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It may be that these things are all vain, and that our own 

 spiral of light, no less than that of the bees, has been kindled 

 for no other purpose than that of amusing the darkness. So, 

 too, is it possible that some stupendous incident may suddenly 

 surge from without, from another world, from a new pheno- 

 menon, and either inform this effort with definitive meaning or 

 definitively destroy it. But we must proceed on our way as 

 though nothing abnormal could ever befall us. Did we know 

 that to-morrow some revelation — a message, for instance, from 

 a more ancient, more luminous planet than ours — were to root 

 up our nature, to suppress the laws, the passions, and radical 

 truths of our being, our wisest plan still would be to devote the 

 whole of to-day to the study of these passions, these laws, and 

 these truths, which must blend and accord in our mind ; and to 

 remain faithful to the destiny imposed on us, which is to subdue 

 and to some extent raise within and around us the obscure 

 forces of life. None of these, perhaps, will survive the new reve- 

 lation ; but the soul of those who shall up to the end have ful- 

 filled the mission that is pre-eminently the mission of man must 

 inevitably be in the front rank of all to welcome this revelation ; 

 and should they learn therefrom that indifference, or resignation 

 to the unknown, is the veritable duty, they will be better 

 equipped than the others for the comprehension of this final 

 resignation and indifference, better able to turn these to account. 



