MENTALITY AND SPIRITUALITY 197 
trumpet-vine to wait for a fire to come and burn 
the bark from the stump, in order to make it a 
convenient climbing place? Was it blind instinct 
that showed the plant that the distant stump with 
its bark on was not a secure foundation for its 
offspring? And was it blind instinct that, when 
once the stump was cleared, said to the plant, “Go! 
Now is the right time!’ In human beings we 
should call that reason! 
Numerous experiments have proved that seeds 
planted on damp sponges, which are suspended in 
the air, will, according to habit, send their roots 
downward. But they do not find nourishment in the 
dry air, and they immediately turn back to the 
damp sponge. That shows clearly their instinct of 
self-preservation. Whether the plant knew that 
there was no water below, either by seeing, or smell- 
ing, or the psychic sense, does not matter; the in- 
stinct of self-preservation warned it—that was 
“passive” mentality. But “active” mentality heeded 
the warning, guided the return, instigated the 
forces that produced the backward journey—just 
as the mind of man commands the motion of his 
arms, through the action of the muscle-forces. 
There were several distinct mental actions here: a 
realisation of lack of nourishment in the air, a con- 
scious desire to return to the moist sponge above, 
