was world history, or more accurately, the history of human (particular) interests. World history was also the realization of Spirit. For this realization to take place there had to be particular individuals in the world that would allow Spirit to come to know itself. This is how Spirit uses particular individuals in the world. Reciprocally, particular individuals are dependent on Spirit because it is the driving force for their progression and further development. For example, humans use Spirit to become truly free beings. Hegel believed that through this reciprocal relationship actualization of Spirit would come about and there would be no distinction left in the world, no expressions of Spirit.

Spirit has a goal. Spirit must come to actualize itself; see itself in its creations. The process of self-objectification is very important in the actualization process. Spirit must see itself reflection in its creations. Its creations are just a part of its own essence. At first Spirit seems to lose its own essence in the process. This self-loss gives way to a realization of reflection in the created thing. This dialectical process is the fundamental system of all of history and Spirit's actualization.

See the rest of the article at: Philosphical Diatribes Vol.11: Hegel's notion of the World Spirit (http://www.froyd.net/philosophy/philo11.htm)

Something else: Hegel (http://www.whitworth.edu/academic/Department/Core/Classes/CO250/Germany/Data/d_hegel.htm)

Hegel's Philosophy of History is a convoluted mess, but let's see if it is possible to boil his world spirit down to a few points.

It is the development of Reason through time, through his notion of the development of history. Hegel's World Spirit relies on the existence of absolutes (although having read Philosophy of History, I am still uncertain as to what these absolutes actually are, other than the existence of Reason and "freedom.") and the eventuality of the culmination of "freedom" in the existence of a large bureaucracy.

"The very essence of spirit is activity; it realizes its potentiality, makes itself its own deed, its own work, and thus it becomes an object to itself; contemplates itself as an objective existence. Thus is it with the spirit of a people: it is a spirit having strictly defined characteristics, which erects itself into an objective world, that exists and persists in a particular religious form of worship, customs, constitution, and political laws, in the whole complex of its institutions, in the events and transactions that make up its history. That is its work - that is what this particular nation [Germany] is. Nations are what their deeds are." Hegel, Philosophy of History, Introduction.

Hegel believed that the World Spirit governed the progression of history, was absolute, and destined to become the enlightened bureaucratic existence of Western Civilizations. He viewed Prussia as the ideal society. For Hegel, the concept of the World Spirit replaced God, or the idea of God. In modern history, it has been used to defend both Marxism and Fascism as the eventual ideal for civilization. He believes it started in China in the East (to Hegel, India has no history) and worked its way westward through Persia, then the Middle East, the Roman World, and eventually into the Western (European and American) worlds. At its core, it can be described as a racist and Eurocentric philosophy.

Honestly, I find Hegel convoluted and unintelligible. Most people do. If this is a homework assignment for you, I feel your pain! I didn't find any websites offer much good guidance in putting Hegel's World Spirit into plain English.

Hegel's Philosophy of History is a convoluted mess, but let's see if it is possible to boil his world spirit down to a few points.

It is the development of Reason through time, through his notion of the development of history. Hegel's World Spirit relies on the existence of absolutes (although having read Philosophy of History, I am still uncertain as to what these absolutes actually are, other than the existence of Reason and "freedom.") and the eventuality of the culmination of "freedom" in the existence of a large bureaucracy.

"The very essence of spirit is activity; it realizes its potentiality, makes itself its own deed, its own work, and thus it becomes an object to itself; contemplates itself as an objective existence. Thus is it with the spirit of a people: it is a spirit having strictly defined characteristics, which erects itself into an objective world, that exists and persists in a particular religious form of worship, customs, constitution, and political laws, in the whole complex of its institutions, in the events and transactions that make up its history. That is its work - that is what this particular nation [Germany] is. Nations are what their deeds are." Hegel, Philosophy of History, Introduction.

Hegel believed that the World Spirit governed the progression of history, was absolute, and destined to become the enlightened bureaucratic existence of Western Civilizations. He viewed Prussia as the ideal society. For Hegel, the concept of the World Spirit replaced God, or the idea of God. In modern history, it has been used to defend both Marxism and Fascism as the eventual ideal for civilization. He believes it started in China in the East (to Hegel, India has no history) and worked its way westward through Persia, then the Middle East, the Roman World, and eventually into the Western (European and American) worlds. At its core, it can be described as a racist and Eurocentric philosophy.

Honestly, I find Hegel convoluted and unintelligible. Most people do. If this is a homework assignment for you, I feel your pain! I didn't find any websites offer much good guidance in putting Hegel's World Spirit into plain English.
Not a homework assignment; I’ve had an interest, albeit sporadic for about 4 years, on what Hegel has written and the impact it has had on the world.

I agree that he is difficult to follow, and in addition, that he was of a mystical bent. I’ve the notion that his Primordial Man is a symbol for the "archetype of humanity”: a colossal human being who is conceived as a model for the human world i.e. "Let us make man in our own image": the first luminary of the heavens…Adam. However, Hegel appears to end with pantheistic conclusions.