nstituent parts of the Absolute Volition,
which, therefore, cannot act causally _on_ them, though it always acts
substantially _with_ them. Or, otherwise phrased, if the subject is a
constituent part of its own World-eject--the volition of which is always
self-consistent--it follows that the volition of the subject must always
be coincident with that of its World-eject; and this without being
determined in any other sense than the smaller size of a part can be
said to be determined by the larger size of its whole: i.e. the
determination--if we choose so to call it--is not a causal one, but
arises immediately from the inherent nature of the case. The Absolute
Volition within itself is free; the Relative Volition within itself is
free; but there can be no conflict between these two freedoms. For, if
there were a conflict, it must be caused; but where is the cause of this
conflict to come from? Not from the Absolute Volition, which is
everywhere self-consistent; not from the Relative Volition, which is
wholly contained within the Absolute. Thus, regarded from within its own
system, the Relative Volition is free; while, regarded from the system
of its World-eject, the Relative Volition is predestined. But the
freedom is not incompatible with the predestination, nor the
predestination with the freedom. They stand to each other in the
relation of complementary truths, the apparent contradiction of which
arises only from the apparently fundamental antithesis between mind and
cause which it is the privilege of Monism to abolish.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 13: 'Whatsoever is first of all things must necessarily
contain it, and actually have, at least, all the perfections that can
ever after exist; nor can it ever give to another any perfection that it
hath not actually in itself, or at least in a higher degree' (Locke). To
this argument Mill answers, 'How vastly nobler and more precious, for
instance, are the vegetables and animals than the soil and manure out of
which, and by the properties of which, they are raised up! But this
stricture is not worthy of Mill. The soil and manure do not constitute
the whole cause of the plants and animals. We must trace these and many
other con-causes (conditions) back and back till we come to 'whatsoever
is first of all things': it is merely childish to choose some few of the
conditions, and arbitrarily to regard them as alone the efficient
causes.]

[Footnote 14: _Collected Essays_, vol. ix.