So also _progress_ is here, as in other forms of evolution--a _progress of the whole_, but not necessarily of every part. Some members of the social aggregate advance _upward_ to the dignity of statesmen, philosophers, and poets; some advance _downward_ to the position of scavengers and sewer-cleansers.[10] But the highest members are progressively higher, and the whole aggregate is progressively grander and more complex in structure and functions. So, again, the _law of cyclical movement_ is equally conspicuous here. Society everywhere advances, not uniformly, but by successive waves, each higher than the last; each urged by a new and higher social force, and embodying a new and higher phase of civilization. Again: as each phase declines, its characteristic social force is not lost, but becomes incorporated into the next higher phase as a subordinate principle, and thus the social organism as a whole becomes not only higher and higher, but also more and more complex in the mutual relations of its interacting social forces. Let us not be misunderstood, however. There is undoubtedly in social evolution something more and higher than we have described, but which does not concern us here, except to guard against misconstruction. There is in society a _voluntary progress_ wholly different from the evolution we have been describing. In _true_ or material evolution natural law works for the betterment of the whole utterly regardless of the elevation of the individual, and the individual contributes to the advance of the whole quite unconsciously while striving only for his own betterment. This unconscious evolution by natural law inherited from the animal kingdom is conspicuous enough in society, especially in its early stages, but we would make a great mistake if we imagined, as some do, that this is all. Besides the unconscious evolution by natural laws, _inherited from below_, there is a higher evolution, _inherited from above_, indissolubly connected with man’s spiritual nature--a conscious, voluntary striving of the best members of the social aggregate for the betterment of the whole--a conscious, voluntary striving both of the individual and of society toward a recognized _ideal_. In the one kind of evolution the fittest are those most in harmony with the environment, and which therefore always survive; in the other, the fittest are those most in harmony with the ideal, and which often do not survive. The laws of this free voluntary progress are little understood. They are of supreme importance, but do not specially concern us here. We will speak of it again in another chapter. The three laws above mentioned might be illustrated equally well by all other forms of evolution. We have selected only those which are most familiar. They may, therefore, be truly called the laws of evolution. We have shown that they are the laws of succession of organic forms.