The higher type must now exist under conditions that actively dissolve every higher quality. The residual task is to remain the type even though the environment works continuously against it. This is the practical meaning of the residual path. The man does not wait for favorable conditions. He continues to form himself according to the permanent measure in an age that has no use for that measure.
Young men who still feel the demand of a higher standard often interpret the residual conditions as a temporary obstacle. They wait for the terrain to improve. The residual path rejects that waiting. The conditions are the given of the present phase of the cycle. The type either remains under them or it does not remain at all.
Remaining the type under residual conditions is not a matter of mood or temporary resolve. It is the continuous application of the same vertical criterion that once ordered entire civilizations. The application is now solitary and unsupported. That solitude is the residual form of the older hierarchical existence.
Form yourself according to the permanent measure without regard for the residual conditions. The age will not become more favorable. The man who continues the formation already occupies the residual position. That position is the only continuity still available to the higher type.