material has been found helpful in the life of the community. It
consists of collective results made up of large numbers of single
factors. These have been tied together in the form of various syntheses.
Such various syntheses comprise a larger meaning than what ordinarily
happens from moment to moment in connection with the relation of the
individual to the external world or, indeed, within the individual's own
ordinary life. Many of the isolated, fragmentary experiences of the
individual have to give way when tested in the light of any larger
synthesis. If this were not so, no commercial, social, civilised life
would be possible at all. The more real life is now perceived to be that
of the larger meaning and value. The individual, solitary experiences
may be legitimate, for they often express wants and needs of the
individual which have a certain right to obtain satisfaction. But the
extent and limits of these rights have to be measured by some norm or
standard other than themselves, or else each individual will proceed on
his own course regardless of the rights of others. It is the presence of
various syntheses which express the [p.47] collective life of the
whole--of each and every individual--that makes civilisation possible.
Thus, in the very process of civilisation itself, as Eucken points out,
there is present a factor which is termed Spiritual, and which is not to
be mistaken for a mere flow of cause and effect, or for one mere event
following another. Eucken emphasises this all-important element of the
over-individual qualities present in human history. There is here much
which resembles Hegel's Absolute. But there is a great difference
between the two in the sense that Eucken shows the constant need of
spiritual activism on the part of individuals in order to realise and
keep alive the norms and standards which have carried our world so far;
and there is also the need of contributing something to the values of
these through the creation of new qualities within the souls of the
individuals themselves.