218 HUMANISM xn 



the Good that it must be a permanent possession ; it 

 follows also, as Aristotle saw, that if we are to be conscious 

 of it at all (and if not, how can it be a good ?), it must be 

 as an evepyeia aKivrja-ias. I suspect, therefore, that the 

 objection to evepyeia cucwrjffias is at bottom one to the 

 whole notion of an attainable Good. But whether the 

 advocates of this objection are nai vely optimistic enough 

 to imagine that an unattainable ideal, recognized as such, 

 continues to be an ideal a rational being can aim at, or 

 whether they are pessimistic enough to renounce all ideals 

 altogether, it is their notion and not that of evepyeia which 

 involves a fundamental paradox. 



But, as before, let us test the rival interpretations 

 by examining consciousness in the moment immediately 

 preceding its hypothetical fixation. It would have to 

 be reached, of course, by a progressive development of 

 consciousness in fulness and intensity and power of atten 

 tion, and by the gradual suppression of all interruptions and 

 discords. There can be no doubt, therefore, that it would 

 be consciousness of a very high order, i.e. a contemplation, 

 most pleasant and unimpeded, of whatsoever most delights 

 the soul. If now we eliminate the last faint source of 

 trouble and unrest and disturbance, the last distraction 

 which prevented us from concentrating our attention wholly 

 upon what most it loves to dwell upon, why should con 

 sciousness go out rather than go on ? Will it not become 

 rather absolutely constant and continuous, and remain con 

 scious sensu eminentiorit 



VI 



An Activity void of Motion then is conceivable, if 

 only we will make an effort to see through the confusions 

 of our vulgar view. Nay, in the end it would seem that it 

 alone was conceivable as the ideal of Being. 



For of the alternatives none are ultimately thinkable. 

 The conception of Becoming, as philosophers have been 

 driven to recognize from Parmenides to Hegel, is infected 

 with insoluble contradictions, which disappear only if we 



