292 HOLISM AND EVOLUTION chap. 



sonality is a spiritual gymnast, whose object is the freedom and 

 harmony of the inner life through the refinement and sublimation 

 of the cruder features in the Personality and their subordination 

 and co-ordination in the growing whole of Personality. If this 

 object is secured by the Personality, all the rest will be added unto 

 it: peace, joy, blessedness, goodness and all the great prizes of 

 life. Wholeness as free and harmonious self-realisation thus sums 

 up the summum bonum of Holism. 



In the preceding chapter we have viewed the Personality 

 as a whole, as a form, and indeed the highest form of Holism; 

 and we have also considered some of the difficulties and 

 problems which arise from this view of Personality as a 

 real whole. In this chapter we shall consider Personality 

 in action, in its operation as a whole, as an active shaping 

 factor in the life of the human individual. Let me, however, 

 first briefly resume what was said about the holistic char- 

 acter of Personality, especially in its psychological aspect. 



In Chapter VII I tried to reconcile the conflicting claims 

 of Mechanism and Vitalism in the larger setting of Holism. 

 In considering the behaviour of organisms and organic 

 control generally, it may still be a question whether the 

 Mechanistic or the Vitalistic aspect of Holism is predomi- 

 nant; when, however, we come to the conscious human Per- 

 sonality the question loses all its force and meaning. For 

 there can be no reasonable doubt that the mechanistic con- 

 ception is not competent to explain or even describe the facts 

 of human Personality. Psychology itself is unintelligible 

 except on the assumption that in Mind we have a central 

 synthetic power which marshals and controls, and largely 

 determines all the facts and functions of mental life, such as 

 sensations, perceptions, conceptions, conations and emotions. 

 Our developed consciousness directly reveals an identical 

 and persistent Self which refers all its experiences to itself; 

 and, as we have seen, but for such a personal centre and 

 unity of reference, mental life and experience would be 

 impossible and unintelligible. This personal Self underlies, 

 upholds, directs and controls all our experience as indi- 

 viduals. In this Self we behold, not only what is deepest and 



