THE RELIGION OF NATUEE 



I also showed that other animals than man can- 

 not possess our consciousness of suffering and un- 

 happiness because they can only possess such gifts 

 as have been useful to their ancestors. Man pos- 

 sesses it because it has been useful in the moral 

 evolution of his ancestors ; but to the ancestors 

 of other animals it would have been injurious 

 rather than useful. Therefore they cannot pos- 

 sess it. 



Thus I have shown that in the whole range of 

 life from the lowest vegetable up to the highest 

 animal there is no point, until we come to man him- 

 self, at which we can pause and say, " Here con- 

 sciousness begins " ; and without consciousness 

 there can be no personal valuation of happiness or 

 unhappiness. 



The animal instinctively resists and resents that 

 which is bad for it, while it seeks and enjoys what 

 it good for it. But, beyond the fact that each ex- 

 perience is retained by the memory and used by 

 the brain for future guidance, the sensations end 

 where they began, because there is no conscious 

 personality to weigh up the good and the bad as 

 so much happiness and unhappiness. 







Snj9*1^ 



There is one point which I have not dealt with. 

 Objectors may say that there is no evidence to 

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