THE EVOLUTIONARY RHYTHM 55 



" Yet by no means may it be concluded from this that 

 the individual is ' the product of the social order/ For, 

 apart from the irrelevance of the term ' product,' it 

 should be remembered that the social order that social 

 situation by contrast to which the individual knows him- 

 self is never prior to the individual but contemporane- 

 ous. And for him it is created and characterised by the 

 very process of definition in which he defines and asserts 

 himself. ... So far as the unity in question is a self- 

 conscious unity, this can mean only, according to our 

 definition, that each member has come to an understand- 

 ing with each and every other on the basis of a mutual 

 recognition of personal ends. This will mean that by 

 contrast with each and every other he has defined him- 

 self. His individuality must then be quite as rich in 

 content as that of the group itself. His ends must be 

 equally significant. And as we shall see presently, he 

 will be enabled, through just this conscious social rela- 

 tion, to follow his own ends in individual freedom while 

 fulfilling his obligation to the group. 



" Such being the social consciousness, we may now see 

 what is meant by * an increasing social consciousness.' 

 In the individual, we have seen, an increase of conscious- 

 ness means that the point of view of each moment has 

 come to cover a wider range of his individual life. More 

 and more he has ceased to live solely in the present and 

 each present now includes a wider range of his life in 

 other times and places. In like manner society may be 

 said to grow in consciousness so far as each individual 

 forms personal relations, and comes to terms of under- 

 standing, with a wider range of his fellows. And thus, 

 once more, we see that every increase of social conscious- 

 ness involves an increasing self-consciousness in the in- 

 dividuals concerned. For each new acquaintance that 



