Page:The Conception of God (1897).djvu/313

276 osophical problem: What, in my real essence, am I, this person? In the proper union of psychology with philosophy lies the solution of this problem. Having studied finite individuality in ourselves, we shall proceed to the question of the relation of our individuality to the Absolute, by briefly considering in what sense our Absolute is a self-conscious individual, and what is our relation to such absolute individuality. A reference to the problem of Immortality will close this Part of our paper.

First, then, for the empirical aspect of finite self-consciousness. I talk of myself, of my moral worth, of my choice, of my freedom, of my moral personality. What fact in the universe do I refer to when I thus talk of myself? Is not the self of my inner self-consciousness a mere collection of accidental experiences and processes, — a mere heap of feelings, of associations, of beliefs? Is there anything really permanent or eternal about me? Am I not a mere child of circumstance, an offspring of my ancestors, a result of an evolutionary process, a chaos of bodily products? What concrete facts do I think when I think of myself? Is it not a mass of internal sensations, of fleeting thoughts, of halting memories, that I refer to when I speak of myself? And, now, how can this chance product of ancestry and of circumstance, this creature of yesterday and to-day,