XII

Such, then, is the vast conception with which we have been dealing.
Goodness, to be personal, must express perpetual self-development. All
the moral aims of life may be summed up in the single word, "self-
realization." Could I fully realize myself, I should have fulfilled
all righteousness, and this view is sanctioned by the Great Teacher
when he asks, "What shall a man give in exchange for his life?"--his
life, his soul, his self. If any one fully believed this, and lived as
if all his desires were fulfilled so long as he had opportunities of
self-development, he might be said to have insured himself against
every catastrophe. Little could harm him. Whatever occurred, instead
of exclaiming, "How calamitous!" he would simply ask, "What fresh
opportunities do these strange circumstances present for enlarged
living? Let me add this new discipline to what I had before. Seeking
as I am to become expanded into the infinite, this experience
discloses a new avenue thither. All things work together for good to
them that love the Lord."

REFERENCES ON SELF-DEVELOPMENT

Bradley's Ethical Studies, essay vi.

Green's Prolegomena of Ethics, bk. iii. ch. ii.

Alexander's Moral Order and Progress, bk. iii. ch. iv.

Muirhead's Elements of Ethics, bk. iii. ch. iii.

Mackenzie's Manual of Ethics, pt. i. ch. vii.