ve and of
Service. "During the first stage, man grasps at everything he desires
and develops a strong individuality by conflict; in the second,
he shares all he has, and yokes that individuality to service;
ever-increasing separation is the key-note of the one; ever-increasing
unity is the key-note of the other. Hence we need not brand as evil the
rough aggression and the fierce struggles of barbarous times; they were
a necessary stage of growth and were at that stage Right, and in the
divine plan. But now those days are over, strength has been won; the
time has come when the separated selves must gradually draw together,
and to co-operate with the divine Will which is working for union is
the Right. The Right which is the outcome of Love, directed by reason,
at the present stage of evolution, then, seeks an ever-increasing
realisation of Unity, a drawing together of the separated selves. That
which by establishing harmonious relations makes for Unity is Right;
that which divides and disintegrates, which makes for separation, is
Wrong." (_ibid._, 10, 11.)

Hin[d.][=u]ism, on which the whole of this is based, has added to this
broad criterion the division of a life into four stages, to each of
which appropriate virtues are assigned: the Student Period, with its
virtues of perfect continence, industry, frugality, exertion; the
Household Period, with its virtue of duties appropriate to the position,
the earning and enjoying of wealth, the gratification of desires; the
Retirement Period, with the virtues of the renouncing of worldly
gain and of sacrifice; the Ascetic Period, of complete renunciation,
meditation and preparation for post-mortem life. These indications
make more easy the decisions as to Right and Wrong.

The more we think upon and work out into detail this view of Morality as
based on Evolution, the more we realise its soundness, and the more we
find that the moral law is as discoverable by observation, by reason,
and by experiment, as any other law of Nature. If a man disregards it,
either ignorantly or wilfully, he suffers. A man may disregard physical
hygienic and sanitary laws because of his ignorance; none the less will
he suffer from physical disease. A man may disregard moral laws because
of ignorance; none the less will he suffer from moral disease. The sign
of disease in both cases is pain and unhappiness; experts in both cases
warn us, and if we disregard the warning, we learn its truth later by
ex