THE LIFE FORCE

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 27 January 1923, Page 17

THE LIFE FORCE

''The Religion of the Life Force." JJy R. Edison Page. Jonathan Cape, .London (from Waitcombe and Tombs).

■This little book ■will make many readers think as they never did Before of the mysteries of forces. The writer points to' the knowledge possessed by man of the operations of forces, such as electricity, or light, -and the ignorance of what they are. He sees the forces all in conflict,, a ceaseless warefare, and a merciless, but ever in the direction of freedom arid action and reaction "But," ho writes, "it may be that the freedom will never be realised on Earth. . There may not be time to realise it here before the Siarth falls, into the Sun." The highest force is man, summit of the Life Force, and the final 'superhuman race into whom man is developing will some day realise that freedom somewhere in the universe. The Life Forco has riiany names—Logos, Prana, The tao, The Absolute, The Ever- 1 lasting Yea, but it is all the same thing. It is seen working in the crystal, .the plant, the animal; and more clearly seen when working; in man. It is ever striving, ever groping after a. clearer knowledge of itself throughout history; ever' creating life. And out of this furious and unabated ardour has arisen a secondary conflict, between the higher and the lower vehicles of its expression.l This, in Darwinian language, is the struggle for osistot\e«j thes unending stnisßle f>{ the fittest to survive, Xlva, human body is the lyffiiefit-yeijiql^la^t

the Life Force has so far formed for itself j the human brain is its most powerful instrument; it is the human spirit. Man is the Life Force. That being accepted, how should he" act? Happiness is the quest of all'men. in all ages and conditions. They must begin with, the human body if' they would attain to complete happiness. They must realise that the body. k that vehicle and that is the first step—realisation. It comes by Affirmation. • The writer shows how this Should be gone about: "Stand in front of a mirror in the morning and at night and as often as you can during the day, look yourself in the eyes, and talk to yourself firmly and clearly, and aloud about the things you desire. Say to yourself, for example: 'I am the Life Force. ,Mv body is the vehicle through which I, the Life Force, find expression. I desire to become the most perfect possible vehicle.' You will presently find that you are getting your desire." The writer holds this deliberate affirmation has a sacramental effect; it strengthens realisation. The transmission of the Life Force is the main function of women, and -her lure of dress, whether she is conscious of it or not, is to that end. The man may be measured by his wovk, but the woman must be measured by her child. In her motherhood she is the happiest of beings, if in health, and the child or children are in health. Thus shs enjoys a greater sense of the oneness with the Life Force than Can any man. She is indeed the Life Force working freely, the conclusion that the writer comes to is that alt help, should be given to women in their endeavour for the good of their children. In any case to her knowledge of her function a* a mother and what 1 ' it means—- the good of her children, first and last—the statesman and politician must bow. The idea ■propounded by the writer is ingenious and interesting; but it will call for a considerable amount of thought on ths part of many ■people before its acceptance, in toto.