THE IDEAL OF PERFECT ACTIVITY. 443 



of Heaven, not of non-existence but of harmonious 

 existence, of individuals who are not annihilated 

 but united. And if the one ideal has the support 

 of common prejudice, of the more or less avowed 

 consequences of the majority of philosophic systems, 

 and of the dreamy despair of the East, the other 

 may appeal to the religious tradition of Heaven, 

 and confidently rely on all the healthier Instincts, 

 on whatever hope and strength remains in man. 



And it is not without support even In past philo- 

 sophy ; indeed, its clearest description is found in 

 the writings of the greatest of thinkers. Aristotle, 

 in a passage all too brief for the correct guidance 

 of his successors, speaks of the divine activity as 

 being one and changeless and invariable, because 

 it Is an activity that Involves no motion.^ And It 

 is as such an hepyeia aKivijarla? that WO must conceive 

 the perfect activity of Being, i.e., as an activity 

 which has become so perfectly adjusted that no an- 

 omalies or variations exist in it which could produce 

 the consciousness of change, and serve to measure 

 Time. And if the activities of life are ever tending 

 towards more perfect adaptation and adjustment, 

 such must be the Ideal to which they point, and 

 to which they will approximate until the goal Is 

 reached, and Becoming is merged In the equable 

 and harmonious but changeless activity of Being. 



^ 7. And perhaps we may illustrate the case 

 of perfect activity by that of perfect motion. Per- 

 fect, i.e., unimpeded motion Is, according to Newton's 

 second law of motion, unchanging, undeviating, and 

 eternal motion In a straight line. But Is such motion 

 ever realized ? And what are the conditions of Its 

 realization ? It is never realized because the mutual 



1 'Ei/e/oyeia aKtviyo-i'tt? {Eth. Nic. VII. xiv. 9). 



