THE PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 301 



Nature never produces what to us seems a perfect organism, but 

 only organisms which are provided with means of adjustment suffi- 

 cient to accomplish the survival and perpetuation of the species. Man 

 also is imperfect, but in the struggle for existence wins his way because 

 his consciousness has greater resources than that of any other organism. 

 His great power arises from his appreciation of evolution. His highest 

 duty is to advance evolution, and tins duty must be most strongly felt 

 by those who accept the religious interpretation of life. The advance- 

 ment of science is an obligation. To this view of the work of our 

 Association I may safely claim the assent of all present. 



The function of science is to extend our acquaintance with the 

 objective world. The purpose of the American Association is not alone 

 to increase the sum total of science, but equally also to preach by word 

 and precept the value of truth, truth being the correct conscious sym- 

 bol of the objective, by utilizing which our purposeful reactions are im- 

 proved. The most serious obstacle truth encounters is the prevalence 

 of what I may call 'doll ideas' — by analogy with the material dolls, 

 with which children play. The child makes believe with the doll, know- 

 ing all the time its unreality, assigns to it hopes, passions, appetites; 

 the child may feel the intensest sympathy with its doll, weep at its sor- 

 rows, laugh over its joys, yet know always that it is a mere inanimate, 

 senseless doll. Adult men and women have ideas, with which they 

 play make-believe ; doll ideas, which they know are unreal, and yet they 

 mourn sincerely over the adversities of their mental dolls, rejoice over 

 their successes and fight for them with passion. Such doll ideas become 

 mingled with the real and inextricably woven into the fabric of life. 

 They are treated with the most earnest seriousness. Men will fight for 

 them as a child will fight for its doll, not because it is property, but 

 because it is a sacred personality. So are doll ideas often made sacred 

 and defended with fanaticism. Yet, behind, in consciousness is the 

 sense of unreality, the disregarded admission of 'making believe.' Do 

 not doll ideas, pseudo-opinions, play a great role in human life? I 

 think they do, and thinking so, deem it all the more imperative that 

 you and others should teach the people the standard of science, the 

 humble acknowledgment of reality. I wish that an impulse toward 

 this goal from our Association could be imparted to every man and 

 woman in the country, and I hope that the Association may continue 

 to grow in number and power for long years to come, as it has grown 

 in the last few years, so that it shall be a national, all-pervading influ- 

 ence serving the truth. 



It seems to me inconceivable that the evolution of animals should 

 have taken place as it actually has taken place, unless consciousness is 

 a real factor and dominant. Accordingly I hold that it actually affects 

 the vital processes. There is, in my opinion, no possibility of avoiding- 



