The Star in the West

THE VIRGIN 67 paths of Idealism ; but we might add , from a strictly logical point of view , that the latter system has much to support it . In all and every one of us lies a certain individual desire , which is strictly subjective , in the individual it is called character , in the nation govern ment . The laws of a country are the compilation of a series of individual characterizations , a series of inner reflections of the outer object . In each one of us there is a slight difference of effect , and this varia tion results in the survival of the fittest intellect . Now the essential difference between the spirit of an in dividual and that of a nation is this : the first acts intuitively , the second mechanically ; the former pro pels the latter , whilst the latter reacts as a drag on the former . If the former is in a healthy state so will the latter be ; if the latter becomes corrupt it will then react and contaminate the former . This is the law of all Form - i.e ., Government - and Reform . The outlaw of to - day was the citizen of yesterday , so the law of to - day will become the crime of to morrow . Man being inherently lazy , and hence conservative , this power is forever reacting on him , and binding him down to a government unsuited to his times , and it is this power that he has chosen to call — the Moral code ; notwithstanding the fact that it is not based in any way on the perceptions he has obtained from Nature's code as it now is reflected , but on that re flection which was obtained by his ancestors , a far less worthy appreciation . And in this inherent con servativeness and horror of change lie most of the tragedies of love ; for man trying to quench the natural flame of his desires in a torrent of chilly and criminal atavism , merely floods the virtuous path ,