The Choice Channel

“It is one of the most ancient of human beliefs that all things human are under the influence of two contrasting forces moving in different directions. Primitive man, no doubt, early be­came aware that certain things made for salva­tion and others not: and that the division did not correspond to that represented by mere pleasure or pain. Hence, with the tendency of the dawning primitive intelligence to think of all forces as living forces, to think of winds and storms and fire and flood, as things animated like itself, there arose the notion of good and evil, of a Deity and a Devil. From the earliest twilight of our civilization this principle of contrasted forces shaping our destiny appears and reappears. In the present essay the attempt is made to show its application to the advancement of learning.” (1934)