automatically by the mere fact of being human beings; while the other is a
personal and individual Standard, automatic conformity to which is
impossible because that would imply the loss of those powers of Initiative
and Selection which are the very essence of Personality; so that this
Standard necessarily implies a personal selection of it in preference to
other conceptions of an antagonistic nature.





CHAPTER VII

RACE THOUGHT AND NEW THOUGHT


The steady following up of the successive stages of the Creative Process
has led us to the recognition of an Individuality in the All-creating
Spirit itself, but an Individuality which is by its very nature Universal,
and so cannot be departed from without violating the essential principles
on which the further expansion of our own individuality depends. At the
same time it is strictly _individual_, for it is the Spirit of
Individuality, and is thus to be distinguished from that merely _generic_
race-personality which makes us human beings at all. Race-personality is of
course the necessary _basis_ for the development of this Individuality; but
if we do not see that it is only the preliminary to further evolution, any
other conception of our personality as members of the race will prevent our
advance toward our proper position in the Creative Order, which is that of
introducing the Personal Factor by the exercise of our individual power of
initiative and selection.