ut the Universe,
but who, though scattered, were nevertheless animated by the same
purpose. Anyhow, this seems a more reasonable assumption than the
assumption that the particles came together by pure chance.

Beings with these superior faculties may very possibly have
emerged among the stars. It would seem not at all improbable,
therefore, that in some unrecognised way conditions on this Earth
may be influenced in their general outlines by what is taking place
in the Universe at large, in the same way as conditions in a village in
India are affected by public opinion in England as epitomised in the
decisions of the Cabinet. The remote Indian village is unaware that
men in England have decided to grant responsible government to
India in due course. And even if the villagers were told of this they
would not realise the significance of the decision and how it would
affect the fortunes of their village for good or ill during the next
century or two. Conditions on this Earth may be similarly being
affected by decisions made in other parts of the Universe--decisions
the significance of which we would be as totally unable to recognise
as the Indian villagers are to recognise the significance of the steps
towards self-government which have just been made.

The Universe is so interconnected, and there is so much interaction
between the parts and the whole, that the Earth may be more
affected than we think by what goes on in the Universe at large. If
there are higher levels of being among the stars, it may well be that
the successive rises to higher levels on this Earth--from inorganic to
organic, from organic to mental, and from the mental to the
spiritual--have come about through this interaction between the parts
and the whole. Conditions on this Earth may be more affected than
we are aware of by the Universe in its ensemble, and by the actions
of higher beings in other Earths.

In this very matter of Beauty, for example, it may quite possibly be
the case that our intimation of Beauty has been received through the
influence upon the most sensitive among us of beings in other parts
of the Universe. We may be as unaware of the existence of those
beings or of their having feelings towards us as the Indian villager is
of the existence of the Cabinet in London or of the Cabinet's feelings
towards him. But these stellar beings may be exerting their influence
all the same. And it may be because of this influence that we men
are