Publishers' Note

      The three books — The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity and War and Self-Determination—printed and published originally as separate volumes and at different times, are put together here in one volume : they form in fact a unit, a trilogy as it were, depicting the historical process that the Time-Spirit deploys in the elaboration of the divine plan in the evolution of human life.

      The Human Cycle in its first edition (1949) was prefaced with the following explanatory note:

      "The Chapters constituting this book were written under the title 'The Psychology of Social Development' from month to month in the philosophical monthly, 'Arya' from August 15, 1916 to July 15, 1918 and used recent and contemporary events as well as illustrations from the history of the past in its explanation of the theory of social evolution put forward in these pages. The reader has therefore to go back in his mind to the events of that period in order to follow the line of thought and the atmosphere in which it developed and at one time there suggested itself the necessity of bringing this part up to date, especially by some reference to later developments in Nazi Germany and the development of a totalitarian Communist regime in Russia. But after-wards it was felt that there was sufficient prevision and allusion to these events and more elaborate description or criticism of them was not essential; there was already without them an adequate working out and elucidation of this theory of the social cycle."

      The Ideal of Human Unity in its second revised edition (1950) carried this note from the Publishers:

      "The Ideal of Human Unity first appeared in the 'Arya' (Vol. II, No. 2—Vol. IV, No. 12) complete in 35 Chapters, serially from September 1915 to July 1918.

 

      "It was reproduced in book-form in 1919 by The Sons of India Ltd., Madras (with three Appendices, a Preface and a detailed synopsis of the Chapters. The Appendices contained articles from the 'Arya' setting forth the ideal of the Review).

 

      "The present edition is a revised version; but the revision was done before the last World War (1939-1945) It is, however, printed almost in that form brought up to date by the addition of a Postscript Chapter dealing with the world conditions today".

      The edition presented here is an exact reprint of the revised version, except for a few verbal alterations made later by Sri Aurobindo in the Postscript Chapter.

      War and Self-Determination is a reprint of its third edition (1957). The first edition (1920) contained the three essays (The Passing of War, The Unseen Power and Self-Determination) published originally in 'Arya' (1916-1920) with a Foreword and The League of Nations especially written for that edition. In the third edition was added After the War published in the 'Arya' but not included in the previous two editions. In the present edition an unpublished article from 'Arya' is added at the end.