90 EVOLUTION AND ETHICS. n 



heavy tax is levied upon all forms of success, and 

 that failure is one of the commonest disguises as- 

 sumed by blessings. 



Note 4 (p. 60). 



" There is within the body of every man a soul 

 which, at the death of the body, flies away from it 

 like a bird out of a cage, and enters upon a new 

 life . . . either in one of the heavens or one of the 

 hells or on this earth. The only exception is the 

 rare case of a man having in this life acquired a 

 true knowledge of God. According to the pre- 

 Buddhistic theory, the soul of such a man goes along 

 the path of the Gods to God, and, being united with 

 Him, enters upon an immortal life in which his in- 

 dividuality is not extinguished. In the latter theory 

 his soul is directly absorbed into the Great Soul, is 

 lost in it, and has no longer any independent exist- 

 ence. The souls of all other men enter, after the 

 death of the body, upon a new existence in one or 

 other of the many different modes of being. If in 

 heaven or hell, the soul itself becomes a god or 

 demon without entering a body ; all superhuman be- 

 ings, save the great gods, being looked upon as not 

 eternal, but merely temporary creatures. If the soul 

 returns to earth it may or may not enter a new body ; 

 and this either of a human being, an animal, a 

 plant, or even a material object. For all these are 

 possessed of souls, and there is no essential differ- 

 ence between these souls and the souls of men — all 

 being alike mere sparks of the Great Spirit, who is 



