MINE AND THINE 79 



interpenetration, of binding their very essence in a single 

 universal life to whose oneness a natural organism offers 

 but the faintest parallel. 



Until this double movement is recognised Idealism will 

 only misinterpret spirit ; and its ruling hypothesis, being 

 itself misunderstood, will explain nothing. It will cer- 

 tainly not explain that unity in variety ; that order through 

 liberty and liberty through order ; that intense communion 

 and independence ; that one mind, one will, one life in a 

 matured society which is yet the mind, the will, the life of 

 each of its members ; that deepest of all unities in the 

 deepest of all differences which constitutes the essence 

 and marvel of the civilised State. And spirit or self- 

 consciousness is misunderstood so long as its outgoing, 

 self-differentiating, self-negating movement is practically 

 ignored, as it is at the present time. 



In what remains of this and the succeeding article I shall 

 endeavour to indicate what I mean by this outgoing 

 moment. To exhibit its full significance, as it shows itself 

 in all the great domains of spirit in knowledge, in art, in 

 morality, in human society, in religion will be the task 

 of Idealism for a long time to come. I can, of course, 

 at the very best, do little more than suggest the main 

 direction which, I believe, it must follow. In doing so, I 



* f ^ j 



shall begin with a brief reference to knowledge, proceed 

 thence to morality, and end by applying our hypothesis to 

 one or two of the more fundamental problems of social 

 life and social reform. 



First, then, as to Knowledge. We have learnt, perhaps 

 more especially through the advance of natural science, 

 two apparently opposed truths regarding the world : the 

 inexhaustible multiplicity of its content, and the solemn 



