J
John Winston
Guest
Subject: How To Correct Our Problems. Mar. 26, 2008.
This tells how we can correct some of our problems
here in Earth.
........................................................
........................................................
`When one or the other of these captains is at sea,
he will always find that a significant number of his
crew are fundamentally opposed to his having command,
so there is always a significant risk of mutiny.
`Of course, this is not the method by which a captain
achieves his command - fortunately. I merely wished to
illustrate the dangers that are inherent in electing
leaders on the basis of p-litical bias rather than for
their ability to lead people, honestly, in appropriate
directions.
`While on the subject, I must emphasise another
point. When our `captain-elect' is at sea, he is the
one and only leader of the vessel, whereas, when a
party leader is elected as head of state, he is
immediately confronted with a `Leader of the
Opposition'. From the very beginning of his leadership,
whether his decisions are good or bad, he will be
systematically criticised by an opposing party bent on
his demise. How can a country be properly g-verned
under such a system, Michel?'
`Do you have a solution?'
`Of course, and it has already been described to you.
The only solution is to follow the example of the
gov-rnment of Mu.
`This is to place as head of state a leader whose
unique goal is the wellbeing of the people - a leader
not motivated by false pride or party and personal
pecuniary ambition; to do away with pol-tical parties -
and the resentment, the grudges, the h-tred that go
with them; and to hold out your hand to your neighbour
- to accept him and work with him, regardless of
differences you may have. He is after all, in the same
boat with you, Michel. He is part of the same village,
the same town, the same nation, the same planet.
`What is the house which shelters you made of,
Michel?'
`Of bricks... of wood, tiles, plaster, nails...'
`Indeed, and what are all these materials made of?'
`Atoms, of course.'
`Perfect. Now these atoms, as you know, have to
connect very closely in order to form a brick or any
other building material. What would happen if these
atoms repelled each other instead of combining as they
do?'
`Disintegration.'
`And there we are. When you push away your
neighbors, your son or your daughter - if you aren't
always ready to help even those whom you don't like,
you contribute to the disintegration of your
civilization.
And this is what is happening on Earth more and more,
through ha-e and violence.
`Consider two examples well known to all on your
planet, which prove that violence is not a solution.
The first is Napoleon Bonaparte: by the use of arms he
was able to conquer all of Europe, and he established,
as national leaders, his own brothers to diminish the
risk of treason.
`It is widely accepted that Napoleon was a genius
and, indeed, a competent organiser and legislator
since, 200 years later, many of his laws still exist in
France. But what has become of his empire, Michel?
It quickly disintegrated because it had been
established through the use of arms.
`Hitler, similarly, sought to conquer Europe by force
and you know what happened there.
`Violence does not pay, and never will. The solution
lies, rather, in love and the cultivation of minds.
Have you ever noticed that, all round the world, and
particularly in Europe, you had many more great
writers, musicians and philosophers emerging in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?'
`Yes, I believe it is so.'
`Do you know why?'
`No.'
`Because, along with the advent of electricity, the
internal combustion engine, the automobile, the
aeroplane and such like, the people of Earth neglected
the cultivation of their s-irituality and focused on
the material world.
`Now, as the great Thaora explained, materialism
poses one of the greatest threats to your present life
and your future lives.
`After po-iticians, you have the problem of
journalists and reporters. There are some among them,
although unfortunately rare, who try to do their job of
disseminating information honestly and sincerely,
attending carefully to their sources; but we are
greatly alarmed that most of them seek only
sensationalism.
`Your television stations too, screen more and more
scenes of violence. If those responsible were obliged
to study psychology before being able to undertake such
grave responsibilities, a step in the right direction
would have been taken. Your reporters seem to seek and
even prey on scenes of violence, mu-der, tragedy and
disaster; we are sickened by their behaviour.
`The leaders of a country, the journalists, in fact
anyone who, by their position, is able to exert
influence on the people, has an enormous responsibility
towards millions of people who are no more nor less
than his fellow creatures. Too often, even those who
have been elected to their positions by the people,
forget the obligations they have in this regard -until,
that is, a few months prior to a new election, when it
occurs to them that the people are dissatisfied and
might vote them out.
`This is not the case with journalists though, as
they have not needed to inspire confidence in the
people in order to attain their positions; and yet they
have a similar power to influence in ways which are
good or bad.
`Indeed, they are capable of doing much good when
they alert public attention to danger and injustice -
and this should be their main function.
`To return to the need for such high profile people
to understand and apply psychology, I will give you a
good example to illustrate what I mean. On TV we see
the following report: A young man has just taken a
rifle and k-lled seven people including two women and
two young children. The reporter shows the bloodstains
and the bodies, adding that the ki-ler had imitated the
style of an actor, well known for his violent roles in
films. And the result? The mur-erer is going to be
proud of himself - not only has he achieved `national
notoriety', he has also been compared with one of the
most popular heroes of violent modern films. But,
beyond that, another such madman who sees the reports
and hears the commentaries of reporters who pay
unwarranted attention to this odious crime, will be
inspired to seek his own moment of national
This tells how we can correct some of our problems
here in Earth.
........................................................
........................................................
`When one or the other of these captains is at sea,
he will always find that a significant number of his
crew are fundamentally opposed to his having command,
so there is always a significant risk of mutiny.
`Of course, this is not the method by which a captain
achieves his command - fortunately. I merely wished to
illustrate the dangers that are inherent in electing
leaders on the basis of p-litical bias rather than for
their ability to lead people, honestly, in appropriate
directions.
`While on the subject, I must emphasise another
point. When our `captain-elect' is at sea, he is the
one and only leader of the vessel, whereas, when a
party leader is elected as head of state, he is
immediately confronted with a `Leader of the
Opposition'. From the very beginning of his leadership,
whether his decisions are good or bad, he will be
systematically criticised by an opposing party bent on
his demise. How can a country be properly g-verned
under such a system, Michel?'
`Do you have a solution?'
`Of course, and it has already been described to you.
The only solution is to follow the example of the
gov-rnment of Mu.
`This is to place as head of state a leader whose
unique goal is the wellbeing of the people - a leader
not motivated by false pride or party and personal
pecuniary ambition; to do away with pol-tical parties -
and the resentment, the grudges, the h-tred that go
with them; and to hold out your hand to your neighbour
- to accept him and work with him, regardless of
differences you may have. He is after all, in the same
boat with you, Michel. He is part of the same village,
the same town, the same nation, the same planet.
`What is the house which shelters you made of,
Michel?'
`Of bricks... of wood, tiles, plaster, nails...'
`Indeed, and what are all these materials made of?'
`Atoms, of course.'
`Perfect. Now these atoms, as you know, have to
connect very closely in order to form a brick or any
other building material. What would happen if these
atoms repelled each other instead of combining as they
do?'
`Disintegration.'
`And there we are. When you push away your
neighbors, your son or your daughter - if you aren't
always ready to help even those whom you don't like,
you contribute to the disintegration of your
civilization.
And this is what is happening on Earth more and more,
through ha-e and violence.
`Consider two examples well known to all on your
planet, which prove that violence is not a solution.
The first is Napoleon Bonaparte: by the use of arms he
was able to conquer all of Europe, and he established,
as national leaders, his own brothers to diminish the
risk of treason.
`It is widely accepted that Napoleon was a genius
and, indeed, a competent organiser and legislator
since, 200 years later, many of his laws still exist in
France. But what has become of his empire, Michel?
It quickly disintegrated because it had been
established through the use of arms.
`Hitler, similarly, sought to conquer Europe by force
and you know what happened there.
`Violence does not pay, and never will. The solution
lies, rather, in love and the cultivation of minds.
Have you ever noticed that, all round the world, and
particularly in Europe, you had many more great
writers, musicians and philosophers emerging in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?'
`Yes, I believe it is so.'
`Do you know why?'
`No.'
`Because, along with the advent of electricity, the
internal combustion engine, the automobile, the
aeroplane and such like, the people of Earth neglected
the cultivation of their s-irituality and focused on
the material world.
`Now, as the great Thaora explained, materialism
poses one of the greatest threats to your present life
and your future lives.
`After po-iticians, you have the problem of
journalists and reporters. There are some among them,
although unfortunately rare, who try to do their job of
disseminating information honestly and sincerely,
attending carefully to their sources; but we are
greatly alarmed that most of them seek only
sensationalism.
`Your television stations too, screen more and more
scenes of violence. If those responsible were obliged
to study psychology before being able to undertake such
grave responsibilities, a step in the right direction
would have been taken. Your reporters seem to seek and
even prey on scenes of violence, mu-der, tragedy and
disaster; we are sickened by their behaviour.
`The leaders of a country, the journalists, in fact
anyone who, by their position, is able to exert
influence on the people, has an enormous responsibility
towards millions of people who are no more nor less
than his fellow creatures. Too often, even those who
have been elected to their positions by the people,
forget the obligations they have in this regard -until,
that is, a few months prior to a new election, when it
occurs to them that the people are dissatisfied and
might vote them out.
`This is not the case with journalists though, as
they have not needed to inspire confidence in the
people in order to attain their positions; and yet they
have a similar power to influence in ways which are
good or bad.
`Indeed, they are capable of doing much good when
they alert public attention to danger and injustice -
and this should be their main function.
`To return to the need for such high profile people
to understand and apply psychology, I will give you a
good example to illustrate what I mean. On TV we see
the following report: A young man has just taken a
rifle and k-lled seven people including two women and
two young children. The reporter shows the bloodstains
and the bodies, adding that the ki-ler had imitated the
style of an actor, well known for his violent roles in
films. And the result? The mur-erer is going to be
proud of himself - not only has he achieved `national
notoriety', he has also been compared with one of the
most popular heroes of violent modern films. But,
beyond that, another such madman who sees the reports
and hears the commentaries of reporters who pay
unwarranted attention to this odious crime, will be
inspired to seek his own moment of national