THE RECONCILING FORCE IN HISTORY

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excerpts:

“Everyone agrees that our world today is not in a state of permanent stability. Some people hope and think that stability will be reached when mankind is fully permeated with the results of technical progress, and has adapted itself to the changed conditions of life which this will bring. To such a view, present instability is not a serious matter, except for the danger that the policies of the great nations may fail to prevent wars on an increasingly destructive scale, which might annihilate the benefits of technical progress. The principal characteristic of such views is the belief in the adequacy of existing human institutions to maintain order in the world – provided some “aggressive” group does not destroy the equilibrium. “

“When we look around us, we usually see the world from one point of view, our own, and we deny either value or validity to any other. When we make an effort to be “impartial”, we look for two opposing views and try to give equal weight to each. We  seldom succeed because, obsessed with the dualism of “good” and “evil” we cannot help attaching theses labels to one side or the other, according to our subjective likes and dislikes or feelings of approval and disapproval.”

“Everywhere people are stirring violently to make oil and water mix.

This cannot happen. The part of wisdom is to establish here and there centres in which right relationships can exist by the power of a common understanding of what is ultimately important. From such centres there can spread throughout the world – perhaps far more quickly than we might imagine possible – the seeds of a new world.”