To Netnews Homepage Previous Next Index Table of Contents
Problems of Humanity - Chapter VI - The Problem of International Unity
CHAPTER VI The Problem of International Unity The distribution of the world's resources and the settled unity of the peoples of the world are in reality one and the same thing, for behind all modern wars lies a fundamental economic problem. Solve that and wars will very largely cease. In considering, therefore, the preservation of peace, as sought for and emphasized by the United Nations at this time, it becomes immediately apparent that peace, security and world stability are primarily tied up with the economic problem. When there is freedom from want, one of the major causes of war will disappear. Where there is uneven distribution of the world's riches and where there is a situation in which some nations have or take everything and other nations lack the necessities of life, it is obvious that there is a trouble-breeding factor there and that something must be done. Therefore we should deal with world unity and peace primarily from the angle of the economic problem. With the cessation of World War II came the opportunity to inaugurate a new and better way of life, and to establish that security and peace for which all men ceaselessly long. Three groups immediately appeared in the world: The powerful, reactionary, conservative groups desirous of retaining as much of the past as possible, having great power and no vision. The fanatical ideologists in every country - communistic, democratic and fascist. [168] The inert masses of the people in every land, ignorant for the most part, desiring only peace after storm and security in the place of economic disaster; they are victimized by their rulers, by established old conditions, and kept in the dark as to the truth of the world situation. All these factors produce the present disorders and condition the deliberations of the United Nations. Though there is no major war, there is no peace, no security and no immediate hope of either. It is essential for the future happiness and progress of humanity that there should be no return to the old ways, whether political, religious or economic. Therefore, in handling these problems, we should search out the wrong conditions which have brought humanity to its present state of almost cataclysmic disaster. These conditions were the result of religious faiths which have not moved forward in their thinking for hundreds of years; of economic systems which lay the emphasis upon the accumulation of riches and material possessions and which leave all the power and the produce of the earth in the hands of a relatively few men, while the rest of humanity struggle for a bare subsistence; and of political regimes run by the corrupt, the totalitarian-minded, the grafters and those who love place and power more than they love their fellowmen. It is essential that there should be a presentation of these things in terms of the spiritual welfare of humanity and a truer interpretation of the meaning of the word "spiritual". The time is long past when a line of demarcation can be drawn between the religious world and the political or the economic. The reason for the corrupt politics and the greedy ambitious planning of so many of the world's leading men can be found in the fact that spiritually minded men and women have not assumed - as [169] their spiritual duty and responsibility - the leadership of the people. They have left the power in the wrong hands and permitted the selfish and the undesirable to lead. The word "spiritual" does not belong to the churches or to the world religions. "Pure religion and undefiled" is pure charity and a selfless following of the Christ. The churches are themselves great capitalistic systems, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, and show little evidence of the mind that was in Christ. The churches have had their opportunity, but have done little to change men's hearts or to benefit the people. Now, under cyclic law, political ideologies and national and international planning are occupying the attention of the people and everywhere efforts are being made to bring about better human relations. This, in the eyes of the spiritually minded and of the enlightened worker for humanity, is a sign of progress and an indication of the innate divinity in man. That is truly spiritual which properly relates man to man and man to God and which demonstrates in a better world and the expression of the Four Freedoms throughout the planet. For these the spiritual man must work. The Kingdom of God will inaugurate a world which will be one in which it will be realized that - politically speaking - humanity, as a whole, is of far greater importance than any one nation; it will be a new world order, built upon different principles to those in the past, and one in which men will carry the spiritual vision into their national governments, into their economic planning and into all measures taken to bring about security and right human relations. Spirituality is essentially the establishing of right human relations, the promotion of goodwill and finally the establishing of a true peace on earth, as the result of these two expressions of divinity. [170]
To Netnews Homepage Previous Next Index Table of Contents
Last updated Monday, September 21, 1998 © 1998 Netnews Association. All rights reserved.