ABSTRACT
W E have now sketched the way in which an individual may acquire an ideal of conduct and the way in which his primary instinctive dispositions, becoming organised within the complex moral sentiments, may impel him to strive to realise such an ideal. We have seen that both of these achievements, the acquisition of the ideal and of the sentiment for the ideal, are rendered possible only by the absorption of the more refined parts of the moral tradition, under the influence of some of the personalities in whom it is most strongly embodied. These persons, we said, exert this influence upon us in virtue principally of the admiration that they evoke in us. This admiration, which renders us receptive to their opinions and examples, and responsive to their emotions, may be, of course, and often is, blended with fear, yield ing the tertiary compound emotion which we call aw e; and this may be further complicated by an infusion of tender emotion, which renders the complex emotion one of reverence ; when the influence of the persons who excite these complex emotions becomes the more powerful in proportion to the additional strength of the complex impulses evoked by them.
