78 CREATIVE INVOLUTION 



nothing of the sense of oneness obtaining from mili- 

 tary discipline, is creative of a national over-soul 

 or consciousness. We have to regard the years of 

 its peace as constituting for a nation its period of 

 spiritual gestation. Men had long to dwell together 

 in Christian amity before they could know that it is 

 " Ourself, not ourselves, that makes for righteous- 

 ness." Because the time is now ripe for the mani- 

 festation of these super-personal entities which we 

 call nations is proof conclusive that the mission of the 

 Galilean is accomplished. 



And in that day there will be war and rumours of 

 war, for it is only through a common peril that all 

 the citizens of a state may be brought to the joy of 

 unity. War offers as naught else the supreme mo- 

 ment for the transcending of self. Socialist and 

 suffragette witness to the fact that individual differ- 

 ences are quickly forgotten in the identity of its 

 purpose. Is war then the consequent of religion? 

 Yes, if our vision be limited to the historical 

 range; but given the whole life-spiral we see that 

 differentiation and integration function together for 

 the upward movement, and the struggle for existence 

 characterises the one, as altruism the other. But if 

 war is the consequent of religion, religion is the con- 

 sequent of war such is their serial order in our 

 experiencing. We have to remember that these su- 

 perhuman entities we call nations must submit in 

 their turn to a competition for survival of the fit- 



