r limited conceptions we should realise that the whole
was welded together, and that influences were coming through which
produced the effects that we observe.

Those philosophers, if there are any, who assert that we are wholly
chained bound and controlled by the circumstances of that part of
the Universe of which we are directly aware--that we are the slaves
of our environment and must act as we are compelled by forces
emanating from things on our side of the boundary alone,--those
philosophers err.

This kind of determinism is false; and the reaction against it has
led other philosophers to assert that we are _lawlessly_ free, and
able to initiate any action without motive or cause,--that each
individual is a capricious and chaotic entity, not part of a Cosmos
at all!

It may be doubted whether anyone has clearly and actually
maintained either of these theses in all its crudity; but there are
many who vigorously and cheaply deny one or other of them, and in
so denying the one conceive that they are maintaining the other.
Both the above theses are false; yet Free Will and Determinism are
both true, and in a completely known universe would cease to be
contradictories.

The reconciliation between opposing views lies in realising that
the Universe of which we have a kind of knowledge is but a portion
or an aspect of the whole.

We are free, and we are controlled. We are free, in so far as our
sensible surroundings and immediate environment are concerned; that
is, we are free for all practical purposes, and can choose between
alternatives as they present themselves. We are controlled, as
being intrinsic parts of an entire cosmos suffused with law and
order.

No scheme of science based on knowledge of our environment can
confidently predict our actions, nor the actions of any
sufficiently intelligent live creature. For "mind" and "will" have
their roots on the other side of the partition, and that which we
perceive of them is but a fraction of the whole. Nevertheless, the
more developed and consistent and harmonious our character becomes,
the less liable is it to random outbreaks, and the more certainly
can we be depended on. We thus, even now, can exhibit some
approximation to the highest state--that conscious unison with the
entire scheme of existence which is