part.

This living in a world which we do not heartily acknowledge as our own;
this subjection to an authority which we do not in principle recognize
and welcome as the voice of our own better, larger, wiser, social
self,--this is constraint and slavery in its basest and most degrading
form.

CHAPTER XXI.

Self.

Hitherto we have considered things, relations, persons, and institutions
outside ourselves as the objects which together constitute our
environment.

The self is not a new object, but rather the bond which binds together
into unity all the experiences of life. It is their relation to this
conscious self which gives to all objects their moral worth. Every act
upon an object reacts upon ourselves. The virtues and vices, the rewards
and penalties that we have been studying are the various reactions of
conduct upon ourselves. This chapter then will be a comprehensive review
and summary of all that has gone before. Instead of taking one by one
the particular reactions which follow particular acts with reference to
particular objects, we shall now look at conduct as a whole; regard our
environment in its totality; and consider duty, virtue, and self in
their unity.

THE DUTY.

+The duty we owe to ourselves is the realization of our capacities and
powers in harmony with each other, and in proportion to their worth as
elements in a complete individual and social life.+--We have within us
the capacity for an ever increasing fullness and richness and intensity
of life. The materials out of which this life is to be developed are
ready to our hands in those objects which we have been considering. One
way of conduct toward these objects, which we have called duty; one
attitude of mind and will toward them which we have called virtue, leads
to those completions and fulfillments of ourselves which we have called
rewards. Duty then to self; duty in its most comprehensive aspect, is
the obligation which the existence of capacity within and material
without imposes on us to bring the two together in harmonious relations,
so as to realize the capacities and powers of ourselves and of others,
and promote society's well being. In simpler terms our fundamental duty
is to make the most of ourselves; and to become as large and genuine a
part of the social world in which we live as it is possible for us to
be.

THE VIRTUE.

+The habit of seeking to realize the highest capacities and widest
relationships of our