Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



fool) the cat becomes a man — when the human 

 soul within the creature has climbed itself forward 

 and found expression, transforming the outer 

 frame in the process into that of humanity — 

 (which is the meaning I suppose of the evolution 

 theory) — then the creature, though perfect and 

 radiant in the form of Man, still lacks one thing. 

 It lacks the knowledge of itself ; it lacks its own 

 identity, and the realisation of the manhood to 

 which as a fact it has attained. 



In the animals consciousness has never returned 

 upon itself. It radiates easily outwards ; and 

 the creature obeys without let or hesitation, and 

 with little if any j(?^-consciousness, the law of its 

 being. And when man first appears on the earth, 

 and even up to the threshold of what we call 

 civilisation, there is much to show that he should 

 in this respect still be classed with the animals. 

 Though vastly superior to them in attainments, 

 phsyical and mental, in power over nature, capacity 

 of progress, and adaptability, he still in these earlier 

 stages was like an animal in the unconscious 

 instinctive nature of his action ; and on the other 

 hand, though his moral and intellectual structures 

 were far less complete than those of the modern 

 man — as was a necessary result of the absence of 

 self-knowledge — he actually lived more in harmony 

 with himself and with nature, ^ than does his 



' As to the unity of these wild races with Nature, that is a 

 matter seemingly beyond dispute ; their keenness of sense, sensitive- 

 ness to atmospheric changes, knowledge of properties of plants and 

 habits of animals, etc., have been the subject of frequent remark 5 



43 



