Conditioned as it is by the surrounding world and by its own history, in
so far as it is this, it is _determined_; but it is still _free_ in so
far as it is capable of becoming a new point of departure for life and
of proceeding on its way in a world of spirit. Unless man's nature
contained within itself some unity or whole of the kind already referred
to, it would mean no more than a receptacle of momentary impressions
which would vanish as soon as their physical effects had passed away.
But man is in reality more than all this. In the form of memory and
experience he is able to hold together in a core of his being the
_meaning_ of these impressions after they have filtered into his
consciousness. That is what we find, in however obscure a way, as the
very beginning of every human life. This unity or whole, as already
stated, may be no more than a potency in the beginning of life, but it
gains in content and depth as it passes from impression to impression,
and from experience to experience. And all further impressions and
experiences have to be referred to this nucleus of the nature in order
that they may be used and may prove themselves helpful. It is in this
nucleus of the nature that everything obtains its meaning and value.

The _Whole_ consequently grows, and gradually man becomes conscious of
his personality as over against the environing world and even his own
body. This consciousness of [p.36] _inwardness_ is of slow growth,
because the natural tendency of life is to give a primary place to the
world from which we have emerged--the world of physical existence, and
also because much of that physical world reigns powerfully within our
nature. But when reflection turns into itself, it becomes aware that the
inwardness constitutes the kernel of a reality higher in its nature than
anything either in the physical world or in the physical life which the
man has to lead.