xii INTRODUCTION 



the result which is achieved, or to be achieved, appears 

 to be the same, and the ways and means of its achieve- 

 ment. 



The universal end, or purpose in life, and in nature, 

 is to construct, to create, or grow. The ways and means 

 of accomplishing that end are mutual service, or co- 

 operative action, and Tightness. 



The initial constituents of any growing thing, by 

 acting the more cooperatively, the better preserve them- 

 selves. These in turn cooperate to create and preserve 

 other constructive agents. But these creative and sav- 

 ing acts cannot take place unless the right things are 

 conveyed to the right place at the right time. When 

 these services are performed, the creative and saving 

 acts take place spontaneously, or automatically. 



Creative Tightness, therefore, is a definite function 

 of time, and place, and of some inherent attribute. 



Creative service is expressed in threefold terms 

 conveyance in time (preservation and conservation) ; 

 conveyance in space ( relative motion) ; and Tightness. 

 Its value is measured in terms of the things created; it 

 is manifest in their material structure, or architecture, 

 and in their creative acts, or functions. 



There is an abiding compulsion to the action of all 

 these factors which is cumulative, or progressive, pro- 

 ducing that increasing architectural organization that 

 we call nature-growth, or evolution. 



Two reciprocal processes are always manifest in 

 this cooperative nature-action: construction and de- 

 struction; organization and disorganization. We may 

 also call these universal processes of give and take, 

 good and evil, anabolism and catabolism, egoism and 

 altruism. But as this nature-metabolism, as a whole, is 



