on as they appeared. But these do not vanish; they persist
in various ways, as after-images, concepts, memory. Thus, in the very
act of knowing anything at all, something greater than the physical
object known is present. And Eucken would insist, therefore, that the
mental and spiritual are present from the very beginning and bring to a
mental focus the impressions of the senses. In the interpretation of
Eucken's philosophy several writers [p.49] have missed the author's
meaning here. They have, through the ambiguity of the term "spiritual"
in English, conceived of "spiritual life" as something entirely
different from the mental life. It is different, but only in the same
way as the bud is different from the blossom; it means at the religious
level a greater unfolding of a life which has been present at every
stage in the history of civilisation and culture.

But, as already noticed, the mental life is passed when we enter the
life of a community. The norms and standards, already referred to, make
their appearance and persist in demanding obedience to themselves even
at the expense of much within consciousness that points in another
direction.

But even such a stage as this does not give satisfaction to man. Much
effort and sacrifice are needed to live up to the life of the community.
And such effort and sacrifice are often the best means of calling into
activity a still deeper, reserved energy of the soul. The soul now
recognises a value beyond the values of culture and civilisation. The
Good, the True, and the Beautiful appear as the sole realities by the
side of which everything that preceded, if taken as complete in itself,
appears as a great shadow or illusion. Here we are reminded of Eucken's
affinity with Plato's Doctrine of Ideas, as well as of his attachment to
the revival of Platonism by Plotinus. Values for life, subsisting in
themselves, become objects [p.50] of meditation, of "browsing," and of
the deepest activity of the soul. Life is now viewed as consisting in a
great and constant quest after these religious ideals. It sees its
meaning beyond and above the range of mentality or even morality, though
it is well that it should pass as often as possible through the gate of
the former, and is bound to pass always through the gate of the latter.
A break takes place with the "natural self"; the mental life of
concepts, though necessary, is now seen as insufficient; and life is now
viewed as having a "pearl of