262 THE CONTEOL OF LIFE 



home life — one of man's surest gains in well-being, we 

 see that we must add to our definition,— progress is a 

 balanced or harmonious movement towards a fuller embodi- 

 ment of the highest values. We are tired of cackle 

 about progress when it is cheek by jowl with the misery 

 of multitudes. A social body cannot be making progress 

 as a whole if it has a long tail — of those who do not 

 have their chance. Equalitarianism is biologically a 

 fantastic fallacy, but we must work towards a reason- 

 able equality of opportunity to allow those who believe 

 that they are more than equals of their superiors to 

 prove their claim. We see, then, that the idea of "pro- 

 gress is in process of evolution^ for we have added to it 

 the idea of social integration. A social body cannot be 

 making more than particulate progress, if it contains a 

 large proportion of members who do not get a fair chancC' 



The Higher Values. — Man's ideals are the reaching 

 forward of his desires when he is at his best, and pro- 

 gress is an integrated movement towards their fuller 

 embodiment. So in our definition of progress we must 

 give first place to those values that we are surest about 

 — the truth and the seeking of it, the beautiful and the 

 making of it, the good and the doing of it. These values 

 we call absolute, because they are desirable as ends in 

 themselves, because we cannot have too much of them> 

 because they never bring satiety, because they are their 

 own reward, and because as civilisation deepens they 

 have an increasing survival value. 



Idealist and Realist. — ^Here we meet a familiar dif- 

 ficulty. We are surest about the true, the beautiful, 



