300 MAN AND THE WORLD". 



of our knowledge of the nature of Matter affords 

 the material basis for a higher spiritual condition ; 

 ultimately material progress means spiritual pro- 

 gress. And thus it is true of social, as of metaphys- 

 ical, problems, that many which at present seem 

 insoluble are slowly ripening ta their solution. 

 Hence it is our business to take care that a due 

 balance of functions, a proper harmony is preserved 

 of the material, intellectual and moral' elements of 

 progress. For a one-sided development is in the end 

 fatal to all. Material progress alone, if it neglects 

 the spiritual elements of life, will in the end bring 

 about moral and' intellectual decay, and a condition 

 of society not only unfavourable to further material 

 progress, but incapable of maintaining the prosperity 

 it has acquired. Power over Matter which does 

 not rest on an assured basis of intelligence and 

 morality is certain to be lost in the ignorance and 

 violence of a society which does not make a proper 

 use of the knowledge it possesses. And the limits 

 of spiritual progress in the absence of a material 

 basis are equally obvious. When " plain living " 

 becomes a euphemism for starvation, "high think- 

 ing " is no longer possible, and fakirism is a carica- 

 ture of spirrtuality. 



And so in the case of the individual. Psychical 

 progress is evolved on a physical basis. The in- 

 tellectual and moral qualities are developed sub- 

 sequently to the physical-, and developed out of them. 

 And though this does not of course explain them 

 away — for the lower cannot explain away the higher 

 — it yet shows that the distinction of body and soul 

 must not be exaggerated into an irreconcilable dif- 

 ference. For just as Matter approximates to Spirit 

 in the course of Evolution, so the body approx- 



