V 



THE RELIGION OF NATURE 



to be humane, to be Godlike are the three stages 

 of our evolution as conscious beings ; and discov- 

 eries of truth are only an index of our progress. 



Besides, even if it were true that belief in tl it- 

 fact that animals suffer unconsciously would tend 

 to make the thoughtless more cruel in their actions, 

 this would be a far less evil than that those who 

 think should find their knowledge of nature a 

 stumbling-block to religion. The thoughtless can 

 be made to think by proper teaching, but the 

 thinker can be aided only by the light of truth; 

 and to refrain from telling him the truth for fear 

 of being misinterpreted by the others would be 

 one more instance of the fatal error of putting out 

 the light to save the moth. The light of truth 

 must shine in the end, and the attempt to hide it, 

 from fear of present trouble, would be cowardly 

 and cruel to the best of the rising generation. 



But the suggestion that belief in the fact that 

 man alone is self-conscious will tend to encourage 

 cruelty arises from a misapprehension of the na- 

 ture of cruelty. 



Cruelty is that animal quality lingering in man 

 the joy of a hunting animal in possession of a 

 victim which civilization is stamping out, replac- 

 ing it by a worldwide sympathy with everything 

 that breathes. 



To understand the lives of other animals even 

 [168] 



