The Use ofEvil.^195
buildingtogetherofacomplicated unity. Then
he names"good"all thatworksinthat direc-
tion, andcalls"evil"all the tendenciesv^hich
persist from the stage of evolution in v^hich
greater diversity was sought. Realising that
evolutionisnowtheprocessofbuildingtogether
the separated objects into a perfect unity, he
calls"good"everythingwhichtendsdirectlyto
harmony, which tends towards aggregation,
which tends towards the unfolding of the
higherunity, which tends towards the expres-
sionofthe Divinelife,with everincreasingand
increasingperfection; andhecalls"evil"every
thingwhichchecks thataggregation andwhich
introducestheearlierformsintothepresentand
retards the passing on to what is relatively
perfectandrelativelyhigher.
Now suppose we carried that thought out,
what would we find? We should find that
that which in the past caused evolution and
was not evil,becomes evil when it persists in
theevolutionof the higher organisationandso
retardsitsgrowth. Forinstance,inthemineral
kingdom youhave minerals and stones hurled
aboutbysomevolcanic eruption; you seethat
eruption, with its shivering of certain bodies,
withits tremendous evolution of gases,accom-
paniedbyexplosions,and thenwiththerebound
