The self, the place where we live, 

is a place of illusion. 

Goodness is connected with the attempt to see the unself, 

to see and to respond to the real world 

in the light of a virtuous consciousness. 

This is the non-metaphysical meaning of the idea of transcendence 

to which philosophers have so constantly resorted in their 

explanations of goodness. 

“Good is a transcendent reality” means that virtue is the attempt 

to pierce the veil of selfish consciousness and join the world 

as it really is. It is an empirical fact about human nature 

that this attempt cannot be entirely successful.

Iris Murdock

The Sovereignty of Good