268 LIFE: ITS NATURE AND ORIGIN 



print patterns and electroencephalograms are often difficult to 

 distinguish. 7 



The similarities of physical structure and behavior just referred 

 to are evident to other individuals, that is, to outside observers; 

 but the thoughts controlling the actions of the individual himself 

 involve what we term his conscience, and are directly known only 

 to himself. Acts of individuals which are in accord with mores 

 are regarded by others as ethical and moral. If consonant with 

 existing law, they are legal. But thoughts, the secret springs of 

 action, are dominant factors in the scope of choice we call free 

 will. No matter how a person may be limited by his physical in- 

 heritance, and his social environment, he is ethical and moral 

 (even if not legal), when he honestly follows his own "inner light." 

 Education has important ethical and moral responsibilities. Wis- 

 dom should guide those who learn to think independently; but 

 many are guided solely by what they are taught or by the example 

 set by teachers, parents, or associates. 



The essential difference between the material and the mental, 

 ethical, spiritual or moral aspects of an action is illustrated by the 

 story of the Scot who attempted to retrieve a half-crown he had 

 dropped into the plate at church, thinking it was a penny, but was 

 frustrated by the Verger, who quickly covered the plate with his 

 hand and remarked: "Nay, nay, mon — in for ance, in for aye!" 

 "Weel", said the Scot, "I'll get credit for it in Heaven." "Nay, 

 mon," returned the Verger, "in Heaven ye'll get credit only for 

 the penny ye intended to put in." (John Brown: "Rab and His 

 Friends"). 



Ethics and morality are not inherent in molecules, atoms, or 

 subatomic particles. They are, rather, emergent relations which 

 come into being only with the development of complicated ma- 

 terial structures capable of thinking and choosing. These powers 

 we believe to be most highly developed in man, but they are fore- 

 shadowed in the lower animals. It is interesting to note how 

 the poet's eye in glancing "from heaven to earth, from earth to 

 heaven," has envisaged these relationships between the physical 

 and the metaphysical. Thus in his poem "Caliban upon Setebos," 

 Robert Browning pictures the self-centered reaction to natural 

 phenomena of that low form of human mentality, "a freckled 

 whelp, hag-born — not honour'd with a human shape": 



'Thinketh, such shows no right or wrong in Him, 

 Nor kind, nor cruel: He is strong and Lord. 

 'Am strong myself compared to yonder crabs 



