This book is concerned with Geist. Geist is both ‘mind’ and ‘spirit’. It is the ‘mind’ of an individual. It is the ‘spirit’ of a people. It is art, religion, and philosophy. It is the Holy Spirit. Geist is the dominant concept in Hegel’s philosophy. It propels his thought onward and upward. Geist itself, in Hegel’s view, propels humanity onward and upward. If there is any ‘secret of Hegel’, that secret is Geist.¹ But what is Geist? Can it bear all the meanings Hegel assigns to it? Can it perform the multitude of tasks that Hegel requires of it? Such are the questions that this Introduction attempts to answer.