I hear Your challenge. I hear it. Please tell me more now about life on this planet on a grander scale. Tell me how nation can get along with nation so there will be “war no more.
There will always be disagreements between na-tions, for disagreement is merely a sign—and a healthy one—of individuality. Violent resolution of disagree-ments, however, is a sign of extraordinary immaturity1.
There is no reason in the world why violent resolu-tion cannot be avoided, given the willingness of nations to avoid it.
One would think that the massive toil2 in death and destroyed lives would be enough to produce such willingness, but among primitive3 cultures such as yours, that is not so.
As long as you think you can win an argument, you will have it. As long as you think you can win a war, you will fight it.
What is the answer to all of this?
I do not have an answer, I only have— I know, I know! An observation.
Yes. I observe now what I observed before. A short-term answer could be to establish what some have called a one-world government, with a world court to settle disputes (one whose verdicts may not be ignored, as happens with the present World Court) and a world peacekeeping force to guarantee that no one nation—no matter how powerful or how influential—can ever again aggress upon another.
Yet understand that there may still be violence upon the Earth. The peacekeeping force may have to use violence to get someone to stop doing so. As I noted4 in Book 1, failure to stop a despot empowers a despot. Sometimes the only way to avoid a war is to have a war. Sometimes you have to do what you don’t want to do in order to ensure that you won’t have to keep on doing it! This apparent contradic-tion is part of the Divine Dichotomy, which says that sometimes the only way to ultimately Be a thing—in this case, “peaceful”—may be, at first, to not be it!
In other words, often the only way to know yourself as That Which You Are is to experience yourself as That Which You Are Not.
It is an observable truth that power in your world can no longer rest disproportionately with any individ-ual nation, but must rest in the hands of the total group of nations existing on this planet. Only in this way can the world finally be at peace, resting in the secure knowledge that no despot—no matter how big or pow-erful his individual nation—can or will ever again in-fringe upon the territories of another nation, nor threaten her freedoms.
No longer need the smallest nations depend upon the goodwill5 of the largest nations, often having to bargain away their own resources and offer their prime lands for foreign military bases in order to earn it. Under this new system, the security of the smallest nations will be guaranteed not by whose back they scratch, but by who is backing them.
All 160 nations would rise up should one nation be invaded. All 160 nations would say No! should one nation be violated or threatened in any way.
Similarly, nations would no longer be threatened economically, blackmailed6 into certain courses of ac-tion by their bigger trading partners, required to meet certain “guidelines” in order to receive foreign aid, or mandated7 to perform in certain ways in order to qualify for simple humanitarian8 assistance.
Yet there are those among you who would argue that such a system of global governance would erode9 the independence and the greatness of individual na-tions. The truth is, it would increase it—and that is precisely10 what the largest nations, whose inde-pendence is assured by power, not by law or justice, are afraid of. For then no longer would only the largest nation always get its way automatically, but the consid-erations of all nations would have to be heard equally. And no longer would the largest nations be able to control and hoard11 the mass of the world’s resources, but would be required to share them more equally, render them accessible more readily, provide their benefits more uniformly to all the world’s people.
A worldwide government would level the playing field—and this idea, while driving to the core of the debate regarding basic human dignity, is anathema12 to the world’s “haves,” who want the “have-nots” to go seek their own fortunes—ignoring, of course, the fact that the “haves” control all that others would seek.
Yet it feels as though we are talking about redistribution of wealth here. How can we maintain the incentive13 of those who do want more, and are willing to work for it, if they know they must share with those who do not care to work that hard?
First, it is not merely a question of those who want to “work hard” and those who don’t. That is a simplistic way to cast the argument (usually constructed in that way by the “haves”). It is more often a question of opportunity than willingness. So the real job, and the first job in restructuring the social order, is to make sure each person and each nation has equal opportunity.
That can never happen so long as those who cur-rently possess and control the mass of the world’s wealth and resources hold tightly to that control.
Yes. I mentioned Mexico, and without wanting to get into “nation bashing,” I think this country provides an excellent example of that. A handful of rich and powerful families control the wealth and resources of that entire nation—and have for 40 years. “Elections” in this so-called Western Democ-racy are a farce14 because the same families have controlled the same political party for decades, assuring virtually no serious opposition15. Result? “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
If wages should Jump from $1.75 to a whopping $3.15 an hour, the rich point to how much they’ve done for the poor in providing jobs and opportunity for economic advancement16. Yet the only ones making quantum advances are the rich—the industrialists17 and business owners who sell their commodities on the national and world market at huge profits, given the low cost of their labor18.
America’s rich know this is true—which is why many of America’s rich and powerful are rebuilding their plants and factories in Mexico and other foreign countries where slave-la-bor wages are considered a grand opportunity for the peasants. Meanwhile, these workers toil in unhealthy and wholly unsafe conditions, but the local government—controlled by the same few reaping the profits from these ventures—imposes few regulations. Health and safety standards and environmental protections are virtually nonexistent in the workplace.
The people are not being cared for, nor is the Earth, on which they are being asked to live in their paper shacks19 next to streams in which they do their laundry and into which they sometimes defecate—for indoor plumbing20 is also often not one of their dignities.
What is created by such crass21 disregard for the masses is a population which cannot afford the very products it is manu-facturing. But the rich factory owners don’t care. They can ship their goods to other nations where there are people who can.
Yet I believe that sooner or later this spiral will turn in upon itself—with devastating22 consequences. Not just in Mexico, but wherever humans are exploited.
Revolutions and civil war are inevitable23, as are wars between nations, so long as the “haves” continue seek-ing to exploit the “have-nots” under the guise24 of pro-viding opportunity.
Holding on to the wealth and the resources has become so institutionalized that it almost now appears acceptable even to some fair-minded people, who see it as simply open market economics.
Yet only the power held by the world’s wealthy individuals and nations makes that illusion of fairness possible. The truth is, it is not fair to the largest percent-age of the world’s people and nations, who are held down from even attempting to achieve what the Pow-erful have achieved.
The system of governance described here would drastically shift the balance of power away from the resource-rich to the resource-poor, forcing the re-sources themselves to be fairly shared.
This is what the powerful fear.
Yes. So the short-term solution to the world’s foment25 may be a new social structure—a new, worldwide, government.
There have been those leaders among you who have been insightful enough and brave enough to propose the beginnings of such a new world order. Your George Bush, whom history will judge to be a man of far greater wisdom, vision, compassion26, and courage than contemporary society was willing or able to ac-knowledge, was such a leader. So was Soviet27 President Mikhail Gorbachev, the first communist head of state ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize and a man who proposed enormous political changes, virtually ending what you’ve called the Cold War. And so was your President Carter, who brought your Mr. Begin and Mr. Sadat to come to agreements no one else ever had dreamt of, and who, long after his presidency28, pulled the world back from violent confrontation29 time and time again through the simple assertion of a simple truth: No one’s point of view is less worthy30 of being heard than another’s; No one human being has less dignity than another.
It is interesting that these courageous31 leaders, each of whom brought the world from the brink32 of war in their own time, and each of whom espoused33 and proposed massive movements away from the prevailing34 political structure, each served only one term, removed from office as they were by the very people they were seeking to elevate. Incredibly popular worldwide, they were soundly rejected at home. It is said that a man is without honor in his own home. In the case of these men, it is because their vision was miles ahead of their people, who could see only limited, parochial con-cerns, and imagined nothing but loss proceeding35 from these larger visions.
So, too, has every leader who has dared to step out and call for the end of oppression by the powerful been discouraged and defiled36.
Thus it will always be until a long-term solution, which is not a political one, is put into place. That long-term solution—and the only real one— is a New Awareness37, and a New Consciousness. An awareness of Oneness and a consciousness of Love.
The incentive to succeed, to make the most of one’s life, should not be economic or materialistic38 reward. It is misplaced there. This misplaced priority is what has created all of the problems we have discussed here.
When the incentive for greatness is not eco-nomic—when economic security and basic materialis-tic needs are guaranteed to all—then incentive will not disappear, but be of a different sort, increasing in strength and determination, producing true greatness, not the kind of transparent39, transient “greatness” which present incentives40 produce.
But why isn’t living a better life, creating a better life for our children, a good incentive?
“Living a better life” is a proper incentive. Creating a “better life” for your children is a good incentive. But the question is, what makes for a “better life”?
How do you define “better”? How do you define “life”?
If you define “better” as bigger, better, more money, power, sex, and stuff (houses, cars, clothes, CD collec-tions—whatever) . . . and if you define “life” as the period elapsing between birth and death in this your present existence, then you’re doing nothing to get out of the trap that has created your planet’s predicament.
Yet if you define “better” as a larger experience and a greater expression of your grandest State of Being, and “life” as an eternal, ongoing41, never-ending process of Being, you may yet find your way.
A “better life” is not created by the accumulation of things. Most of you know this, all of you say you understand it, yet your lives—and the decisions you make which drive your lives—have as much to do with “things” as anything else, and usually more.
You strive for things, you work for things, and when you get some of the things you want, you never let them go.
The incentive of most of humankind is to achieve, acquire, obtain things. Those who do not care about things let them go easily.
Because your present incentive for greatness has to do with accumulation of all the world has to offer, all of the world is in various stages of struggle. Enormous portions of the population are still struggling for simple physical survival. Each day is filled with anxious mo-ments, desperate measures. The mind is concerned with basic, vital questions. Will there be enough food? Is shelter available? Will we be warm? Enormous num-bers of people are still concerned with these matters daily. Thousands die each month for lack of food alone.
Smaller numbers of people are able to reasonably rely on the basics of survival appearing in their lives, but struggle to provide something more—a modicum42 of security, a modest but decent home, a better tomorrow. They work hard, they fret43 about how and whether they’ll ever “get ahead.” The mind is concerned with urgent, worrisome questions.
By far the smallest number of people have all they could ever ask for—indeed, everything the other two groups are asking for—but, interestingly, many in this last group are still asking for more.
Their minds are concerned with holding on to all that they have acquired and increasing their holdings.
Now, in addition to these three groups, there is a fourth. It is the smallest group of all. In fact, it is tiny.
This group has detached itself from the need for material things. It is concerned with spiritual truth, spiritual reality, and spiritual experience.
The people in this group see life as a spiritual encounter—a journey of the soul. They respond to all human events within that context. They hold all human experience within that paradigm44. Their struggle has to do with the search for God, the fulfillment of Self, the expression of truth.
As they evolve, this struggle becomes not a struggle at all, but a process. It is a process of Self-definition (not self-discovery), of Growth (not learning), of Being (not doing).
The reason for seeking, striving, searching, stretch-ing, and succeeding becomes completely different. The reason for doing anything is changed, and with it the doer is likewise changed. The reason becomes the process, and the doer becomes a be-er.
Whereas, before, the reason for reaching, for striving, for working hard all of one’s life was to provide worldly things, now the reason is to experience heavenly things.
Whereas, before, the concerns were largely the concerns of the body, now the concerns are largely the concerns of the soul.
Everything has moved, everything has shifted. The purpose of life has changed, and so has life itself.
The “incentive for greatness” has shifted, and with it the need for coveting45, acquiring, protecting, and increasing worldly possessions has disappeared.
Greatness will no longer be measured by how much one has accumulated. The world’s resources will rightly be seen as belonging to all the world’s people. In a world blessed with sufficient abundance to meet the basic needs of all, the basic needs of all will be met.
Everyone will want it that way. There will no longer be a need to subject anyone to an involuntary tax. You will all volunteer to send 10 percent of your harvest and your abundance to programs supporting those whose harvest is less. It will no longer be possible for thousands to stand by watching thousands of others starve—not for lack of food, but for lack of sufficient human will to create a simple political mechanism46 by which people can get the food.
Such moral obscenities—now commonplace among your primitive society—will be erased47 forever the day you change your incentive for greatness and your definition of it.
Your new incentive: to become what I created you to be—the physical out-picturing of Deity48 Itself.
When you choose to be Who You Really Are—God made manifest—you will never again act in an ungodly manner. No longer will you have to display bumper stickers which read:
GOD SAVE ME
FROM YOUR FOLLOWERS
收听单词发音 |
1
immaturity
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| n.不成熟；未充分成长；未成熟；粗糙 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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blackmailed
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| 胁迫，尤指以透露他人不体面行为相威胁以勒索钱财( blackmail的过去式 ) | |
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mandated
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| adj. 委托统治的 | |
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humanitarian
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| n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者 | |
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erode
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| v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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anathema
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| n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物) | |
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incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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industrialists
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| n.工业家，实业家( industrialist的名词复数 ) | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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shacks
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| n.窝棚，简陋的小屋( shack的名词复数 ) | |
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plumbing
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| n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究 | |
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crass
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| adj.愚钝的，粗糙的；彻底的 | |
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devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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foment
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| v.煽动，助长 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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Soviet
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| adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃 | |
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presidency
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| n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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confrontation
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| n.对抗，对峙，冲突 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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espoused
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| v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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defiled
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| v.玷污( defile的过去式和过去分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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awareness
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| n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智 | |
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materialistic
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| a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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incentives
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| 激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机 | |
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ongoing
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| adj.进行中的，前进的 | |
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modicum
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| n.少量，一小份 | |
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fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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paradigm
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| n.例子，模范，词形变化表 | |
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45
coveting
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| v.贪求，觊觎( covet的现在分词 ) | |
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mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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47
erased
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| v.擦掉( erase的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；清除 | |
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48
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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