our own existence and that of the world around us necessarily implies the
presence of a Universal Mind acting on certain _fixed lines of its own_
which establish the basis for the working of all individual minds. This
paramount action of the Universal Mind thus sets an unchangeable standard
by which all individual mental action must eventually be measured, and
therefore our first concern is to ascertain what this standard is and to
make it the basis of our own action.

But if the independent existence of a common standard of reference is
necessary for our self-recognition simply as inhabitants of the world we
live in, then _a fortiori_ a common standard of reference is necessary for
our recognition of the unique place we hold in the Creative Order, which is
that of introducing the Personal Factor without which the possibilities
contained in the great Cosmic Laws would remain undeveloped, and the
Self-contemplation of Spirit could never reach those infinite unfoldments
of which it is logically capable.

The evolution of the Personal Factor is therefore the point with which we
are most concerned. As a matter of fact, whatever theories we may hold to
the contrary, we do all realize the same cosmic environment in the same
way; that is to say, our minds all act according to certain generic laws
which underlie all our individual diversities of thought and feeling. This
is so because we are made that way and cannot help it. But with the
Personal Factor the case is different. A standard is no less necessary, but
we are not so made as to conform to it automatically. The very conception
of automatic conformity to a _personal_ standard is self-contradictory, for
it does away with the very thing that constitutes personality, namely
freedom of volition, the use of the powers of Initiative and Selection. For
this reason conformity to the Standard of Personality must be a matter of
choice, which amounts to the same thing as saying that it rests with each