COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



of society at any given period cannot be vio- 

 lently altered without entailing a partial disinte- 

 gration of society ; since any custom or observ- 

 ance can be safely discontinued only when the 

 community has grown to the perception of its 

 uselessness or absurdity ; and, above all, since 

 the integrity of society depends in an ultimate 

 analysis, not upon its institutions (which may be 

 as liberal in Mexico as in Massachusetts), but 

 upon the integrity of its individual members: it 

 follows that the evolutionist will look askance 

 at the panaceas of radical world-menders, refus- 

 ing to believe that the millennium can be coaxed 

 or cheated into existence until men have learned, 

 one and all, each for himself, to live rightly. 

 The only Utopian ideal which he can consistently 

 cherish is that of contributing his individual 

 share of effort to the improvement of mankind 

 by leading an upright life, and applying the 

 principles of common sense and of the highest 

 ethics within his ken to whatever political and 

 social questions may directly concern him as 

 member of a progressive community. 



When, therefore, we are asked how we shall 

 seek to incarnate in fact our ethical and social 

 ideal, the reply is, we must seek to realize this 

 ideal, in so far as our frail half-developed natures 

 will allow, by leading pure and upright lives, 

 repressing the selfish impulses which are our 

 legacy from the brute, obeying the dictates of 

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