206 TheSpiritual Life.
the condition of perfection would be absent
without evil, and the presence of evil in the
universemakesitpossibleforgoodtogrowand
forperfectiontotriumph.
Normustweforgetas a fundamentaluseof
evil theevolution of the powerto discriminate
betweengoodandevil,and thus ofvolition,of
choice. HowshouldwedistinguishTruthsave
by discerning it as different from that which
isnottrue? Howshouldwelearnitsvalueif
wedid not findfromexperiencethedestructive
effects of falsehood, in man and in society.
"A"isonlybroughtinto consciousness bythe
presenceof"not-A"andthelatterisnecessary
to the definition of the former in the mind.
So our mind would remainablankas regards
Truth,wecould notrealiseit,cogniseit,define
it, save as distinguishing it by its differences
from not-Truth. And so with each virtue,
with good inits totality. Onlybyrecognition
ofevilcanweknowgood. Andtorecognition
of evil,experienceof evilisnecessary.
Usefulalsoisevilasascourgethat drivesus
to good. For as evilisdiscordance with the
evolvingforcesof the DivineLifein manifesta-
tion, it must result in pain. Pain verily is
discordantvibration. Thereforeevil inevitably