On the level of “universal” religion, great changes have taken place over the last one hundred years. The consciousness and conviction of a new kind of world have arisen; the sensuous, and even partially the intellectual, domains have been relegated to a secondary place: other values, higher in their nature and more universal in their scope, have attracted the attention of mind and soul. In all this, a change has taken place in the disposition as well as in the will. Before this change, the character had not become conscious of its own inwardness but remained subservient to the norms of social and moral inheritance. Some amount of morality and good will have issued forth in this manner, and indeed, the gain cannot be over-estimated. But it is evident that something further has to happen if the movement of society is to proceed onward and upward and if the energy for such a movement is to be discovered within the soul. The whole of spirituality which enters into consciousness has to obtain a deeper meaning than it has possessed before.

This passing of spirituality can be understood as the “universal” religion. The spiritual is now recognized as the highest manifestation of life; and this spiritual nature is seen to be something which has to be gained through a struggle which calls the whole of human nature into activity, integrating the whole person. Such a movement from the less to the more spiritual proceeds side by side with the freedom of the individual. Freedom has now taken a new meaning. Before it meant little more than the consciousness of the individual moving along the line of least resistance. The effort to move in such a direction is generally pleasurable; when it tends to become painful, the individual gives up the effort. The highest norms were not present with a categorical affirmation of their reality and value. But when they are present, the will is turned from the direction of ordinary life and its ease with the conception of the meaning and value of the highest norms. Something, appearing as of intrinsic value, now makes itself felt and stirs the whole nature. Thus, a new movement begins; the passive attitude of the soul gives way to an autonomous attitude and movement.

The will, consequently, is conscious of a deeper need than any experienced before and, therefore, calls into being some deeper elements of its own in order to reach its goal. The whole nature has now affirmed the idea of the good, which had dawned upon it as an imperative. It is in such a moment that the real nature becomes free—it becomes conscious, through and through, of the possibility of leaving its old world and of ascending into a new one. This is the real spiritual evolution of human nature. This evolution, which, before this, was considered very largely as a kind of gift of the environment, is now perceived as capable of realization only in so far as the spiritual norms are willed and understood in terms of freedom. When we examine the progress of humanity, we discover that it has taken place in this manner; a task had to be set, and the whole nature had to be called forth to realize it. The result is that a new creation takes place in the history of the world. Such a creation becomes a new norm, a higher moral ethic, in the world, as well as a possession in the life of the individual who has struggled to realize it.

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