The Life of the Bee 



of this great aim ; what the mission of 

 this existence eternally renewed ? 



And yet may it not be that these ques- 

 tions are idle, and we who are putting them 

 to you mere childish dreamers, hedged 

 round with error and doubt? And, in- 

 deed, had successive evolutions installed 

 you all-powerful and supremely happy ; 

 had you gained the last heights, whence 

 at length you ruled over nature's laws ; 

 nay, were you immortal goddesses, we 

 still should be asking you what your 

 desires might be, your ideas of prog- 

 ress ; still wondering where you imag- 

 ined that at last you would rest and 

 declare your wishes fulfilled. We are 

 so made that nothing contents us ; that 

 we can regard no single thing as having 

 its aim self-contained, as simply existing, 

 with no thought beyond existence. Has 

 there been, to this day, one god out of all 

 the multitude man has conceived, from 



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