TRUTH AND DUTY 127 



own individual life, but the life of the race, 

 and the still wider life that the race itself is 

 living. There is nothing more certain than 

 the existence and compelling power of duty 

 which is no mere duty of the individual to 

 himself, and of truth which is no mere truth 

 for the individual. In personal existence 

 there is always a here and now ; but the here 

 and now of action and perception is not 

 merely my here and now, but the here and 

 now of the wider personal life which lives 

 in me. 



To put the matter in different language, our 

 personal existence implies in its very nature 

 participation in a wider personal life. The 

 individual person exists as belonging to that 

 life. Even when he is living in what we 

 regard as the most selfish manner he does 

 not escape from this wider life : he is only 

 living it in an imperfect manner, and in so 

 doing realising his own personality imperfectly. 

 It is the man who steadfastly endeavours to 

 carry out, in the spirit and not merely in the 

 letter, the social duties which have grown 

 with him, who realises his own personality. 

 In losing his individual personality in the 



