THE HIGHER LIFE RICHER THOUGH UNIMAGINABLE. 1 65 



while what is above is shrouded in the mists of early 

 morning. 



§ 12. And not only are we hampered by our 

 avowed ignorance of the lower, but in view of the 

 slight deference which the scheme of things pays to 

 man and his desires, we must admit also that little 

 progress has been made in the attainment of the 

 higher. We are after all far nearer to the beast 

 than to the angel, far closer to hell than to heaven. 

 We can feel the throb of brutal instincts, we can 

 conceive the anguish of undying torment ; but the 

 calm of superhuman virtue leaves us cold, and 

 visions of eternal bliss seem empty and unmeaning. 



Yet this is in the nature of things inevitable. 

 The higher can in a way understand the lower, by 

 tracing in it the germs the higher has developed. 

 But the lower cannot in the same way anticipate the 

 higher. In the case of existences higher than our- 

 selves, we can ascribe to them the possession of 

 certain qualities sensu emi7ie7ttiori, or the perfection 

 of our highest activities. But how, if our activities 

 seem essentially imperfect, bound up with imperfect 

 conditions, relative to imperfect stages of develop- 

 ment ? In such cases perfection means destruction. 

 One human activity after another must be excluded 

 from the ideal life, and we can imagine nothing 

 which can take their place ; and owing to this pro- 

 gressive elimination of the lower activities, it is a 

 great achievement if we can retain any aspect of 

 human life as a permanent ideal, and in any case the 

 ideals of perfection become mere forms, the whole 

 content of which has been eviscerated. And so 

 the higher life seems dull and empty. We are able 

 to describe it only by negatives, by the negation of 

 the lower attributes unworthy of it. This is the 



