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CHAPTER IX [p.151]

CHARACTERISTIC RELIGION


On the level of "Universal" religion great changes have taken place in
life. The consciousness and conviction of the reality of a new kind of
world have arisen; the sensuous, and even partially the intellectual,
domains have been relegated to a secondary place: other values, higher
in their nature and more universal in their scope, have attracted the
attention of mind and soul. In all this a change has taken place in the
disposition as well as in the will. Prior to this change the character
had not become conscious of its own inwardness, but remained subservient
to the norms of social and moral inheritance. Some amount of morality
and good will have issued forth in this manner, and, indeed, the gain
cannot be overestimated. But it is evident that something further has to
happen if the movement of society is to proceed onward and upward, and
if the energy for such a movement is to be discovered within the soul.
The whole material which enters into consciousness has to obtain a
deeper meaning [p.152] than it hitherto possessed. And this happens on
the level of "Universal" religion. The _spiritual_ is now recognised as
the highest manifestation of life; and this spiritual is seen to be
something which has to be gained through a struggle which calls the
whole nature into activity. Such a movement from the less to the more
spiritual proceeds side by side with the _freedom_ of the individual.
Freedom has now taken a new meaning. Hitherto it meant little more than
the consciousness of the individual moving along the line of least