es
therefore a double form. It takes the form of an individual _return_
to the fulness of ideas which have always been implicit and latent
in our individual souls. And it takes the form of a co-operative
_advance_ towards the fulness of ideas which are foreshadowed
and prophesied in the vision of these immortals' companions. Thus
for us, as well as for them, the eternal movement is at once an
advance and a return. Thus for us, as well as for them, the eternal
inspiration is at once a hope and a reminiscence.

It will be seen from what I have said that this philosophy of the
complex vision finds a place for all the nobler and more desperate
struggles of the human race towards a solution of the mystery of
life. It accepts fully the fact that the human reason playing isolated
games with itself, is driven by its own nature to reduce "all objects
of all thought" to the circle of one "synthetic unity" which is the
implied "a priori" background of all actual vision. It accepts fully
the fact that human self-consciousness, playing isolated games
with itself, is driven by the necessity of its own nature to reduce all
separate "selves" to one all embracing "world self" which is the
universe conscious of itself as the universe.

It accepts fully the fact that we have to regard the apparent
objectivity of the external universe, with its historic process, as an
essential and unalterable aspect of reality, so grounded in truth that
to call it an "illusion" is a misuse of language. But although it
accepts both the extreme "materialistic" view and the extreme
"idealistic" view as inevitable revelations of reality, it does not
regard either of them as the true starting-point of enquiry, because
it regards both these extremes as the result of the isolated play of
one or the other of the complex vision's attributes.

The philosophy of the complex vision refuses to accept as its
starting-point any "synthetic unity" other than the synthetic unity
of personality; because any other than this it is compelled to
regard as abstracted from this by the isolated play of some
particular attribute of the mind. The philosophy of the complex
vision refuses to accept as its starting-point any attenuated
materialistic hypothesis, such as may be indicated by the arbitrary
words "life" or "movement" or "ether" or "force" or "energy" or
"atoms" or "molecules" or "electrons" or "vortices" or "evolutionary
progress," because it recognizes that all these h