And  that  may  be  an  element  of  profundity  in  these  naive
ideas  which  ascribe  to  nature  aspirations  which  are  more
properly  human.     Do  there  not  exist  in  nature  great  unfinished


488  NON-RELIGIOiV  OF    THE  FUTURE.
sketches,  hints  and  hnes  leading  upward  ?  Nature  has  done
all  that  unconsciously,  has  blindly  piled  block  on  block  of  stone
slowly  toward  the  stars.  It  is  man's  privilege  to  read  a
meaning  into  her  work,  to  make  use  of  her  efforts,  to  employ
past  centuries  as  the  materials  out  of  which  to  build  the
future;  by  scaling  the  heights  of  nature  man  will  reach
the  sky.
//.  Materialism.
Properly  to  estimate  idealism  it  must  be  contrasted  with  its
opposite,  materialism.
