DC MIND AS AN ORGAN OF WHOLES 237 



These are the principal steps in the beginnings of Mind; 

 and whatever immemorial periods this evolution may have 

 taken, and whatever other intermediate phases it may have 

 passed through, in the result the basis of Mind was well 

 and truly laid in the rise of the power of attention, accom- 

 panied and stimulated by feelings of comfort or discomfort, 

 and by a certain awareness or consciousness of the object 

 to which attention was directed. As we saw in Chapter VI, 

 it is one of the special effects of Holism to transform 

 passivity into activity, and nowhere has that transforma- 

 tion had a more far-reaching character than in regard to 

 the origin of attention as an active response on the part 

 of organism from the passive state of tension which 

 had preceded it. In this transformation we see not only 

 the origin of mental activity but also a new departure 

 in the system of power, of freedom and of control 

 over its surroundings with which Mind is specially 

 associated. 



The actual steps in the evolution of Mind, in so far as 

 they can be traced from available evidence, need not be 

 discussed here in detail. No doubt we have to start with 

 sporadic and uncertain variations in mere organic structural 

 functioning; as these become regular and stereotyped they 

 assume the form, first of tropisms in plants and animals, 

 and then of reflexes in the activity of special organs or cells. 

 Then in the case of animals trains of reflexes are gradually 

 co-ordinated into regular modes of activity of the organism 

 as a whole, called instincts. Sensori-motor co-ordinations 

 are effected, by which the passive influences and effects 

 coming from the outside world are transformed into definite 

 modes of active response by the organism. This active 

 power of response enables the organism to strive more 

 effectively for the satisfaction of its needs, endows it with 

 a definite conative power, so to say. It begins to strive, 

 to seek, to experiment and explore. The original reaction 

 of inorganic, and then of organic, selectiveness has become 

 a real function and capacity of conation. The originally 

 vague and diffused feeling increases in volume and intensity 



