The worth and interest of the world
consists not in its elements, be these elements
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things, or be they the conjunctions of things;
it exists rather in the dramatic outcome in
the whole process, and in the meaning of the
succession stages which the elements work out.
My colleague and master, Josiah Royce, in
a page of his review of Stout's _Analytic_Psychology(1)
has some fine words on this point
with which I cordially agree. I cannot agree
with his separating the notion of efficacy from
that of activity altogether (this I understand
to be one contention of his) for activities are
efficacious whenever they are real activities at
all. But the inner nature both of efficacy and
of activity are superficial problems, I understand
Royce to say; and the only point for us
in solving them would be their possible use in
helping us to solve the far deeper problem of
the course and meaning of the world of life.
Life, says our colleague, is full of significance,
of meaning, of success and of defeat, of hoping
and of striving, of longing, of desire, and of
inner value. It is a total presence that embodies
worth. To live our own lives better in
---
1 _Mind_, N.
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