of escape
from life, either by sinking into the depths of its own physical being,
or by sinking into the depths of its own spiritual substance.

The main purpose of the book reveals, however, the only escape
from all the pain and misery of life which is worthy of the soul of
man. And this is not so much an escape from life as a transfiguring
of the nature of life by means of a newly born attitude toward it.
This attitude toward life, of which I have tried to catch at least the
general outlines, is the attitude which the soul struggles to maintain
by gathering together all its diffused memories of those rare
moments when it entered into the eternal vision.

And I have indicated as clearly as I could how it comes about that in
the sphere of practical life the only natural and consistent
realization of this attitude would be the carrying into actual effect
of what I call "the idea of communism."

This "idea of communism," in which the human implications of the
eternal vision become realized, is simply the conception of a system
of human society founded upon the creative instinct, instead of upon
the possessive instinct in humanity.

I endeavour to make clear that such a reorganization of society,
upon such a basis does not imply any radical change in human
nature. It only implies a liberation of a force that already exists, of
the force in the human soul that is centrifugal, or outflowing, as
opposed to the force that is centripetal, or indrawing. Such a force
has always been active in the lives of individuals. It only remains to
liberate that force until it reaches the general consciousness of the
race, to make such a reconstruction of human society not only ideal,
but actual and effective.

CONTENTS

Chapter I. The Complex Vision 1
Chapter II. The Aspects of the Complex Vision 20
Chapter III. The Soul's Apex-Thought 56
Chapter IV. The Revelation of the Complex Vision 71
Chapter V. The Ultimate Duality 100
Chapter VI. The Ultimate Ideas 120
Chapter VII. The Nature of Art 160
Chapter VIII. The Nature of Love 194
Chapter IX. The Nature of the Gods 214
Chapter X. The Figure of Christ 225
Chapter XI. The Illusion of Dead Matter 248
Chapter XI