The Use ofEvil. 193
lead towardsthe poleof Spirit. Thegrosser
side of manifestations of the One Life is that
whichwe describe as matter. Nowthere are
twopolesmmanifestationtheform sideorthat
ofmatterontheonehand,and the life sideor
thatof Spiriton theother. Theyarethetwo
opposite aspects of the one Eternal Life, and
theprocessofevolutionconsistsinthatlifeinits
dualaspects goingoutwardstocause diversity,
and when the limit of diversity is reached,
drawing inwards to reintegrate the diverse
separated units into a mighty and enriched
unity. The outward-going life seeks diversity
andmaybe saidtherefore to tend to the pole
of matter; the inward-going life seeks unity,
andmaybesaid thereforeto tend to the pole
of Spirit. Hereis a truththatthe thoughtful
shouldponderover, if wetakegoodtomean
all that isworking in harmonywith the Great
Law, and evil to mean all that is working
against it, then qualities now regarded, and
rightlyregarded, as evil-selfishness, desire for
material gain, etc.-would have been good
during the "descent into matter,"as only by
thesecould diversitybe obtained,whereasnow
theyareevilasretardingthe processofintegra-
tion,as checkingthe inward-flowingtideoflife
towards the pole of Spirit. Thus again we
