76 THE SUM IMPRESSION 



For it indicates that the Organising Activity which 

 keeps the individuals together is not keeping them 

 together on a uniform dead level like the ocean, but 

 is propelling them upward like the mountain. The 

 significance of this fact has not hitherto been 

 adequately noted. We are for ever speaking of 

 equality when there is no equality. We have never 

 noted with sufficient attention that everywhere 

 there are grades and degrees. But it is a fact which 

 a contemplation of the forest indelibly impresses on 

 us. And it is a most welcome and inspiring fact, 

 for it gives us a vision of higher things and promotes 

 a zealous emulation among us. 



And the Organising Activity is not only upward- 

 reaching, but forward-looking. It looks to the 

 future. We have remarked how the individuals 

 strive and compete with one another in order to get 

 food and air and light with which to nourish and 

 maintain themselves. But self-maintenance is not 

 their only object. They seek to propagate them- 

 selves — to perpetuate their kind. They even make 

 provision for their offspring. They go further still 

 and sacrifice themselves that their offspring may 

 flourish. 



Here again selfishness is not the last word. 

 Even plants will make provision for their offspring, 

 and in the last resort will sacrifice themselves that 

 their offspring may survive. A plant will fight 

 with its neighbours for the means wherewith to 

 build itself up. But it will also provide for more 

 than mere maintenance. It will build up organs 

 for the purpose of propagating itself. Even ferns 



