THE STRUGGLE FOR THE LIFE OF OTHERS 331 



But by far the most vital point remains. For 

 we have next to observe how this bears directly 

 on the theme we set out to explore — the Evolu- 

 tion of Love. The passage from mere Other-ism, 

 in the physiological sense, to Altruism, in the 

 moral sense, occurs in connection with the due 

 performance of her natural task by her to whom 

 the Struggle for the Life of Others is assigned. 

 That task, translated into one great word, is Mater- 

 nity — which is nothing but the Struggle for the 

 Life of Others transfigured, transferred to the moral 

 sphere. Focused in a single human being, this 

 function, as we rise in history, slowly begins to 

 be accompanied by those heaven-born psychical 

 states which transform the femaleness of the older 

 order into the Motherhood of the new. When 

 one follows Maternity out of the depths of lower 

 Nature, and beholds it ripening in quality as it 

 reaches the human sphere, its character, and the 

 character of the processes by which it is evolved, 

 appear in their full divinity. For of what is Mater- 

 nity the mother ? Of children ? No ; for these are 

 the mere vehicle of its spiritual manifestation. Of 

 affection between female and male ? No ; for that, 

 contrary to accepted beliefs, has little to do in the 

 first instance with sex-relations. Of what then ? Of 

 Love itself, of Love as Love^ of Love as Life, of 



