loses itself in an
objective vision which carries the "imprimatur" of eternity. This is
a definite universal experience which few introspective minds will
dare to deny.

But since, as we have already proved, the ultimate reality of things
is personality, or, to be more exact, is personality, confronting the
objective mystery, it is clear that if the subjective vision of the
soul is to correspond with an objective reality outside the soul, that
objective reality outside the soul must itself be the vision of
personality. It may be asked, at this point, why it is that the
potentiality or the capacity for being turned into beauty at the
touch of the soul, which resides in the objective mystery is not
enough to explain this recognition by the soul of an eternal
objective validity in its ultimate ideas.

It is not enough to explain it, because this potentiality remains
entirely unrecognized until it is touched by personality, and it is
therefore quite as much a potentiality of inferior beauty,
inadequate truth, and second-rate goodness, as it is a potentiality
of the rarest of these things.

The objective mystery by itself cannot explain the soul's
experience of an eternal validity in its deepest ideas because the
objective mystery in its role of pure potentiality is capable of
being moulded into the form of _any_ ideas, whether deep or
shallow. Thus our proof of the real existence of "the vision of the
immortals" depends upon two facts.

It depends upon the fact that the soul experiences an intuitive
assurance of objective reality in its ideas. And it depends upon the
fact that there is no other reality in the world, with any definite
form or outline, except the reality of personality. For an idea to be
eternal, therefore, it must be the idea of a personality, or of many
personalities, which themselves are eternal; and since we have no
evidence that the human soul is eternal and does not perish with
the body we are compelled to assume that somewhere in the
universe there must exist beings whose personality is able to resist
death and whose vision is an immortal vision.

It might be objected at this point, by such as follow the philosophy
of Epicurus, that, even though such beings exist, we have no right
to assume that they have any regard for us. My answer to this is
that in such moments as I have attempted to describe, when the
rhythmic activity of the soul is at its highest, we become directly
and intuitively consc