CONCLUSION 279 



ligence also, so that adaptation and consciousness 

 are only low and high forms of the same thing. 



Conclusion. We have seen that mind is quite dis- 

 tinct from matter, and that one could not have pro- 

 duced the other. We see that on the earth mind has 

 organised and built up protoplasm, and we cannot 

 avoid the conclusion that the universe has also been 

 organised by mind, which does not reside in matter, 

 because the laws imposed upon it are unalterable. 



Also it appears highly probable that the material 

 universe is not eternal, but will in time come to an 

 end. The earth, and consequently the sun, is pro- 

 bably not much more than one hundred millions of 

 years old ; and, as the sun is one of the oldest of the 

 stars, it is probable that the origin of the universe 

 does not date back for two hundred millions of years. 

 What went before and what will come after we can 

 never know ; but we may believe with some confi- 

 dence that there is no natural process of rejuvene- 

 scence ; no possibility of the present universe coming 

 back again to its original starting point. 



Now, for anyone who believes that mind has been 

 the organiser of energy, there can be only two com- 

 peting theories of the universe Pantheism, now 

 usually called Monism ; and Theism, now often called 

 Dualism. But either there is some process of re- 

 juvenescence which has not yet been discovered, or 

 Pantheism is impossible. As reasonable men and 

 women we must follow the best available evidence ; 

 and I do not see how it is possible for anyone to 

 believe in Pantheism or Monism, so long as the 

 origin of life remains unexplained. Consequently, 



