vi DEVELOPMENT AND HARMONY 363 



the lower organisms which are mutually indifferent struc- 

 tures are thus destroyed in immense numbers. In the 

 harmonious whole, on the other hand, the elements instead 

 of cancelling maintain one another, and if the whole con- 

 sists of organisms each capable of development the harmony 

 involves mutual furtherance of such development. At 

 the same time it must be observed that related organisms 

 may have each more than one possible line of development, 

 and that among them those which conflict will destroy one 

 another, while those that harmonise will survive. Thus 



(1) a harmonious whole has an advantage over others, and 



(2) a partial harmony tends to become a complete harmony. 

 In both ways harmony is a self-multiplying process, and 

 though a higher unity is always liable to destruction by 

 lower ones which it has not incorporated, yet over long 

 periods the permanent make-weight has its effect, and there 

 is a progress of development, which is complete only when 

 the whole field of reality is subdued to the needs of a single 

 organic whole. 



The whole process must, in accordance with the con- 

 clusions of the last chapter, be referred to a teleological 

 impulse working through mechanical conditions. Every- 

 thing that exists must be conceived as determined by, as 

 owing its existence and character to, the contribution that 

 it has to make directly or indirectly to the ultimate har- 

 mony of the whole. But in accordance with the same 

 conclusions each constituent part of reality, in so far as it is 

 separate from others, maintains itself, and if it is a living 

 being tends to grow and expand indifferently to other 

 things. In this effort it impinges on and conflicts with 

 other elements similarly impelled, and hence there is dis- 

 harmony and evil. As conflicting tendencies cancel out 

 and those which harmonise are extended, harmony grows. 

 The completion of the process involving modifications 

 proceeding through the entire complexity of things 

 occupies vast spaces of time, and throughout this time 

 disorder persists, though order advances. Thus every 

 element of reality is determined by the function which it 

 performs at some stage in the formation of the organic 

 whole, but until that whole is completely established may 



