22 GRAND STRATEGY OF EVOLUTION 



flict with the dictates of common sense, nor with the 

 vision of the modern prophets who foresee the coming 

 of a new man. 



It is, therefore, time to inquire more deeply into 

 the meaning of the processes common to the evolution 

 of living and non-living things. What, after all, con- 

 stitutes world progress and how is it accomplished? 

 In what directions are the great evolutionary streams 

 of plant life and animal life moving? What are the 

 ethics and morals of nature, if indeed she has any? 

 What has science to offer the trustees of tradition in 

 place of that which she has destroyed? What have 

 students of nature learned, however elemental, that 

 shall be to all mankind a fundamental truth and a 

 guiding principle to constructive action? Is man to 

 live and grow by using the same methods all other 

 things in nature use, or must he create out of his own 

 compelling needs new methods of living, new princi- 

 ples, new laws of conduct, that are solely applicable 

 to himself? 



To these questions science has given conflicting an- 

 swers, for nature has many different sides and science 

 sees them through many different eyes. 



II. The Varied Aspects of Nature as a Source of 

 Mental Confusion 



Nature, indeed, is so vast, so intricate, and in many 

 respects so inaccessible that science can see but a very 

 small part of her; and since no one science can long 

 preserve its images undimmed, nor adequately utilize 

 the vision of other sciences, man's mental picture of 

 nature is a mosaic patchwork of flickering images; a 



