CHAPTER VIII 



"DIRECTIVITY" A WITNESS OF MIND, IN EVIDENCE 

 THROUGHOUT THE LIVING WORLD 



As I regard Directivity as one of the most important 

 of the numerous Hnes of argument in proof of a conscious 

 Power behind Nature, I propose devoting a chapter to it, 

 in order to enable the reader to thoroughly grasp its 

 significance. 



Of course, we learn nothing as to the nature of that 

 Power. All we can attempt to prove is its existence, by 

 the accumulation of probabilities ; which then amount 

 to a moral conviction, which, however, is equivalent to a 

 demonstration. 



I would first emphasise the fact that " Life ''per se must 

 be distinguished from purely physical forces. Whether 

 it will ever be proved to fall into line with the correla- 

 tion of physical forces, it is impossible to say ; but its 

 phenomena at present lead one to suspect such will not 

 be the case. 



I will herein quote what the learned authors of the 

 Unseen Universe have to say upon the subject. 



Starting with " the principle that life proceeds from 

 life, or to speak more accurately, that a conditioned living 

 thing proceeds only from a conditioned living thing . . . 

 if we assume the truth of this principle, it appears to 

 lead us directly to infer that life is not merely a species 

 of energy, or a phenomenon of matter. . . . Life, how- 



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