To imagine a man perfectly free and not subject to the law of inevitability, we must imagine him all alone, beyond space, beyond time, and free from dependence on cause. In the first case, if inevitability were possible without freedom we should have reached a definition of inevitability by the laws of inevitability itself, that is, a mere form without content. In the second case, if freedom were possible without inevitability we should have arrived at unconditioned freedom beyond space, time, and cause, which by the fact of its being unconditioned and unlimited would be nothing, or mere content without form. We should in fact have reached those two fundamentals of which man's whole outlook on the universe is constructedthe incomprehensible essence of life, and the laws defining that essence. The connection between cause and effect has no beginning and can have no end.
Reason gives expression to the laws of inevitability.
Consciousness gives expression to the essence of freedom. Freedom not limited by anything is the essence of life, in man's consciousness. Inevitability without content is man's reason in its three forms. Freedom is the thing examined. Inevitability is what examines.