THE MIND OF WOMAN 227 



tion of the manner in which the emotion of the 

 ideal works in the mind of the individual is complete 

 and of the first importance. There is enshrined 

 within me, as within every one of us, says James, 

 an inner man. This inner or real man he describes 

 to be the ideal social or other- regarding self. " It 

 may be remote," he continues, "it may be represented 

 as barely possible. I may not hope for its realization 

 during my lifetime. I may even expect the future 

 generations, which would approve of me if they 

 knew me, to know nothing about me when I am 

 gone. Yet still the emotion which beckons me on 

 is indubitably the pursuit of an ideal social self." 1 

 James proceeds then to analyse the workings of this 

 cause in the mind of the individual almost up to the 

 point at which we begin to be concerned with its 

 collective function as the vehicle of illimitable Power. 

 "What is the nature of the ideal social self ? " 

 asks James. The reply is to the effect that it is 

 a self which seeks to set up within the individual 

 nothing less than the standards of Universal Mind. 

 They are the same standards of Absolute or Universal 

 Mind which we attribute to God. It is character- 

 istic of this inner self that, to quote James's words, 

 " it can find its adequate socius only in an ideal 

 world." All social progress, he continues, consists 



1 Text Book of Psychology, ch. xii. 



