1 96 Immortality [CH. 



In regard to this last we have elsewhere argued 1 that 

 men are becoming more and more transcendent as the 

 experiences of change amplify and complete the last- 

 ing ego. I am constantly becoming; moving towards 

 greater transcendence as my freedom grows. I am con- 

 stantly passing from immanence to transcendence. But 

 the very fact that I recognise my immanence argues 

 my transcendence, since such recognition is only possible 

 for a self-conscious being, and self-consciousness in- 

 volves the knowledge of persistence through change. 

 That is to say, the realisation of both immanence and 

 transcendence is in fact the recognition of these as 

 qualities of personal being, not as things in themselves. 

 It is the ego which we qualify by these terms. 



Similarly, we realise quite clearly the relation be- 

 tween the two. My experiences make me a freer, more 

 self -determining being. S avoir fair e comes from know- 

 ing and doing ; to possess savoir faire means to be fit to 

 cope with a new situation by drawing on what you are ; 

 and what you are depends on what use you have made 

 of your experiences. 



Thus an essential feature of human personality is the 

 power of growth by experience and by addition. But 

 yet in this very growth lies the formation of personality. 

 Personality is in itself complete will, love, freedom 

 fulfil the whole circle of its activities. The passage from 

 immanence to transcendence is the formation of per- 

 sonality, not an essential quality of it. True, for the 

 satisfaction of the needs of Perfect Being it may be 

 necessary for it perpetually to go through the process of 

 becoming. This we have seen as the motive of the 

 creative act of God the reason of His passibility. But 

 here we have to do, not with the fulfilling of God's per- 

 sonality, but with the creation of man's. The imman- 



1 Evolution and Spiritual Life, chaps, v. and vi. 



