the relation of the Absolute with the will is not clearly perceived, and consequently the Absolute becomes merely an object of thought and contemplation; and in all this the individual does not become aware of a burning desire to move in the direction of the goal. [p.143] The pragmatist leaves the individual at the mercy of the momentary content of consciousness; this content is quite as likely to be trivial as to be great; and hence there is no absolute standard present to determine the nature and value of this content of the moment, and consequently no more than a life of effortless drifting can issue out of all this.

This blend of absolutism and pragmatism is richer in its content than either of the two.  Each has missed something of importance, and it is here supplied by Eucken.

Norms and potency become two indissoluble factors in the evolution of the higher life.  As already stated, the norms have an objectivity of their own, and consequently when they enter into life, life becomes conscious of their being something given and not brought into existence by its own potency.  It is out of this conclusion to which life is forced that the doctrine of Grace, found in some way or other in all religions, is to be accounted for.  And it is out of the consciousness of the interval between norm and achievement that the sense of guilt follows man whenever he penetrates deeply into the deeper experiences of the soul.  Grace and guilt—­naming only two experiences of the soul—­are not remnants of a traditional theology, but essential elements which accompany the deepest experience of the soul.  When they are wanting, it is most probable that the soul has not plumbed its own [p.144] existence to its very depths, but has rather chosen to be satisfied with what lies but a little way beneath the surface—­with what does not cause too much uneasiness, but is sufficient for a life to persist as a good member of the society by which it is surrounded.  Only half a religion can become the possession of any individual who does not at least pay as much attention to the nature and value of over-individual norms as he pays to the nature of the environment and of the ordinary life.  It is always a sign that humanity is drifting to the shallows of life when it looks upon religion as the flowering of the mere natural life of good custom, earthly happiness, and ease.  Whenever the tragedy born in the conflict between norms and ordinary life is absent, the very elements which constitute greatness and the “taste of eternity” are also absent.  It is on account of this fact that Eucken insists that no individual or nation that loses its own deeper religious experience can be really great or true; for the purest spring of human life and conduct is wanting, and the whole life issues from a shallower stream.  It is impossible here to enter into the truth of this matter; but our individual observation concerning men and communities is almost enough of