UNION, THE GOAL OF EXPERIENCE

But since it is not sa— why, what can you wish for more ? — ^all things are given into your hands.^

In a lower, cruder form this is the situation in which the animais find themselves. They live a gênerai, rather than a particular, life; they do not differentiate themselves from the Whole, and so they accept whatever comes and make the best of themselves and of it < the plundered beehive gathers a new store ; the spider spins another web ; the pig munches the clover, but would do his best with a thistle-patch.

It is not for us to go back again to the level of the " dear beasts " ; but it seems Ukely that, in that etemal spiral Life pursues, the destiny of a soûl is, after having learned the lessons of an intensely individuaUzed and self-conscious existence, with its oppositions, fears, and doubts, to arrive at the higher point of consdous union with the AU-life — the point from which in the beginning, it was said, the Creator Idoked out upon ail that He had made, and " behold ! it was very good.'* ^

We may now put the second of our questions : ' ' What precisely is happening to me in any expérience which I call mine ? " The crux of every expérience is in the experient. From his side, every expérience involves a deed. He may rebel against it, seek to es^pe it, or he may receive it joyously, or he may be quieiscent under it ; even

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this last, however, requires an effort, and ail effort assists development. The central fact of any expérience is not expressed by saying, " Something is there, impressing me " ; but rather, " I am reacting to it." AU expérience médiates the growth of the soûl. In ail expérience, that which is happening within you is the real and important thing.

Browning' s fanûliar figure of the potter is inadéquate :

He fixed thee in tfais danco

Of plastic drcumstanoe,

This Présent tbou, fonooth, wooldst lain orrett;

Machinery just meont

To give thy soûl its bent,

Try thee, and tum thee forth, suffibiently impressed.

It is by no means ail the truth to say that expérience moulds us. We ail feel the pressure of the hand of Expérience, but the sensé of pressure arises f rom two opposing strains ; there is always the pressure from within outwards, as well as the pressure from without inwards. It is the reaction of the soûl to Expérience which gives "shape" and "character" to it. We should never expérience the '' pull " of temptation, unless there were inwardly a "pull" in the opposite direction. That which makes us con* sdous of any résistance is that there is, at that point, an outward push and thrust of the soûl. We are placed in a workl which is full of " hazards