70 The Triunity of Man [CH. 



it is to be true freedom. Starting then at the point at 

 which self-consciousness has been achieved, which is all 

 that is necessary for our present purpose, we see the 

 body as the mediator of that self-consciousness in so far 

 as it affects external objects. All the activities of the 

 self are given effect through the body. The body has 

 thus a very real mediating function between will and 

 ends. 



Let us next inquire what is the nature of these activi- 

 ties. In the first place there are activities which concern 

 only the individual himself. He feels a personal need of 

 food, of warmth, of shelter, of amusement, to take only 

 the simplest needs which bring him into relation with 

 external objects as things capable of satisfying him. He 

 makes tools of these objects in order to satisfy his needs 

 and desires. But as man becomes more advanced he 

 begins to feel a need for personal intercourse for 

 sharing his experience with others and for entering into 

 others' experience himself. The body now becomes a 

 means of self-manifestation, through speech, through 

 writing, through reading, through actions directed to 

 the good of others as well as of himself. These last are 

 determined by the beginnings of sympathy and love. 



As time goes on men begin to interpenetrate each 

 others' personality by more subtle means. The body 

 has thus acquired a function which grows to be of 

 greater and greater import to man. It is the means of a 

 self -manifestation which grows less and less material. 

 But one cannot conceive of the function itself ever 

 ceasing to be required. The essential of personality is 

 relationship. We express this truth when we say that 

 God is Love, and when we make love the highest of 

 human activities. It would seem then that there must 

 always be a means of self-manifestation. This is what we 

 mean when we express our belief that personality itself is 

 indestructible, and that the power of relationship is one 



