354 ESSAYS IN PHILOSOPHY 



ness, just because there is universal self-deter- 

 mination, or genuine freedom. But this universal 

 self-defining implies and proclaims the universal 

 reality, the living presence in all, of one unchange- 

 able type of being — the self-conscious intelligence ; 

 and this, presented in all really possible forms, or 

 instances, of its one abidijig nature. 



Well, then, how many are there of these possible 

 forms, these possible instances ? Plainly, as many 

 as answer in full to the free self-defining in which 

 all have their being. The number must be vast 

 enough to provide for all individual differences 

 compatible with the mutual reality of all. The 

 world of spirits is thus "ten thousand times ten 

 thousand, a great multitude which no man can 

 number." Yet it is not vaguely boundless ; it is 

 not "infinite" in the sense in which the imagina- 

 tion and the mathematicians take infinity. On the 

 contrary, from the nature of the case, its number 

 must be definite as well as vast, though we do not 

 actually know it now. Still we do know certain 

 things about the world of minds, which in the 

 present context are of determining significance. 

 Little as we may be able to tell its number, the 

 series certainly must run through every 7'eal differ- 

 ence, from the lowest increment over non-existence 

 to the absolute realisation of the ideal Type. 



