MIND IN EVOLUTION 



is its psychological accompaniment, is perhaps the crucial 

 question in the whole wide range of evolutionary advance- 

 ment. Consider what it means. It means nothing less 

 than the dawn of that freedom of choice which we cherish 

 above all things. It is the very turning point in the evolu- 

 tionary history of events. In that history it is of all events 

 the greatest in promise. In human life it marks us as what 

 we verily are — makers of a new, and, as we hope, a better 

 world. For human guidance is always toward something 

 more or less clearly envisaged as not yet in being, but still 

 to be brought into being through striving and endeavour. It 

 comes with that higher enjoyment we call joy; it comes with 

 reflective reference. But it comes with that touch of genuine 

 newness which characterizes every step in evolutionary 

 advance. 



In social and personal progress guidance becomes more 

 and more and more the expression of human purpose. It is 

 guidance in the light of deliberate and thoughtful reference, 

 with widening range of outlook. It is guidance toward 

 personal joy in right conduct. More than that; it is guidance 

 toward the sympathetic rejoicing in the joy of others which 

 characterizes love and good will. Above all it is guidance 

 in so acting as to promote evolution and to combat dissolu- 

 tion. For regress there is. Our aim should be to fight it 

 in all its forms. Here we have mind at its highest and best 

 in social life. 



In close connection with^ the discussion of evolution a 

 question arises which many of us deem gravely important: 

 What is the bearing of evolution on the religious convictions 

 of the majority of people? Here evolution is generally taken 

 in the unrestricted sense we have accepted. And here we 

 find a noteworthy change of attitude. Three or four decades 

 ago it was widely held that belief in evolution is incompati- 



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