suppose that this Activity emanates from any
thing or person _outside_ Nature. It may perfectly well exercise its
control and guidance from within--just as the activity which is "I"
controls, consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, the
movements and actions of every particle of which "my" body is
made up. But what we cannot but assume is that throughout this
prolific and marvellously varied forest life, through every tiny plant
and every forest giant, through every leaf and petal, through each
little insect and every bird and butterfly, through the wild beasts of
the jungle, the wary forest folk, and the most cultured men--through
each and all and the whole in its collectedness there runs some kind
of unifying Activity, holding the whole together, ordering all,
dominating all, directing all--just as the orchid-spirit holds together
and directs the activities of each particle which goes to make up the
orchid; or the eagle-spirit directs the activities of each particle which
goes to make up the eagle.

Suffusing the whole, embracing the whole, permeating each single
member of the whole, there must be an organising and directing
Activity, or we should not see the order and purposiveness we do.

We shall now see that this Organising Activity gives not only
direction, but an _upward_ direction to the whole which it controls.

* * *

We have already noted that among individuals the variety is such
that no two are exactly alike. Each individual, however nearly alike,
varies in some slight degree from every other. And new variations
are constantly being created. Now we have to note that besides
variation there is _gradation._ There is a _scale_ of being. And
individuals are graded on that scale. One is higher than another.

As there are gradations in height from the plains to the outlying
spurs of the Himalaya, and from these again to the higher ridges,
and from these on to the great mountains, and finally to
Kinchinjunga and Mount Everest; and as there are gradations in size
from tiny plants to the giant trees; so there are gradations in worth
and value from the simple lichen or moss to the highly complex
orchid; from the microscopic animalculae of a stagnant pond to
monkeys and men; from simple primitive men to the highly cultured
Bengali; and from the simple Bengali villager to the poet
Rabindranath Tagore. Everywhere there is scale, gradation, grade.
The differences between individuals is not on the leve