This has been published in the book PEACE OR BUST. For ordering information, please click here.
Introduction
Thank you for picking up this book to read it.
My purpose is to communicate to you ways that we can act
to create a world that is best for all people.
If we expand our awareness, we will see that
the Earth is one planet shared by human beings who
all can communicate and work together with love.
We determine our destiny
by the choices we make individually and collectively.
Everyone of us can contribute to a future
that will be peaceful, socially just,
democratically free, and ecologically healthy.
Those of us who care about the suffering
of hunger, disease, poverty, violence, and exploitation
have the ability to respond and thus take responsibility
for doing something to improve our world.
Is there a greater challenge or a more heroic venture
than saving our civilization from nuclear annihilation?
Writing about the future is a difficult task,
because it is so easy to be wrong.
Understanding history is hard enough;
one person's knowledge of current conditions in the world
can rarely be more than sketchy.
To see how all trends and tendencies will operate and change
seems a greater than human undertaking,
especially considering how much freedom humans express
as compared to animals, plants, and minerals.
Perhaps even God does not know what choices we will make;
if all choices were known ahead, freedom would not exist.
I believe that God is aware of all the conditions
and knows what is best for all to fulfill divine qualities
of love, freedom, justice, health, harmony, and balance.
God gives us liberty to cause conditions, even of suffering,
so that we can learn how to be responsible creators.
I also believe that we all are a part of God,
that our true essence of being is divine and eternal.
Thus by attuning ourselves to the heart of our being
we can become aware of the divine plan
and realize our part of it in our own lives.
While admitting that I am a fallible human,
I ask for divine guidance in the writing of this book.
I also pray that the readers receive divine Light
so that you will go beyond my words and correct my errors.
I hope that the prophecies in this book
will be fulfilled by the moving of the Spirit in people.
In our imaginations we can visualize
a world of peace, social justice, and prosperity.
Then the question arises, "How do we get there?"
We need not only goals but also a plan and methods
that are pragmatic and realistic to the challenges we face.
To change and evolve patterns of human behavior
we need first to understand the causes and origins
of customs, cultural institutions, and their dynamics.
We must recognize entrenched power structures
and assess how they will respond to events.
If we are to accomplish our objectives,
we must satisfy the needs, concerns, and aspirations of all.
The fears of those in power must be relieved in such a way
that they will realize the new ways will work.
Though change brings cycles of revolution,
our goal is spiritual evolution.
VISION
When angels do descend to Earth, they call,
"Let there be peace on Earth, good will to all."
Relating so, they know the way that's best:
In living love the sacred heart is blessed.
Can human beings find that clear purity
In using love for our security?
Can we with our intelligent good will
Bring healing to a troubled world that's ill?
When what is best the people truly know,
They feel and think, and then they make it so.
Each person does what she believes is right
For her to do by her own inner light.
People don't act on what they know is wrong;
They love something to which they want to belong.
But if we don't love what is truly good,
Then we don't know the way we really could.
Our love depends on whether we're aware,
Because we give ourselves to where we care.
Thus when we act by this limitation,
The consequences bring education.
Humans evolve and learn through interaction,
Always seeking inner satisfaction.
For all to take responsibility,
Becoming wise with full ability,
Would bring to our society new birth,
A living paradise set up on Earth.
Ignorant abuses must be prevented
By institutions global now invented,
For clearly people are not angels yet,
So every need and problem must be met.
To learn and grow without hurting others
We all must love our sisters and brothers.
With all on Earth as one big family
Our differences we can settle happily,
For common needs and wants are similar;
Our hopes and dreams are so familiar.
To survive as a civilization
Changes must come in one generation.
Our greed, intolerance, oppression, and fear
Will not just magically disappear,
But we can awaken greater love, sharing,
Communication, justice, and caring
By working all together for the whole
Of the world and the good of each soul.
We'll find a way to govern the nations,
Preventing war's cruel abominations
With effective global law and government
Protecting human rights, environment,
Democracy, and due process of law,
With peace and dignity the prophets saw.
To find out where a peaceful world leads
Let's start with just the basic human needs.
Everyone surely wants to breathe fresh air
And drink the water that is clean and clear.
All people want to have enough to eat,
With adequate shelter, clothing, and heat.
If we want a peaceful world of wealth,
It must be based on every person's health,
For who would want to live with pollution
When in our hands there is a solution?
World, national, and local government
Can monitor the whole environment
To keep the water and the food chain pure
To prevent diseases as well as cure.
All natural resources we can share
If we discover systems that are fair.
Every local culture can grow their foods
To be supplemented by trading goods.
Less land will be taken for raising meat
So that crops can be grown for all to eat.
Now no one wants to be killed in a war
Or be facing nuclear weapons in horror.
We won't allow the military to kill
Civilians innocent of any bad will,
And those who work in defense industries
Will surely rather earn their salaries
For doing useful and constructive tasks
That answer calmly when the conscience asks,
"Am I contributing to peace and life,
Or does the work I do fuel greater strife?"
The sale of weapons we must not permit
To any country; we would challenge it.
No military aid or troops must go
Outside a nation's borders, and although
We must enforce the laws that keep us free
It must be by the right authority.
No nation has the sovereign right to be
A police force in some other country.
International laws can only be
Correctly served by world legality.
Certainly people want to feel secure
Aware that laws and police will assure
Us all that criminals are apprehended
When human rights violations are intended,
And people want their law courts to be fair,
Protecting the accused's rights everywhere.
People want their freedom of expression
Of art and speech, writing, and religion.
Within these broad and universal rights
Let social groups each live by their own lights.
If all the world's peoples want these things,
And since we have the technical means, that brings
Us to the social and political
Questions of how to make our ideals real.
How can we organize society
To fill all needs and safeguard liberty?
When people have become aware of what
Is best for all and have found the ways that
Will work to make our dream be manifest,
Then we will see that it was all a test
For us to grow in love for all mankind
And understand the universal mind.
If we're to live peacefully together,
Then we must learn to trust in each other
And have faith that human institutions
Can work for us to find real solutions.
If we will work for social improvement,
We can magnify our enlightenment.
And thus the values that we've seen above---
Peace, health, prosperity, human rights, and love---
Require major political revision;
Now look into the future for this vision:
The basic needs of all are being filled;
There is no war, and none are being killed,
Because the people of the world agreed
That desperate problems created the need
To form a democratic federal
World government that would represent all.
Every person may vote in elections.
World laws and courts provide the protections
For human rights, ecology, and peace.
The living standard is on the increase
Among the poor and middle class persons,
Disarmament prospering conversions.
Once a sufficient number of people learned
That change and social justice can be earned
By using methods that are nonviolent,
We no longer were fearful and silent
In facing up to violent repression,
But started acting to remove oppression.
Our moral power from an inner source
Was not intimidated by threat of force.
Nuclear weapons soon became useless,
Because immoral threats were powerless.
No nation could maintain or justify
Its genocidal weapons with a lie.
The treaties on nuclear disarmament
Agreed upon by every government
Proved that peaceful judicial processes
Can replace large military forces,
When backed by strong and active moral will
That's pure and free of any threat to kill.
Humanity's concern for its safety
And for the long-standing misery
Of poor people and the environment
Inspired a democratic government
To form based on a world constitution
To keep the peace and find a solution.
Peacekeeping forces loyal to the world
Constitution enforce the law of world
Authority, replacing the nations'
Military forces' occupations.
Threat of invasion has become so slight
That now the nations have no need to fight.
Disputes receive the world court's decision,
Which is accepted by world opinion.
Our technical and human resources,
Lost before on military forces,
Are now directed to food production
Throughout the world with good distribution,
Environmental cleanup and health care,
Renewing energy for all to share,
Providing everyone education,
Inspiring arts, and communication.
Nuclear power plants have been removed
As natural technologies improved.
While every person's basic needs are met,
There still are ways for those who wish to get
More money, if we work a little more,
Take jobs less popular or needing more
Training, creating value we can sell
To other people, if we do it well.
Most people now pursue education,
Spiritual growth and celebration;
We play in sports and learn new crafts and arts,
But most of all we share with open hearts.
There still are difficulties day to day,
But now they're handled in a humane way.
The few convicted criminals receive
True rehabilitation to relieve
The circumstances that did cause their plight,
Instead of punishment which isn't right.
The difference between the past and now
Is that the good in people has learned how
To use its power to prevent nations
From using armies and corporations
To exploit people, violate their rights,
And dominate their lives with strife and fights.
But now society is much more fair,
For everyone is learning how to share
And help the struggling with some special care
So that everyone can be more aware.
This has been published in the book PEACE OR BUST. For ordering information, please click here.
DIAGNOSIS
PROGNOSIS
HEALING