is the deepest meaning of religion; and, as we shall see at a later
stage, it constitutes the very nucleus of Christianity with its
announcement of conversion, the regeneration of the soul, and the union
and communion of man with the Divine.

Doubtless all this is difficult of apprehension, mainly on account of
the fact that there is no proof for it in a manner that can be made
intelligible. But the question arises, What is the power that acts and
brings forth proofs concerning anything? It is evidently not the whole
of the potentialities of man's nature: it is no more than the
understanding dealing with the evidence of impressions. But the
understanding, when dealing with the content of the union of individual
potency and over-individual norms, is dealing with a content infinitely
larger and more complex than itself; the material is too great and
intricate for the understanding to handle; it is a fruitless attempt of
the Part to monopolise the meaning and value of the Whole. The proof
rather lies within the domain of the soul itself, and is not something
which may be tacked on to any kind of external, spatial existence; it is
the emergence of a _new kind_ of existence or _self-subsistence._ The
proof (if we designate it by such an insufficient term) is _within_ the
experience and not _without_; it is the spiritual experience itself and
not merely an account, [p.100] in the form of even valid logical
concepts, concerning such experience.[30]

The space devoted to this subject may be justified on account of the
fact that Eucken's meaning of the evolution of spiritual life towards
higher levels cannot be understood without an understanding of the
distinction between _knowledge_ about experience and the _content_ of
experience itself, as this latter reveals itself in the ways
mentioned.[31] Eucken has lately paid great attention to this matter in