The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-12-18

Paper Read Before the ChautauQua Circle.
sc INDIVIDUALITY stands above
all, except the eLaw-Principle."
Human individuality may be
defined as the sum of mental
characteristics, embodied in one mind.
We are each entitled to an individual
integrity; and we instiactively resent
any attempt to infringe upon it. Strive
as we may to infuse our lives into
others, or absorb others into our own,
we still retain the same quality of in
dividuation. There is neither loss nor
gain. Revert, for example, to the
physical plane; the molecules of a solid
block of granite never touch. The
infinite number of atoms composing
the earth's body, fail in perfect cohe-.
sion; but are separated by, and float in
an imponderable fluidic-sssence, inn
measurably lighter in weight than their
own constituency.
Think for moment what varied
experience such an atom must have
undergone-from moment when time
was not, whirling through a form
less void; becoming factor in the first
qualifications of Nature, numberless
transmigrations into rock, tree and
flower. The destructive elements in
natural law setting it free, only to be
clasped again by constructive force
buried in the sea, or hurled along with
its fellows in the dust-cloud of Sa-
haric storm; and yet through it all, it
has never yielded its individuality-it
is the same atom as in the beginning.
Application and study by thousands
have shown the demonstrated evidence
that the genesis in all things is through
the universal aff1atus of evolutioE-a
ceaseless and universal cycle of gyra-
tions through natural elements and
forces. No evolution of the animal
into anything greater than man can
ever take place. Man can be improved
upon only in mental direction.
There is no escaping the conclu-
sion, that mind is an end product.
Mans animal consciousness is SIM
ply an improvement in some ways
upon the consciousness of other ami
mails. His higher consciousness is the
consciousness of his mental being; it
is self-cOnsciOusness. He has acquired
a state of self-hood. Shall we follow
on and say, switch is an individuation
in the Intimacy of universal, eternal
consciousness 7" That question per-
talns to speculative philosophy; and
might add theology. AS to the an
swer, I leave it 60 you've have only
to do with metaphysics. Beginning as
mere point of potentiality, it has en-
larged by experience to its present
actuality. The self-hood of tomorrow
will be different from what it is today
But, altho it recognizes its mental
transitions and characteristic acquire.
ments, its abstract sense of self-hood
remains the same. In an incOmpre-
hensible way, it has the power of al.
ways recognizing its own identity
which would not be disturbed were il
to find itself in the midst of thousand
other self-hoods, so precisely like its
own that one could not be distinguished
from the other, except as each knew
his own personality. Thus we see tina,
entity of being, within the limit OF
mundane existence, is indestructible
non-subversive.. Does it still cleave tG
its apparent immutability after phys
ical dissolution? Here again leave
the answer to you; it does not come
within the province of this paper.
Some one has said, "that no one was
ever great by Imitation" Imitation il
a kind of Information. 1t reminds ont
of certain drugs and spirits, that nei
ther destroy the tissues of the body
nor permit them to aid in the per
formance of its normal functions
Ages ago, the power of imitation must
have originated in our nomadic an
cestors, as they followed the chase
amid the glades Of lost Atlantis
raised their rude stone altars beside
the Euphrates, or along the sunny