is that being is only revealed to creative experience (in a signification
of that phrase to be made clear), that in fact being's role in thought
is not so much that of a concept as it is a creative intuition analogous
to that of the artist. The presentiment of transcendence haunts human
experience, as the artist's intuition haunts his consciousness. Just as the
artist's intuition only comes to be recognized in the artistic process
which it alone makes possible, so the presence of being is only recog-
nized by bring read back out of the human experiences which it alone
makes possible. Which experiences are these? Marcel concentrates on
love, hope, and fidelity; it is his conviction that the ontological exigence
cannot be recognized by a solitary ego, but only by a subject-in-com-
munion. Therefore, the acts which found me as subject-in-communion,
as I in the face of a thou, are also those which give me access to being.
The recognition of the ontological value of these experiences and there-
fore of the transcendent dimension of man's existence is free--it is the
response by which thought freely sustains itself in its own source.
Thus, the fundamental philosophical affirmation, "bring is," is a truth
spoken by and to my liberty. My participation in bring is ultimatety,
then, a creative participation. Such in brief is the theme of this book.

I cannot close without expressing my deepest thanks to M. Gabriel
Marcel for the kindness and encouragement he has extended to me in
conversations and correspondence relative to this study. I shall not try
to put into words the poignant impression which my meetings with
him, after so many years of acquaintance with his thought, made upon
me. Suffice it to say that this was one occasion where none of the
hazards of expectation were borne out; just the opposite, for Gabriel
Marcel is a living testimony, a man who far outruns his works.

I would also like to pay my tribute of gratitude to an extraordinary
philosopher, Dr. Robert C. Pollock of Fordham University, under whose
guidance my researches into Marcel were initially carried on.

Finally, I wish to thank the following journals for their gracious per-
mission to republish material which originally appeared there:

Chapter II, "Bring in a Situation", appeared in The Review of Meta-
physics, Dec. 1959, XIII, 320-339.

Chapter III, "Problem and Mystery", appeared in The Modern School-
man, Jan. 1962, XXXIX, 101-210.

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