THE NATURALIST'S VIEW OF LIFE 



that it is utterly inadequate to supply the spiritual 

 and ideal background which is the strength and 

 solace of our human life. 



IV 



The lay mind can hardly appreciate the necessity 

 under which the man of science feels to account for 

 all the phenomena of life in terms of the natural 

 order. To the scientist the universe is complete in 

 itself. He can admit of no break or discontinuity 

 anywhere. Threads of relation, visible and invisi- 

 ble, — chemical, mechanical, electric, magnetic, 

 solar, lunar, stellar, geologic, biologic, — forming 

 an intricate web of subtle forces and influences, 

 bind all things, living and dead, into a cosmic unity. 

 Creation is one, and that one is symbolized by the 

 sphere which rests forever on itself, which is whole 

 at every point, which holds all forms, which recon- 

 ciles all contradictions, which has no beginning and 

 no ending, which has no upper and no under, and 

 all of whose lines are fluid and continuous. The 

 disruptions and antagonisms which we fancy we see 

 are only the result of our limited vision; nature is 

 not at war with itself; there is no room or need for 

 miracle ; there is no outside to the universe, because 

 there are no bounds to matter or spirit; all is inside; 

 deep beneath deep, height above height, and this 

 mystery and miracle that we call life must arise out 

 of the natural order in the course of time as inevi- 



265 



