THE NATURE OF EVIL. 363 



relapse into antagonism or Evil, nor will such relapses 

 cease to be possible until a complete harmony of 

 all existences has been attained. 



Now do not the facts accurately correspond to this 

 scheme ? The history of the world begins with 

 beings to whom we can hardly attribute any con- 

 sciousness or spiritual character. This obliteration 

 of consciousness Is dependent on Matter, which has 

 been recognized in the last chapter (Ix. §§ 27, 28) as 

 a mechanism for depressing consciousness. Out of 

 these lowest and hardly conscious beings there are 

 gradually evolved, in periods which to us appear 

 almost " infinite," higher beings with a higher con- 

 sciousness and higher powers. And on the whole 

 they display progressively higher phases of associ- 

 ation and social harmony. The abuse of their higher 

 powers for evil purposes, on the other hand, though 

 possible, is confined to very narrow limits. For the 

 physical and social laws of life form an effectual 

 system of checks upon the selfish lawlessness of in- 

 dividuals, and prevent evil-doing beyond a certain 

 point. However evil the Intentions of a refractory 

 spirit may be, his actions must involve some degree 

 of submission to the cosmic order. And not only is 

 he forced to recognize this order, but in proportion as 

 he fails to mould himself in accordance with it, he 

 tends to lose his power of disturbing it, by reverting 

 to a lower and less dangerous type. 



To say that an evil-doer makes a beast of himself 

 is true In more senses than one ; for by his indul- 

 gence in his evil passions he tends to lose the 

 higher consciousness which raises men above the 

 beasts. His vices destroy his moral and intellectual 

 perceptions even more surely than they do his body. 

 For the lowest depth alike of ignorance and of 



