Page:The Limits of Evolution (1904).djvu/194

Rh problem in the optimistic sense, by means of the principle of compensation: Existence is unquestionably marred by evil, by real evil; but its dominant tone, its resistless tendency, its net result, is genuinely good. And this solution does not rest on any merely subjective accidents of temperament, but directly on the objective principles of existence itself. It is found, in short, in the Law of Difference and the Law of the Whole, and in the essential necessity, the inevitableness, of the being of the Actual.

Existence, if it is to be understood, must be judged, not by the morbid cravings of sentimentalism fed on fantasy, but by sound sentiment which is founded on clear comprehension. When we once see distinctly into the nature of the world, and adjust our tone and conduct to that, we shall find a sufficient comfort in life; there is a bracing satisfaction in the discriminating insight into that which must be. Existence has, too, a charm, in itself, and the secret of it lies in that very variety, or difference, which constitutes the principle of its movement. Moreover, life mounts in differentiation, and the increased objective good of the higher levels of consciousness outweighs the increase of subjective susceptibility to pain. Further, contrast not only heightens pleasure, but is the source of it: the sense of resistance overcome