appeal to him, and he is taught to trust nature and it will lead him
aright. Or maybe the pantheistic theory is accepted by him, and he is
led to believe that the world as it is is entirely good, and that he has
but to live his life from day to day, and not worry himself about the
ultimate end and purpose of things. Or other optimistic theories of life
that deny the existence of evil may influence him. All these solutions
may give him temporary peace of mind, and perhaps indeed form efficient
stumbling-blocks to any further spiritual progress.

But the spiritual beginnings within us often show remarkable vitality.
They may under certain conditions lead us to appreciate the existence of
a distinct opposition in the world--the opposition between the lower
world and the higher self. Man finds that the natural is often low,
evil, and sordid, and at this stage the higher spiritual world makes a
strong appeal to him. By degrees he comes to feel the demands of the
lower world to be a personal insult to him. What is the lower material
world that it should govern him, and he a _man_? The claims of pleasure
and utility to be standards of conduct strike him as arrogant, and he
revolts against the assumption that higher aims can have no charm for
him. His previous acceptance without consideration of the moral
standard of the community he now looks upon as a sign of weakness on his
part--for is he not himself, a person with the power of independent
judgment and evaluation? It is the first great awakening of the
spiritual life in man, when his whole soul is in revolt against the low,
sordid, and conventional. What shall he do? There is only one course
that is worthy of his asserting personality--he must break with the
world. Henceforth he sees two worlds in opposition--the world of the
flesh on the one hand, the world of the spirit on the other, and he
arrays himself on the side of the higher in opposition to the lower.
When he does this the spiritual life in him makes the first substantial