Message-ID: <m0vsOnh-000ap1C@aztec.co.za> Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 10:03:00 EET From: steve worth <mailto:stevew@AZTEC.CO.ZA> Subject: Re: THEORY: Mankind at stake To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
While I would agree that is appears that we change only when our lives are at stake, I believe we have derived at this conclusion because of the historical choices mankind has made over the centuries -- generally choosing to ingnore the signs of the times and having to be dragged into the a new level of civilisation.But in reality, we always, always have a choice...
I too share the optimism that mankind will survive, but the question is how. We will again repeat the unwisdom of our ancestors and deny the future that is staring us in the face and be dragged, kicking and screaming into a new global order that will begin to resolve the issues facing our gobal family? Or will we sit up, act as adults, consider things dispassionately (but withi compassion), assess our situation and through the process of global consultation peice together the structures and relationships which are required to effect not only the survival but the flourishing of humankind -- both of which are dependent on the establishment of world peace.
In 1985 I read these words from the Universal House of Justice:
Whether peace is to be reached only after unimaginable horrors precipitated by humanity's stubborn clinging to old patters of behaviour, or is to be embraces now by an act of consultative will, is the choice before all who inhabit the earth.
Horace Holly, noted commentator in the 1940's and 1950's said
In every greaat crisis of human affairs, the fundamental point at issue turns upon the differences in our conception of the nature of man. However the issue is clothed in political, economic or social terms -- however unconscious the mass of people may seem to be that it is man himself at stake -- no true solution is arrived at until the spiritual problem has been cleared...The great issues before the world today... all serve to reveal the chasms in our spiritual philosophy. The question: what is man? confronts us at every turn... the age is one of vital crisis for the very reason that this question cannot be postponed nor evaded any more.
The result is inevitable... but the pathway and the price are negotiable. It is not an issue of one system versus another; all have merit and all have flaws. It _is_ an issue of exploring our choices based on a firm understanding and acceptance of our singleness of kind.
Steve Worth South Africa