e say that one thing is evil and another good, all that we mean
is that one thing is less advanced than another in the way of
perfection. Evil cannot therefore be a positive principle; it signifies
only the falling short of perfection.

And supposing that the desires of mankind were suddenly fulfilled, and
the world was rendered perfect! There would be no motive for effort, no
altercation of conflicting motives in the human heart; nothing to do, no
one to befriend, no anxiety, no want unsatisfied. Equilibrium would be
established. A cheerful world! You can see instantly how amusing it
would be. It would have only one drawback--that of being dead. Its
reason for being alive would have ceased to operate. Life means change
through constant development. But you cannot develop the perfect. The
perfect can merely expire.

That average successful man whom I have previously cited feels all this
by instinct, though he does not comprehend it by reason. He reaches his
ambition, and retires from the fight in order to enjoy life,--and what
does he then do? He immediately creates for himself a new series of
difficulties and embarrassments, either by undertaking the management of
a large estate, or by some other device. If he does not maintain for
himself conditions which necessitate some kind of struggle, he quickly
dies--spiritually or physically, often both. The proportion of men who,
having established an equilibrium, proceed to die on the spot, is
enormous. Continual effort, which means, of course, continual
disappointment, is the _sine qua non_--without it there is literally
nothing vital. Its abolition is the abolition of life. Hence, people,
who, failing to savour the struggle itself, anticipate the end of the
struggle as the beginning of joy and happiness--these people are simply
missing life; they are longing to exchange life for death. The hemlock
would save them a lot of weary waiting.

* * * * *

We shall now perceive, I think, what is wrong with the assumptions of
the average successful man as set forth in the previous chapter. In
postulating that happiness is what one is not, he has got hold of a
mischievous conception of happiness. Let him examine his conception of
happiness, and he will find that it consists in the enjoyment of love
and luxury, and in the freedom from enforced effort. He generally wants
all three ingredients. Now passionate love does not mean happiness; it
means exci