362 SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE ORGANISM 



there is such a thing as the unity of subjective experience 

 in general and of memory in particular ; in other words, 

 the fact that not only self-consciousness itself endures, but 

 also something that is presented to consciousness. This tends 

 to prove the absolute existence of an unconscious or supra- 

 conscious basis of the conscious Ego. Phenomenalism 

 of the strictest kind would only allow us to regard as reality 

 what is present to consciousness at one moment. But to 

 say " I " is more than to assert the reality of one moment. 

 It does not imply that the Ego is a " substance," for the 

 Ego creates substances. But it implies the whole of past 

 experience in a partly latent state and therefore implies 

 absoluteness in general which, of course, must remain 

 quite unintelligible again, since the Ego could only explain 

 its nature by means of the categories which in fact are its 

 outcome. 



The Character of Givenness : the It 



The last window into the absolute is the contingency 

 of immediate Givenness and the immanent coherence of the 

 single phases of Givenness in spite of its contingency. Let 

 the reason of immediate Givenness be what it may, " I," as 

 the conscious Ego, do certainly not create it consciously 

 out of myself ; it is very often contrary to, or at least 

 indifferent to, my will. 



And yet there is immanent coherence between the 

 single phases of immediate Givenness nevertheless, even if 

 these phases are interrupted by sleep or by my temporary 

 absence, or by something else. A stone happens to begin 

 to fall from a high mountain : I see it, then turn away for 

 a moment, and then look again : the stone in every case 



