Most, if not all, of our confusion regarding such points as these arises from the almost invincible habit of thinking of “society,” or “historical tendency,” as a distinct entity from “individuals,” instead of remembering that these general and particular terms merely express different aspects of the same concrete fact—human life. In studying leadership we may examine the human army one by one, and inquire why certain persons stand out from the rest as captains, colonels, or generals, and what, in particular, it is that they have to do; or, in studying social tendency, we may disregard individuality and look at the movements of the army, or of its divisions and regiments, as if they were impersonal wholes. But there is no separation in fact: the leader is always the nucleus of a tendency, and, on the other hand, all social movement, closely examined, will be found to consist of tendencies having such nuclei. It is never the case that mankind move in any direction with an even front, but there are always those who go before and show the way. I need hardly add that leadership is not a _final_ explanation of anything; but is simply one of many aspects in which human life, always inscrutable, may be studied. In these days we no longer look for final explanations, but are well content if we can get a glimpse of things in process, not expecting to know how they began or where they are to end. The leader is a cause, but, like all causes we know of, he is also an effect. His being, however original, is rooted in the past of the race, and doubtless as susceptible of explanation as anything else, if we could only get at the facts. CHAPTER X THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF CONSCIENCE THE RIGHT AS THE RATIONAL—SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS VIEW—THE RIGHT AS THE ONWARD—THE RIGHT AS HABIT—RIGHT IS NOT THE SOCIAL AS AGAINST THE INDIVIDUAL—IT IS, IN A SENSE, THE SOCIAL AS AGAINST THE SENSUAL—THE RIGHT AS A SYNTHESIS OF PERSONAL INFLUENCES—PERSONAL AUTHORITY—CONFESSION, PRAYER, PUBLICITY—TRUTH—DEPENDENCE OF RIGHT UPON IMAGINATION—CONSCIENCE REFLECTS A SOCIAL GROUP—IDEAL PERSONS AS FACTORS IN CONSCIENCE.