258 THE STRUGGLE FOR THE LIFE OF OTHERS. 



> — became accentuated as time went on. The one life 

 tended towards selfishness, the other towards unself- 

 ishness. While one kept Individualism alive, the 

 other kept Altruism alive. Blended in the children, 

 these two master-principles from this their starting- 

 point acted and re-acted all through history, seeking 

 that mean in which true life lies. Thus by a Division 

 of Labor appointed by the will of Nature, the condi- 

 tions for the Ascent of Man were laid. 



But by far the most vital point remains. For we 

 have next to observe how this bears directly on the 

 theme we set out to explore — the Evolution of Love. 

 The passage from mere Other-ism, in the physiological 

 sense, to Altruism in the moral sense, occurs in con- 

 nection with the due performance of her natural 

 task by her to whom the Struggle for the Life of 

 Others is assigned. That task, translated into one 

 great word, is Maternity — which is nothing but the 

 Struggle for the Life of Others transfigured, trans- 

 ferred to the moral sphere. Focused in a single 

 human being, this function, as we rise in history, 

 slowly begins to be accompanied by those heaven-born 

 psychical states which transform the femaleness of 

 the older order into the Motherhood of the new. 

 When one follows Maternity out of the depths of 

 lower Nature, and beholds it ripening in quality as it 

 reaches the human sphere, its character, and the char- 

 acter of the processes by which it is evolved, appear 

 in their full divinity. For of what is Maternity the 

 mother ? Of children ? No ; for these are the mere 

 vehicle of its spiritual manifestation. Of affection 

 between female and male ? No ; for that, contrary to 

 accepted beliefs, has little to do in the first instance 



