f the consummation of a
progression, certain intermediate stages of which constitute man's
present activities. In Brahmanism, God is the perfect unity, which may
be approximated by dwelling on identities and ignoring differences; in
Platonism, God is the good-for-all, which may be approximated by dwelling
exclusively upon the utilities and fitness of things. The absolute world
still remains beyond this world and excludes it, although a hint of its
actual nature may now be obtained. But there at once appears a
formidable difficulty. So long as the absolute world is wholly separated
from this world, and therefore purely formal, evil need not be imputed to
it; but at the moment when it is conceived by completing and perfecting
certain processes belonging to this world, it is committed to these
processes with all their implications, and tends to be usurped by them.
In other words, heaven, in so far as it obtains meaning, grows worldly.

In the conception which may be termed _panlogism_, {245} heaven is boldly
removed to earth. It is identified with laws or other universals, that
lie within the scope of human intelligence and control the course of
nature. God is now immanent rather than transcendent; he has obtained a
certain definable content. But the difficulty which has already appeared
in mysticism now grows more formidable. How can it be said that a being
that coincides with the known laws of nature works only good? Among the
Stoics the attempt was made to conceive all necessities as somehow
"beneficial," as somehow good in the commonly accepted sense of the
term.[14] But even the Stoics found themselves compelled to abandon the
common conception of goodness. And in Spinoza the motive of panlogism is
clear and uncompromising.[15] God as the immanent order of the world is
good only in that he is necessary--good only in so far as he satisfies
the logical interest and enables the mind to understand. In panlogism,
then, we find metaphysical idealism already compelled in behalf of its
cardinal principle to deny the moral consciousness. But this is not all.
For even were it to be admitted that mere system and order constitute the
good, wholly without reference to their bearing on the concerns of life,
the fact remains that even such a good does not fairly represent the
character of this world. For experience conveys not only law, {246} but
also irrelevance and chaos; not only harmony but also discord.

To meet