CHAPTER X 



THE PURPOSE OF LIFE 



IN the preceding chapters of this book we have dealt 

 with some of the most tremendous problems that are 

 now exercising the powers of contemporary thought. 

 We have desired, not to attempt to solve these problems, 

 but to draw attention to their existence, and, while in- 

 dicating the many and varied aspects from which they 

 may be considered, to show that one principle that of 

 heredity is to be found affecting them all. 



It would be presumptuous to suggest that any person 

 or any group of persons could hope, at this present 

 time, to find a solution to questions that involve the 

 most fundamental facts of existence. The evolution 

 of thought is as painful and as searching a process as 

 the evolution of race, and both of them will last till 

 the world's end. Constructive thought is seldom 

 exclusively the action of a single mind, but the result 

 of many minds, working in many directions, accumula- 

 ting, comparing and creating as best they may, until 

 some genius arises who is able to discard the unessential, 

 who can divine order beneath the chaos, penetrate to the 

 core of the mystery, and register on behalf of humanity 

 yet another well-marked step in advance. 



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