304 ESSAYS IiV PHILOSOPHY 



lords over death, but are essentially imperishable 

 against every other contingency ? 



I have just said that our argument has not yet 

 answered these questions explicitly. But it is right 

 I should add that it does answer both of them by 

 implication. As for the first, let us now note that 

 our discussion, in proving Time to be an expression 

 of each mind's spontaneous activity, proves the self- 

 active existence of every mind as such, and so estab- 

 lishes the eternity of the individual spirit in the only 

 ultimate meaning of eternity ; since, as the ground 

 and source of Time itself, the being of the soul must 

 transcend Time, though including Time, and conse- 

 quently, while involving everlastingness, must have 

 its full meaning in just that spontaneous sourceful- 

 ness of self-consciousness from which everlastingness 

 arises. In this established certainty of our individual 

 self-activity, supposing our previous reasoning about 

 Time to be valid, we have therefore passed beyond 

 the mere open chance of being the arbiters of the 

 time-world and all its contingent events, and have 

 entered upon a corresponding certainty of all the 

 consequences that logically follow from our self- 

 active legislation over the whole of possible experi- 

 ence. And as for the second question, these 

 consequences of the ascertained sourceful and direc- 

 tive power of our individuality will now be shown in 

 detail to involve, first, the essential supremacy of the 



