arithmetic instinct as fundamental and, for
instruments of thought that shall not fail, repair at once to the
domain of number." (C. J. Keyser, Loc. Cit.)

The thinking few knew the power there is in "thinking"; they wanted to
have it and to keep the advantage of it for themselves; witness the late
introduction of public schools. Belief in the inferiority of the masses
became the unwritten law of the "privileged classes"; it was forced upon,
rubbed into, the subconscious mind of the masses by church and state
alike, and was humbly and dumbly accepted by the "lower orders" as their
"destiny." Ignorance was proclaimed as a bliss.

As time went on, this "coefficient of ignorance" became so useful to some
people and some classes of people that no effort was spared to keep the
world in ignorance. It gave a legalistic excuse to imprison, burn and hang
people for expressing an opinion which the ruling classes did not like.
The elimination from church, from school, from universities, of any
teacher, any professor or any minister who dared to exemplify or encourage
fearless investigation and freedom of speech became very common. It is
less common in our generation, but there remains much to win in the way of
freedom.

Freedom, rightly understood, is the aim of Human Engineering. But freedom
is not license, it is not licentiousness. Freedom consists in _lawful_
living--in living in accord with the laws of human _nature_--in accord with
the _natural_ laws of Man. A plant is free when it is not prevented from
living and growing according to the natural laws of plant life; an animal
is free when it is not prevented from living according to the natural laws
of animal life; human beings are free when and only when they are not
prevented from living in accord with the natural laws of human life. I say
"when not prevented," for human beings will live _naturally_ and,
therefore, in freedom, when they are not prevented from thus living by
ignorance of what human nature is and by artificial social systems
established, maintained, and protected by such ignorance. Human freedom
consists in exercising the time-binding energies of man in accordance with
the natural laws of such natural energies. Human freedom is thus the aim
of Human Engineering because Human Engineering is to be the science of
human nature and the art of conducting human affairs in accordance with
the laws of human nature. Survival of the fittest, where _fittest_