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The Seventh Lesson: Cosmic Evolution.823
above the crustacea. The wonders of spider-life—the almost human life of
the ants—the spirit of the beehive—and all the rest of the wonders of insect
life are familiar to all of our readers. A study of some good book on the life
of the higher forms of the insect family will prove of value to anyone, for it
will open his or her eyes to the wonderful manifestation of life and mind
among these creatures. Remember the remark of Darwin, that the brain
of the ant, although not much larger than a pin point, “is one of the most
marvelous atoms of matter in the world, perhaps more so than the brain of
man.”
Closely allied to the crustacea is the sub-family of the mollusca, which
includes the oyster, clams, and similar creatures; also the snails, cuttle-fish,
slugs, nautilus, sea-squirts, etc., etc. Some are protected by a hard shell,
while others have a gristly outer skin, serving as an armor, while others still
are naked. Those having shells secrete the material for their construction
from the water. Some of them are fixed to rocks, etc., while others roam at
will. Strange as it may appear at first sight, some of the higher forms of the
mollusca show signs of a rudimentary vertebra, and science has hazarded
the opinion that the sea-squirts and similar creatures were descended from
some ancestor from whom also descended the vertebrate animals, of which
man is the highest form known today on this planet. We shall mention this
connection in our next lesson, where we will take up the story of “The Ascent
of Man” from the lowly vertebrate forms.
And now, in closing this lesson, we must remind the reader that we are not
teaching Evolution as it is conceived by modern science. We are viewing it
from the opposite viewpoint of the Yogi Teaching. Modern Science teaches
that Mind is a by-product of the evolving material forms—while the Yogi
Teachings hold that there was Mind involved in the lowest form, and that that
Mind constantly pressing forward for unfoldment compelled the gradual
evolution, or unfoldment of the slowly advancing degrees of organization
and function. Science teaches that “function precedes organization,” that
is, that a form performs certain functions, imperfectly and crudely, before