UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



different from what he had hoped or vaguely 

 planned. He does not know what thought or inci- 

 dent or character he is looking for till he has found 

 it, till he has risen above his mental horizon. So far 

 as he is inspired, so far as he is spontaneous, just so 

 far is the world with which he deals plastic and fluid 

 and indeterminate and ready to take any form his 

 medium of expression — words, colors, tones — 

 affords him. He may surprise himself, excel himself; 

 he has surrendered himself to a power beyond the 

 control of his will or knowledge. 



We must remember that man is a part of the 

 universe — a part of the stream of life that flows 

 through organic nature, and not something sepa- 

 rated from it. But he alone among living beings has 

 come to self -consciousness and is capable of the cre- 

 ative act. Is it not, therefore, entirely reasonable 

 that the method of nature should be reflected in his 

 mind — that he should be a god, too, though a 

 puny one? So far as he knows his own powers, so 

 far as he knows those of the Infinite, so far as he is 

 a creator, his method mirrors that of his Creator. 



The vital impulse is finite, it cannot overcome all 

 obstacles. The movement it starts is sometimes 

 turned aside, sometimes divided, always opposed, 

 and the evolution of the organized world is the un- 

 rolling of this conflict. Contingency enters into the 

 course of evolution at every point. " Contingent the 

 arrests and set-backs; contingent, in large measure, 



208 



