Almost from the first, vital art had been applied to some extent to man
himself, though with hesitation. Certain great improvements had been
effected, but only improvements about which there could be no two
opinions. The many diseases and abnormalities left over from past
civilizations were patiently abolished, and various more fundamental
defects were remedied. For instance, teeth, digestion, glandular
equipment, and the circulatory system were greatly improved. Extreme
good health and considerable physical beauty became universal.
Child-bearing was made a painless and health-giving process. Senility
was postponed. The standard of practical intelligence was appreciably
raised. These reforms were made possible by a vast concerted effort of
research and experiment supported by the world-community. But private
enterprise was also effective, for the relation between the sexes was
much more consciously dominated by the thought of offspring than among
the First Men. Every individual knew the characteristics of his or her
hereditary composition, and knew what kinds of offspring were to be
expected from intercourse of different hereditary types. Thus in
courtship the young man was not content to persuade his beloved that his
mind was destined by nature to afford her mind joyful completion; he
sought also to persuade her that with his help she might bear children
of a peculiar excellence. Consequently there was at all times going on a
process of selective breeding towards the conventionally ideal type. In
certain respects the ideal remained constant for many thousands of
years. It included health, cat-like agility, manipulative dexterity,
musical sensitivity, refined perception of rightness and wrongness in
the sphere of vital art, and an intuitive practical judgement in all the
affairs of life. Longevity, and the abolition of senility, were also
sought, and partially attained. Waves of fashion sometimes directed
sexual selection toward prowess in combat, or some special type of
facial expression or vocal powers. But these fleeting whims were
negligible. Only the permanently desired characters were actually
intensified by private selective breeding.
But at length there came a time when more ambitious aims were
entertained. The world-community was now a highly organized theocratic
hierarchy, strictly but on the whole benevolently ruled by a supreme
council of vital priests and biologists. Each individual, down to the
humblest agricultural worker, had his special niche in society, allotted
him by the supreme council or its delegates, according to his known
heredity and the needs of society. This system, of course, sometimes led
to abuse, but mostly it worked without serious friction. Such was the
precision of biological knowledge that each person’s mental calibre and
special aptitudes were known beyond dispute, and rebellion against his
lot in society would have been rebellion against his own heredity. This
fact was universally known, and accepted without regret. A man had
enough scope for emulation and triumph among his peers, without
indulging in vague attempts to transcend his own nature, by rising into
a superior hierarchical order. This state of affairs would have been
impossible had there not been universal faith in the religion of life
and the truth of biological science. Also it would have been impossible
had not all normal persons been active practitioners of the sacred vital
art, upon a plane suited to their capacity. Every individual adult of
the rather scanty world-population regarded himself or herself as a
creative artist, in however humble a sphere. And in general he, or she,
was so fascinated by the work, that he was well content to leave social
organization and control to those who were fitted for it. Moreover, at
the back of every mind was the conception of society itself as an
organism of specialized members. The strong sentiment for organized
humanity tended, in this race, to master even its strong egotistical
impulses, though not without a struggle.
It was such a society, almost unbelievable to the First Men, that now
set about remaking human nature. Unfortunately there were conflicting
views about the goal. The orthodox desired only to continue the work
that had for long been on foot; though they proposed greater enterprise
and coordination. They would perfect man’s body, but upon its present
plan; they would perfect his mind, but without seeking to introduce
anything new in essence. His physique, percipience, memory,
intelligence, and emotional nature should be improved almost beyond
recognition; but they must, it was said, remain essentially what they
had always been.
A second party, however, finally persuaded orthodox opinion to amplify
itself in one important respect. As has already been said, the Third Men
were prone to phases of preoccupation with the ancient craving for
personal immortality. This craving had often been strong among the First
Men; and even the Second Men, in spite of their great gift of
detachment, had sometimes allowed their admiration for human personality
to persuade them that souls must live for ever. The short-lived and
untheoretical Third Men, with their passion for living things of all
kinds, and all the diversity of vital behaviour, conceived immortality
in a variety of manners. In their final culture they imagined that at
death all living things whom the Life God approved passed into another
world, much like the familiar world, but happier. There they were said
to live in the presence of the deity, serving him in untrammelled vital
creativeness of sundry kinds.
Now it was believed that communication might occur between the two
worlds, and that the highest type of terrestrial life was that which
communicated most effectively, and further that the time had now arrived
for much fuller revelation of the life to come. It was therefore
proposed to breed highly specialized communicants whose office should be
to guide this world by means of advice from the other. As among the
First Men, this communication with the unseen world was believed to take
place in the mediumistic trance. The new enterprise, then, was to breed
extremely sensitive mediums, and to increase the mediumistic powers of
the average individual.
There was yet another party, whose aim was very different. Man, they
said, is a very noble organism. We have dealt with other organisms so as
to enhance in each its noblest attributes. It is time to do the same
with man. What is most distinctive in man is intelligent manipulation,
brain and hand. Now hand is really outclassed by modern mechanisms, but
brain will never be outclassed. Therefore we must breed strictly for
brain, for intelligent coordination of behaviour. All the organic
functions which can be performed by machinery, must be relegated to
machinery, so that the whole vitality of the organism may be devoted to
brain-building and brain-working. We must produce an organism which
shall be no mere bundle of relics left over from its primitive ancestors
and precariously ruled by a glimmer of intelligence. We must produce a
man who is nothing but man. When we have done this we can, if we like,
ask him to find out the truth about immortality. And also, we can safely
surrender to him the control of all human affairs.
The governing caste were strongly opposed to this policy. They declared
that, if it succeeded, it would only produce a most inharmonious being
whose nature would violate all the principles of vital aesthetics. Man,
they said, was essentially an animal, though uniquely gifted. His whole
nature must be developed, not one faculty at the expense of others. In
arguing thus, they were probably influenced partly by the fear of losing
their authority; but their arguments were cogent, and the majority of
the community agreed with them. Nevertheless a small group of the
governors themselves were determined to carry through the enterprise in
secret.
There was no need of secrecy in breeding communicants. The world state
encouraged this policy and even set up institutions for its pursuit.