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[Page 121]

WORLD ORDER

JULY 1936

NUMBER 4 VOLUME 2

THE WORD OF GOD

EDITORIAL

A NEW translation of the Qur’án set into French by Mahmoud Mohtar-Ketirjoglou gives one a surprisingly different impression of this sacred book than any other translation I know of. The translator himself is a devout Muslim and puts into his translation that same combination of spiritual depth and scholarly ability which has made the King James version of our Bible the greatest masterpiece of scriptural translation.

“The Koran in the Arabic language,” says the translator “possesses an extraordinary beauty. Its verses, in a style concise and lofty, often rhyming, have in general a power difficult to render into literal translation. Every translation of sacred books sets certain conditions which pass beyond the boundaries of mere linguistic knowledge and ability. A sacred text in order to live again in another language demands that life be given it by pens imbued with that same life.”

In reading “La Sagesse Coranique” one feels, indeed, the power and the grandeur of that original spiritual Word which, moving upon the imagination and the hearts of the Arabs centuries ago, gave birth to the world-extended doctrines and civilization of Islam.

WHAT was it in the Qur’án that so moved the Muslims to piety and to righteousness? Its argument is simple and easy to understand:—

The Qur’án is revealed from God to teach us that there is but one God; He calls mankind, through Messengers whom He sends periodically, to recognize His being and His power, to worship and obey Him; that this worship and obedience is not for the sake of God, whose infiniteness is beyond all need, but for the sake of man, that he may follow the path of his destined and highest development —Religion is this Path—the normal mode of guidance and stimulation of man’s higher nature. That man is judged by his deeds, not by the amount of his prayer. That, no one share with the individual the responsibility [Page 122] for his own deeds. That the things of this world may be enjoyed within due restraints, and are intended by God to be for the happiness and prosperity of man; but the values of the spiritual life pertaining to the beyond-world, are far more worthy of man’s aspirations and are eternally durable.

The translator of La Sagesse Coranique states as follows some of its leading ethical principles: “Equity and sincerity toward all the world; fraternity between coreligionists; respect and love of one’s parents; truthfulness in speech and fidelity to one’s promises; charity and kindness toward everyone; modesty and chastity for both sexes; humility and courteous behavior towards one’s fellowmen, as well as humility toward God; —these are the virtues which the Koran preaches from one end to the other. Good works and good actions raise one, it teaches, toward God. In life’s vicissitudes it exhorts to courage in the face of danger, to firmness in misfortune, and to perseverance in effort. Thus there are no personal or civic virtues which are not postulated in the Koran, in the name of piety and of the transcendental goals of religion.”

This is a noble doctrine, call it by what name you will. That it is called Islam need not prejudice any as Christians against its spiritual value and potency.

So great was the effect of the Qur’án upon its contemporary and subsequent believers that it has rendered the adherents of Islam the most universally God-conscious people in history—not excepting even the ancient Hebrews.

Throughout the history of Islam one can trace the influence on Muslims of those powerful hammer- strokes in the Qur’án—insistent as the rhythmic beat of the drum sounded loud above the rest of its symphonic beauty—demanding in the fear of eternal sorrow and chagrin the submissive acceptance of God’s universal sovereignty and implicit obedience to His will, as revealed through the Prophet.

Among all Muslim peoples the Qur’anic ethics have produced and steadily maintained freedom from alcoholism; from sexual laxity with its accompaniment of social diseases; from immodesty; from petty thieving; from that mordent discontent and envy which exists as a daily poison in the psychology of Occidentals; from fear and mourning in regard to death. A positive and universal conscience and practice of charity and democracy characterize all Islam.

Read “La Sagesse Coranique”—you search it, and secure for yourself spiritual treasures that you would never have expected to find there. The spiritual ethics of Islam are virile, appealing fully as much to man as to woman. If anything, its appeal is more ruggedly masculine than it is feminine. I am willing to guarantee that any sincere reader of the Qur’án in a suitable translation such as this will get a distant inspiration toward ethical living and a stimulus, like a breath of ozone, toward the heightening of personal powers and perfections.

S.C.

[Page 123]

THE STEPS LEADING TO ONENESS OF HUMANITY

By HO CHIEN

CHINA’S history is a grand effort to attain the principle of the Oneness of Humanity. This being the central thought of the Chinese race, when China was over-run by wild tribes or foreign nations, the people bore them all patiently, for decades or even centuries. However, with perfect devotion to our ideal and with one ambition to the principle, in the end, the conquerors become conquered by the same culture. The Chinese people having received the cultivation of its sages and philosophers, everybody from top to bottom hold to the age-long principles, so that when her territories are divided or torn by internecine warfare, it is only regarded as the law of the vicious circle, that is, division comes after long union, schism comes after long peace. Division and union, confusion and peace, are but the steps leading towards the Oneness of Humanity. When people make use of the narrow doctrines of nationalism and regionalism, and the falsely claimed equality of races and peaceful goodwill as a pretext, with a view to aggrandisement and invasion, it is not at all admired by the Chinese people. The Chinese people are by no means a weak and defenceless people, they as a rule abide for the time when the virility of the enemy is about to be exhausted, then they begin to think of self-preservation.

China is a seeker of the goal of the Oneness of Humanity, that is why China has stood the test of time, 5,000 years. Aside from its own material civilization, such as architecture, medicine and arts, its universal and wide-spread culture of virtue is the basis of her spiritual foundation. This is the special treasure, peculiar to China. It has permeated society and has become ingrained in the hearts of men, so it is the central faith of the people. What is then this faith? It is known as the Five Relations and Eight Virtues. Regarding the five relationships, it is recorded in the Confucian analects, the disciple Yen Yuen said that in response to the questioning of Duke Ching of Ch’i, [Page 124] Confucius said: “There is a government, when the prince is prince, the minister is minister, the father is father and the son is son.” While the philosopher Shih said in the “Doctrine of the Mean”, “The five relationships are those between ruler and minister, father and son, husband and wife, brothers and friends.” Mencius later amplified it into: “The affection between father and son, the loyalty between sovereign and minister, the difference between husband and wife, the orderliness between senior and junior and the faithfulness between friends.”

As an outgrowth of the five relationships, there are the ten virtues, to wit:

Father, benign; son, filial; elder brother, upright; younger brother, respectful; husband, righteous; wife, obedient; seniors, affable; juniors, submissive; sovereign, benevolent; minister, faithful.

The central teaching of the five relationships is the spirit of respectfulness and the important part of the ten virtues is the spirit of sincerity. Respect and sincerity are the chief notes in this issue. The religions of the world always emphasize respect and sincerity, so although “Juism” is not known as a religion, in essence it is not inferior to religious teaching. “Juism” talks not of spirit and deities, but urges people to meditate freely to develop their natural wisdom. It emphasizes the practical side of the humanities. The “Book of Great Learning” directs mankind to the steps leading to self-perfection and world salvation. The three headings and eight sub-heads are the following:—

I. To illustrate illustrious virtue.

II. To renovate the people.

III. To rest in the highest excellence.

The steps to world salvation:—

1. The investigation of things.

2. The extension of knowledge to the utmost degree.

3. To be sincere in thought.

4. To rectify one’s heart.

5. To cultivate one’s person.

6. To regulate one’s family.

7. To order well one’s state.

8. To tranquillize the world.

The above order of steps of self- perfection and world salvation are meant to be taken step by step as a regular procedure. “Juism” does not favor empty talk and bans bombast. Confucius advised the philosopher Hsia, “Be a gentleman scholar, do not be a rogue scholar”, for rogues revel in the element of empty talk and bombast. The three headings and eight sub-heads represent the social organization of China and form the basis of Chinese racial prosperity. Confucius, Mencius and Kwan Chung (B. C. 645), all taught the teachings of the eight virtues.

The eight virtues are filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, sincerity, propriety, righteousness, modesty, and honor. We attempt to amplify the meaning of the virtues, as follows:

1. Filial piety—China lays particular emphasis upon this handsome virtue. In the Book of Filial Piety, it is said, “Altogether, set against the five punishments, there are 3,000 crimes, but the greatest crime is to be unfilial.” [Page 125] According to the Book of Rites of Chow, there are eight punishments and to be unfilial is set to be the first crime.

2. Brotherly love—Confucius made use of the homely virtue as a basis for the governance of the state and the pacification of the world. In the analects, the Master said, “A youth, when at home, should be filial, and abroad, respectful to his elders.”

3. Loyalty—The best explanation of this word was given by Tseng to the other disciples when he said, “The doctrine of our Master is to be true to the principles of our nature and the benevolent exercise of them to others—this and nothing more.” According to Confucius, virtuous government means constant attention from the top, as he said to Chang, “To keep the affairs of the state before the mind without weariness, and to practice them with undeviating loyalty.”

4. Sincerity—Confucius emphasized political virtue in the word “Sincerity.” He said, “People cannot succeed without being sincere.” “Without sincerity, you know not what can be done.” “If one’s words are loyal and sincere, and one’s actions are candid and respectful, even among the rude tribes of the South and the North, he will succeed.”

5. Propriety—Mencius said, “Love, righteousness, propriety and wisdom, come from the heart (mind).” “The sense of respectfulness is the beginning of propriety.” “The ancients governed the people with propriety so as to preserve order and to systematize the affairs of men.” Sheng Tsze said, “The holy men accumulated their thoughts, differentiated the true from the false, so as to set up standards of propriety and to determine the legal measures.”

6. Righteousness—Confucius said, “The superior man talks about righteousness, while the inferior man talks about profit.” Tung Chung-shu explained love and righteousness as follows:— “Love pacifies men, righteousness rectifies one’s self.”

7. Modesty—The teaching of the four main-stays started with Kwan Chung who explained, “Propriety does not skip ranks, righteousness does not commend one’s self, modesty does not hide faults, honor does not follow others wildly.” In fine, when people are not sunk materially and preserve one’s self spiritually, or in other words, “Outwardly, not lost to things, inwardly, one keeps one’s heart, that is modesty.”

8. Honor—Honor is one of Kwan Chung’s four main-stays to a nation. “When the first main-stay is lost, the nation falls; When the second main- stay is lost, the nation is in danger; When the third main-stay is lost, the nation is up-set; When the fourth main-stay is lost, the nation is destroyed.” This indicates the importance of honor to a nation. Advancement and repentance all come from the sense of honor. Mencius said, “Great is honor to a man.”

The eight virtues form the political philosophy of Chinese “Juism.” The doctrine is extensive and searching. It is cultural and influential. They are the steps leading to the world of General Welfare and Great Justice. The Chinese people wish to practice this Oneness of Humanity, it [Page 126] is not a Utopian dream. It begins with one’s self, it is so stated in the “Book of Great Learning.”

THE GREAT LEARNING

“The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things. Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.”

THE Chinese saints taught people to begin from one’s self to the world. It is a strict doctrine. The Socialists, the Communists and the Universalists of modern times have been anticipated in China, in the early Han and Wei dynasties without any of their drawbacks. In the Li Yun Essay (The Conveyance of Rites) of the Book of Rites it is stated as follows:—

“When the Grand course was pursued, a public and common spirit ruled all under the sky; they chose men of talents, virtue, and ability; their works were sincere, and what they cultivated was harmony. Thus men did not love their parents only, did not treat as children only their own sons. A competent provision was secured for the aged till their death, employment for the able- bodied, and the means of growing up to the young. They showed kindness and compassion to widows, orphans, childless men, and those who were disabled by disease, so that they were all sufficiently maintained. Males had their proper work, and females had their home. (They accumulated) articles (of value), disliking that they should be thrown away upon the ground, but not wishing to keep them for their own gratification. (They labored) with their strength, disliking that it should not be exerted, but not exerting it (only) with a view to their own advantage. In this way (selfish) schemings were repressed and found no development. Robbers, filchers, and rebellious traitors did not show themselves, and hence the outer doors remained open, and were not shut. This was (the period of) what we call the Grand Union or (Oneness of Humanity),”

In that essay, it criticized the Nationalists as follows and called it “Small Tranquillity.”

“Now that the Grand course has fallen into disuse and obscurity, the kingdom is a family inheritance. Every one loves (above all others) [Page 127] his own parents and cherishes (as) children (only) his own son. People accumulate articles and exert their strength for their own advantage. Great men imagine it is the rule that their cities and suburbs be strong and their ditches and moats secure. The rules of propriety and of what is right are regarded as the threads by which they seek to maintain in its correctness the relation between ruler and minister; in its harmony that between elder brother and younger; and in a community of sentiment that between husband and wife; and in accordance with them they frame buildings and measures; lay out the fields and hamlets (for the dwellings of the husbandmen); adjudge the superiority of men of valor and knowledge; and regulate their achievements with a view to their own advantage. Thus it is that (selfish) schemes and enterprises are constantly taking their rise, and recourse is had to arms; and thus it was (also) that Yu, Thang, Wan and Wu, King Khang, and the duke of Kau obtained their distinction. Of these six great men every one was very attentive to the rules of propriety, thus to secure the display of righteousness, the realization of sincerity, the exhibition of errors, the exemplification of benevolence, and the discussion of courtesy, showing the people all the normal virtues. Any rulers who did not follow this course were driven away by those who possessed power and position, and all regarded them as posts. This is the period of what we call Small Tranquillity.”

China’s saints regarded the world as one family and China as one man. They believed in the doctrine of the Oneness of Humanity, so they criticized the nationalists and Monroe doctrinaires as of the “Small Tranquillity.” These thoughts have enveloped the whole Chinese race and have covered the whole history of China. Kung Yang has envisaged the world in three stages; he said, “According to hearsay, I envisage peace and order arising from chaos and confusion, with the country in the center surrounded by feudal lords; according to what I hear and see, I envisage the reign of peace, with the feudal lords surrounded by tribal communities; according to what I see, I envisage the world at peace, the tribes have advanced into feudal lords, so the world, distant and near, large and small, are like one.”

CONFUCIUS often regarded himself as a world citizen, so in the Tan Kung Essay of the Book of Rites, he claimed, “But I am a man who is from the East, West, South and North.” For the teachings of “The Great Learning” will eventually tranquillize the world, and the virtues of the “Doctrine of the Mean” will eventually reach “Wherever ships and carriages reach; wherever the strength of man penetrates; wherever the heavens overshadow and the earth sustains; wherever the sun and moon shine; wherever frosts and dews fall:—all who have blood and breath unfeignedly honor and love him.”

This type of doctrine of Oneness of Humanity is not limited by the [Page 128] confines of a country or the world. How great is the thought! Emperor Yu praised the Emperor Shun as follows:—

Yu said, “Yes, but let your light, O Emperor, shine all through the empire, even to the grassy shores of the seas, and in the myriad states, the most worthy of the people will all wish to be your ministers.”

And the people of Hsia praised Emperor Yu as follows:

“On the East reaching to the sea; on the West extending to the moving sands; to the utmost limits of the North and South;—his fame and influence filled up all within the four seas.

Thus, let it extend to the whole world, for this is not the thought of one man, its origin is from the distant past. China has traveled the distance of 5,000 years and has witnessed the rise and fall of nations, but it is all in accordance with the doctrine of the Oneness of Humanity, with no racial or religious differences. It is my hope that all those who believe in the oneness of mankind will follow the steps of five relationships and eight virtues. Furthermore, with the spirit of Internationalism and the cooperation of material civilization, let us strive for its ultimate attainment.

---

THE BÁB

By ANNA MCCLURE SHOLL

Into the intricate dark I strode,

No dagger-hilt lighted my way,

The vast Caesarean palaces could not hold

My gift of Day.

Persia dream on, as those who rest

Bemused beneath a Bo-tree’s shade—

Mine is the free and naked breast,

That bears a rose, disdains a blade!

And I shall climb the whitest cloud,

And penetrate the darkest veil,

Jostling the elbows of the crowd,

Myself the Flail.

Of Him Who holds the world at poise

And follows wild birds on their flight—

Put out the lamps—I have dawn-joys

For treaders of the night.

[Page 129]

TO THE STATESMEN

By THE COMMITTEE FOR WAR-PROPHYLAXIS, HOLLAND

WE psychiatrists, whose duty it is to investigate the normal and diseased mind, and to serve mankind with our knowledge, feel impelled to address a serious word to you in our quality of physicians.

It seems to us that there is in the world a mentality which entails grave dangers to mankind, leading, as it may, to an evident war-psychosis.

War means that all destructive forces are set loose by mankind against itself.

War means the annihilation of mankind by technical science.

As in all things human, psychological factors play a very important part in the complicated problem of war.

If war is to be prevented the nations and their leaders must understand their own attitude towards war.

By self-knowledge a world calamity may be prevented.

Therefore we draw your attention to the following:

1. There is a seeming contradiction between the conscious individual aversion to war and the collective preparedness to wage war. This is explained by the fact that the behavior, the feelings, the thoughts of an independent individual are quite different from those of a man who forms part of a collective whole. Civilized twentieth century man still possesses strong, fierce and destructive instincts, which have not been sublimated, or only partly so, and which break loose as soon as the community to which he belongs feels itself threatened by danger.

The unconscious desire to give rein to the primitive instinct not only without punishment but even with reward, furthers in a great measure the preparedness for war.

It should be realized that the fighting- instinct, if well directed, gives energy for much that is good and beautiful. But the same instinct may create chaos if it breaks loose from all restraint, making use of the greatest discoveries of the human intellect.

2. It is appalling to see how little the peoples are alive to reality.

The popular ideas of war as they find expression in fulldress uniforms, military display, etc., are no longer [Page 130] in keeping with the realities of war itself.

The apathy with regard to the actions and intrigues of the international traffic in arms is surprising to anyone who realizes the dangers into which this traffic threatens to lead them. It should be realized that it is foolish to suffer certain groups of persons to derive personal profit from the death of millions of men.

We come to you with the urgent advice to arouse the nations to the realization of fact and the sense of collective self-preservation, these powerful instincts being the strongest allies for the elimination of war.

The heightening of the moral and religious sense in your people tends to the same end.

3. From the utterances of well- known statesmen it has repeatedly been evident that many of them have conceptions of war that are identical with those of the average man. Arguments such as “War is the supreme Court of Appeal” and “War is the necessary outcome of Darwin’s theory” are erroneous and dangerous, in view of the realities of modern warfare. They camouflage a primitive craving for power and are meant to stimulate the preparedness for war among the speaker’s countrymen.

The suggestive force of speeches made by leading statesmen is enormous and may be dangerous. The war-like spirit, so easily aroused by the cry that the country is in danger, is not to be bridled, as was evident in 1914.

Peoples, as well as individuals, under the influence of suggestions like these, may become neurotic. They may be carried away by hallucinations and delusions, thus involving themselves in adventures perilous to their own and other nations’ safety.

We psychiatrists declare that our science is sufficiently advanced for us to distinguish between real, pretended, and unconscious motives, even in statesmen. The desire to disguise national militarism by continual talk about peace will not protect political leaders from the judgment of history. The secret promotors of militarism are responsible for the boundless misery which a new war is sure to bring.

International organization, if properly used, is now sufficiently advanced to enable statesmen to prevent war by concerted action.

Protestation of peace and the desire for peace, however sincere, do not guarantee the self-denying spirit necessary for the maintenance of peace, even at the cost of national sacrifice. If any statesmen should think that the apparatus to ensure peace is, as yet, insufficiently organized, we advise them to devote to this purpose as much energy and as much money as is now being expended on the armaments of the various countries.

WE cannot close without expressing our admiration of those statesmen who show by their actions that their culture and morality are so far advanced that they can lead peoples to a strong organization of peace. In our opinion they alone are truly qualified to act as the leaders of nations.

[Page 131]

DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN

THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT

By WALLACE J. CAMPBELL

EUROPE is in the throes of its severest war craze since the outbreak of the conflagration in 1914. Germany is brandishing the sword in defiance of nations which with wisdom might have revised a grossly unjust Versailles treaty years ago and thwarted today’s reaction. Italy has thundered into Africa with an imperialism which puts other conquests to shame. Throughout Europe dictatorship has supplanted democracy. And in the nations which cling to the forms of democracy, economic autocracy is rampant. In the Orient, Japan is pictured as a peril to western civilization as it insists on enforcing in the Orient a policy patterned after that which we have pursued in the Monroe Doctrine. American jingoes, with this weapon in hand are building rapidly cause for war with Japan.

These in substance are the social conditions which overcast the world scene to the exclusion of all else. We may see here the economic and political interpretation of an age-old physical phenomenon—extreme darkness before dawn.

For the first time in history, the

world now embodies a movement based primarily on economic democracy that is more than 100,000,000 strong. This force is the basis of a groundswell of democracy which is destined to topple the forces of dictatorship and reaction which are temporarily in power.

This interpretation is not a pious wish.

In England and Scotland the consumers cooperative movement now numbers 7,600,000 heads of families (28,000,000 persons) in which Sidney Elliott has hailed the “British Bulwark against Fascism.” More solid than mere sentiment against autocracy, these cooperators are conducting the business necessary to their existance on a democratic, non-profit basis that strikes directly at the cause of exploitation and war.

In the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, little noted in today’s news, cooperative organizations are gradually replacing the exploitation of private profit business with a new economy (call it what you will) in which production and distribution are for use [Page 132] and not for profit. The majority of the homes in Denmark are affiliated directly with branches of the cooperative movement. Through cooperative activity Danish farmers are undermining the profit system to the extent that 90% of the dairy products, 18% of the retail business and 46% of the processing of meat are handled through cooperative channels. In the process, tenancy in Denmark has fallen from 42% to 3% as the Danes recovered the ownership of their property by cooperative action. Half the population in Finland is affiliated with this same cooperative movement. And the Finns are accomplishing the construction of a new economic system without resort to dictatorship by the proletariat. Forty per cent of the retail and wholesale trade in Sweden is controlled by the “co-ops” and the cooperative movement has led off in the battle against exploitation by breaking the strangle hold of trusts which controlled the galosh, margarine, electric light bulb and cash register businesses.

In Japan 5,000,000 persons have joined the cooperative movement since the turn of the century. With the backing of cooperative and labor union groups, Kagawa has been able to protest, without interference against the war policies of the present régime because those in power fear the overthrow of their administration if they force the hand of organized democratic groups.

Czechoslovakia, under the administration of Masaryk, has maintained its democratic government because political democracy was supported by cooperative and labor organizations which maintained those principles in the production and distribution of wealth. In Switzerland, entire villages are operating on a cooperative basis. India, Palestine, Estonia, Latvia, France, Belgium and other nations have portions of their populations engaged in cooperative business.

The cooperatives in the United States have undergone a renaissance during the breakdown of the profit economy. Sixteen hundred new cooperatives were formed in this country last year according to a study recently completed by Professor Kenneth Dameron of Ohio State University. More than 1,600,000 persons are now doing business in cooperatives. The Consumers Counsel of the AAA estimated that the total business of consumers’ cooperative organizations in the United States amounted to $365,000,000 in 1933.

A hundred million members of cooperatives are doing business on a democratic non-profit basis. Original Rochdale principles upon which the first successful consumers’ cooperative was organized 90 years ago have proved to be the foundation of this new business. Twenty-eight poverty-stricken weavers in Rochdale, England, organized their own store, operated their own store and decided that it was not logical to make a profit on their own business, or to exploit someone else in the simple procedure of distributing goods. This system met the evils of profit-taking, competition and exploitation. It representated a method of retailing not only rational and social but efficient.

THE original Rochdale weavers [Page 133] carried on business in an undramatic fashion, but they made fundamental changes which are still in effect today. At the end of every three months the savings that would have gone as profits to one individual under the profit system were returned to the members according to their purchases in their own store. By this simple device profits were eliminated and the technique of non-profit business established. Since the Rochdale weavers owned their own store they made another revolutionary change in policy. They gave every member one vote regardless of his investment, established democratic control of the business and put men ahead of money as the controlling factor in determining policy.

The Congress of the International Cooperative Alliance which met in London in August, 1934, represented cooperative associations in 43 countries and numbered in its membership more than 100,000,000 members. The I.C.A. has grown from a body representing 20,000,000 cooperators in twenty countries in 1921 to its present size and has been unofficially hailed as the “Federation of the World.” The Federation, through the International Cooperative Wholesale Society, conducted $200,000,000 worth of non-profit business between cooperatives in the several countries. The American cooperatives have recently affiliated with the ICWS to do their part of international trade.

DEMOCRACIES have crumbled because they failed to incorporate economic democracy with political, religious and educational democracy. Rumors of international strife have turned into wars because the profit motive back of imperialism and the rivalry for markets has plunged us into bloody conflict to make the world “safe for profits.” The cooperatives strike at the root of these factors. They provide in their steady growth the groundswell of economic democracy. The international scene has possibly reached its blackest. This may, with intelligent and concerted action, be transformed into the “darkness before dawn.”

[Page 134]

THE UNFOLDMENT OF WORLD CIVILIZATION

By SHOGHI EFFENDI

I

THE contrast between the accumulating evidences of steady consolidation that accompany the rise of the Administrative Order of the Faith of God, and the forces of disintegration which batter at the fabric of a travailing society, is as clear as it is arresting. Both within and outside the Bahá’í world the signs and tokens which, in a mysterious manner, are heralding the birth of that World Order, the establishment of which must signalize the Golden Age of the Cause of God, are growing and multiplying day by day. No fair-minded observer can any longer fail to discern them. He cannot be misled by the painful slowness characterizing the unfoldment of the civilization which the followers of Bahá’u’lláh are laboring to establish. Nor can he be deluded by the ephemeral manifestations of returning prosperity which at times appear to be capable of checking the disruptive influence of the chronic ills afflicting the institutions of a decaying age. The signs of the times are too numerous and compelling to allow him to mistake their character or to belittle their significance. He can, if he be fair in his judgment, recognize in the chain of events which proclaim on the one hand the irresistible march of the institutions directly associated with the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh and foreshadow on the other the downfall of those powers and principalities that have either ignored or opposed it— he can recognize in them all evidences of the operation of God’s all-pervasive Will, the shaping of His perfectly ordered and world-embracing Plan.

“Soon,” Bahá’u’lláh’s own words proclaim it, “will the present-day Order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead. Verily, thy Lord speaketh the truth and is the Knower of things unseen.” “By Myself,” He solemnly asserts, “the day is approaching when We will have rolled up the world and all that is therein, and spread out a new Order in its stead. He, verily, is powerful [Page 135] over all things.” “The world’s equilibrium,” He explains, “hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this Most Great, this new World Order. Mankind’s ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System, the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.” “The signs of impending convulsions and chaos,” He warns the peoples of the world, “can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing Order appeareth to be lamentably defective.”

This New World Order, whose promise is enshrined in the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, whose fundamental principles have been enunciated in the writings of the Center of His Covenant, involves no less than the complete unification of the entire human race. This unification should conform to such principles as would directly harmonize with the spirit that animates, and the laws that govern the operation of, the institutions that already constitute the structural basis of the Administrative Order of His Faith.

No machinery falling short of the standard inculcated by the Bahá’í Revelation, and at variance with the sublime pattern ordained in His teachings, which the collective efforts of mankind may yet devise can ever hope to achieve anything above or beyond that “Lesser Peace” to which the Author of our Faith has Himself alluded in His writings. “Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace,” He, admonishing the kings and rulers of the earth, has written, “hold ye fast unto this the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some degree better your own condition and that of your dependents.” Expatiating on this Lesser Peace, He thus addresses in that same Tablet the rulers of the earth: “Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions . . . Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your peoples find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.”

The Most Great Peace, on the other hand, as conceived by Bahá’u’lláh— a peace that must inevitably follow as the practical consequence of the spiritualization of the world and the fusion of all its races, creeds, classes and nations—can rest on no other basis, and can be preserved through no other agency, except the divinely appointed ordinances that are implicit in the World Order that stands associated with His holy name. In His Tablet, revealed almost seventy years ago to Queen Victoria, Bahá’u’lláh, alluding to this Most Great Peace, has declared: “That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician. This, verily, is the truth, and all else naught but error . . . Consider these days in which the Ancient Beauty, He Who is the Most Great Name, [Page 136] hath been sent down to regenerate and unify mankind. Behold how with drawn swords they rose against Him, and committed that which caused the Faithful Spirit to tremble. And whenever We said unto them: ‘Lo, the World Reformer is come,’ they made reply: ‘He, in truth, is one of the stirrers of mischief.’ “It beseemeth all men in this Day,” He, in another Tablet, asserts, “to take firm hold on the Most Great Name, and to establish the unity of all mankind. There is no place to flee to, no refuge that any one can seek, except Him.”

THE Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, whose supreme mission is none other but the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole body of nations, should, if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded as signalizing through its advent the coming of age of the entire human race. It should be viewed not merely as yet another spiritual revival in the ever-changing fortunes of mankind, not only as a further stage in a chain of progressive Revelations, nor even as the culmination of one of a series of recurrent prophetic cycles, but rather as marking the last and highest stage in the stupendous evolution of man’s collective life on this planet. The emergence of a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a world civilization and culture—all of which must synchronize with the initial stages in the unfoldment of the Golden Age of the Bahá’í Era— should, by their very nature, be regarded, as far as this planetary life is concerned, as the furthermost limits in the organization of human society, though man, as an individual, will, nay must indeed as a result of such a consummation, continue indefinitely to progress and develop.

That mystic, all-pervasive, yet indefinable change, which we associate with the stage of maturity inevitable in the life of the individual and the development of the fruit must, if we would correctly apprehend the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh, have its counterpart in the evolution of the organization of human society. A similar stage must sooner or later be attained in the collective life of mankind, producing an even more striking phenomenon in world relations, and endowing the whole human race with such potentialities of well-being as shall provide, throughout the succeeding ages, the chief incentive required for the eventual fulfilment of its high destiny. Such a stage of maturity in the process of human government must for all time, if we would faithfully recognize the tremendous claim advanced by Bahá’u’lláh, remain identified with the Revelation of which He was the Bearer.

In one of the most characteristic passages He Himself has revealed, He testifies in a language that none can mistake to the truth of this distinguishing principle of Bahá’í belief: “It hath been decreed by Us that the Word of God and all the potentialities thereof shall be manifested unto men in strict conformity with such conditions as have been fore-ordained by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise . . . Should the Word be allowed to release suddenly all the energies latent within it, no man [Page 137] could sustain the weight of so mighty a revelation . . . Consider that which hath been sent down unto Muhammad, the Apostle of God. The measure of the Revelation of which He was the Bearer had been clearly foreordained by Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Powerful. They that heard Him, however, could apprehend His purpose only to the extent of their station and spiritual capacity. He, in like manner, uncovered the Face of Wisdom in proportion to their ability to sustain the burden of His Message. No sooner had mankind attained the stage of maturity, than the Word revealed to men’s eyes the latent energies with which it had been endowed—energies which manifested themselves in the plenitude of their glory when the Ancient Beauty appeared, in the year sixty, in the person of ‘Alí-Muhammad, the Báb.”

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, elucidating this fundamental verity, has written: “All created things have their degree or stage of maturity. The period of maturity in the life of a tree is the time of its fruit-bearing . . . The animal attains a stage of full growth and completeness, and in the human kingdom man reaches his maturity when the light of his intelligence attains its greatest power and development . . . Similarly there are periods and stages in the collective life of humanity. At one time it was passing through its stage of childhood, at another its period of youth, but now it has entered its long-predicted phase of maturity, the evidences of which are everywhere apparent . . . That which was applicable to human needs during the early history of the race can neither meet nor satisfy the demands of this day, this period of newness and consummation. Humanity has emerged from its former state of limitation and preliminary training. Man must now become imbued with new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities. New bounties, perfect bestowals, are awaiting and already descending upon him. The gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the requirements of its maturity.”

SUCH unique and momentous crisis in the life of organized mankind may, moreover, be likened to the culminating stage in the political evolution of the great American Republic—the stage which marked the emergence of a unified community of federated states. The stirring of a new national consciousness, and the birth of a new type of civilization, infinitely richer and nobler than any which its component parts could have severally hoped to achieve, may be said to have proclaimed the coming of age of the American people. Within the territorial limits of this nation, this consummation may be viewed as the culmination of the process of human government. The diversified and loosely related elements of a divided community were brought together, unified and incorporated into one coherent system. Though this entity may continue gaining in cohesive power, though the unity already achieved may be further consolidated, though the civilization to which that [Page 138] unity could alone have given birth may expand and flourish, yet the machinery essential to such an unfoldment may be said to have been, in its essential structure, erected, and the impulse required to guide and sustain it may be regarded as having been fundamentally imparted. No stage above and beyond this consummation of national unity can, within the geographical limits of that nation, be imagined, though the highest destiny of its people, as a constituent element in a still larger entity that will embrace the whole of mankind, may still remain unfulfilled. Considered as an isolated unit, however, this process of integration may be said to have reached its highest and final consummation.

Such is the stage to which an evolving humanity is collectively approaching. The Revelation entrusted by the Almighty Ordainer to Bahá’u’lláh, His followers firmly believe, has been endowed with such potentialities as are commensurate with the maturity of the human race—the crowning and most momentous stage in its evolution from infancy to manhood.

The successive Founders of all past Religions Who, from time immemorial, have shed, with ever-increasing intensity, the splendor of one common Revelation at the various stages which have marked the advance of mankind towards maturity may thus, in a sense, be regarded as preliminary Manifestations, anticipating and paving the way for the advent of that Day of Days when the whole earth will have fructified and the tree of humanity will have yielded its destined fruit.

Incontrovertible as is this truth, its challenging character should never be allowed to obscure the purpose, or distort the principle, underlying the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh—utterances that have established for all time the absolute oneness of all the Prophets, Himself included, whether belonging to the past or to the future. Though the mission of the Prophets preceding Bahá’u’lláh may be viewed in that light, though the measure of Divine Revelation with which each has been entrusted must, as a result of this process of evolution, necessarily differ, their common origin, their essential unity, their identity of purpose, should at no time and under no circumstances be misapprehended or denied. That all the Messengers of God should be regarded as “abiding in the same Tabernacle, soaring in the same Heaven, seated upon the same Throne, uttering the same Speech, and proclaiming the same Faith” must, however much we may extol the measure of Divine Revelation vouchsafed to mankind at this crowning stage of its evolution, remain the unalterable foundation and central tenet of Bahá’í belief. Any variations in the splendor which each of these Manifestations of the Light of God has shed upon the world should be ascribed not to any inherent superiority involved in the essential character of any one of them, but rather to the progressive capacity, the ever-increasing spiritual receptiveness, which mankind, in its progress towards maturity, has invariably manifested.

(To be continued)

[Page 139]

THE NEW WORLD ORDER

By HOWARD COLBY IVES

THIS is the Day of Unity. My world

Is one. The banners of all strife are furled

And all the hosts of hatred are dispersed.

Nor yet is this apparent to those eyes

Which, blinded by past follies, yet are cursed

With dreams that still injustice may prevail:

But some there are where’er My Falcon flies

Who labor for the oneness of mankind,

And these shall rise, are rising even now,

To build My New World Order. They shall find

A host assisting them. They cannot fail.

My Unity disunity lays low.

To all My world I call:—This is a Day

The Light of which beyond the noon-day sun

Is sanctified. It is the Day foretold.

See how the nations late so proud and bold

Are humbled in the shadow of their doom.

Their councils are in tumult; earthquakes roar

As the oppressed of men toss in the gloom

And threaten those whom late they bowed before.

My Messenger hath come with healing wings

And sword of Justice. To all wrong He brings

Destruction; to the Right triumphant reign.

This is the meaning of My Prophet’s Word:

“Behold the Great and Fearful Day of God.”

My Trump hath blown. My Holy, venging Sword

Hath cast the mighty from their seats. The sod

So long drenched with the blood of innocence

Shall bloom again. The time for penitence

Is past. My Justice and My Love shall reign

And earth shall be a paradise again.

Bewildered are the learned and the wise

Of this world, and the nations tremble sore

To their foundations.

[Page 140]

My kind forbearance made oppressors bold;

My patience negligent their hearts hath made,

So that the flags of passion they unfold

And ride their steeds to death all unafraid.

But know that I love Justice over all:

None may neglect it who desireth Me.

The secrets of all hidden hearts I see

And mark them well.

The wicked surely fall.

An eagle fierce is now pursuing them

And ordeals dire upon their footsteps tread.

Except they turn and grasp My Garment’s hem

Of Justice, they are numbered with the dead.

But while they to their sure destruction ride

My Spirit, once again enshrined in Man,

My Very Self, comes hastening to his aid

And summons a vast host unto His side

To build My Kingdom on the ruined plan

For power those rabid wolves have made.

The tread of these, My Hosts, shall shake the world,

And make each tyrant totter on his throne.

Look! Even now have they not sternly hurled

A horde of them unto their doom! Now prone

They lie who late their filthy dunghill strode

And loudly their brief barnyard triumph crowed.

For all such wolves the last dread hour hath struck.

The fingers of My marching Hosts shall pluck

Them from their seats. Among forgotten things

Soon—Soon shall they be numbered, Look! their wings

Have now been clipped. They speedily shall fall

Into the pit they for their brothers dug

And none there’ll be to heed their dying call.

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[Page 141]

LOOKING BACKWARD

By MARJORY H. STAGEMAN

BELLS were ringing, horns and whistles were blowing, people were shouting, laughing, throwing streamers. The old year was over, finished, done with. The new year was being rung in.

At one of the merry New Year’s parties being given throughout the the great city was a woman who, one felt, was paying only half attention to all that was going on about her. A woman who gave the impression of being just half there in the present. Later she confessed to a friend that she had been only half there, that the rest of her had been in the past, in the year that was over, finished, done with. She had been going back over it, mentally reliving the happy days before the passing of a beloved member of her family; reviewing the times, during that member’s illness, when she did the wrong thing (so she thought) such as calling Dr. Brown when she should have called Dr. Jones, assenting to the operation, and so forth; calling up the lonely days since the loved one’s going.

The light of a new day, a new year, had dawned. The signal “Go Ahead” was on. And echoing down the ages was the command, “Look not behind thee.” But this woman stopped, turned, looked backward to the joys and sorrows of yesterday. And looking backward, she got but half the joy out of the present.

Now is it not true that the majority of us are guilty of doing frequently just what this woman did at the beginning of the new year? Aren’t we spending a great deal of our precious time looking backward, going over and over the past in our minds, exultantly reviewing its glories, sorrowfully reflecting upon its seeming tragedies? Looking backward and living in what we have accomplished, what we have enjoyed, what we have suffered, what we have seemingly lost, instead of looking upward and living in what we are accomplishing now, what we have now to enjoy, is a failing of most of us. And because of this failing of ours we do not get all the love, joy, beauty, friendliness, light, wisdom, strength, happiness and helpful service that there is for us out of the present. To get all the good there is for us out of the present is to live successfully, to get the most out of life. And the only [Page 142] way to live successfully, to get the most out of life, is to live wholly in the present, vividly and vigorously in the present.

It is today that matters, not yesterday. What we were yesterday, what we had, what we gave out to others, does not matter. What matters is what we are today, what we are getting out of today, what we are passing on to others today. As soon as we recognize this and cease looking back (giving thought to “the former things”) and begin looking up, discovering today’s blessings, giving of today’s abundance, we shall find that our lives are no longer gummed up, our feet no longer sinking. We shall be pillars of salt no longer, but free, joyous beings going forward. Going forward, remembering no more “those things which are behind.”

ALMOST anywhere one goes today one hears persons reciting their stories, crying out for a word of comfort. Their stories are all practically the same. A few years ago they had wealth, social position, friends. Today they are poor, either without work or working at some job for which they are totally unfitted. Their friends of former years have either deserted them or else they have crept out of their friends’ lives, miserable in defeat. Lonely, heartsick, they gaze wistfully back upon the past. How do we comfort them? Nine times out of ten we do it this way:

“You think you have had a hard time,” we say, “but just listen to my story.” Then, fixing our eyes upon the fields through which we walked yesterday, we recount a tale of suffering and heartache that tops (at least so we think) the story told us. Is it surprising that, with our eyes turned toward the past, we stumble? Is it any wonder that, looking back, we can not see the glories of today? And since we do not see, recognize, them, is it any wonder that they do not come into manifestation for us?

Those who tell their pitiful stories and cry out for a word of solace should not be told like stories, but should be told, instead, the cure for their grief. The cure lies in forgetting, in absolutely refusing to give thought to that which has been. “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” In these words, centuries ago, Paul gave us the cure for much of our suffering and unhappiness. If we should begin our every day with these words of Paul’s and then, throughout the day, do “this one thing,” there would be no pillars of salt among us.

NOW there are many students of truth who refuse to look back on the so-called evil things but who do allow themselves to look back upon the good. Over and over again they tell of some marvelous demonstration they had in the past and they just can not understand why they have never had a demonstration to equal it since. They should have gone on and on, climbed higher and higher, they know, but why haven’t they? Because they had turned and looked back and by so doing became rooted to the spot. The demonstration was just too wonderful; they could not [Page 143] take their eyes off it. They are like the artists who seem destined for wonderful futures but who become so enamored with one of their creations that they never produce another worthwhile piece of work. Rejoice in your demonstrations, but stop telling them over and over until they become so great (to you) that you are unable to tear your gaze away. Greater demonstrations are made only when you turn from those that have been made and move forward.

There are many students, too, who never miss a chance to tell of so- called evil conditions they have overcome. With each telling the evil becomes larger and more terrible. That which they maintain has no reality becomes a reality (to them) by continual rehearsals. Those backward glances mean just one thing: the students will have the old problem to meet again. And strangely enough, they will be terribly surprised when this happens.

No, my friends, if we want to make greater demonstrations than we have ever made, if we want to know those things which are greater and far more wonderful than the former things, we must not look back at the fields of yesterday. Whether they were barren or lush with gorgeous blossoms, we must not look back at them, but must go forward, our eyes lifted up “unto the hills from whence cometh our help.” For did not the Master say, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God?”

---

HOW LIKE THE SEA—MY SOUL

By RUBY DUNN MACCURDY

Oh restless Sea, how beautiful thou art!

In times of storm and stress thou hast a mighty majesty,

And man-made things are but as playthings in thy grasp.

In times of calm thou hast a beauty

That makes one feel that it must last forever,

And man-made things that lie upon thy bosom feel secure.

They say that far beneath thy breast is quiet so complete

That nothing can disturb its calm.

How like the Sea, my Soul;

Thou hast thy times of storm and stress and calm,

And yet there is that underneath that cannot be disturbed by storm nor stress,

And where a calm abides forever.

How like the Sea, my Soul.

[Page 144]

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

By ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

CERTAIN European philosophers agree that the species grows and develops, and that even change and alteration are also possible. One of the proofs that they give for this theory is that through the attentive study and verification of the science of geology it has become clear that the existence of the vegetable preceded that of the animal, and that of the animal preceded that of man. They admit that both the vegetable and the animal species have changed, for in some of the strata of the earth they have discovered plants which existed in the past and are now extinct; they have progressed, grown in strength, their form and appearance have changed, and so the species have altered. In the same way, in the strata of the earth there are some species of animals which have changed and are transformed. One of these animals is the serpent. There are indications that the serpent once had feet; but through the lapse of time those members have disappeared. In the same way, in the vertebral column of man there is an indication which amounts to a proof that, like other animals he once had a tail. At one time that member was useful, but when man developed it was no longer of use, and therefore it gradually disappeared. As the serpent took refuge under the ground, and became a creeping animal, it was no longer in need of feet, so they disappeared; but their traces survive. The principal argument is this: that the existence of traces of members proves that they once existed; and as now they are no longer of service, they have gradually disappeared. Therefore while the perfect and necessary members have remained, those which are unnecessary have gradually disappeared by the modification of the species, but the traces of them continue.

The first answer to this argument is the fact that the animal having preceded man is not a proof of the evolution, change, and alteration of the species, nor that man was raised from the animal world to the human world. For while the individual appearance of these different beings is certain, it is possible that man came into existence after the animal. So [Page 145] when we examine the vegetable kingdom, we see that the fruits of the different trees do not arrive at maturity at one time; on the contrary, some come first and others afterwards. This priority does not prove that the later fruit of one tree was produced from the earlier fruit of another tree.

Secondly, these slight signs and traces of members have perhaps a great reason of which the mind is not yet cognizant. How many things exist of which we do not yet know the reason! So the science of physiology, that is to say the knowledge of the composition of the members, records that the reason and cause of the difference in the colors of animals, and of the hair of men, of the redness of the lips, and of the variety of the colors of birds, is still unknown; it is secret and hidden. But it is known that the pupil of the eye is black, so as to attract the rays of the sun; for if it were another color, that is, uniformly white, it would not attract the rays of the sun. Therefore, as the reason of the things we have mentioned is unknown, it is possible that the reason and the wisdom of these traces of members, whether they be in the animal or man, are equally unknown. Certainly there is a reason, even though it is not known.

Thirdly, let us suppose that there was a time when some animals, or even man, possessed some members which have now disappeared; this is not sufficient proof of the change and evolution of the species. For man, from the beginning of the embryonic period till he reaches the degree of maturity, goes through different forms and appearances. His aspect, his form, his appearance, and color change; he passes from one form to another, and from one appearance to another. Nevertheless, from the beginning of the embryonic period he is of the species of man; that is to say, an embryo of a man, and not of an animal; but this is not at first apparent, but later it becomes visible and evident. For example, let us suppose that man once resembled the animal, and that now he has progressed and changed; supposing this to be true, it is still not a proof of the change of species; no, as before mentioned, it is merely like the change and alteration of the embryo of man until it reaches the degree of reason and perfection. We will state it more clearly: let us suppose that there was a time when man walked on his hands and feet, or had a tail; this change and alteration is like that of the foetus in the womb of the mother; although it changes in all ways, and grows and develops until it reaches the perfect form, from the beginning it is a special species. We also see in the vegetable kingdom that the original species of the genus do not change and alter, but the form, color, and bulk will change and alter, or even progress.

To recapitulate: as man in the womb of the mother passes from form to form, from shape to shape, changes and develops and is still the human species from the beginning of the embryonic period—in the same way man, from the beginning of his existence in the matrix of the world, is also a distinct species, that is, man, and has gradually evolved from one [Page 146] form to another. Therefore this change of appearance, this evolution of members, this development and growth, even though we admit the reality of growth and progress, does not prevent the species from being original. Man from the beginning was in this perfect form and composition, and possessed capacity and aptitude for acquiring material and spiritual perfections, and was the manifestation of these words, “We will make man in Our image and likeness.” He has only become more pleasing, more beautiful, and more graceful. Civilization has brought him out of his wild state, just as the wild fruits which are cultivated by a gardener become finer, sweeter, and acquire more freshness and delicacy.

The gardeners of the world of humanity are the Prophets of God.

[Page 147]

THE DIVINE PLAN—A CREATION

By G. A. SHOOK

IN the world of science the nineteenth century was a period of correlation. A very close relation was discovered between such contrasting entities as heat and energy, electricity and magnetism, light and electricity, and finally between electricity and matter.

But there was also a period of correlation in human values. A spiritual force of unparalleled magnitude appears in the East but stands reflected in the West.

In the East Bahá’u’lláh removed the false distinction between the secular and the religious, proclaimed the unity of mankind, the reconciliation of science and religion, and the equality of man and woman; to mention but a few of the irreconcilables.

First of all, in the West, man freed himself of the incrustations and unrealities of dogmatic religion. Then he realized his own power and proceeded to attempt to remedy the ills of society through his own efforts. The eighteenth century had put an end to the doctrine of Divine Guidance in the affairs of the state. In his “Spirit of the Law” Montesquieu arrived at the conclusion that there is no single perfect form of government. A juridical and constitutional system is developed by the people to meet the needs of any given situation. That is, the state evolves normally without any superhuman power. Today, however, we begin to realize that there may be a divine solution.

As we have seen, man’s inadequacy is the most striking thing about his social progress, that is, when he persists in relying entirely upon his own ability to meet every contingency. At best his work resembles a body without a soul.

Sometimes, after a lapse of many years, he discovers the weak points of his system and this discovery helps us in analyzing our immediate problems and in recognizing their solution.

Consider the attempt to unify Europe, after the French Revolution, in the light of the Bahá’í Faith which, like all prophetic teaching, takes into account not only the progress we have made to date but the progress we will continue to make for centuries [Page 148] to come.

WE observe, first of all, that the Holy Alliance, unlike the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh was designed not to direct the affairs of a rapidly- expanding Europe but rather to protect the settlements of the Congress of Vienna. In brief, the object of the Alliance, a kind of League of Nations, was to prevent change. But the real weakness of the Alliance was the failure of the rulers to understand the spiritual basis of World Unity.

In the hundred or more years that have elapsed we seem to have made very little gain toward a world parliament. Indeed, the more we compare past history with present, the clearer it becomes that man invariably fails in his efforts when he neglects those spiritual forces that have been responsible for every great awakening in the world. Nevertheless in these stirring events of the nineteenth century we see, through all the wars, revolutions, and class struggle, unmistakable evidence of a new Spiritual Spring. This confusion should not be misinterpreted. It was inevitable. Bahá’u’lláh warns us in these significant words: “The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Man’s ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wonderful System—the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.”

The signal event in the political history of the nineteenth century, however, is not to be found in man’s success or failure to establish World Unity but in the Tablets (letters) of Bahá’u’lláh addressed to the rulers of the world. To the unbiased historian here is proof of some extraordinary power. The Divine Plan is not implicit, as in the writings of the prophets and sages of the past, but explicit, indeed very explicit, for today the world is mature enough to receive definite instructions for the Foundation of World Unity.

THE most difficult lesson we have to learn from history is the inescapable fact that in every dispensation there is always some avenue to the source of divine guidance and protection. The prophet invariably reveals His plan to some responsible group or class. They may fail, as a class, to respond to His message but the fact remains—a warning to posterity.

In considering these Tablets we should realize that the real responsibility for the political and social unrest of this period must be placed upon the rulers. It was the ruling class, as we observed, that first laid aside national and racial prejudices. They had the larger vision of world affairs, the greater capacity as well as the power. They should have taken the lead in bringing about a world unity.

It was to the rulers of the world therefore that Bahá’u’lláh first raised the call of universal Peace. For the first time in history the prophet addresses himself directly to the sovereigns of the earth.

The extraordinary circumstances attending the writing of these Tablets (messages), their impelling language, their unerring analysis of world conditions [Page 149] and finally the potency of the proposed remedy would have affected profoundly any discerning person.

In one of His messages (Tablet to Queen Victoria), Bahá’u’lláh addresses “the concourse of the rulers of the earth,” as follows;

“Take ye counsel together, and let your concern be only for that which profiteth mankind and bettereth the condition thereof. . . .

“We see you adding every year unto your expenditures and laying the burden thereof on the people whom ye rule: this verily is naught but grievous injustice. . . . Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need armaments no more save in measure to safeguard your territories and dominions. Be united, O concourse of the sovereigns of the world, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you and your peoples find rest. . . .”

In another passage He reveals the remedy: “That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician . . .”

This compels us to reconsider a problem we vainly imagined we had settled for all time, namely, the relation between our spiritual life and our social or political life.

The separation of church from state is usually regarded by historians as a necessary step in the progress of the race, and in a sense it was necessary for two reasons. First, the church had begun to lose its spiritual power and with spiritual decay the bond that had held diverse peoples together for ages, finally dissolved. Second, man had set an artificial but insurmountable barrier between things secular and spiritual and upon this principle, the state could not function without freeing itself from an organism which was alien if not hostile to its aims. The power of the church ostensibly failed in its larger mission. But do we not discern also the disintegration of the state? Did not the nineteenth century with its endless wars bring as much confusion as progress? And is there any hope for the world unless mankind is united? Is there any possibility that the shift of the bond of unity from religion to state will accomplish this reconciliation?

THOUGHTFUL people are beginning to realize that a world federation is unattainable without the bond of a common Cause, a common Faith, as advocated by Bahá’u’lláh.

The same science that freed us from the church also imposed upon us international relations. The laws and principles that apply to self-contained nations no longer apply, for nations are no longer self-contained.

There are three ways in which fundamental life principles may come to humanity.

1. The race may learn by experience. The world may discover in time that war is not profitable.

2. Moral and social laws may be invented or created by man just as scientific laws are formulated. That is, man may experiment. This is a [Page 150] short-cut and generally more effective. The rulers of the earth might agree to adopt peace for fifty years just to see how it would work. Under normal circumstances and within limits this method is adequate. In a crisis, however, men are governed by their emotions rather than reason.

3. The laws necessary for the adyancement and preservation of society may come to us through a divine manifestation of God, like Christ or Muhammad.

It is true that psychologists have made some advance in the solution of man’s emotional nature and their contributions are undoubtedly valuable. However, the reality of man may be discovered not by his reactions to controlled experiments but by his reaction to a higher power as observed in the springtime of any religion. When we investigate we see that some of the greatest benefits of society have been produced by science but the field of science is restricted to the world of the mind and there are other fields from which we may draw our analogies.

Science is concerned with facts and in dealing with scientific facts we lay aside the emotions as far as possible. But our moral and social life is concerned with values as well. Appreciation, adoration and devotion are as essential to our development as are scientific investigation and scientific knowledge.

LET us look at the mission of the prophet from the standpoint of creation. Just as the teacher creates the right desires in the pupil and develops within him an appreciation for the best, so the prophet, Bahá’u’lláh reminds us, creates the spiritual life of the race.

His program for the reconstruction of society is not eclectic, not a combination of the best; it is a creation. And this is the most outstanding fact of His mission.

In His capacity of a creator He produces something that man, no matter how hard and how long he struggles, could not produce.

If we analyze a Beethoven symphony we find simple elements, familiar to all, but it certainly does not follow that any one could take these elements and produce a symphony. The same is true of a living organism. We have all the elements but God alone can produce the essential thing —life.

If we carry this idea into the spiritual world we see at once that the new order which the prophet brings is inherently different from manmade schemes and just because it is a creation, a divine creation, and not a fortuitous combination, it will live, it will work. We may have all the elements for a new social order but we cannot make our system work. It is merely a fortuitous combination, devoid of life.

Just as the skilled teacher brings to his pupil something he could not get by his own effort, so the prophet by a fresh revelation of divine power solves problems that elude us.

[Page 151]

THE BAHÁ’Í MOVEMENT AND MY EXPERIENCES

By JAN RYPKA

EVEN today, after more than four years, I can remember clearly my first encounter with the forceful Bahá’í Cause. One of my colleagues telephoned to my office in the university that an American Bahá’í wished to speak with me. When I replied that I felt no inclination to occupy myself with such fanciful chimeras, which moreover, presented no secret to me in my studies, he replied seriously that from the opinions which he had heard recently about the Bahá’í Faith it did have some very good Teachings, that it was reasonable and well worth hearing about. He felt I should devote some attention to it, the more because it belonged to my field of research.

When two days later the meeting actually took place, as I shook hands I began the conversation perhaps with a somewhat proud remark that the Bahá’í doctrine was sufficiently known to me from my scientific literature. To this day I would blush, if then I had lost the opportunity to quote immediately different Oriental works. Miss Martha Root listened to me and approved all my knowledge gently and persistently; with unfailing courtesy through all this portrayal she did not become bored or offended. Because of this, our first meeting was informal, more sincere; our talk after that kind of a mutual introduction took on the aspect of a good friendship of many years’ standing.

Miss Martha Root explained to me her aims and plans, she showed me Bahá’í literature in different languages; I soon understood that I still did not know everything as I had thought I did at first. Those defects of mine, I would today define as follows: here I met the life, while all my previous information had the odor of the printed book. The professor unconsciously and without willing it, became the pupil. He no longer saw the fantasy hidden in the symbolic names and figures, but a sublime religious Teaching with [Page 152] comprehensive sociological and economic results.

Miss Martha Root did not fail to notice my interest in Irán and things Iránian; I for my part, also made the, to me, indescribably sympathetic discovery during the conversation, that Miss Martha Root knows Irán the land of the lion and the rising sun from her own observations. Is it any wonder that after our first meeting a second and many others soon followed which my wife enjoyed with me! We learned more about the present state of the Bahá’í Cause, its organization and progress. According to all descriptions it now seemed, that it ought to be perfectly easy to travel ten thousand miles in Iran, when one has become friends with some Bahá’ís; or lacking that, equipped with a proper letter of introduction from them. Miss Martha Root soon arranged for me to meet Dr. and Mrs. Howard Carpenter who, enroute to Irán, were spending a little time in Vienna: for that and for many other things I am to this day heartily thankful to her.

That was my second Bahá’í encounter; I returned to Prague not at all disappointed. While in Vienna I also met with some other Bahá’ís and again had favorable experiences, so that I kept asking myself again and again concerning the essence of all the good which I had observed on all these occasions: were these people born good, or did they become ideal through their religious conviction?

Months passed by. Miss Martha Root went away on her mission into known, yes and into unknown Europe! I knew about her only by hearsay, and even then very hazily and very seldom. When my dreams about Irán were just about to be realized —my wife and I had been invited by the Iránian Government to be present at the International Firdausi Celebration—suddenly one day, we were surprised by news through the post that Miss Root was planning to pass through Prague. We found many of her friends at the railway station; the visit was only for some few minutes, as the train halted, but still it was enough to be profoundly moved by the selflessness, love of work, tirelessness and perseverance of the noble missioner. Pilgriming year after year in foreign lands, occupying herself with the tasks entrusted to her, ceaselessly struggling against every kind of difficulty, she nevertheless looked exceedingly well. We whispered to each other that only a serious conscientiousness to a high ethical mission could give so much strength to a being so bodily delicate; to this day I have not needed to alter that conviction.

Now there passes before my spirit our Bahá’í friends in Irán. I shall not try to mention them all by their names, but forever crystallized in my soul is the total impression of those truth-seekers. Through Mrs. Carpenter we became acquainted with them; they invited us to Bahá’í services, to social events and to serious discussions. Every two weeks they had meetings—here and there, at the home of officials from every kind of ministry, office and function; at the homes of officers or with them, with people of every class, high and low [Page 153] in the social rank.

Never shall I forget that first meeting! One of those present acted as my cross examiner, so much so, that I became almost angry because of his interrogations; may I say frankly that later he became one of my dearest friends. I was wrong in thinking they were only interested to find out about me. No! They wished to learn directly from a distant traveler something about the Bahá’í Cause in Europe: unconsciously he ought to bring to them a silent comfort and an unspoken impulse to further work. They knew we were not as they— namely, Bahá’ís—, nevertheless they trusted us fully; all the more because we had two golden keys to their hearts: one was a letter from Shoghi Effendi addressed to me to Prague— however, I did not have it with me in Irán—and the other was our friendship with Martha Root. Also, it helped that I deeply esteemed religious thought, and that reverence is evidently sincere.

Not always did I say “bale” (yes) to everything; sometimes there were great divergences in our points of view especially when I advised my friends to accept the conditions of the Iránian Government so that they could reopen their own schools, Contrary to my practical suggestion, they persisted and still to this day continue in their martyr-like gesture.

The evenings spent with them were, as was everything for me in Irán, extraordinarily beautiful. We learned much from them, especially about the purifying of our own souls.

THE Bahá’ís of Irán are resolutely firm in their religion. Their firmness does not have its roots in ignorance. The Iránian innate character causes them to see things somewhat too great, slightly exaggerated, and their dissensions with the ruling Islám make them a little bitter towards it. Everything else in their characters is accounted for as due to their Teachings; they are wonderfully ready to help and happy to sacrifice. Faithfully they fulfil their office and professional duties. Long ago they already solved the problem of the Eastern woman; their children are carefully educated. They are sometimes reproached for their lack of [Page 154] patriotism. Certainly, as specifically Iránian as the Shí’ih Faith, the Bahá’í Faith can never become; but the Bahá’í Religion, just as Christianity, does not preclude the love of one’s fatherland—are the Europeans not sufficiently patriotic! According to my experiences, the Bahá’ís in that respect, are very unjustly criticised by their Muhammadan brothers. During the centuries the Shí’ih Religion has developed a deep national tradition; with this the universal Bahá’í Faith will have a hard battle. Nevertheless the lack of great numbers is richly recompensed by fervor and the inner spirit of the Iránian Bahá’í community. The Bahá’í world community will educate characters which will appear well worthy of emulation by people of other Faiths, yes, even by the world of those now enemies of the Bahá’í Cause.

The experience acquired in the West, for me was fully verified also in the Iránian Orient. The Bahá’í Faith is undoubtedly an immense cultural value. Could all those men whose high morality I admired and still admire have reached the same heights only in another way, without it? No, never!

Dr. Rypka is Professor of Persian Language and Literature at Charles University, Prague. From August, 1934 to September, 1935 he and Mrs. Rypka traveled extensively in Iran.

[Page 155]

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Edited by BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK

If there is to be a world organization for peace, we must create a new League of Nations within which all nations shall find a place, especially those nations like India, Egypt, and certain parts of Africa, which aren’t allowed to be directly represented. In fact the whole conception of the League and its function must be changed. It must not be a league merely to keep the status quo as between the conquerors and the conquered of the great war, but a league that will set up an impartial tribunal before which all nations with grievances or with desires for expansion and markets may put their cases. This means that the primary objective of maintaining the league and establishing commissions for judicial inquiries and settlements will be the removal of the causes which, at present, governments feel compel them to arm.

The world has reached a stage in its progress when a completely new attitude must be taken if we are to be saved from a cataclysmic upheaval. —George Lansbury, quoted in Christian Century.

THE ONLY SECURITY

Every one should see that the character of war has been radically changed and that the only security for the future must lie in prompt and effective action of the whole world against an aggressor. The day is past when rugged individualism is appropriate for persons or for nations. If we are to have a world where men and women can live happy lives we must stop thinking exclusively of our own advantage and must think as well of service to the community and of cooperation with other nations.—William Albert Noyes in World Affairs Interpreter.

DEFINITION OF PEACE

A project of Universal and Perpetual Peace, written by Pierre-André Gargaz, a former Galley-Slave, and printed by Benjamin Franklin at Passy in the Year 1782, contains the following Definition of Peace:

“Peace is the bond of human society, the delight of Nature, the pillar of the Law, the guardian of the Arts, the Preserver of Sovereignties, [Page 156] and the crown of Victories; it is Peace that causes Justice to reign, that improves Morals, that renders all the Nations useful to each other by means of commerce; it is Peace that protects every one in his property, that turns mourning into joy, and that, on all sides, throws open to the Empires sources of happiness.

“Peace; in a word, Peace is the richest of all the gifts that the Sovereigns can make to the Nations.

“Nevertheless, in order that it may be firm and lasting, it is absolutely necessary that its terms be just, that they cause no marked injury to any one, that the honor of all be found thereby conserved, and that every one may be able to glory in having consented cheerfully and with full knowledge, to all the conditions inserted in the final Treaty.”—Quoted in World Affairs.

ALL ARE BRETHREN

Confucian morality teaches that we are all brethren within the boundaries of the Four Seas, the Four Seas designating the Universe. Consequently children should love not only their own parents, but also the parents of others. The subjects or citizens of a country should love not only their own sovereign, but also the sovereigns of other countries. Furthermore the duties of a country include the duty of respecting neighboring countries and loving the subjects thereof.

The Chinese conceive the world as a place in which all humanity dwells and in which we should all treat one another as equals. The concept of nationalism in its exaggerated sense is hardly found in the classic literature of China. The Chinese writers speak more of “society” or globe or universe instead of nation.—Dr. Thomas Tseng-Mien in The Chinese Christian Student.

WHAT OF YOUTH?

The experience of the last years has sharpened our sense of responsibility toward youth, and made us question how well it was met, even in good times. For example, CCC figures reveal that in some camps one in seven of the enrollees was illiterate.

A preliminary report of a study of 43,106 young persons who sought jobs through Connecticut reemployment offices shows that 73 per cent were “untrained for any skilled occupation. Over 40 per cent were untrained to do any kind of work.”

A hopeful sign is that a new agency, the Youth Commission of the American Council for Education is undertaking to make “an extended inquiry into and formulate plans for, the care and education of American youth.” Here is a significant attempt to go beyond emergent needs to a deeper understanding of the youth problem and its solution in terms of long, sustained nation-wide effort— Condensed from article by Beulah Amidon in Survey Graphic.

[Page 157]

DARE WE LEARN HOW TO LIVE?

Book Review

By WILLIAM INGLIS

WE have long mourned the Unknown Soldier, murdered by the selfish forces of civilization whose conflict drenched the world with blood and sank our generation in poverty. The efforts of politicians to rescue his brother, the Unknown Man, from idleness and hunger, have plunged us into a long controversy now raging with redoubled fury. But in numbers infinitely greater are the victims of ignorance who have not been forgotten because we are not aware of their existence.

In his book, Man, the Unknown, Dr. Alexis Carrel, famous surgeon and biologist, describes the wretched state of you and me, of all men who inhabit the modern world, weakened and crushed by the predominance of material things in our scheme of living. He points out the causes of our decay, and tells how we can escape the fate of all the great civilizations of the past—if we dare to learn how to live. His challenge is so bold, so buttressed by facts, that we shall refuse it at our peril.

It is no idle dreamer who gives this warning and challenge. He is a scientist, long renowned for his accurate observation and evaluation of facts. In 1912 he received the Nobel Prize—the first in America to be thus honored—for his discovery of a way to make living organs grow outside the body. He is the greatest authority in his field. All of which lends added interest to his belief that man is more than a mere complex of appetites and instincts, blindly obeying the impulses of his glands. He considers the whole man, mind, body and spirit, with vast capacity for development if he will pay less attention to machines and quick dollars and take more interest in his own soul.

“We realize,” he says, “that, despite the immense hopes which humanity has placed in modern civilization, such a civilization has failed in developing men of sufficient intelligence and audacity to guide it along the dangerous road on which it is stumbling. Human beings have not grown so rapidly as the institutions sprung from their brains. It is chiefly the intellectual and moral deficiencies of the political leaders, and their ignorance, which endanger modern nations.”

How have we gone so far astray from the path of true development? By looking out, Carrel says, and forgetting to look within ourselves. Modern civilization, therefore, finds itself in a difficult position because it does not suit us. It has been erected [Page 158] without any knowledge of our real nature. It was born from the whims of scientific discoveries, from the appetites of men, their illusions, their theories and their desires.

“If Galileo, Newton or Lavoisier had applied their intellectual powers to the study of body and consciousness, our world probably would be different today. . . . From the wealth of science we have selected certain parts. And our choice has in no way been influenced by a consideration of the higher interests of humanity. It has simply followed the direction of our natural tendencies.”

IT is hard to resist the temptation to quote from every page of Carrel. He is so sane, so well balanced, so practical, and often his words hit like bullets—as when he casually remarks that in our universities bones and muscles develop perfectly; in the athletic teams are many individuals who are really magnificent specimens. Yet, “Their nervous system is delicate. They do not endure the mode of existence in large cities, the confinement in offices, the worries of business, etc. They easily break down. Perhaps the triumphs of hygiene, medicine and modern education are not so advantageous as we have been led to believe. . . .

“The intellectual and moral surroundings in which we are immersed have equally been molded by science. . . . Before the intellectual victories that have brought us wealth and comfort, moral values have naturally given ground. Reason has swept away religious beliefs.”

We are the victims, Carrel says, of the backwardness of the sciences of life over those of matter. The only possible remedy for this evil is a much more profound knowledge of ourselves. Is it necessary to increase production unceasingly, so that men may consume larger and larger quantities of useless things? The health of the intelligence and of the affective sense, moral discipline and spiritual development are just as necessary as the health of the body and the prevention of infectious diseases.

He does not spare the fashionable doctor. “Medicine,” he says, “has separated the sick human being into small fragments, and each fragment has its specialist. When a specialist, from the beginning of his career confines himself to a minute part of the body, his knowledge of the rest is so rudimentary that he is incapable of thoroughly understanding even thac part in which he specializes.”

In spite of the control of infectious diseases, so that the average expectation of life has been increased from forty-nine years in 1900 to sixty years today, our people are spending $3,500,000,000 a year on medical care in all its forms. Cancer, diabetes and heart disease are increasing; there is more neurasthenia and nervous depression, due to constant agitation, noise and worries. “Diseases have not been mastered,” says Carrel. “They have simply changed in nature. Hygienists have not paid sufficient attention to the genesis of diseases. Their studies of conditions of life and diet, and of their effects on the physiological and mental state of modern man, are superficial, incomplete and of too short duration. They [Page 159] have thus contributed to the weakening of our body and soul. . . .

“Neither the soul nor the body can be investigated separately. We observe merely a complex being, whose activities have been arbitrarily divided into physiological and mental. Of course, one will always continue to speak of the soul as an entity. . . . The soul is the aspect of our selves that is specific of our nature and distinguishes man from all other animals. . . . The mind is hidden within the living matter, completely neglected by physiologists and economists, almost unnoticed by physicians. And yet it is the most colossal power of this world. Is it produced by the cerebral cells, like insulin by the pancreas and bile by the liver? From what substances is it elaborated? . . . Or should it be considered as an immaterial being, located outside space and time, outside the dimensions of the cosmic universe? . . .”

CARREL insists upon the wholeness of man. The dependence of mental activities and physiological functions, he says, does not agree with the classical conception that places the soul entirely in the brain. He continues:

“In fact, the entire body appears to be the substratum of mental and spiritual energies. . . . Man thinks, invents, loves, suffers, admires and prays with his brain and all his organs.”

Our neglect to develop man as a harmonious whole, he says, has led to the chaos and injustice of modern civilization: “There is no difference between wrong and right, just and unjust. Criminals thrive at liberty among the rest of the population. No one makes any objection to their presence. Ministers have rationalized religion. They have destroyed its mystical basis. But they do not succeed in attracting modern men. In their half- empty churches they vainly preach a weak morality. . . .

“We have applied to man concepts belonging to the mechanical world. We have neglected thought, moral suffering, sacrifice, beauty and peace. We have treated the individual as a chemical substance, a machine, or a part of a machine. We have amputated his moral, esthetic and religious functions. We have also ignored certain aspects of his physiological activities. We have not asked how tissues and consciousness would accommodate themselves to the changes in the mode of life imposed on us.”

Telepathy, says Carrel, should be studied more diligently by scientists, for it is certain that man can diffuse himself through space, “sends out part of himself, a sort of emanation, which joins far-away relative or friend.” He thinks that some day communication from mind to mind, without the intervention of the ordinary senses, will be recognized as scientific fact. But chiefly he is occupied with the breakdown of the modern community. The depression may be the means of helping us to progress if we recognize that it was largely due to corruption and stupidity of financiers as well as politicians.

“Has not modern life,” he asks, “decreased the intelligence and the morality of the whole nation? Why [Page 160] must we pay several billions of dollars each year to fight criminals? Why do the gangsters continue victoriously to attack banks, kill policemen, kidnap, ransom or assassinate children, in spite of the immense amount of money spent in opposing them?”

Dr. Carrel points out the way of escape. “If scientific civilization, he says, “should leave the road that it has followed since the Renaissance and return to the naive observation of the concrete, strange events would immediately take place. Matter would lose its supremacy. Mental activities would become as important as physiological ones. The study of moral, esthetic and religious functions would appear as indispensable as that of mathematics, physics and chemistry.

“The present methods of education would seem absurd. Schools and universities would be obliged to modify their programs. Hygienists would be asked why they concern themselves exclusively with the prevention of organic diseases, and not with that of mental and nervous disturbances. Why they pay no attention to spiritual health. Why they segregate people ill with infections, and not those who propagate intellectual and moral maladies. Why the habits responsible for organic diseases are considered dangerous, and not those which bring on corruption, criminality and insanity.”

He would have men of the ablest intellect and highest character devote their lives to the scudy of man’s needs and the forming of plans to meet them.

“For the first time in the history of humanity,” he says, “a crumbling civilization is capable of discerning the causes of its decay. For the first time, it has at its disposal the gigantic strength of science. Will we utilize this knowledge and this power? It is our only hope of escaping the fate common to all great civilizations of the past. Our destiny is in our hands. On the new road, we must now go forward.”