2O Preliminary Considerations 



would have ceased to be transcendent, and so, would 

 have ceased to be God at all. The apparent unity of 

 man, too, would be merely the unity of an atom, while 

 yet purposive unity must be postulated of each man, 

 because after all man does not exist merely in a world 

 of his own, but is capable of acting on others, in con- 

 sequence of his unity, in such a way that apparent 

 cosmical order is produced : the Universe, as a whole, 

 manifesting orderly activity and indicating one Univer- 

 sal Truth. No such tissue of contradictions can' be 

 maintained for a moment. If God ever was Personal, 

 He must remain Personal, in spite of a Created Cosmos; 

 personality is the one stable thing, that cannot cease 

 nor fragment. The universe is the material of God's 

 work and of man's work too. It is created by God for 

 the purpose of the work, and He indwells it. It limits 

 Him, and is the expression of limitation in His experi- 

 ence. It is externally objective for Him as well as for 

 us, in so far as external objectiveness strictly means 

 not-self, and so, limiting-self. 



True, objectiveness has another meaning which is 

 often confused with this here we reach the second part 

 of the question we have just asked Is man in God, then? 

 Other selves are probably objects even to a transcendent 

 self, when they are themselves transcendent. But their 

 objectiveness does not constitute an external plurality, 

 for they are perfectly penetrable. A is A and B is B; 

 but A can wholly place himself at the view-point of B, 

 and B of A there is no externality in the relation, even 

 though the 4-ness of A and the B-ness of B remain in 

 their self -identity. Paradoxical though this may seem, 

 we shall find it true even within the circle of a single 

 personality. I can think myself as my own object; and 

 this fact has a far deeper significance than is generally 

 recognised. 



Immanence is thus seen as the Consequence of a 



