i] The Triunity of God 57 



but a grudging consent. However reason's hold on the 

 idea of the Nature of Eternal Being is at best very shaky. 

 And this is necessarily the case, for human thought 

 reaches out into and intersects the Absolute in a very 

 small portion of its own perimeter. Only a very small 

 portion of ourselves has reached transcendence. Mostly 

 we are concerned with existence under the conditions 

 of determined immanence of life lived under the con- 

 ditions of time and space ; of life which is in process. I 

 am as well as I become; but as yet most of me is still 

 becoming. I am there to experience becoming, and 

 in so far I am transcendent. But it is only that part of 

 me which has achieved transcendence that can enter into 

 relation with the Absolute Being of God 1 . Further, my 

 transcendent self is not pure thought or Reason. 

 Thought is only one side of that self's activities; and 

 though the human intellect must be satisfied, it cannot 

 of itself achieve complete knowledge. Herein lies the 

 greatest difficulty of our task. We can only communicate 

 our beliefs to others in words, however much we can in- 

 fluence those with whom we are in direct and intimate 

 contact by the conviction of our whole being. These 

 words must appeal mainly to the intellect, if we attempt 

 to express in them a formal proof of the grounds of our 

 belief. Thus such proof must be even to ourselves in- 

 complete. To complete it we have to try to express 

 implications not founded on pure thought, but appeal- 

 ing to other sides of our personality. In a book which 

 professes to appeal mainly to the reason such implica- 

 tions are not acceptable even if they are realised at all; 

 and besides, too often miss their mark altogether, 

 passing unrecognised. 



We must be prepared, therefore, to meet with objec- 

 tions like the following. " I am prepared to grant that 

 undifferentiated Unity is equivalent to Nothingness 

 1 Evolution and Spiritual Life, ch. vi. 



