88 GRAND STRATEGY OF EVOLUTION 



for the other; nor any fickle fluctuations in the basic 

 qualities of heat, light, and electricity, of hydrogen, 

 oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, her chief agents 

 and constituent which for untold ages have passed in 

 and out the gates of life and death, unchallenged and 

 unchanged. 



IV. Life's Directive Discipline 



The immutable barriers that confine life's fluttering 

 excursions express but the stability of its habitat. Be- 

 cause the inexorable whole faithfully preserves the ex- 

 act terms of its franchise, it is possible for life to endure 

 within its narrow habitat. As this habitat is narrow, 

 and flanked with death, it disciplines and directs the 

 life it shelters. Since life is hedged about with re- 

 strictions and unfailing discipline, every living thing 

 is forced to retreat from the road that leads to destruc- 

 tion, and again begin the search for a better way to 

 live. It is compelled to give and to receive that service 

 which creates and preserves, or be exterminated. 



V. Life's Freedom 



But within the boundaries of its cosmic sanctuary, 

 and beyond its primal obligations, life is free to act, 

 free to grow, free to appropriate what and where it 

 may to its own salvation and aggrandizement. And 

 within this common sanctuary are many smaller sanc- 

 tuaries, wherein every living thing and every living 

 part finds its measure of seclusion, of freedom, and 

 opportunity for self-expression. Freedom to vary in. 

 form and motion in response to its changing structure 



