We assert then that nothing has been accomplished without interest on the part of the actors; and—­if interest be called passion, inasmuch as the whole individuality, to the neglect of all other actual or possible interests and claims, is devoted to an object with every fibre of volition, concentrating all its desires and powers upon it—­we may affirm absolutely that nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.  Two elements, therefore, enter into the object of our investigation—­the first the Idea, the second the complex of human passions; the one the warp, the other the woof of the vast arras-web of universal history.  The concrete mean and union of the two is liberty, under the conditions of morality in a State.  We have spoken of the idea of freedom as the nature of Spirit, and the absolute goal of history.  Passion is regarded as a thing of sinister aspect, as more or less immoral.  Man is required to have no passions.  Passion, it is true, is not quite the suitable word for what I wish to express.  I mean here nothing more than human activity as resulting from private interests, special, or if you will, self-seeking designs—­with this qualification, that the whole energy of will and character is devoted to their attainment, and that other interests (which would in themselves constitute attractive aims), or, rather, all things else, are sacrificed to them.  The object in question is so bound up with the man’s will that it entirely and alone determines the “hue of resolution” and is inseparable from it; it has become the very essence of his volition.  For a person is a specific existence—­not man in general (a term to which no real existence corresponds); but a particular human being.  The term “character” likewise expresses this idiosyncrasy of will and intelligence.  But character comprehends all peculiarities whatever, the way in which a person conducts himself in private relations, etc., and is not limited to his idiosyncrasy in its practical and active phase.  I shall, therefore, use the term “passion,” understanding thereby the particular bent of character, as far as the peculiarities of volition are not limited to private interest but supply the impelling and actuating force for accomplishing deeds shared in by the community at large.  Passion is, in the first instance, the subjective and therefore the formal side of energy, will, and activity—­leaving the object or aim still undetermined.  And there is a similar relation of formality to reality in merely individual conviction, individual views, individual conscience.  It is always a question of essential importance—­what is the purport of my conviction, what the object of my passion—­in deciding whether the one or the other is of a true and substantial nature.  Conversely, if it is so, it will inevitably attain actual existence—­be realized.