Page:The Conception of God (1897).djvu/95

58 And now let us consider the experience-contents of that sort of Absolute whose existence Professor Royce has proved. These consist, once more, of the outer world of science, of your present feelings, thoughts, puzzles, and aspirations, and, in addition, of the answers to your present puzzles and the satisfaction of your present aspirations. Now, a being with such an experience, as I should maintain, is not deeply spiritual. His experience consists of a vast physical universe with its myriads of mechanically whirling atoms, and, tucked away in one corner, the least bit of spiritual life, which, to be sure, has its questions answered and its desires gratified.

My only contention, observe, is that unless the gaps I have pointed out in Professor Royce's argument are filled, we are left with the slightly spiritual Ultimate Being I have just described. I maintain that Professor Royce's two books and his address of to-night do not justify us in introducing any more spirituality into the experience of the Inclusive Self. I do not maintain, of course, that he has in reserve no considerations capable of establishing a larger measure of spirituality; still less do I contend that no such considerations exist. On the contrary, I very firmly believe that there are facts at our disposal which will give philosophical justification for the assertion of the completest conceivable spirituality of the Ultimate Being, conceived of in the terms so clearly outlined in this evening’s address.