THE HIGHER SOCIAL LEVELS 159 



again the relative importance of each part is 

 only slightly different from that of another and 

 the whole is so closely bound by nervous system 

 and by blood stream that anything that affects 

 one part soon affects all, the organization of the 

 individual may be compared with that in the 

 highly organized bird flocks, or in colonies of 

 ants, or in the best human societies in which the 

 reactions seem to be group-controlled rather than 

 controlled by any one individual. 



Social organizations in which laws, not individ- 

 uals, rule are the highest social development. In 

 human societies, we say there is a respect for law 

 and order. In bee or ant societies, we say they 

 are controlled by "the spirit of the hive." Such 

 social organizations have grown a long way from 

 that existing in ecological communities where the 

 struggle between different members is much more 

 easily found than is evidence of their underlying 

 co-operation. The highest organizations even 

 tend to dispense with leadership; the individuals 

 composing the group become entirely group- 

 centered rather individually minded. There is 

 neither individual authority nor obedience, for 

 neither is needed in the face of complete co-opera- 

 tion for the common good. 



