6 THE WAY LIFE BEGINS 



with animals. Knowledge has made clear the struggle and 

 the not infrequent tragedy of their lives and has given an 

 insight into the fact that, to them as to us, even though per- 

 haps unconsciously, life is dear, and is purchased only at 

 much cost. For mankind, the bringing forth and rearing of 

 young means sacrifice; but for animals it means that all else 

 is subordinated to this end. This knowledge has brought 

 sympathy, and has forced us to see that animals have a life 

 purpose of their own; and that if they are of no use to us, 

 they are of use to themselves, and are not wantonly to be 

 destroyed. 



Many people, strangely enough, cannot see the so-called 

 moral and spiritual meaning in the lives of plants and animals. 

 Their attention is drawn so fully to the minor habits and 

 differences that set animals off from human conventions, that 

 the real character of their lives is not seen. On the other 

 hand, it is often not apparent to those who believe in the 

 essential superiority of man that when he acts in masses his 

 conduct is apt to be mechanical, unreasoning, and often 

 unworthy of his higher endowments. 



The Redemption of the Sex Idea 



When we attempt to understand, even in a limited way, the 

 part that sex plays in our life, its potentialities for good and 

 the share that it has had in the history of life on earth, we 

 are not apt to turn in disgust from its normal expression. 

 Instead of seeing in its evil manifestations a proof of its innate 

 degradation, we are led to acknowledge that these are but 

 perversions of something originally good. 



There is, however, one aspect of sex which, for human 

 beings, brings an unending train of misfortune. This is man's 

 capacity to exaggerate and pervert the instinct of reproduc- 

 tion. If we charge nature with the evil consequences of this 

 impulse, we have not understood how difficult it has been 

 to make certain of animal reproduction without offering a 

 strong motive; or, in the case of human beings with memory, 

 to get them to undergo the danger and to make the sacrifice 

 associated with procreation. Even to this day the desire for 



