existence by its own potency. It is out of this conclusion to which life
is forced that the doctrine of Grace, found in some way or other in all
religions, is to be accounted for. And it is out of the consciousness of
the interval between norm and achievement that the sense of _guilt_
follows man whenever he penetrates deeply into the deeper experiences of
the soul. Grace and guilt--naming only two experiences of the soul--are
not remnants of a traditional theology, but essential elements which
accompany the deepest experience of the soul. When they are wanting, it
is most probable that the soul has not plumbed its own [p.144] existence
to its very depths, but has rather chosen to be satisfied with what lies
but a little way beneath the surface--with what does not cause too much
uneasiness, but is sufficient for a life to persist as a good member of
the society by which it is surrounded. Only half a religion can become
the possession of any individual who does not at least pay as much
attention to the nature and value of over-individual norms as he pays to
the nature of the environment and of the ordinary life. It is always a
sign that humanity is drifting to the shallows of life when it looks
upon religion as the flowering of the mere natural life of good custom,
earthly happiness, and ease. Whenever the tragedy born in the conflict
between norms and ordinary life is absent, the very elements which
constitute greatness and the "taste of eternity" are also absent. It is
on account of this fact that Eucken insists that no individual or nation
that loses its own deeper religious experience can be really great or
true; for the purest spring of human life and conduct is wanting, and
the whole life issues from a shallower stream. It is impossible here to
enter into the truth of this matter; but our individual observation
concerning men and communities is almost enough of itself to verify the
statement. That such a higher spiritual life is a reality may be
evidenced further through its effects. It changes the whole relationship
of the man [p.145] who has experienced it to everything he comes in