THE LIVING WAVE 



cannot reach — some force or principle that com- 

 bines and organizes these elements into the living 

 body. 



If a man could be reduced instantly into his con- 

 stituent elements we should see a pail or two of tur- 

 bid fluid that would flow down the bank and soon 

 be lost in the soil. That which gives us our form and 

 stability and prevents us from slowly spilling down 

 the slope at all times is the mysterious vital prin- 

 ciple or force which knits and marries these un- 

 stable elements together and raises up a mobile but 

 more or less stable form out of the world of fluids. 

 Venus rising from the sea is a symbol of the genesis 

 of every living thing. 



Inorganic matter seeks only rest. "Let me 

 alone," it says; "do not break my slumbers." But 

 as soon as life awakens in it, it says : " Give me room, 

 get out of my way. Ceaseless activity, ceaseless 

 change, a thousand new forms are what I crave." 

 As soon as life enters matter, matter meets with a 

 change of heart. It is lifted to another plane, the 

 supermechanical plane; it behaves in a new way; 

 its movements from being calculable become in- 

 calculable. A straight line has direction, that is 

 mechanics; what direction has the circle? That is 

 life, a change of direction every instant. An aero- 

 plane is built entirely on mechanical principles, but 

 something not so built has to sit in it and guide it; 

 in fact, had to build it and adjust it to its end. 



39 



