For Kant, the third noumenal contact point is God, not as an ontologically demonstrable being, but rather as the inferred ground of reason, being, and morality. Connection here begins when reason is used to apprehend three noumenal features of the divine: (1) the ‘holiness’ of God – who as ‘the Author of the world’ -displays absolute good will in the decision to create the world even while aware that one consequence is unavoidable phenomenal evil, (2) the ‘goodness’ of God – i.e. the divine process of creating engenders the optimal balance of good and evil within the phenomenal world, and (3) the ‘justice’ of God – who as ‘law-giver’ – ensures eventual reward for moral acts and appropriate punishment for immoral acts where free will applies.
Another means of association with the divine is faith, not in the existence of God per se, but in the unadulterated system of morality and of human moral worth; both one’s own moral worth and the moral worth of others. By comparison, Kant posits grace, which he rejects, noting we cannot know how the noumenal realm works and thus can never answer the question as to whether our behavior is entirely autonomous or reflects some supernatural assistance. Instead human participation occurs through unshakable moral faith and hope that actions are not fruitless and moral perfection is, in the end, attainable.
Still another method to engage with deity is by asking of oneself: how can I be well-pleasing to God? (Or even, how ought I conduct myself so that were there a God, He would approve?) Since humans are by nature imperfect, the answer for Kant is not sinlessness, but an endless advancement toward true goodness. Moral perfection becomes possible through infinite moral progression, which paired with unwavering moral hope promises endless opportunity and thus, by inference, immortality. The self then, as it is in itself and not as it appears in time, is Kant’s free agent deserving of moral worth, and as such capable of merging with the noumenal. This connection between temporal acts and timeless reality occurs when our goodness pleases God (or would please a hypothetical God) at which point we share in the supreme goodness (of God).
The fourth and last interactive focus of ultimate reality for Kant situates in good will, again for humans, not pure ‘unconflicted goodness’ (which he tells us is not real in the phenomenal world), but the striving ‘with all our might’ to be morally perfect even when we know in advance this is impossible for us. 
For Kant, the concept of original sin derives from the “radical evil in human nature,” that is, our corrupt condition. While the striving for moral perfection must be disappointed, we can experience an underlying timeless progress within a ground of evil in the world. Each time we overcome evil tendencies we participate in the universal good will. And at last we discover the path to Kant’s summum bonum which it turns out, is not to be happy, since we can never know what will make us happy, but rather to be deserving of happiness – a deserving which originates in this participation.
(final continuation next post)
