The Idea of Freedom 155But itmust be so. For, if it were to be recognized in any
way other than observation, then general laws rather than
individual experience would give the stamp of validity in
that realm. Individuality is possible only if each individu-
al being knows another being by individual observation
alone. The difference between me and my neighbor con-
sists not in our living in two completely distinct spiritual
worlds, but in my neighbor’s receiving intuitions other
than my own out of the world of ideas common to us both.
My neighbors want to live outtheir intuitions, Imine. If
we all really draw from the Idea, and follow no external
(physical or spiritual) impulses, then we cannot but meet
in the same striving, the same intentions. An ethical mis-
understanding, a clash, is impossible among ethicallyfree
human beings. Only someone who is ethically unfree,
who obeys natural drives or the conventional demands of
duty, will thrust aside someone else who does not follow
the same instincts and the same demands.To live in love
of action, andto let live in understanding of the other’s
will, is the fundamental maxim offree human beings.
They know no other“should”than the one with which
their willing is intuitively in harmony. Their capacity for
ideas tells them how they are towill in any given case.
If the basic source of compatibility did not lie within
human nature, we could not implant it by any outward
laws! Only because individualsare of one spirit can they
live out their lives side by side. A free person lives in trust
that the other free person belongs to the same spiritual
world and that they will concur with each other in their in-
tentions. Those who are free demand no agreement from