Spiritual
Development and Progress in Society
Dec. 1, 1994
I will speak today of the influence of spiritual development on the
overall progress of society. You know, there are those that say that
spirituality must be developed if the society will flourish, and there are
those that say that this human society cannot flourish no matter what, that
disaster is pending and cannot be avoided. They say that human beings have
walked the plank of self centered development until they cannot do other than
fall to their demise. It is true that this society cannot go on being governed
by individualistic desires and self centered motives. There must be a turn to
the view that we are one family, united in our humanity. We must work together
to build a society where not one living being is left behind, abused and
uncared for. We must work together to build a society in which all living
beings have got their basic needs met and in which living beings have
opportunity for spiritual, psychic and physical well being.
None should be starving while others sit in
the lap of luxury enjoying themselves at the expense of their brothers and
sisters. None should go hungry while others feast and throw the food from their
table because they cannot eat all of it. None should be without shelter while
others own empty houses, lonely and devoid of life. There is misappropriation
of wealth. This must be corrected. Education must be for all, not only for the
wealthy. There must be opportunity for proper food, clothing and shelter for
all human beings and proper education.
Why does this not happen in the present
society? It does not happen because there is insufficient compassion and excess
greed in human beings. What is the counter to this dilemma? It is the development
of spiritual values and of knowledge of the interconnected status of all living
beings. You see, when a child is very young, the child thinks only for itself.
But when they grow a little, if they are properly taught, they will come to
understand that they are a part of a family and they will develop love and
admiration for all of the family members.
They will think, not only of their own welfare, but of the welfare of
all of the members of their family. They will identify themselves, not only with
their individuality and their personal desires, but with their family as well.
Their welfare will not be secured if their mother suffers, if their brother
comes to harm. They will look to the welfare of all who are in the family.
Thus, this is a natural part of the development of a human being, not only the
individual stratum, but in the social stratum.
There are those who are already developing
in this fashion. Yet now, the whole society is being asked to develop in this
fashion, not only in one region, not only in one country, but around the world.
It is being asked to develop one human family, united in its humanity, a
network of living beings in which there is interrelated welfare. One segment
will not go down without impacting the rest and the knowledge of this social
connectedness will be with all.
What is required for this maturation of human society? When the child
develops, they must be taught proper values. They must be shown, through loving
kindness, what it is to care for others. Then, as they grow, they will
naturally mature. The human race is like the child. If it is to mature, it must
be guided; it must be shown proper values. It must be given love and care so
that it, like the child, may forego undeveloped egoistic approaches for more
mature, interconnected paradigms.
Now, how is this society to be taught, to be
led to this more mature approach? There must be those among the children of the
human race who will assume this responsibility for their brothers and sisters.
There must be those who will carry the guidance of the Supreme Being to their
comrades. In this way people may be properly schooled and come to a more mature
understanding of their interrelated status with all living beings. They may
grow beyond egoistic development to an interrelated, interconnected
understanding of self-preservation. It is a matter of evolution of the human
society.
For this evolution to occur human beings must develop in the psychic sphere and they must also begin to develop in the spiritual sphere that is in the subtler layers of the mind. This is the natural process of evolution. If you want to know what will become of this human race, you should not only look to predictions of this future or that future. You should look to the development of the spiritual aspects of human society and of human beings. There must be development of the subtle layers of mind, development of spiritual values within human beings, and development of knowledge of the interconnectedness of living beings. The human beings must come to feel that their welfare is secured, not by the security of the physical person alone, but by the development of the whole society. The identity must loosen with the physical body and become further secured in the social body, in the very network of life.
Where should the identity of human beings be placed? It must be place,
not in nationalism, not in the local society, not merely in the clan or the
family, no, no, no. All of these identities are too limited. It must be placed,
in a neohumanistic fashion, in identification with living beings, with the
interrelated network of living beings. When the welfare and the identity of
one's existence are placed thus, then one becomes socially responsible. In this
way this human society will coalesce into a true society. It is a matter of
maturation and it is occurring at this very moment. This is the development of
spiritual life; when human beings take their shelter, not some in this god,
some in that god, so that they may war to find out whose god is the better god;
but they take their shelter in the universal One God. When human beings take
their shelter in the interconnectedness of all life, then, they may build a
true human society for the first time. This is the potentiality of our future
at this time in history. We need only build it. You should not be concerned for
the difficulties of the present time. Only, put your all to this task and then
you are bound to contribute to the forward movement in evolution of the human
society.
I would add, that there must be those who
are willing to step forward and do selfless work for the betterment of this
society and to help their brothers and sisters to adopt a universal outlook.
Without these individuals, willing to show the way, this forward movement cannot
take place. If it does not take place, then there will be degeneration of
monumental proportions. You know, nothing is static; nothing stays as it is. It
goes one way or it goes another. See to this task, oh my children, so that this
society may evolve without difficulty. You are surely blessed in this work. The
blessings and compassionate assistance of the Divine Entity are bound to be
with you in this great endeavor. So lift up your heads, oh human beings, and do
not be burdened by the shackles of stagnancy and decay. Throw fear aside and
march forward for the welfare of humanity.