THE UNIVERSALITY OF LIFE AND MIND
The writer has deemed it advisable to preface his consideration of
"Mind" in itself, as well as of Substance and Motion, with two chapters,
the purpose of which will be to demonstrate that Mind, in some form or
degree, is to be found in connection with all Things--and that
Everything has Life--and that Mind is an accompaniment of all Life. To
many the term "Mind" means only the "thinking quality" of man, or
perhaps of the lower animals; and "Life" the property only of such
organic creatures. For that reason it has been deemed advisable to point
out that Life and Mind are found even in the lowest forms of
substance--even in the inorganic world.
In this chapter and from now on, the writer shall use the term "_the_
Mind," etc., to indicate the particular mental principle of the creature
or thing--the bit of Mind that is segregated from the rest, and which
each person thinks of as "mine," just as he thinks of "my" body, as
distinguished from the universal supply of Substance. The term "Mind"
will be used in its Universal sense.
And, the writer intends to use Elmer Gates' term, "_Mentation_," in the
sense of "effort; action; or effect; in or of, the Mind"--in short,
"mental process." The word is useful and when one has learned to use it,
he will prefer it to the more complicated terms. Remember, then,
please--"Mentation" means "Mental Process." Mentation includes that
which we call "Thought," as well as some more elementary forms of mental
process that we are not in the habit of dignifying by the term, Thought,
which latter we usually reserve for mental process of a higher order.
So, then, "Mind" is the something of which one's particular Mind is
composed; "The Mind" is that something possessed by one, by and through
which he "thinks"; "Mentation" is mental process; and "Thought" is a
advanced kind of Mentation. At least, the said words will be so employed
in this book, from now on.
In this chapter, you are asked to consider the fact that Life is
Universal--that Everything is Alive. And, that Mind and Mentation is an
attribute of Life, and that, consequently, Everything has Mind, and is
able to express a degree of Mentation.
Forms of Life, as we know them, are always seen as possessing two
aspects, _viz._, (1) Body (Substance); and (2) Mentation (Mind). The two
aspects are always found in combination. There may be living creatures
who occupy bodies of so fine a form of Substance as to be invisible to
the human senses--but their bodies would be "Substance" just as much as
is the "body" of the granite rock. And, in order to "think," these
beings would need to have a material something corresponding to the
brain, though it be finer in quality than the rarest gas, vapor, of
electric wave. No body, without Mentation; no Mentation without a body.
This last is the invariable law of the world of Things. And naught but
The Infinite--That-which-is-above-Things--can be exempt from that law.
In order to grasp the idea of the Universality of Mind, let us go back
to the elementary forms of Things, and, step by step, see how Mentation
manifests itself in every point on the scale from mineral to man--using
bodies ranging from the hardest rock to that finest form of known
Substance--the Brain of Man. As Mind advances in the scale of evolution
it creates its own working instrument--the body (including the brain)
and shapes, and moulds it to admit of the fullest possible expression of
Mentation possible at that stage. Mind is the moulder--body (and brain)
that which is moulded. And Inclination, Desire, and Will, are the motive
powers leading to gradual Unfoldment, the impelling cause being the
craving for Satisfaction.
We shall make our journey backward--and ignoring Beings higher in the
scale, we shall start with Man. Leaving out of the consideration, for
the moment, the fact of the existence of the "Ego," or "Spirit" of Man,
which is higher than Body or Mind--and considering "the Mind of Man,"
rather than the Man himself--we have our starting point on the downward
journey of investigation. We need not devote much attention to the
consideration of the Mind of Man, at this stage, although we shall have
much to do with it, later on.
But we may undertake a brief consideration of the descending degrees of
Mentation as manifested by Man, as we pass down the scale in the human
family, considering in turn, the Newtons, Shakespeares, Emersons,
Edisons, and their brothers in intellect, in the field of mathematics,
literature, music, art, invention, science, statesmanship, business,
skilled workmanship, etc., respectively. From these high levels we pass
down, gradually, through the strata of men of but a slightly lower
degree of intellect--down through the strata of the "average man"--down
through the strata of the ignorant man--down through the strata of the
lowest type of our own race and time--down through the strata of the
barbarian, then on to the savage, then on to the Digger Indian, the
Bushman. What a difference from highest to lowest--a being from another
world would doubt that they were all of the same family.
Then we pass rapidly through the various strata of the lower animal
kingdom--from the comparatively high degree of Mentation of the horse,
the dog, the elephant, etc., down through the descending scale of the
mammals, the degree of Mentation becoming less marked at each step of
the journey. Then on through the bird kingdom. Then through the world of
reptiles. Then through the family of fishes. Then through the millions
of forms of insect life, including those wonderful creatures, the ant
and the bee. Then on through the shell-fish family. Then on through the
community of sponges, polyps, and other low forms of life. Then on to
the vast empire of the microscopic creatures, whose name is legion. Then
on to the plant life, the highest of which have "sensitive cells" that
resemble brains and nerves--descending by stages to the lower plant
life. Then still lower to the world of bacteria, microbes, and
infusoria--the groups of cells with a common life--the monera--the
single cell. The mind that has followed us in this descent of life, from
the highest form to the cell-like "thing" merely "existing" in the slime
at the bottom of the ocean, has acquired a sense of awe and sublimity
not dreamed of by "the man on the street."
The degrees of Mentation in the lower animal kingdom are well known to
all of us, therefore, we need not devote much time to their
consideration at this time. Although the degree of Mentation in some of
the lowly forms of animal life, are scarcely above that of the plant
life (in fact, are inferior to that of the highest plants), still we
have accustomed ourselves to the use of the word "Mind" in connection
with even the lowest animals, while we hesitate to apply the word to the
plants.
It is true that some of us do not like to think of the lower animals
"reasoning," so we use the word "Instinct" to denote the degree of
Mentation of the lower animal. The writer does not object to the word;
in fact, he shall use it for the sake of distinguishing between the
several mental states. But, remember, "Instinct" is but a term used to
denote a lesser form of "Reason"--and the "Instinct" of the horse or dog
is a fine thing when we consider the "Reason" of the Bushman or Digger
Indian. However, we shall not quarrel about words. Both "Reason" and
"Instinct" mean degrees or forms of "Mentation," the word we are using.
The lower forms of animal life exhibit Mentation along the lines of
sex-action; feeling and taste. Then by degrees come smell, hearing and
sight. And then something very like "reasoning" in the case of the dog,
elephant, horse, etc. Mentation everywhere in the animal kingdom, in
some degree. No doubt about Life and Mentation, there.
But what about Mentation and Life in the plant life? All of you admit
that there is "Life" there--but about Mentation, well, let us see! Some
of you draw the line at the word "Mind" in connection with plants,
although you freely admit the existence of "Life" there. Well, remember
our axiom--"no Life without Mentation." Let us try to apply it.
A moment's reflection will give you instances of Mentation among the
plants. Science has called it "Appetency," rather than admit "Mind," the
word "Appetency" being defined as "an instinctive tendency on the part
of low forms of organic life to perform certain acts necessary for their
well-being--such as to select and absorb such particles of matter as
serve to support and nourish them." Well, that looks like a degree of
Mentation, doesn't it? Many young animals evidence little or nothing
more than "Appetency" in suckling. We shall adopt the word "Appetency"
to designate the Mentation in plant-life. Remember this, please.
Anyone who has raised trees or plants has noticed the instinctive
efforts of the plant to reach the water and sunlight. Potatoes in dark
cellars have been known to send forth shoots twenty feet in length in
order to reach an opening in the wall. Plants have been known to bend
over during the night and dip their leaves in a pot of water several
inches away. The tendrils of climbing plants seek for the stake or
support, and find it, too, although it has been changed daily. The
tendril will retwine itself, after it has been untwisted and bent in
another direction. The tips of the roots of the tree are said to show a
sensitiveness almost akin to that of the limb of an animal, and
evidently possess something akin to nerve matter.
Duhamel placed some beans in a cylinder of moist earth. When they began
to sprout, he turned the cylinder around quarter way of its
circumference; then a little more the next day; and so on, a little each
day, until the cylinder had described a complete revolution--had been
turned completely around. Then the beans were taken from the earth, and
lo! the roots and sprouts formed a complete spiral. With every turn of
the cylinder the roots and sprouts had changed their position and
direction--the roots striving to grow "downward," and the sprouts
striving to grow "upward"--until the spiral had formed. Akin to this is
the boy's trick of uprooting a sprouting seed, and replanting it upside
down, in which case the sprouts begin to turn a semicircle until it is
able to grow straight up to the surface of the earth, while the roots
describe a semicircle until they can grow downward once more.
And so on, story after story of "Appetency" or Mentation in plants might
be told, until we reach the insect-catching species, when even the most
conservative observer is forced to admit that: "Well, it does _almost_
seem like thinking, doesn't it?" Any lover of plants, flowers or trees,
and who has been able to study them at first hand, does not need much
argument to prove that plant-life exhibits traces of Mentation, some of
it pretty far advanced, too. Some lovers of plants go so far as to claim
that one must "love" plants before they will succeed in growing them,
and that the plants feel and respond to the feeling. But the writer does
not insist upon this, but merely mentions it in passing.
Before leaving the subject of Mentation in plants, the writer is tempted
to steal a little more space and tell you that plants do more than
receive sensations of light and moisture. They exhibit rudimentary taste
as well. Haeckel relates an interesting story of an insect-catching
plant. He states that while it will bend its leaves when any solid body
(excepting a raindrop) touches its surface, still it will secrete its
acrid digestive fluid only when that object happens to be nitrogenous
(meat or cheese). The plant is able to distinguish its meat diet (its
food being insectivorous), and while it will supply its gastric juice
for meat and cheese, as well as for the insect, it will not do so for
other solids to which it is indifferent. He also mentions the fact that
roots of trees and plants are able to taste the different qualities of
soil, and will avoid poor soil and plunge into the richer parts of the
earth. The sexual organism and life of plants also affords a great field
for study to the student hunting for evidences of "life" and "Mentation"
in that kingdom.
The motion or circulation of the sap in trees and plants was formerly
considered to be due to capillary attraction and purely "mechanical
laws," but recent scientific experiments have shown it to be a vital
action--an evidence of life and Mentation--the experiments having
proven that if the cell-substance of the plant was poisoned or
paralyzed, the circulation of sap immediately ceased, although the
"mechanical principles" had not been interfered with in the least.
And now on to the mineral kingdom. "What," you may cry, "Mind and
Mentation in the mineral and chemical world--surely not?" Yes, even in
these low planes may be found traces of mental action. There is Life
everywhere--even there. And where there is Life there is Mind. Away back
among the chemical principles, and the minerals we may go in our search
for Life and Mind--they cannot escape us--even there!