My fellow Americans
and my fellow Earth Citizens:
Deep currents of joy
and sorrow are flowing through my heart. I rejoice in what we have
accomplished as the human family on this beautiful earth. And I
deeply grieve what we have failed to accomplish: Peace and Love for
our fellow humans. I don't have to remind you of what we have
accomplished; you are immersed in technology and have media that
holds it before you each day. The same media also reveals the horrors
that I deeply grieve, and about which I wish to speak in this
address. More to the point, I wish to speak words to encourage the
psycho-spiritual evolution beyond those horrors.
The time has past
for arrogance, high-minded superiority, and condescension. The time
has past for nationalistic pride in anything that does not embrace
and encourage the best for the entire human family; not just for
those who reside within certain man-made boundaries on this earth.
The time has past for the lust for power and the desire to control
territories and amass material wealth. The time for competition
between nations has past, unless it is competition for which nation
can be the most generous and bring the most service and good will for
the human family. The time for hatred and fear has past. We have
evolved technologically beyond prior generations' wildest dreams. We
probe space, circle the earth, communicate around the globe in
hand-held devices available to all advanced nations. In the last few
decades we have acquired the power to destroy the earth! Quoting from
Gen. MacArthur's speech on the USS Missouri at the end of WWII:
Men since the beginning of time have sought peace.... Military
alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed,
leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. We have
had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more
equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem
basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and
improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost
matchless advances in science, art, literature and all material and
cultural development of the past two thousand years. It must be of
the spirit if we are to save the flesh.
Perhaps
we have advanced to the point at which we can hear these words with
fresh ears, and see this vision with new eyes. We speak of peace, but
often with little hope that it is attainable. But now, more than
ever, we have at our disposal the global connectedness to encourage
the Truth that sets us free. And whether we are theists [as I am] or
atheists; whether we follow Buddha, Mohammed or Jesus—we must see
that we have the same universal origin; we breathe the same air and
have the same basic needs. We all stand in awe of our own
consciousness, which we did not create and which we do not even
understand. And the fact that we have been given the amazing and
unspeakable gift of life must reveal to us that the Originator of
that life is beneficent, and must be characterized by that which we
most highly esteem within ourselves: Love. Even the love that we have
for our children is not an aspect of our personality that was chosen
by us. It was placed within us by the same Source that
originated our hearts and minds. Surely that Source must comprise the
highest form of this Love: for the entire human family! And so
now, more than ever, we have good reason to be renewed in the hope
that peace and love—consciously chosen good will and compassion—can
increase upon the earth.
The
difficulty of this endeavor—the increase of Love and Peace—speaks
to the power that militates against it. Let us call it evil. But let
us not relegate it to any certain nation, party or faction of the
human family. Let us recognize, as the theologian states, that the
line that separates good from evil passes through the heart of every
human being. Until we evolve to the point at which we can look in the
mirror and see that which is not good within the self, we condemn
ourselves to project that unacknowledged evil outward upon someone or
some group or faction of the human family. This has always been the
fertile soil in which hatred and violence grows; and it can break out
like a wildfire and destroy centuries of advancement. I am thankful
to be an American, but I do not for a moment believe that America, or
any American, is pure. The power of evil, lurking in all our hearts,
tends to kill or reject those who are the purest among us. But this
is what we now seek to overcome.
One
of the reasons, perhaps the main reason that I am thankful to have
been born in this nation is because its government is founded upon a
trust in the general populace to govern itself. That is a radical
trust, always in jeopardy, and predicated upon, not only the
intelligence of the people, for intelligence is neutral and may be
utilized for good or evil. This trust is predicated more upon the
psycho-spiritual maturity and wisdom of the common men and women in
its domain. It is predicated upon the mainstream populace's ability
to care for the common good above selfish endeavors. Without this
dynamic, democracy and world peace will never be possible. We will
always be at war, like children jealously fighting for the attention
and highest esteem of their parents—parents who love them both
dearly and grieve their competitive nature. The great importance of
government for and by the people is emphasized by the fact that evil
loves power, and governing is a form of power. Common folk are not
generally enamored of power. They just want to get along—work and
provide for their families; enjoy the prosperity of the land and the
beauty of the earth. They are, therefore, a safer repository of power
than the minority who are afflicted with a need to rule. But this
latter will always be those who compete and work diligently to gain
that power. A government that places the ultimate power in the hands
of the common folk is therefore genius—provided the common folk are
psycho-spiritually mature. This is why our Founding Fathers wove
together democracy and unfettered religion. They realized, in a
manner that seems advanced beyond their time, that democracy could
not maintain itself without this growing maturity that facilitates
sincere and intelligent good will and a willingness to overcome the
baser drives of human personality. In fact, any true religion places
this endeavor—the overcoming of the “sinful nature” inherent in
every human—at the apex of importance. And any religion that
attempts to force or coerce cannot originate from the God Who has set
us free—even to violate His will. The God of this universe does
not need man to enforce His will; He is quite capable of that
Himself, if it were His will to govern by power, fear and
intimidation. Every bird, butterfly and child's lovely face speaks
loudly that this is not the way of the God of creation. We must come
to realize that our lives must be motivated, more and more over time,
by the Love that we have for our children. That Love must be the
decisive factor in all our endeavors. And that Love must not be
excluded from any human or group of humans on this earth—even those
who seem to be absorbed in the darkness of hatred or the lust for
power. We must trust the power of that Love to overcome all evil, as
light always overcomes darkness. We must raise this endeavor to a
conscious level, and keep it infused with hope, because it is always
in danger of sinking down underneath the worries and cares of daily
life, drained by cynicism or overcome by the fearful need for power
and its false security. Any viable religious practice must serve to
keep its practitioners mindful of this Love, and growing in their
capacity to live it out in the world of daily living. And those who
do not believe in a supernatural being must surely see and realize
that there is no higher motive for the human will than this Love. We
can all, therefore, be unified in Love. I do not believe there is
another force on earth that will unify us.
May
God bless America, and may God bless the human family.
