224 7^ Evolution of Transcendence [CH. 



that is not in the future, but now; that is though it is 

 becoming; that cannot end, because it is Real. No, 

 because the universe is so constituted that its appear- 

 ances betoken an underlying Reality. No, because we 

 men are so constituted that we can make value-judg- 

 ments; distinguish, and feel our communing with, that 

 Reality. No, because ourselves are creators, and under- 

 stand the meaningfulness and satisfying nature of crea- 

 tive action. No, because only through knowing our- 

 selves as part of that Reality is it real for us at all. Each 

 further argument we set out will only make this more 

 self-evident, once the truth is in our mind. Reality is 

 the experience of God, but it is not only that. It is the 

 experience of men as well, for the nature of the experi- 

 ence is fellowship. Fellowship involves self-surrender as 

 well as creation ; involves the union of individuals, who 

 without it would be mere individuals. All this is real 

 to us now, with a reality that is timeless. Fellowship, 

 Love, is ever new, ever increasing, ever satisfies. It has 

 no past or future; only a vivid present. It is ever ex- 

 panding in creative activity. It finds a perfect expres- 

 sion of the self in selflessness which is yet utterly self- 

 conscious, without a trace of self-loss. No easy doctrine 

 of mere transmigration of souls to other earthly lives 

 with lost identity can explain the self. That could 

 satisfy neither the needs of a Personal God nor the needs 

 of personal men. Stages there must be, infinite ap- 

 proach ; but it must be the same person that approaches. 

 There must be something new to satisfy the expansion, 

 the centrifugal activity, of personal Being, but the new 

 thing must be eternal. If not, as has been said, we are all 

 out of touch with the real, and the world is out of joint. 

 The evolution of personality is wrapped up with the 

 evolution of transcendence, which itself means a growing 

 appreciation of the wholeness of Life. In the evolution 

 of transcendence we must seek the key to man's nature; 



