84 
C. L. Hernck 
But there is another side which is much more important for 
us practically. As expressed by Schopenhauer, the statement 
may be characterized as most misleading. Our individual lives 
are the concrete expressions of segments of the great dynamic 
unity of nature without which the manifestation of the energic 
idea we call species or genus would be but an empty abstraction ; 
the reality of nature is made up of just these infinitesimal units 
of which nature seems so prodigal. The individual is a part 
and a necessary part of the sublime progressive revelation of the 
universe. If only a link, we are a necessary link in a chain as 
long as eternity and as strong as omnipotence. However small 
our isolated value, that value is affected by infinity as a coeffi- 
cient. 
Still farther, it will be seen that, refiexly, our conscious life is 
capable of being influenced by as much of the idea revealed in 
nature as we are able to receive. With our growing capacity, 
our contact with the infinite increases beyond assignable limits. 
It is not too much, therefore, to say that the value of the human 
soul is infinite and that the measure to which we realize this 
contact is the measure of our sympathy. 
As Fisk says: 
The Darwinian theory, perfectly understood, replaces as much tele- 
ology as it destroys. From the first dawning of life we see all things 
working together toward one mighty goal, the evolution of the most 
exalted spiritual qualities which characterize humanity. 
