History has proved that the causes of evolution and change in morals and inclination, in traditions and customs, are very many indeed, whether in individuals and milieus or in nations and peoples. They are without doubt the result of many trials and numerous experiments, learned through the collisions, problems, and misfortunes that befall individuals and communities; it is these that refine our inclinations and temper our natures, so that we become able to distinguish the good things and the fine qualities and to choose from among them the best and the most fitting.
Lamarck and Darwin said: every evolution that occurs in humanity is the offspring of the evolution that preceded it.
And Rolph said: misfortune yields experience and whets resolve, and so leads to an evolution toward perfection. The man, or the nation, that knows how to profit from the shocks that strike it is the one that covers a wide stretch in the fields of evolution and progress.
And Heraclitus said: a man does not fall twice into the same river; and whoever allows himself to fall into it twice loses his lofty sensibility and his strength of will, and from this negligence deficiency is created in the man, and consequently in the nation.
Evolution in the individual, in the family, and in the nation leads to swift strides toward civilization and true patriotism and the knowledge of truths from their roots. Whoever lags behind in keeping pace
with evolution and advancement makes himself like a stagnant pool of water in which insects nest and germs and diseases breed — whether these pools be the cause of personal diseases, or family ones, or social ones. Perhaps we can draw a lesson from these sayings, which apply to us in our tragedies, and especially the greatest of them, our tragedy of Palestine.
Some believe that they please God by refusing advance
ment and evolution, and they cast this great responsibility upon His will, the Exalted, making Him responsible for all their deeds. But the truth is otherwise: reliance upon His will, the Exalted, is not the same as the responsibility laid upon our shoulders, for the principles of morality are one — fixed, unchanging, indivisible. And these principles say: every man is responsible for his deeds and must bear their consequences.
Montesquieu said: laws in general are derived from nature and from the roots of things. Therefore we must rely on ourselves, and toil and labor to know the roots of things and their truth, and go on adapting ourselves and evolving, so as to take up what is better and more useful.
Did not the noble Prophet say to one of his visitors — when he dismounted from his mare and left her to wander, trusting in God — did he not say to him: tether first, then trust in God. From this saying it becomes clear to us that the revealed divine religions likewise command us to perform our duties, and to scrutinize and study and search out the truths and the knowledge of their roots.
Yes, the search for truths is among the elementary arts that must be known; it is a purely scientific art, and once we know the truth in all matters, we know their roots and their derivatives.
Balmes said: truth in the principles of understanding is knowing how to direct oneself toward the right paths; truth in conduct of affairs is uprightness, moral and intellectual; and truth in behavior is submission to the sound laws derived from justice.
There are several paths to knowing the truths upon which evolution is built. They may sometimes appear to us clouded and unclear, and something may have
been added to them or taken from them, so that they change. Therefore the sound mind must look into things, into all that they contain and all that surrounds them, without addition or subtraction. And if truth is one with God, it is many and multiple among men and creatures. For example: the knowledge of truth in the sciences begets the true scholar; the knowledge of it in choosing the affairs of life brings forth the wise; the knowledge of it in politics and public works begets the great statesmen; and finally, the knowledge of it in all the professions