to give. Each thing would wholly spend itself in 

 egoism. The system of exchange would be nothing 

 more than a universal system of mutual robbery; a 

 mere passing of properties to and fro between thieves, 

 the agents, the process, and the products, either remain- 

 ing forever on the same level as at the beginning, or 

 sinking to a still lower level dissipating whatever 

 power there might be in futile action. 



There is no way to estimate, or to measure this 

 growth except in terms of service and Tightness; or in 

 terms of something constructed and preserved; some- 

 thing rightly given, and rightly received. 



5. Intelligence Not an Essential Factor in Altru- 

 ism. That this creative system is not based on in- 

 dividual consciousness, or on the purposeful acts of 

 intelligent beings, so far as that is true, merely emphas- 

 ized its significance. For any act, to be intelligent, 

 must be profitable in purpose. That purpose can be 

 realized only when it is, in effect, a cooperative, self- 

 constructive, or self-creative act. 



Man's existing social system is in no sense a product 

 of previous deliberation on his part, or the mere ful- 

 filment of his purposes, however intelligent they may 

 have been. In fact, man has always been unconscious 

 of what he was building, and doubtless always will be, 

 for the seed can never know its own fruit. As a pro- 

 fessed philanthropist, or as a would-be benefactor of 

 his fellow creatures, man is not an innovator, but an 

 unconscious imitator of a universal creative method, 

 using, under its compulsion, whatever intelligence he 

 may have as a special instrument to accelerate the 

 accomplishment of natures purposes. 



The three great agencies of social benevolence: 



