CHAPTER XL

THE QUESTION ANSWERED. The Completion of the Individual.
Natural Science lays down an intelligent principle of co-oper- ation as fundamental in evolution.
It does more than this. It demonstrates that every operation of Nature conserves a definite purpose. These purposes, on the one side general, and on the other individual, are demonstrated as intelligent purposes.
The processes by which these purposes are wrought out fur- nish science the key to this marvelous upward movement in Na- ture which we term Evolution.
Evolution represents a stupendous mathematical design. It discloses an intelligent mode of operation. It foreshadows a sub- lime ethical purpose.
Universal intelligence is employed in working out the mathe- matical designs of Nature. Individual intelligence is employed in working out its own ethical purposes, as well as in discharg- ing its spiritual and physical functions.
This primary purpose of Nature and this primary purpose of the individual govern the greatest known struggle in the uni- verse, viz., the struggle of intelligence in the midst of a seem- ingly hostile environment. This greatest struggle in Nature dis- plays itself:
(1) As the struggle of universal intelligence to evolve and complete an Individual Intelligence.
(2) As the independent struggle of the intelligent Individual to complete himself.
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Physical materialism sets forth, as the goal of evolution, a physically improved species by reason of the struggle for nutri- tion. Theological materialism sets forth as the purpose of In- finite Intelligence, an improved family, by reason of the physical sacrifices of the female in Nature.
Nature, however, refutes these assumptions. Without con- travening the most insignificant physical fact discovered by mod- ern science, the higher science is still able to declare:
(1) Evolution embraces a general purpose for the Comple- tion of an Individual.
(2) Individual life embraces the particular purpose of Self- Completion.
(3) The effort made by both universal and individual in- telligence, to accomplish these purposes, constitutes the universal Struggle for Self-Completion.
Thus are briefly presented the final deductions of a science which considers evolution as a correlated process upon two planes of existence. Here are the basic principles of a philosophy which considers man in his correlated lives in two worlds of in- telligent activity.
The evolution of man rests upon co-operations as between a universal principle of intelligence and a particular principle of in- dividual intelligence. Though universal intelligence is working along lines which appear as purely mathematical, and indi- vidual intelligence is working along lines which appear to be purely ethical, both, in fact, are working out the same result. Science demonstrates that universal nature, upon its inorganic side, is co-operating to individualize and improve intelligence. It demonstrates further, that individual intelligences are co- operating to serve the very purpose which universal intelligence has in View, viz., the individualizing, persistence and completion of an Intelligent Being.
From this it must appear that the higher science postulates, first, an evolution by general intelligence, and second, an indi- vidual intelligence as working out definite purposes which are
THE COMPLETION OF AN INDIVIDUAL. 2OI
both general and individual in character. This position diametri- cally opposes that of physical science which declares, first, an evolution by non-intelligent principles, and second, physical and mental improvement as the outcome of such blind forces.
Nature, carefully investigated from both planes of matter, life and intelligence, disproves these assumptions.
Physical science is not responsible for its errors. Neither a man nor a school of men is to be condemned for that which has not been discovered. Physical science, however, throughout its entire investigations, strangely overlooks, or underlooks, the most marvelous fact of Nature, viz., the omnipresence of intelligence. This oversight, or undersight, includes, of course, the individual- ized intelligence, as well as the general intelligence in Nature. Here we have the most singular error of physical science; this complete ignoring of the intelligent individual and this complete absorption in the physical functions of that same individual.
This obscuration of the intelligent individual in Nature takes from science its true motive. It leaves philosophy without proper foundation. It robs even religion of its highest inspira- tion.
In physical science the individual is lost sight of in the preser- vation of species. In materialistic philosophy the claims of the individual are swallowed up by the demands of society. Even religions hold up to the individual a life of self-suppression and resignation rather than one of fulfillment and happiness, as the highest life attainable in this physical world. The higher sci- ence, on the contrary, insists upon due consideration of that upon which Nature bestows all of her energies, viz., the individual. Nature accepts, and therefore true science and true philosophy accept the individual as the starting point. Indeed, for all nat- ural, scientific and philosophical purposes, the intelligent indi- vidual is the center of the universe. From this center true sci- ence and true philosophy must radiate.
Beginning thus, it is not only possible, but clearly within the province of every individual to become a true scientist and a true
202 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION.
philosopher. With such a beginning, the student of Nature is ever building outward from the true center. In an ever widening circle he will thereafter extend his investigations to family, to species, and to races.
The modern exponents of the higher science hold in reserve, however, the public consideration of family, species and races, until satisfied that they have explained somewhat of the func- tions, capacities and purposes of the individual intelligence. Hav- ing mastered this primary lesson, the student may proceed to larger subjects with some degree of confidence.
Resting upon this peculiar method, Natural Science declares that the intelligent individual is the first object in Nature, and has a life, a place, a purpose and a destiny distinctly his own. These are accounted as individual to himself, as are his face and form, his habits and tastes, his physical and spiritual powers, his intellectual ambitions and moral aspirations.
Nature demonstrates that the individual man comes to be what he is by reason of the struggle in which his own intelli- gence is forever engaged.
The discovery, analysis and demonstration of this greatest struggle in Nature, and the principle involved in that struggle, enable science to determine both the general purpose of universal intelligence and the particular purpose of individual intelligence. Such discovery, analysis and demonstration enable philosophy to declare:
(1) Universal intelligence is engaged in a general Struggle for Completion.
(2) The intelligent individual is engaged in the particular Struggle for Self-Completion.
(3) The intelligent soul achieves its purpose and fulfills its destiny, primarily, in that individual completion.
Thus, it appears that the general purpose of Nature and the particular purpose of the individual are the same purpose, being wrought out under different principles of intelligence. It fol- lows, therefore, that Nature is beneficent, rather than hostile, in
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its attitude toward organic intelligence. It appears, indeed, that Nature has expended unmeasured energies during countless ages to improve and complete this individual. It appears also that for uncounted ages individual intelligences have assisted Nature by their individual struggles for self-completion.
There are, it is true, apparent hostilities and conflicts between Nature and the individual. These, however, must be ascribed to the undeveloped perceptions and conceptions of individual intelli- gence. They must be set down merely as errors of individual judgment, concerning those things which the individual seeks as a benefit or a pleasure to himself. The triumph of modern sci- ence is exposition of the fact that human intelligence is slowly but surely utilizing hitherto "hostile forces" of Nature, and is converting them into material benefits to the individual and the world.
In principle, in execution and in purpose, universal Nature is both hospitable and intelligent. It moves toward its benefi- cent purposes in spite of the errors of individual intelligence. The individual, in spite of his ignorance, is indirectly guided and admonished and educated by the immutable principles which he finds he cannot alter.
Thus, guided, warned and instructed by the great silent Teacher of Laws, man gradually advances to an independent, rational and cheerful compliance with those laws.
How does science demonstrate that the purpose of evolution is the Completion of an Intelligent Individual, physically, spirit- ually and psychically? How does it demonstrate that Self-Com- pletion is the purpose of individual intelligence?
As already explained, the actual demonstration of the higher science cannot be conveyed through published statements. No chemist can demonstrate the properties, powers and processes of nitro-glycerine in an essay. It is admitted that no material tan- gible proof of the intelligent Struggle for Completion exists ex- cept the portentous fact of evolution itself. Nothing which phys- ical science would call "proof" is obtainable in the laboratory.
204 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION.
It is not discoverable under the dissecting knife. It is not re- vealed to the vivisectionist. It defies the microscope.
If, however, the reader ask how such purposes are discovered and demonstrated, he may receive at least an intellectual concep- tion of the science involved. If he seek corroborative evidences, these are easily obtainable. The evidences of the Struggle for Completion crowd upon each other in every field of human activ- ity and investigation. For such evidences the inquirer may turn to history. He may consult physical science. He may investi- gate Nature. He may study his neighbor, and analyze himself. Everywhere, at every turn, in every record, in every activity and circumstance of life, in every individual motive, he will find him- self confronted with that one principle in Nature which governs the Struggle for Completion.
He will find this principle under many names. He will find it as the law of polarity, the law of motion and number, the law of vibration, the law of affinity. Under whatever name he finds it, however, he will perceive it as a fundamental principle of positive and receptive energy, forever seeking equilibrium through indi- vidual entities. When he has ranged in his studies from chem- ical affinity to human love he will be familiar, theoretically at- least, with the universal Struggle for Completion.
When the student finally investigates the operations of the individual will and the individual desire of intelligent human be- ings, he will find that he confronts only another phase of that many-sided principle which refines matter, increases the vibra- tory action of matter, generates physical life, perfects the physical body, and individualizes intelligence.
A study of the Struggle for Completion means something more than observation of the phenomena of physical life.
Such study properly begins with a consideration of the in- telligent operations of unconscious substance, mineral, vegetable and animal. It next includes a knowledge of that individualized intelligence which inspires and operates the physical organism of both animal and man.
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To study unconscious Nature through the affinity of atoms and the conjugation of cells is to discover the universal Struggle for Completion in its lowest manifestation. To study man through the operations of the intelligent soul is to disclose the Struggle for Self-Completion in its highest known form. In- quiry, therefore, as to the purposes of evolution must include a recognition of intelligence as well as of matter. It must include all of the operations of Nature as far as intelligence itself can penetrate. The attempt to solve the problem of evolution through the physical functions of digestion and reproduction is like try- ing to understand the law of harmonics by studying the fiber, mechanism and office of a piano case.
For knowledge of this greatest struggle which directly bears upon individual destiny, the student is recommended to the study of human life. By the study of life is not meant the study of the physical functions, but rather the play of that intelligence which inspires man to daily action. Such study, of course, would include a knowledge of the physical functions, appetites and pas- sions.
The student is asked to carefully review the history of civili- zation and the development of science, art, philosophy and phi- lanthropy, and then to decide whether such accomplishments are referable to the powers of digestion or the powers of the brain. He is asked to study the motives which underlie the ethical phe- nomena of love, and determine whether such development is compelled by a physical struggle, or impelled by the individual, intelligent struggle for self-satisfaction. He is asked to study in- dividual character and its effects upon the world. He is asked to analyze the secret impulses and ideals of his own soul. He is asked to determine the motives which inspire his own life to daily action.
Such study and observation and such self-analysis will con- vince him that there is something underlying human activity in- finitely more subtle and more potent than the blind demands of the ohysical functions. He will convince himself that individual-
ao6 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION.
ized intelligence is engaged in a struggle that is of infinitely- greater importance to, himself than his physical feeding or breed- ing.
This Struggle for Self-Completion eluding the physical senses of man is observable and tangible to intelligence only. The higher phenomena of intelligent life and the higher struggles and the higher activities of intelligent beings have no explanation in physical science. It follows, therefore, that exact proof of the Struggle for Completion is obtainable only by such means and such methods as are employed in the higher science.
In the universal impulses, ambitions, activities and relations of human intelligence, however, the investigator will find ample evidences of the Struggle for Self-Completion. As a particular point in evidence the reader is referred to the life and the works of Charles Darwin. They furnish an interesting commentary upon his own theories. Here is a life spent, not in competitions for physical benefit, but in the accumulation of knowledge. Here is a life of not only laborious research, but research accompanied with a compilation of knowledge which, for accuracy and wealth of detail, astonished the world. According to Mr. Darwin's the- ory, his own life is contrary to Nature's purpose, viz., the preser- vation of species by way of the most successful struggle for nu- trition, and the "largest possible number of healthy progeny" on the part of the individual. The life and the works of Dar- win, however, prove exactly the reverse of what he lays down as the working formula of human life. The motive which impelled Darwin to his gigantic task may have been, at the beginning, merely a love of knowledge. It certainly was not the "struggle for nutrition" nor "the struggle for progeny." However that may have been, the motive which prompted the publication of that knowledge was the desire to transmit it to his fellowmen. By that publication and transmission of knowledge he proved his desire to benefit humanity. He became a philanthropist. Thus, in the very face of his own theory of a selfish struggle for nutri- tion and of selfish competitions, he lived a life of unselfish devo-
THE COMPLETION OF AN INDIVIDUAL. 207
tion to purely intellectual pursuits, and illustrated the highest al- truism in his efforts to serve truth for the good of mankind.
For such a man and for such a life Mr. Darwin finds no sanction in Nature. This illustrates the ease with which a learned man may theorize in defiance of his own life and motives, as well as in contradiction of the universal impulses and experi- ences of mankind. The case of Mr. Darwin is not unique in it- self. The individual struggles and achievements of intelligent beings constitute the history of the evolution of man. The final triumph of individual intelligence over unknown and apparently hostile environment, is the commonest fact of human progress. This power of individual intelligence to modify, conquer and create environment testifies to the supremacy of individual in- telligence in the evolution of man.
In a broader sense than scientific skepticism conceives, there is a struggle for life. In a far nobler sense than speculative the- ology dreams, there is a struggle for love. From the lowest to the highest expression of Individual Intelligence there is a strug- gle for life, or for self-persistence as an individual. From the lowest to the highest sentient and conscious entity there is an individual struggle for an individual satisfaction. This struggle for individual persistence and this struggle for individual satis- faction go to make up the individual Struggle for Self-Comple- tion.
Thus, the struggle for individual persistence is something more than a struggle for physical life. The struggle for indi- vidual satisfaction is something more than a struggle to repro- duce. Nutrition sustains life but it is not life. Reproduction conserves love but it does not create love. Above and beyond the involuntary operations of the physical functions are the volun- tary Will and Desire of an intelligent entity. Especially is this true of human life. Above and beyond the functional struggles of nutrition and reproduction extends the intelligent struggle of the soul for its own ethical satisfaction and happiness.
As already explained, the universal principle of intelligence
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governs the mathematical progress of matter and life. It seeks this end through and by vibratory correspondences between in- dividual particles of material substance. As already shown, this general purpose is maintained by the action of individual par- ticles seeking vibratory correspondence in other particles of op- posite polarity.
Thus, in Nature's lowest kingdom, viz., that of unconscious, inorganic mineral substance, originates that tremendous struggle whose later developments enrich the kingdom of man. How well that struggle is rewarded appears in the refinement of mat- ter, the generation of physical life, 'the individualizing of intelli- gence and the development of Love.
With the dawn of this higher sentient life and self-operating intelligence arises a new class of phenomena which attach to or- ganic intelligence alone. From this period the Struggle for Completion displays two distinct phases, viz.:
(1) The coldly mathematical results which are involved in the refinement of matter and the increase of vibratory action, thus assisting intelligence to an individual expression.
This is the purpose for which Nature struggles.
(2) The purely ethical effects which accrue to individual in- telligence through those mathematical correspondences and re- finements.
This is the purpose for which the individual struggles.
Thus, on the side of Nature is a universal principle seeking, primarily, to complete an individual, while on the side of the in- dividual are the individual affinities of male and female intelli- gence, which impel them to complete themselves through an in- dividual satisfaction or content.
From the dawn of individual intelligence this greatest strug- gle in Nature thus proceeds, on the one side exhibiting the mathe- matical law of vibration, and on the other the ethical effects en- joyed by individual intelligences.
This mathematical principle and these ethical effects of the struggle for completion are illustrated when two birds mate for
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life. On the mathematical side we have simply a certain ratio of vibratory correspondence in the physical and spiritual organisms of the two birds. On the individual side, however, there obtains that recognition of such adjustment which is, in effect, content to the intelligence of the birds. Birds, so mated, do not separate. They have fulfilled the universal principle of vibratory corre- spondence. They have attained those individual results which satisfy their intelligence. They have, indeed, reached completion in bird life.
The Struggle for Self-Completion is conducted, primarily, as a co-operative struggle of masculine and feminine intelligence.
Back of the minor functional struggles of both animal and hu- man life stand the eternal co-operations of positive and receptive individuals, male and female, and man and woman. Back of the competitions of nutrition and the sacrifices of reproduction stand the affinities and fulfillments which are mutually enjoyed by indi- vidual intelligence. Back of all lesser struggles, competitions, compulsions and sacrifices exist the eternal co-operations of Na- ture's divided forces, male and female, man and woman.
The completion of individual life, therefore, rests, primarily, upon a harmonic relation between two intelligent beings of oppo- site polarity.
The mathematics of evolution are represented in Nature's ef- fort to accomplish this result through vibratory correspondences in the physical and spiritual organisms of intelligent beings. The ethics of life are represented in the efforts of intelligent indi- viduals to effect this purpose through harmonic relations which satisfy the intelligence. The word "ethical," therefore, applies only to those experiences which accrue to individual organic in- telligence during its Struggle for Self-Completion.
In lower Nature, that is, in the inorganic world, the Struggle for Completion is rich in effects. They are not, however, ethical effects.
For example, chemical particles seek and obtain equilibrium, or vibratory correspondence, in their electro-magnetic energies. 14
210 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION.
That equilibrium, or correspondence, or chemical affinity, cannot be defined as ethical, since it includes neither individual sensa- tion, perception nor enjoyment. Such unions and such effects are but the faint foreshadowings of those which obtain in the highest kingdom under the same principle. The values and ef- fects of chemical life and chemical activities are but the sugges- tion of those infinitely richer values and effects of human life and human intelligence. While the principle of affinity operates universally the same, the effects of that principle, in value and variety, increase almost infinitely with the induction of each higher life element.
For example, perfect affinity, or completion, in chemical sub- stances merely amounts to a permanent cohesion of individual particles. That perfect cohesion simply constitutes physical so- lidity and durability. It may also induce color or transparency and brilliancy, as in the diamond, simply physical effects, as far as observation goes. Neither here nor in vegetable affinities do we find effects which may be termed ethical. The dawn of eth- ical life appears with the operations of organic intelligences. With the induction of the Spiritual Life Element, the generation of sentient life, and the appearance of conscious intelligence, the ethics of life begin. When Nature has guided the individual to the point of a conscious participation in the scheme of Nature, ethical phenomena are evoked. The animal is endowed, not merely with an individual intelligence and impulse to seek its affinities, but it has also the intelligence and the will to repulse that which is not harmonic with itself. As a result, the Struggle for Completion, even in the animal kingdom, is conducted by Nature along the mathematical lines of vibratory correspond- ences, and by the individual along the ethical lines of an individual satisfaction.
Animal affinities and unions range, in their individual val- ues and effects, from a temporary union and temporary satisfac- tion, to permanent union and permanent content.
For example, is cited the conjugal habits of the jackal, which
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mates and separates with little intelligence and with but a fleeting suggestion of an ethical content. On the other hand, the endur- ing conjugal relations of two lions represents a complete and enduring ethical satisfaction on the part of the lions. Such union represents the Completion of the Individual — in the animal kingdom.
It is not, however, until the soul element has been added to the powers of individual intelligence, that the ethical values of life overshadow all other considerations. The physical body is now completed. The individual is no longer governed by the Spiritual Life Element. The intelligence is now inspired by a higher element. This higher self-conscious soul makes new de- mands. New energies, new requirements and new capacities have been added to lower energies, requirements and capacities. The operator of a physically perfected organism has a new and a higher line of achievement than the operator of the incomplete animal organism. Man is debtor to the animal for the physical body, the perfect instrument for the uses of intelligence upon the physical plane. Man, however, by reason of this physically per- fected body and the inspiration of a higher element, moves into higher activities and higher necessities. Animal activities and satisfactions do not meet the requirements of the living soul.
Equipped with the physical instrument which readily responds to his will and his desire, the living soul enters upon the Struggle for Self-Completion though ignorant of the infinite possibilities beyond the purely animal plane. This being true, he demands, primarily, correspondences and satisfactions of the soul, rather than correspondences and satisfactions of the physical body. However, as man represents all of the life elements in Nature, he demands correspondence in the energies of each and all of these life elements. Thus, the demands of the intelligent soul, for a harmonic relation, include the necessity for correspondence also in the Electro-Magnetic, the Vito-Chemical, and the Spiritual Life Elements, which go to make up the lower man.
From this it must appear that human life is far richer in eth-
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ical effects than is the life of the animal below him. That which so largely increases the ethical satisfactions of man over those of the animal are the affinities which reside in the soul. Man enjoys all the lower satisfactions of the animal. He is capable of a purely animal content. The demands and capacities of the soul, however, create a higher line of activities and a higher class of necessities which represent the ethical satisfactions of human in- telligence. The ethical content of the animal rests upon perfect correspondence in those lower life elements of which he is made up. With man, however, the struggle is to satisfy the soul, the highest element, as well as the lower elements inferior to the soul. Nothing less will satisfy the soul of man. The lower elements have no power to permanently satisfy the higher. The energies and offices of the lower nature do not satisfy human intelligence. Those energies and offices influence but they do not govern the higher evolution of man.
While it is true that feeding and breeding consume a large part of human life, they are nevertheless but incidents to intelli- gent development, just as the feeding of coal into a locomotive is but an incident to the purpose sought. Impulses born of the lower elements are continually mistaken for the necessities of the highest element. Sooner or later, however, the intelligence per- ceives its error and renews its search for permanent satisfaction.
A perfect harmonic between soul and soul is the one and only relation or condition which will confer upon man the conscious- ness of individual completion and a permanent individual happi- ness. This is the relation which science declares must obtain before man and woman can be prepared to take up still higher lines of personal development. This relation, once established, results in a voluntary and indissoluble union, here and hereafter.
In the establishment of this relation Nature accomplishes its primary purpose, viz., the Completion of the Individual. On the other hand, man and woman accomplish what appears to them as an ultimate purpose, viz., Self-Completion and Happiness.
The reader must clearly understand just what is meant by
THE COMPLETION OF AN INDIVIDUAL.
Individual Completion. The word "Completion" must not be confused with the idea of "perfection," nor must, it be taken to mean the completion of individual development. Science has no- where discovered a state or condition of perfection in man. Neither has it discovered any individual relation or attainment which means the end of individual effort and achievement.
Individual completion means merely that state of vibratory correspondence, equilibrium of energies, and ethical satisfaction which may be obtained in the union of two intelligent individuals of opposite polarity. It means that individual relation which mathematically and harmonically fulfills the design of Nature and the needs of individual intelligence.
Nature works out its general purpose when it establishes a perfect vibratory correspondence between the physical and spirit- ual organisms of a man and a woman. Man and woman, how- ever, work out the particular purpose of human life when they arrive at a reciprocal relation which satisfies every requirement of body, spirit and soul. Nature's effort to thus complete the individual is attended by steadily increasing mathematical results. The individual Struggle for Self-Completion, at the same time, moves forward with ever increasing ethical gains.
Thus, we have in intelligent life a fundamental Struggle for Completion which is co-operative in principle, vibratory in ac- tion, mathematical in design, and ethical in effect. Science holds that this struggle of intelligence involves the physical, spiritual and moral completion of the individual man and woman in earthly life. In this supreme struggle and in- this supreme purpose sci- ence finds explanation, justification and compensation, for all lesser struggles, compulsions and sacrifices.
The individual Struggle for Self-Completion, therefore, looks neither to competitions, compulsions nor sacrifices. It looks only to co-operations and fulfillments which satisfy the individual life. The physical functions are now seen as activities which conserve completion, but which do not complete the individual. They now appear merely as duties incidental to life and to the
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development of intelligence, and the enjoyment of love. Phys- ical nutrition supplies material to sustain life, but it does not sup- ply life. Reproduction furnishes objects to love, but it does not create the love nature. Nutrition and reproduction involve in- telligent service, but they do not generate intelligence. In nu- trition man pays the physical debt to his physical nature, but he does not satisfy either the spiritual nature or the psychical. In reproduction woman pays a physical and moral debt to the race. She does not, however, discharge the debt to her own spiritual nature nor to her own soul.
Nutrition is a contribution to the body. Reproduction is a contribution to the world. The one is purely egoistic and in- dividual in its nature; the other, by necessity, is altruistic and im- personal. Neither activity develops nor satisfies the intelligent soul. In neither struggle is the destiny of individual intelligence fulfilled. Man is not merely a function of nutrition. Woman is not merely a function of reproduction. On the contrary, men and women are living souls. They are intelligent individuals who perform these physical functions during their earthly strug- gle for Self-Completion.
This is the one and only reading of Nature which explains man as he is, and gives dignity and value to individual life.
Up to this present time our popular science has not discovered the individual man and the individual woman in Nature. It deals with man only as he is related to species. It has not discovered nor analyzed nor explained those highest and inseparable intelli- gences, the individual man and woman. Up to this date we have in science "male" and "female" only. The real work of physical science, in this connection, ends when it has set forth the phys- ical functions and the physical relationships of "male" and "fe- male."
A new moral philosophy, based upon physical science, has gone one step farther. It discovers a "mother." It perceives a scientific and an ethical value in the reproductive capacity of the female. Neither physical materialism nor theological material-
THE COMPLETION OF AN INDIVIDUAL. 215
ism, however, has recognized man and woman as individual in- telligences, having a scientific and ethical value as such in Na- / ture.
Man in his relation to nutrition, and woman in her relation to reproduction, are the only points of view from which modern science has studied the highest known products in Nature. Phys- ical materialism is concerned with the preservation of species. Moral philosophy based upon physical science is concerned with the creation of a family.
Nature, on the contrary, is primarily concerned with the Completion of an Individual.
Darwin discovered the "male" and "female" in Nature. Drummond discovered the "mother."
It is left for higher science to discover "man" and "woman." To it. has been assigned the task of analyzing these intelligent beings through the highest as well as the lowest elements they represent.
The position of physical science is particularly unfortunate in its treatment of the "female" in Nature. Woman is persistently analyzed by physical science through her reproductive capacity alone. It is true that the individual man is subordinated to the physical improvement of species. At the same time masculine intelligence and masculine energy are given some measure of credit in the evolution of society. Man, as the main factor in the struggle for nutrition, is the accredited mental force in civili- zation.
No recognized work of physical science has, as yet, traced the moral influence of feminine intelligence in the evolution of man.
Science, however, that recognizes the intelligent soul, as well as the physical organs of reproduction in woman, declares that she is an intelligent being, having a place in Nature, a part to perform in life, and a destiny to fulfill, that are individual to her- self here and hereafter. It takes into account the spiritual and psychical as well as the physical nature of woman. It recognizes the intelligent activities of the soul, as well as the physical
2l6 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION.
functions of the body. It analyzes her intellectual and moral capacities, as well as her physical capacities for reproduction. Taking these into account, the higher science analyzes the femi- nine Struggle for Completion, by and through the study of those Life Elements which are operated by the feminine principle of intelligence.
Primarily, everything that represents the receptive, absorbing and pacific powers of the Life Elements is termed "feminine." Evolution upon the feminine side of Nature, therefore, includes what are commonly termed in physical science the negative prop- erties in Nature. The word "negative," however, is inadequate as a definition of the "feminine" in Nature. Though feminine nature may be called negative to the masculine, it is not a nega- tion in Nature. It is, instead, a very definite power, viz., the power to receive and absorb. The feminine nature represents the powers of absorption and non-resistance.
Evolution, under the feminine principle in Nature, includes the receptive, absorbing, nourishing and non-resistant entity of each kingdom in Nature, viz.:
(1) The mineral atom which is receptive to a positive atom, or to the atom positively charged with electro-magnetism.
(2) The receptive and absorbing particles and parts of vege- table substance which receive and reproduce that which is gen- erated by the positive male particles or parts.
(3) The female animal which is receptive, absorbing and nourishing in its nature. It is also non-resistant to the positive and dominating energy and will of the intelligent male animal.
(4) Woman who is physically, spiritually and psychically re- ceptive to the positive, physical, spiritual and psychical forces of man.
Nature, history, religion and common experience support these deductions.
The physical receptivity of woman to man is proved in ma- ternity, which is the most patent fact in Nature.
The spiritual and psychical receptivity of woman to man is
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reveaied in the history of civilization, of government, of art, of literature and of science. All of these reveal man as the aggress- ive, organizing and creative factor in human life. Even the his- tory of religions shows where women find their systems of faith and ethical codes of life. Woman accepts her religion from a Buddha, a Moses, a Christ, and even from a Mohammed and a Pope.
These are facts to which a certain type of feminine pride may not be ready to yield. They are facts, however, which, when fully recognized, will serve to better explain woman's real power, viz., the powers of the receptive, absorbing and pacific elements in hu- man life.
In the lower ranges of human society this non-resistant nature of woman subjects her to deplorable injustice. Her weaker body, spirit and will are enslaved, dominated and coerced by man, who has not learned the uses and the purposes of strength in Nature.
Woman is first physically enslaved by man, and made the victim of his stronger appetites and passions. She is coerced by his stronger will in the individual relation. Socially she is re- stricted and restrained by his arbitrary codes of law. It is the masculine mind that projects educational systems which exclude woman, thus retarding her intellectual development. It is man who gives to woman even her systems of faith, enacting canons that bind both her reason and her conscience. All this man does in ignorance of the mutual relation and office of the sexes. These are the penalties which he inflicts upon himself through woman. These are the crimes of his ignorance. These are the burdens woman bears until she rises to a rational conception of her own place in Nature, and develops the strength to maintain that place.
Masculinity is one thing, femininity is another. Every prod- uct in Nature must, of necessity, represent one or the other of Nature's dual powers, viz., positive or receptive .energy. That cleavage which obtains among unconscious mineral atoms and vegetable particles, which appears with the dawn of organic life and which characterizes the highest product of Nature, the hu-
218 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION.
man, is an eternal and unchangeable cleavage as" far as finite science has discovered. As far as science can determine the co-operative relation of positive and receptive, of male and fe- male, and of man and woman, is unchangeable. The same divi- , sion of mankind which obtains in this world exists in the next. , The same attractions and co-operations persist upon both planes of life.
That which is masculine and that which is feminine never lose their essential qualities of positive and receptive energy. Man and woman may come into a better adjustment in their mutual relation. They cannot, however, exchange places, nor become the same thing. There is assimilation, but there is never ex- change nor transformation in the basic elements of masculine and feminine nature. There may be an increasing intellectual com- prehension of each other's qualities. There are only closer vibra- tory correspondences upon the material plane and closer har- monics upon the psychical plane. There is never a stage of development, so far as is known, where the soul loses sex, where man ceases to be man, where woman ceases to be woman, in those essential qualities of positive and receptive power.
The highest purposes in human life are bound up in this true relation of man and woman. To arrive at this true relation is the fulfillment and the end of the Struggle for Self-Completion in its purely individual sense.
Unmeasured time has been consumed by the human race in arriving at our present stage of physical, spiritual and psychical sex development. Unmeasured time has been consumed in ar- riving at our present intellectual comprehension of the laws of sex, and the reciprocal relations, powers and possibilities of man and woman. We have now reached that stage of development which admits of a rational conception of the true and scientific relationship of the masculine and the feminine. We have risen to a degree of intellectual development which admits of a prac- tical effort to meet the requirements of the law of sex.
The initial phase of sex, as seen in the positive and receptive
THE COMPLETION OF AN INDIVIDUAL. 219
character of mineral atoms, is accentuated in each higher king- dom. Each additional life element gives rise to new capacities and new variations. They are, however, only variations of the same positive and receptive energies of the masculine and femi- nine elements. Each added life element reinforces masculinity in its positive, aggressive, generative, and organizing powers. Each added life element also reinforces femininity in its receptive, absorbing, nourishing and pacific powers.
The atom and man represent the extremes of evolution upon the physical plane. Compare, for example, the positive and re- ceptive powers of two mineral atoms with the same essential powers of a highly developed man and woman. Consider the addition to the original values in form, nature, capacities and achievements. Compare the strength and tenacity of the attract- ing forces which bind two mineral atoms and those which bind two intelligent human beings of opposite polarity. Separate the two mineral atoms by the fraction of an inch, and the force of their attraction is overcome. Each particle is ready to unite with another particle of opposite polarity. This is the limit of the attracting force of electro-magnetism.
How is it with man and woman who have once experienced that superior attraction which obtains only in the realm of the intelligent soul?
Such as these never separate in that realm. Such attraction as this includes also an attraction in all lower and lesser elements. Let these two be separated by the limits of earth and that bond exists. Let them be separated by every bar which custom, law, convention or circumstance may erect, that tie remains unbroken. Let time and death intervene, even then these two are bound by the natural law of affinity.
This, therefore, is union which is superior to space, time and circumstance. This represents the attracting powers of the soul, as compared with those of the mineral atom. When so com- pared that feeble attraction and cohesion between mineral atoms of opposite polarity is scarcely a suggestion of the attraction and
220 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION.
union between the self-conscious, positive will of the intelligent masculine soul, and the self-conscious, absorbing desire of the intelligent feminine soul.
Man and woman, however, endowed as they are with such superior capacities, represent the same primitive powers of the positive and receptive mineral atoms. In their ultimate com- pleted individual relation man and woman are but variations upon the primary affinities of mineral atoms. This fundamental dif- ference and this fundamental attraction and co-operation of mas- culine and feminine energies manifest themselves throughout the infinite gradations and variations of inorganic substance, of or- ganic life, and of individual intelligence. The power of attraction and the basis of co-operation between the lowest and the highest representatives of masculine and feminine nature are essentially the same, viz., aggressive force on one side and absorbing power on the other.
Universally man is attracted to the receptive qualities in woman. His aggressive intelligence, as well as his stronger physical nature, seeks its polar opposite; that is, he seeks those absorbing and pacific powers of intelligence, rather than those which are aggressively forceful. Universally woman is attracted to the strength, the courage and the power of man. It does not matter whether those qualities appear as physical, spiritual or psychical.
Force of will on one side and power of desire on the other constitute the principle of affinity between two intelligent souls of opposite polarity.
These facts and these principles do not, however, argue an inferiority of woman to man, nor of man to woman. To thus in- terpret the masculine and feminine in Nature were as foolish as to debate the relative merits of heat and light in the economy of Nature. Man and woman simply represent the two indispen- sable and vital factors in the evolution of man. While they differ in Nature, in offices, in capacities and in attainments, they are, however, equal in their uses and one in their purposes.
THE COMPLETION OF AN INDIVIDUAL. 221
These facts of Nature merely go to show that man stands for completion by aggressive activities while woman represents com- pletion by pacific activities. One represents progress by force of an individualized intelligent will. The other represents prog- ress by the power of an individualized intelligent desire.
Physical materialism is repeatedly compelled to observe these inherent qualities of masculine and feminine nature. It does not pretend to explain them. It simply infers that masculine force is a result of the struggle for nutrition. It merely infers that the pacific qualities of feminine nature are the result of the struggle for reproduction in the midst of a hostile environment. Physical science has entirely overlooked the psychical powers of individual will and individual desire which underlie the activities of intelli- gent human beings. It analyzes man and woman as mere func- tions for feeding and breeding. It ignores the individual will and the individual desire of self-conscious independent beings. It fails to perceive that nutrition and reproduction in reality de- pend upon this individual will and this individual desire which are forever seeking a purely ethical self-satisfaction. It fails to perceive that human intelligence is never permanently satisfied in the exercise or the enjoyment of the physical powers, functions and passions.
The struggle for nutrition furnishes a modicum of employ- ment to masculine intelligence. It does not, however, furnish him with satisfaction or content. Indeed, it absorbs energies which he would gladly employ in other lines of activity. Mater- nity develops the love nature of woman. It does not, however, develop her intelligence. In reality, woman's purely rational development proceeds in spite of and not by reason of maternitjK
"A flower is created for reproduction. When its usefulness is over it returns to the dust." Thus declares the moralist when he would illustrate the uses of the female in Nature.
Not so, declares science, turning to Nature for corroboration.
A flower, like a woman, is an entity, an individual created for life. While it lives its bloom, its beauty and its fragrance are its
222 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION.
own. While it lives it absorbs life from its natural elements, earth, air and water. While it lives it reaches toward the sun, its source of being. While it lives its individual charms are a con- tribution and a blessing to the world. A flower, like a woman, is simply an individual representative of universal elements and principles having a capacity for reproduction.
If reproduction were the sole purpose of the female, Nature has certainly wasted time. The normal reproductive period of a woman's life is about half of her natural lifetime. If this function covered the purpose of the female in Nature, then Na- ture has unduly wasted time and energy. If this is the vital issue of woman's life, then the individual woman cheats Nature. It does not need science to prove that woman persists very definitely and individually long after her reproductive usefulness is past. Not only this, but she persists under the conviction that she has not outlived her usefulness, that she has a place in Nature and in society. She continues to desire life. Her intelligence still occupies itself with plans and purposes that are individual. Her nature is still susceptible to an individual love. Her soul still yearns for an individual completion — happiness.
While it is true that the woman nature impels union with man, it also binds woman to her children. This, however, is not saying that the intelligent needs and requirements of woman's nature are fulfilled and satisfied in those children.
No normal woman will deny, and no man is in the position to deny, one universal desire that lives in the soul of a woman. This is a desire which wakens in childhood and persists to the end. It is a desire that survives all .conditions of a woman's life. It is one that lives on, too often unfulfilled, in the midst of a grow- ing family. That one desire which never dies, however skilfully or conscientiously concealed from the world, is the desire for an exclusive, individual, love relation. It is the longing for an ex- clusive companionship and a personal happiness in that compan- ionship.
The higher science, giving heed to this voice of Nature, de-
THE COMPLETION OF AN INDIVIDUAL. 223
livers to woman a more hopeful message than physical science or moral philosophy or orthodox religion has ever brought to her.
Nature declares that woman is created for an intelligent self- completion which primarily includes that exclusive love relation, that individual companionship and that personal happiness which her soul forever craves. It declares that woman is not created to conserve merely the family. On the contrary, it finds that she is created for an individual life, love, knowledge, attainment and influence, here and hereafter.
Science has determined that this long-sought self-completion of the individual man and woman depends, primarily, upon the relation they establish between themselves. In the attainment and preservation of this perfect mutual relation is laid the sub- stantial foundation of all further powers, activities and achieve- ments, here and hereafter.
In such a relation the primary purpose of intelligent human life is achieved.
Such completion involves consequences to the individual which are both material and ethical. On the material side are both the physical and spiritual organisms of a man and a woman keyed to the same vibratory conditions. On the ethical side are two intelligent souls who respond to each other in all of those activities, governed by the positive masculine will on one side, and by the absorbing feminine desire on the other.
Such is the completion that Nature demands, even upon this physical plane. Such is the completion that science has demon- strated. In such completion, and in this alone, philosophy claims that man and woman are fitted to properly discharge the physical functions and altruistic obligations to the race. In such com- pletion, and in this alone, is human intelligence equipped to exer- cise its highest powers and to achieve its noblest possibilities.
Thus moves this marvelous scheme of Nature toward its completion of the Individual. In every department of intelligent life are the same principle and the same purpose demonstrated.
224 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION.
Guided by the universal law of affinity, and inspired by the subtle demands of the intelligent soul, man moves to his own comple- tion through an infinite series of harmonics, physical, spiritual and psychical.
Here are explained the rise, and the purpose of that rise, from an involuntary to a voluntary activity on the part of Na- ture's individual products. Here are explained the method and the purpose of evolution which display, first, an unconscious re- sponse to a general intelligence, second, a conscious impulse, and finally, the rational will and the rational desire to comply with that general law. Here are explained that Struggle for Com- pletion, and the purpose of that struggle which engages all of the energies of every entity of every kingdom.
Thus, the seemingly purposeful is the actually purposeful. The adaptations which occur in the Struggle for Completion are seen to serve the ethical purposes of individual intelligence, as well as the requirements of the physical body. Under this read- ing of the law Nature becomes the guide, guardian and benefactor of mankind. Life has a purpose. Individual intelligence has an individual destiny. Love has a natural evolution. Happiness is a scientific possibility.
Scientifically and mathematically stated, the universal Strug- gle for Completion looks only to the Completion of an Individual through vibratory correspondences. Scientifically and ethically stated, the individual Struggle for Self-Completion looks only to individual happiness through its individual harmonic rela- tions.
The key to all of these processes and all of these purposes is found in that overshadowing and immutable principle of Affin- ity between the Positive and the Receptive energies in Nature. The attraction between man and woman is the key to all other attractions. The union of one man and one woman represents the principle of all other unions. A harmonic relation between one man and one woman rests upon the conditions which govern all harmonics. The individual completion and happiness of one
THE COMPLETION OF AN INDIVIDUAL. 225
man and one woman furnish the key to the universal harmonics of Nature and to the future completion and happiness of man- kind.
Upon man and woman, as the mathematical center of all vi- brations and the ethical center of all influences, the harmonics of human life depend.
This being true, Natural Science, and philosophy founded upon that science, present to the world certain new propositions.
Physical science postulates a struggle for existence in the midst of a hostile environment, as the basis of the evolution of man.
Nature, on the contrary, demonstrates such basis to be a struggle of individual intelligence for an individual adjustment and completion in the midst of environment only seemingly hos- tile.
Physical science fixes upon the physical functions of nutrition and reproduction as the compulsory causes of all progress; whereas Nature demonstrates that the spiritual principle of Po- larity, or Affinity, is the impelling cause of all we perceive as physical evolution and as material refinement.
Physical science declares that a physically improved species is the highest result obtainable under physical compulsions.
Nature, on the contrary, demonstrates that a completed indi- vidual is a scientific possibility under universal law of attraction.
Physical science interprets the highest duty of the individual as the "rearing of the largest number of healthy progeny."
Nature, on the contrary, demonstrates that the first duty of the individual man and woman is Self-Completion and Individual Happiness.
Physical science is, therefore, the science of evolution through feeding, breeding and battle; whereas, Nature demonstrates the evolution of intelligence through living, learning and loving. The doctrines and dogmas of physical materialism restrict the purposes of human life to the needs and requirements of the phys- ical body. The philosophy of life, however, based upon Natural 15
226 HARMONICS OF EVOLUTION,
Science, extends the purposes of life to the needs and require- ments of the intelligent soul.
Thus, the school of physical science, familiar with physical fact alone, determines that the whole purpose of intelligent hu- man life is the preservation of species. This is a science of natural hostility, of selfish competition and of cruel sacrifice. This is the doctrine of the suppression of the individual, the doc- trine of doubt, despair and annihilation.
On the other hand, the higher science, familiar with physical, spiritual and psychical facts of Nature, demonstrates, first, that Nature is intelligent in design, co-operative in principle, har- monic in operation, hospitable in purpose, beneficent in results. It demonstrates that the primary purpose of intelligent human life is an Individual Completion and Happiness.
This is the science of natural hospitality, co-operation by affin- ity, fulfillment through harmonics, the science of individual de- velopment and of individual love. This is the philosophy of faith, hope and happiness, and of the persistence and progress of the Completed Individual in another and higher world than this.