Xii PREFACE 



call spiritual values becomes the true end of life, 

 superposed on and dominating the previous biolog- 

 ical values. 



When civilizations and societies are organized so 

 that their prime purpose is the pursuit of spiritual 

 values, then life will have passed another critical 

 point in its evolution; as always, what has gone be- 

 fore is necessary as foundation for what is coming, 

 and the biological conditions must be fulfilled before 

 the new and higher edifice can be built; but, as when 

 the mammals superseded the reptiles, so this change 

 of aim will mean the rise of a new type to be the 

 dominant and highest form of life. 



This can only come about so far as man consciously 

 attempts to make it come about. His evolution up 

 to the present can be summed up in one sentence — 

 that through his coming to possess reason, life in his 

 person has become self-conscious, and evolution is 

 handed over to him as trustee and director. "Na- 

 ture" will no longer do the work unaided. Nature 

 — if by that we mean blind and non-conscious forces 

 — has, marvellously, produced man and conscious- 

 ness; they must carry on the task to new results 

 which she alone can never reach. 



Mr. Trotter, in his delightful book on the Herd- 

 instinct, draws a distinction between the stable- 

 minded or resistive and the unstable-minded or 

 adaptive, and points out how the destinies of society 

 have usually been entrusted to the former — whence 

 spring our persecutions of prophets and our neglect 

 of innovating genius. This will continue so long as 



