ualism which
makes a living monism of mind and body so desirable and so urgently
sought after.

There is good reason to believe that the persistence of the mind-body
puzzle has been due to two conditions, the lack of an adequate theory
of knowledge, and an ultra-mechanical, or non-evolutionary, view of the
physical world. Scientists and philosophers, alike, were possessed by
an inertia which prevented them from taking the principle of evolution
seriously. They refused to readjust their ideas so as to admit that
organization of a high grade, such as characterizes the nervous system,
has a synthetic way of acting of its own, not reducible to the mere
chain-like action of externally related units. There are many signs
pointing to the conclusion that a broader and more flexible naturalism
is forming which will sweep away the artificial problems and
stereotyped contrasts which have stood in the way of a candid inclusion
of human thought and activity within nature. When that day comes, the
hesitations which have encouraged the faith in immortality in the face
of empirical difficulties of an ever-increasing weight will pass away.
I am inclined to prophesy that psychology and physiology will reach an
adjustment of their principles before many years have passed, and that
consciousness and mind will take their places along with mass and
energy in the scientific view of nature. The old dualism of soul and
body will pass away and give place to a flexible naturalism.

The belief in immortality and the wish for it will die {150} out very
slowly. The vague appetite for another life will persist as an
undercurrent of half-understood desire for a good whose nature has not
been clearly thought out. What men really want is an eternal youth in
an environment which gives opportunity for self-expression and pleasant
companionship. It means rest to the weary, new horizons to those who
wish to achieve, a release from fetters to those who have felt
themselves oppressed. What a quiet charm there is in such an
uncritical play of the fancy! But is it anything more than
daydreaming? Can our musings become definite without revealing
themselves as fancies? Alas! our souls are old and written upon, and
we would no longer be the same were these marks removed. They have a
meaning for us and we cannot wish them away. If, for a forgetful
moment, we envy the smooth cheeks of a youth, the envy is but
momentary. What we desire is his abundan