rO HOPE FOR HI 



05 



slons of our reason, and cannot be conformed to 

 them within the brief space of a life-time. 



Thus, from whatever side we regard the Hfe of the 

 individual, adaptation is impossible : whether we 

 consider its physical, social, or psychological con- 

 ditions, there is war and constant struggle, over- 

 shadowed by the certainty of ultimate defeat. It 

 Is 111 dicing with the gods, who load the dice with 

 death : the pursuit of happiness Is an unequal fight 

 with fate, for us, ''the helpless pieces of a cruel 

 game," whose life seems little but a series of forced 

 moves resulting In an Inevitable checkmate. 



§ 8. And If we consider the prospects of the race, 

 they appear equally hopeless. 



Physically complete adaptation is impossible. We 

 know that our solar system cannot go on for ever, 

 and that the ultimate fate of humanity. Imprisoned 

 in a decaying planet, must be to shiver and to starve 

 to death in ever-deepening gloom. 



§ 9. Again, the possibility of social harmony 

 depends on the possibility of so reconciling the 

 claims of the Individual with the requirements of 

 society, that men would be perfectly free to do 

 what they pleased, and be pleased to do what they 

 ouorht. But how shall we cherish such an illusion in 

 face of the evidence of the infinity of the individual, 

 of the boundless growth of selfish demands, of the 

 insatiable cravings of ambition, avarice, and vanity ? 

 Until it has been shown how human society could 

 rid itself of poverty, discontent and crime, could regu- 

 late the number and the reproduction of the race, 

 could eradicate love and hunger, and the competit- 

 ion between Individuals for the prizes of those 

 passions, and so the envy, hatred and malice which 

 that competition must engender, such hopes of social 



