upward, and if the energy for such a movement is to be discovered within the soul.  The whole material which enters into consciousness has to obtain a deeper meaning [p.152] than it hitherto possessed.  And this happens on the level of “Universal” religion.  The spiritual is now recognised as the highest manifestation of life; and this spiritual is seen to be something which has to be gained through a struggle which calls the whole nature into activity.  Such a movement from the less to the more spiritual proceeds side by side with the freedom of the individual.  Freedom has now taken a new meaning.  Hitherto it meant little more than the consciousness of the individual moving along the line of least resistance.  The effort to move in such a direction is generally pleasurable; and when it tends to become painful the individual gives up the effort.  The highest norms were not present with a categorical affirmation of their reality and value.  But when they are present, the will is turned from the direction of ordinary life and its ease to the conception of the meaning and value of the highest norms.  Something, appearing as of intrinsic value, now makes itself felt, and stirs the whole nature.  Thus, a new movement begins; the passive attitude of the soul gives way to an autonomous attitude and movement.  The will, consequently, is conscious of a deeper need than any hitherto experienced, and therefore calls into being some deeper elements of its own in order to reach its goal.  The whole nature has now affirmed the idea of the good, which had dawned upon it as an imperative.  It is in [p.153] such a moment that the real nature becomes free—­it becomes conscious, through and through, of the possibility of leaving its old world and of ascending into a new one.  This is, in Eucken’s words, the real spiritual evolution (Wesensbildung) of human nature.  This evolution, which, prior to this, was considered very largely as a kind of gift of the environment, is now perceived as capable of realisation only in so far as the spiritual norms are willed.  When we examine the progress of humanity, we discover that it has taken place in this manner; a task had to be set and the whole nature had to be called forth to realise it.  The result is that a new creation takes place in the history of the world.  Such a creation becomes a new norm in the moral world, as well as a possession in the life of the individual who has struggled to realise it.

Such a spiritual process, after something of its nature has been realised, finds necessities laid upon it on all hands.  Once we have stepped into the very centre of spiritual norms and ideals they begin to reveal with a wonderful rapidity and impressiveness their own intrinsic content and value.  “Universal” religion has enabled us to realise that we are dealing with “grounds” which are a demand of the deepest nature, and with convictions which seem, without a doubt, “to ring true.”  The man