178 ETHICAL ASPECTS OF EVOLUTION 



to perversity is shunned by his neighbours. No other 

 temper is more incompatible with obedience. 



If we turn from the natural foes to the natural allies of 

 obedience, the first that will occur to us is humility, the 

 antithesis to pride. As pride is one of the forms of self- 

 assertion, so humility is another word for self-forgetfulness. 

 A humble-minded man may have rank and power and wealth, 

 and all the incidents which commonly contribute to the 

 support of pride, but, as he forgets himself, he will at the 

 same time forget them. It is true that he will not forget 

 his own faults and shortcomings, but they justify his self- 

 effacement, and will be remembered on that account only. 

 They are in harmony with his general temper, and the 

 recollection of them gives him that kind of satisfaction 

 which is derived from the occupation of the mind by con 

 gruent impulses. Of all the elements of character, humility 

 is one of the most essentially social in its aims, and it is 

 clearly one of the principal aids to obedience. No man is 

 less likely to set up his own will against the commands of 

 another than he who is humble and self-forgetful. 



Another quality which is so intimately connected with 

 obedience as sometimes to be mistaken for it is imitation. 

 In imitative people the mere suggestion of an idea is fol 

 lowed by the appropriate action. No one is free from the 

 tendency to react from mere ideas, independently of any 

 peripheral stimulus, but it is much stronger in some animals 

 and in some races of man than in others. It is an eminently 

 social quality, and at the same time a powerful auxiliary 

 to obedience. The will of a man who reacts easily to the 

 idea of any object which may be excited in his mind will 

 always run in the same direction as the will of the man 

 who, by his command, not only claims his obedience, but 

 simultaneously excites in his mind the idea of the object 

 which he himself is aiming at. 



The most powerful of all the allies to obedience is the 

 annihilation of all personal aims, which is sometimes known 

 as detachment. Some degree of detachment is demanded 

 for every act of obedience, in the temporary sacrifice of the 



