io6 Evolution of Life and Form. 



ing of the matter. As that life-wave descends into 

 denser and denser matter, it draws together more 

 and more separate forms, that become denser in 

 their nature, until at last, through kingdom after 

 kingdom, it comes down to the mineral forms, 

 where life is most restricted in its operations, where 

 consciousness is most limited in its scope. This is 

 the process of the involution of life in matter, the 

 descending arc. From this lowest point the life 

 ascends, revealing more and more of its powers, 

 and ordinary western "evolution" begins here, the 

 earlier process being ignored. 



How did that Divine life and consciousness, in the 

 first upward stage of evolution, evolve in the germinal 

 life the power to respond ? The life within the stone 

 has the capacity to respond, but in a very limited 

 fashion, partly owing to its germinal nature, partly 

 owing to the rigidity of its surrounding vehicle ; 

 therefore the brooding life of Vishnu, nourishing 

 this germ, at once stimulates it by impacts from with- 

 out and gradually modifies the rigidity so as to make 

 progress possible. L/ong, long remains the life im- 

 bedded in this rigid material, working from within 

 outwards, as all life works, playing upon and thus 

 softening the rigidity, and slowly giving the form 

 more plasticity in response ; we can sum up the 

 whole of the working of the life, as the receiving of 



