who may show signs of being dissatisfied. What indeed would happen if 

 every person were to decide for himself when he would work or how much 

 he would do! If each member of the community attempted to mind his 

 own affairs, and disregarded the common welfare, of course we should all 

 suffer. 



This analogy between society and an organism, incomplete as it is, helps 

 us to appreciate one of the most interesting problems in the field of bio- 

 logical study and thought. How does each organ fit its activity in with the 

 activities of all other organs ? How does the activity of the whole organism, 

 made up of the activities of the several parts, balance, moment by moment, 

 the demands of the outside world? The eye or the ear catches a hint of 

 something stirring. Is it possible prey? Is it a possible enemy? Is it some- 

 thing to move toward, or something to hide from or to flee from ? Of course 

 the animal does not go through this kind of speculation. Indeed, there is 

 no time for that. The muscles and the nerves and the blood-stream do co- 

 operate immediately with the senses and the underlying drive to get or to 

 escape, as the situation may require. Otherwise one would not succeed in 

 capturing his prey or escape his enemy most of the time. 



Helpful as is the comparison between the individual organism and 

 society, we must not take our fables too literally. For one thing, no society 

 is ever as perfectly organized as any living plant or animal. For another 

 thing, the individuals who make up our societies, in contrast to the units of 

 an organism, are persons — human beings like yourself, each having his own 

 dreams and hopes and purposes and initiative. 



In human society, as indeed in the best adapted of organisms, there is 

 likely to be almost always a degree of maladjustment among the parts. 

 There is dissatisfaction, there is strife, and, sometimes, there is civil war. 

 Co-operation is of course necessary if most persons are to get the most out 

 of life. But it does not follow that each of us is to take what comes without 

 complaint or protest. There are abuses. Some individuals do carry more 

 than their share of the burden. Some individuals do gather in more than 

 their share of benefits. Even in a living body, a heart may be overworked, 

 or a brain may be undernourished. Sometimes surplus fat accumulates 

 where it does no good. 



From its very nature, life is a process of change, of constant r<f-adjustment. 

 But from its very nature, too, the several processes of living are related to 

 a central unity. It is in this wholeness, or unity, of the many different 

 processes that life is distinctive. Does life make the parts work together? 

 Or does the working together of the parts bring about life? 



250 



