EVOLUTION THE MASTER-KEY 



But the desire to convince other people though 

 only too often a mere expression of egoism is 

 perfectly compatible with the philosophic temper 

 the desire to have your beliefs true, even at the 

 cost of every belief you hold. 



This is no lightly won possession. The road 

 thereto is a hard one, nor is there any inviolable 

 lock under which to guard it when gained. Con- 

 stant searching of heart is necessary lest he who 

 thinks this temper his may find it fled. 



For all of us, without exception, are men pledged 

 and forsworn. We stand committed to beliefs of 

 many kinds a belief in gravitation or transub- 

 stantiation or free trade or natural selection or the 

 existence of a personal Deity. And our interest in 

 the upholding of such beliefs may be of many kinds. 

 Our peace of mind, all that makes life worth living, 

 may be at stake. Thus the late Professor W. K. 

 Clifford, whom to know even through his writings 

 alone is to revere and love, has told us of his agony 

 when, losing his theistic faith, he realized that the 

 "Great Companion was dead." Or, on a lower 

 plane, we may recognize the common failure of 

 the man who has changed sides, whether in re- 

 ligion or anything else, to display the philosophic 

 temper. We are all familiar with the bitterness 

 of the "turncoat" against those who think as he 

 once thought; and we deplore it, even though we 

 may be of the turncoat's new party. It is almost 

 asking more of humanity than it can give to ex- 

 pect the man who has changed sides perhaps at 

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