62 ALOIS RIEHL 



^ The life of the spirit is by nature an active 

 hfe. It knows no power that can compel it 

 from without or from above. In all its crea- 

 tions it is the determining agent, carrying its 

 law with it. In knowledge it is the logical 

 postulates and the a priori elements in what we 

 know, which take their rise in the active nature 

 of the spirit ; in art it is the dominion of form 

 over matter; in the sphere of moral conduct, 

 the obligation and responsibility imposed hy 

 the self; in that of religious experience, the 

 inward conviction of the heart and the volun- 

 tary surrender to the divine. In every one of 

 its forms and in all its spheres the life of 

 the spirit is an autonomous life. Freedom 

 through self-imposed laws is its element, the 

 realization of freedom its destination. We 

 think of it as drawn from an original fund 

 of activity deep down in the heart of things. 

 But it has been in the past, and is now being 

 developed through the associations that bind 



y individuals together, the family, society, the 

 state, the religious community. And the con- 

 summation is attained in the great personality, 

 who is at once the creator of culture and its 

 highest point. 



