THE ATLANTIC AND WESTERN MAN 297 



which somehow manipulated the inevitable laws of chance 

 to account for creative evolution; in our own day this scien- 

 tific nickname for the God of our fathers has been ''Anti- 

 Chance." Anti-Chance accounts for continuing evolutionary 

 phenomena in what might seem to be a universe automatically 

 doomed to a dispersal of living energies. For man, as far as 

 we know — unlike other animals — can will himself to live 

 or die for an idea; no other animal is consciously torn between 

 the two great instincts that drive individuals and their govern- 

 ments, the fight for absolute power opposed to the equally 

 strong instinct for co-operative effort. As we observe the inhab- 

 itants of the stream below water, we see that the fish swim in 

 vast schools for mutual protection but also that the shark and 

 the barracuda operate as very rugged individuals. Man, aware 

 of himself in relation to his natural environment, has exerted 

 choice and disciplined his instincts in a conscious idea or 

 ideal of social self-preservation, and has evolved from hard 

 experience the Christian precept of brotherhood, which in its 

 political phase has expressed itself most effectively in the 

 dogmas of democracy. For western man this is the mainspring 

 of our present life; and was historically the dominant charac- 

 teristic of the growth of our western civilization as it spread 

 to the Atlantic and the stimulating environment of the Ocean 

 River. { 



So today all facets of learning, from pure science to the 

 broad interpretations of history, are seeking a kind of unity 

 in nature and man, for in spite of all setbacks a natural and 

 mutually beneficial teamwork is clearly becoming not only 

 possible but obligatory if our western Christian civilization 

 is to go on prospering as a way for men to live together with 

 dignity, security, and more than a promise of the pursuit of 

 happiness. Science, so far from being antagonistic to our 

 instinctive beliefs, by bringing them into the light of day has 

 clarified the rhythms and laws by which we live, and made 

 an ultimate solution much more likely — provided man can 



