N. Berdyaev (1874 - 1948) thoroughly explores the issue of the ultimate in this essay, examining specifically the problem of knowledge and objectification, the problem of existence, the creativity of being, and the mystery of renewal.

Given that all temporal things always have a beginning, middle, and end, human existence consciously lives only in the middle, with the beginning submerged in the cloud of unconsciousness and the end submerged in the darkness of anxiety. The fixation on the middle opposes the anticipation of the ultimate moment of subsistence and the threat of its annihilation. "The issue of the end is not posed before man at every moment. In order for this issue to be genuinely posed, the subsistence of man must first reach those fields of consciousness where the end is dramatically posed, as a question and as nothingness." These ascents to volcanic spaces and rugged landscapes are daring acts of religious and philosophical consciousness that sense that the meaning of the world lies outside of it. It is about transcending the limits of time and worldliness.