FATALISM OR FREEDOM 



tion covering a period of perhaps a hun- 

 dred milHon years, whose incontrovertible 

 teaching is that animal life, as a whole, 

 has slowly progressed, with many back 

 eddies and temporary reversals of the flow, 

 from lower to higher planes of living as 

 measured by the standards which we have 

 already adopted. Animal bodies have be- 

 come progressively more complex, their 

 behavior more varied, their adjustments 

 to conditions of life more effective. Life 

 is more diversified and richer, individual 

 efficiency tends to replace mass action, and 

 finallv, self-consciousness adds to success 

 the joy of striving and succeeding. 



Through the biologist's lenses life is 

 seen in its broader sweeps as well as in its 

 microscopic details. Our vision is wide 

 enough to see that all enduring life is 

 successful life — some on a low plane, some 

 at higher levels — and conflict, pain and the 

 appalling mortality of all living things 

 are only minor tragedies in the unceas- 

 ing march toward better things, better as 

 measured in terms of successful accom- 

 plishment; indeed, these are the wages 

 which must be paid for constructive 

 biological advance, just as in our personal 

 experiences they form a necessary back- 



[30] 



