Evolution of Life. 115 



the physical world ; for the mental world is also a 

 world of phenomena. It is not the One ; its cha- 

 racteristic is diversity, each being standing by him- 

 self, and regarding other things as separate. I know 

 an object. How ? By its differences from some ob- 

 jects and its likenesses to others ; otherwise I could 

 not know it. You cannot think of unity until you 

 have seen variety; you cannot recognise likeness 

 until you have seen unlikeness. The characteristic 

 of intellectual evolution is the discrimination of 

 differences followed by the recognition of likenesses ; 

 thus the intellect recognises object after object, each 

 of them by its own characteristic marks. Analysis 

 precedes synthesis. Differences are seen before an 

 underlying unity is recognised. 



As this intelligence develops, we find the recog- 

 nition of the Self and the Not-Self giving rise to 

 struggle all over the world, social struggle as well as 

 mental struggle. In every civilisation in which the 

 intellect is developing from its earlier stages, you 

 must have struggle without in order to stimulate the 

 evolution within ; it is a necessary stage, although 

 it be a passing one, and it need not distress us, who 

 see its end, in a world guided by the Gods. All 

 the stages through which a nation passes are neces- 

 sary for its growth, and need not be condemned 

 merely because of their being limited and imperfect. 



