Twenty years ago, a rather knowledgeable gentlemen named Alan made the following observation: "The advanced races of the planet Earth are now busily engaged in polluting their atmosphere, their water and their land surface at a rate that will, within a few generations, render their planet totally unfit for habitation by any except the simplest of life forms." Now, a generation later, earthman is belatedly awakening to the deadly seriousness of his predicament. Every newspaper now features articles discussing the problems of pollution and a few of the proposed remedies. Unfortunately, the fact that man is becoming aware of the inevitable results of his negligence, does not guarantee that any substantial changes will be made. As Alan also said twenty years ago, "Each man is looking to his neighbor or to his government, to find remedies that will not cost too much, and will not inconvenience anyone. Meanwhile they march en masse toward a common grave, each man still insisting that his fate is the result of other's negligence." The abatement and the prevention of environmental pollution presents no difficult technological problems. The great, and perhaps insuperable obstacles are those of long established human habit, human apathy toward the future, and human reluctance

2 UNDERSTANDING

to spend money or exert effort for the benefit and the welfare of the next generation.

Through our staggering national debt and the constant deficit spending of virtually every governmental agency, we have succeeded in saddling our descendants with our debts, unto the third and fourth generation. The moot question is, "Are we willing to make the effort necessary to assure that there can be a third and fourth generation?"

We have seen our planet as it appears from the moon: a small spheroid, coasting eternally through open space, with a closed system ecology capable of maintaining living organisms upon its surface. If it is to continue to be a suitable habitat for the genus Homo, we will have to unlearn many of our longstanding habits, and be prepared to make substantial investments in the future. To assure the continued existence of mankind on the planet will cost considerably more than the one billion per year proposed by President Nixon. It may in fact eventually require the expenditure of as much as one fifth of the effort and the money which we are now devoting to the war in Vietnam.

——— ♦ ———

TOWARDS A BETTER WORLD

In a world in which rapid change in knowledge and technology has produced personal and social unrest, it is well to consider solutions offered to promote a more peaceful, meaningful and fulfilling life pattern for all.

In a new publication-The Mother Earth News-is offered a series of proposals for a better world as envisioned by a group of today's young people. You may not agree with all concepts but read with an open, understanding mind. It is predicted that in a very few years half the national population will be 26 and under. In the next ten years many of today's dissenters will be in positions of responsibility both in government and industry. That which is talk today could become fact tomorrow!

Highlights from the article, "Four Changes," by Garry Snyder, follow.

Population: There are already too many human beings. Because population is increasing rapidly, the situation is disastrous, not only for man himself, but for most other life forms.

The goal proposed is a world population half or less than the present

MARCH, 1970 3

number. The suggested action includes legalized abortion, sterilization, removal of income tax deductions for more than two children to encourage the smaller family. Another suggestion is that of group marriages with a sharing and adoption of children so that all may enjoy the basic human experience of child care, joy and responsibility.

Pollution: During the past century the human race has allowed its production and dissemination of wastes, by-products and chemical substances to become excessive. The total ecology of the planet is threatened as is the environment of man.

The action proposed for clean air and water includes legislation to control pesticide use; strong individual and industrial penalties for contamination of the atmosphere and waters; phasing out of petroleum as a fuel with explorations of such non-polluting substitutes as solar power; elimination of all chemical and biological warfare research; encouragement of bio-degradable substances; sanctions against wasteful use of paper; and the recycling of all wastes.

Among the personal recommendations is the sharing of rides to reduce air pollution. "Also-as a step toward the new world-walk more: look for the best route through the beautiful countryside for long-distance walking trips." Further suggested are the following: avoid purchase of wasteful Sunday papers which not only use up trees but contribute to solid waste; organize park and street cleanup festivals; learn to live with insects and wild creatures, sharing farm produce with them, thus eliminating pesticides.

"In the realm of thought, inner experience, consciousness, as in the outward realm of interconnection, there is a difference between a balanced cycle and the excess which cannot be handled. When the balance is right, the mind recycles from highest illumination to the stillness of dreamless sleep: the alchemical transmutation."

Consumption: Consumption too is concerned with balances. Man has developed a total dependence upon certain resources (i.e., fossil fuels, bird feathers, furs) which effect the balance of nature.

To regulate the "growing economy" which is considered a "cancer" it is proposed that responsible controlled production be the goal, with open spaces, soil banks, the protection of wild life in its natural habitat as the aims.

To eliminate wasteful duplication it is suggested that communal life with common usage of large tools is a solution. To break man's

4 UNDERSTANDING

habit of too many unnecessary possessions the practice of handcrafts in shoes and clothing is advocated, with the admonition that no animal be killed unless every part of it is used for some purpose. Interestingly, the warning is given against becoming self-righteous about the lack of things. "Simplicity is life, carefree, neat and loving-not a self-punishing ascetic trip."

Transformation: Man's unbalance in relation to himself and nature has resulted in the threat of non-survival. A total transformation in his thinking and actions is required.

The proposals include: a healthy, specious population, far fewer than today; cultural and individual pluralism, the division of people by natural and cultural, rather than political, boundaries; a technology of communication and quiet transportation; careful, intensive agricultural programs; and "computer technicians who run the plant part of the year and walk along with the Elk in their migration during the rest. . ." Encouraged is "exploration and challenge in things like healing songs, flute-playing, meditation, mathematics, mountaineering, and all the other possible ways of authentic being in the world."

Our community: The goals for the community envision new schools, new classes, walking in the woods and cleaning up the streets. The children are to be brought up with natural things and with a taste for the wild. "Let some groups establish themselves in backwater rural areas and flourish, let others maintain themselves in urban centers, and let them walk together, a two-way flow of experience, people, money and home-gown vegetables. Investigating new life styles is our work-as is the exploration of Ways to change one's inner world-with the known dangers of crashing that go with such. .. "

The article concludes thus: "Our own heads is where it starts. Knowing that we are the first human beings in history to have all of man's cultures and previous experiences available to our study, and being free enough of the weight of traditional cultures to seek out a larger entity ... gives us a fair chance to penetrate into some of the riddles of ourselves and the universe, and to go beyond the idea of `man's survival' or `the survival of the biosphere,' and to draw our strength from the realization that at the heart of things is some kind of serene and ecstatic process which is actually beyond qualities and beyond birth and death..."

(For a copy of The Mother Earth News send One dollar to: Box 38, Madison, Ohio, 44057.

MARCH, 1970 5

THE VILLA JONES CONVERSATION CLUB

by Cisco Drake

This article, by Cisco Drake of Mexico City, is particularly interesting in relation to the Discussion Groups of many Understanding Units, which "Examine All Things" in an atmosphere of friendly sociability and sharing, with the resulting growth into a "better understanding among all peoples of earth, and of those not of earth."

Do you know what is man's number one problem on earth?

Recently, at an international convention of service organizations, held in London, each delegate was asked what made people suffer the most in their particular country. The answer: Loneliness is the world's biggest problem in every country, and Mexico is no exception.

In Mexico City, Ingeborg and Robert Jones have set a fine example on how to conquer this loneliness by way of reviving the lost art of conversation. They came to Mexico in 1954 and opened up a Conversation Club in their rented home. They invited a lecturer to come give a talk at their home in English, and then passed the word around. Lonely Canadians, Britishers and Americans living in Mexico rushed to the call just to hear English spoken once again, and to meet other English speaking people like themselves. Thus was started the Villa Jones Conversation Club of Mexico City.

The door was open also to Mexican citizens who wanted to learn to speak English by hearing it spoken, and who wanted to express themselves in English to test the value of their language classes.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones have had as lecturers experts from every possible field-Astronomy to Zoology, both local persons as well as any international experts visiting in Mexico. And, personally, they are having as good a tine as anyone you can imagine, retired though they are.

The idea of the Conversation Club was, and continues to be, such a huge success for many reasons. Whatever your particular interest may be you can always meet other people who have like interests to yours. At the same time new interests are cultivated, which makes life more exciting. And, everyone feels important by, in turn, being an influence on other people.

A Conversation Club, such as Villa Jones, provides great inner joy, peace of mind, a new lease on life to everyone connected with it because it restores faith in human nature and in one's self. Everyone is sick

6 UNDERSTANDING

and tired of violence on television, degenerate movies, frightening newspaper headlines, shouting radio commercials, the rat race. But, in a conversation club the human contacts bring out the humanism that we all need so badly. A friendly, non-hostile environment is provided in the Club which fills the human need of contact with others.

The Conversation Club is many wonderful things put together. One of these is adult education. An adult might have harbored a secret, heart-felt feeling of "Someday I am going to educate myself." Listening to the many lecturers, on such a wide variety of subjects, and to the opinions of so many different people is, in itself, a very broadening form of education.

The friendly, yet easy going non-pressure conversation club is the best place for any person to break the ice of shyness, self-doubt and complexes, rather than being thrown cold, head first, into a strange situation where conversation is required of a non-communicative person. At the Villa Jones Conversation Club everyone learns to carry on a conversation without embarrassment, by getting into it slowly. Before the members know it, they can talk and realize what a fine personality they had all the time, which just needed to be brought to the surface.

There is no more rewarding feeling than being able to bring happiness to others. Because they have done just that, the Jones, in their retirement, have become important people in the community and are invited, all year long, to attend receptions and dinners given in honor of distinguished local and international visiting scholars, artists, intellectuals and cultural leaders.

Ingeborg and Robert Jones have proven, with their weekly meetings, special seminars and excursions, that a Conversation Club can work wonders for the lonely. We hope that other retired people, all over the world, will follow the example of the Jones, to fill personal and community needs. A Conversation Club can be the springboard to friendship, adventure and knowledge.

——— ♦ ———

Dear is my friend-yet from my foe, as from my friend, comes good; My friend shows what I can do, and my foe what I should.

-Friedrich Von Schillar

MARCH, 1970 7

UNDERSTANDING, INC.

The Daily Courier of Grants Pass, Ore., on December 26, 1969, carried an article by Harold S. Katchina about Understanding, Inc. It was entitled: "Understanding, Inc.: We Don't Sit Around Watching Saucers," and included a picture of Dr. Daniel W. Fry as well as a picture of the new International Cultural Center of Understanding. The article has since then been released to the UPI news service and may have appeared in your local paper also. For those who may have missed it, we quote, in part, for it is much too long to give in its entirety here.

Take a quietly-operated organization with a name like Understanding, Inc., give it a president who at one time has written that he rode in a UFO and spoke with and has been visited by a "person not born on this planet," locate it in the small Southern Oregon town of Merlin (to conjure up images of the magician of King Arthur's court) and you have the basis for a lot of misunderstanding.

The lack of knowledge about the organization brings descriptions ranging from a far-out peace group to a mystic society to "a bunch of nuts sitting on the hill out there waiting for a flying saucer to land."

Nothing could be further from the truth, laments the world-wide organization's president, Dr. Daniel W. Fry, 61.

The group is not mystic, he says, and is not a flying saucer watching organization, although some members hold definite beliefs and interests in both areas.

Understanding, Inc., which is a non-profit, tax exempt corporation, works on the principle that there is nothing that members are required to believe or accept or do, Dr. Fry said.

"A person is perfectly free and is encouraged to examine all aspects of life, all philosophies, with the idea of picking out what's best for his particular use. There isn't anything we require or even urge anyone to accept."

Dr. Fry said that membership ranges from Protestants to Catholics to "about 10 good Zen Buddhists."

Most of the misunderstanding, Dr. Fry thinks, comes from people who know nothing of the organization and its works and base their description or ideas on statements of individual members. Understanding, Inc., is a peace-seeking organization, Dr. Fry confirmed,

8 UNDERSTANDING

but not the hippie, SDS or radical type which goes around screaming "Peace now, get out of Vietnam," etc.

The organization, which has 77 chapters in most of the state's counties, plus many members-at-large, quietly seeks peace through understanding, he said, giving the thesis of the group this way

"Peace cannot successfully be reached by any direct approach; it is simply an automatic by-product of complete understanding between man and his fellow man, between, government and government and between all men and that greater power and intelligence which pervades all nature and which we usually refer to as God.

"The principal efforts of the organization are therefore directed toward the search for basic points or areas of mutual agreement throughout the world which may serve as seeds for the growth of mutual understanding."

In other words, if people learn to understand one another, that understanding can lead to understanding of problems and frictions, then that understanding can lead to solving them, or peace.

(Reprints have been made of the full article, including pictures, and are available at 5 cents a copy, to defray printing costs, plus a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Mail your requests to our Merlin address, please.)

——— ♦ ———

THE WAY IT HAD TO BE

(As a volunteer working with refugees in Central Vietnam one of their characteristics that most impressed me was their fatalism.-P.M.)

The house was dark, the weather-warped shutters closed as tightly as possible. A black shadow crept soundlessly across the cement floor. The torn and dirty curtain hanging unevenly in the doorway stirred limply emitting a brief flicker of dull light. A stifled sobbing came from a small room right inside the door.

She was behind the curtain in the small room lying prostrate on the bed beside a tiny white bundle. The dim lantern sitting at the head of the bed cast pernicious darts of light over the untidy room. She sat up suddenly, her long black hair tumbling down her back onto the bed, tears swimming in the dark hollows of her large grief-softened eyes. "Who told you to come?" She spoke quietly.

Tremblingly she uncovered the body of her baby fingering his cold

MARCH, 1970 9

hands and feet tenderly, then touching her lips lightly on the sunken cheek.

"I did everything I could, but he died in my arms last night." The memory seemed almost too much for her.

"I took my child to every medicine man in town, but they all wrote out prescriptions for expensive medicines and sent me home again saying that all babies born early were hard to take care of. I bought what I could with the little money I had, but most of the medicine is sitting in that box still unused." She nodded in the direction of a. sagging cardboard box sitting in the far corner of the room.

"My mother said I must have a charm for my baby to wear-merely a piece of material with a few bits of cheap herb in it, but they wanted me to pay five thousand piasters. I didn't have the money, so two nights ago my husband borrowed money and spent the night gambling. He won enough money to buy the amulet, but now my baby is dead and the charm cannot ever be used again." She buried her face against the cracked whitewashed wall and wept bitter tears.

"It had to be this way. I knew it from the day my child was born. You see, he was born two months early on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Any child born in the seventh month will die.

"My baby also died on an ill-starred day, so we cannot bury him until tomorrow. Today is the first day of the month, a day when all of the spirits of the dead are released to wander around. If I bury my child today, his spirit would not descend into the earth but would always wander above the ground. We must wait until tomorrow. I can be with my child another night yet."

She stopped talking briefly and shuttered convulsively, her eyes filling with fatalistic gloom.

"I was sitting here holding my crying baby last night and a black cat suddenly appeared at the doorway there. I had never seen it before and didn't know where it carne from. But I knew why it had come, and I screamed out that my child was going to die.

"My baby had cried three clays and nights straight. All I could do was sit up and hold him. But last night I fell asleep with my child in my arms. Very strange it was. I got awake late and felt perspiration on my baby's face. I thought he was still alive and went back to sleep, only to be awakened several hours later by my husband telling me the baby was dead.

10 UNDERSTANDING

"Why didn't I know that my baby was dead when I felt his cold perspiring face? My uncle says I will never know when a child is dead-someone will always have to tell me. He read in his book that people born on the fifth day of the ninth month can never know when a person dies.

"My husband also had dreams. He kept dreaming that the smallest string on his guitar was broken. He didn't recall the dreams until after the baby died, then he remembered that he had dreamed that same dream over and over again."

She stared emptily at the dying lantern light, her puffy eyes unable to comprehend the growing darkness.

"My baby tried hard to live. I could see him struggling to live just one more day and one more night. But he had no more strength to eat and hardly enough left to cry. I loved my baby; he was the only son I had.

"Tonight at 12:00 midnight, I will put my baby in his small, wooden coffin and will pray to the spirits to allow his small spirit to descend. Then tomorrow, early in the morning, I will carry him out across the bridge and bury him beside two of his baby uncles."

Her eyes were dry. She rewound her long hair around her head. "I did what I could, but it was not enough. This is the way it had to be."

-Patricia Martin

——— ♦ ———

world report

Meteorite May Have Been from Mars

Southwest Times Record, Ft. Smith, Ark., Jan. 13, 1970

WASHINGTON (AP)-The meteorite that illuminated skies over Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma on Jan. 3 may have been from Mars' orbit, a spokesman for the Smithsonian Institute said Monday.

The meteorite was found last Friday near Lost City, in north eastern Oklahoma, and was shipped to the Smithsonian for expert study. It weighed 22 pounds.

MARCH, 1970 11

George Berklacy, press officer for the Smithsonian, said the meteorite was photographed in flight, the first time that had happened in the United States. The only other known instance was in 1955 in Czechoslovakia, he said.

Berklacy said it normally takes months or years to locate a meteorite, but this one was found sooner by tracing its trajectory from the photographs.

The discovery of the meteorite so soon after it landed will enable scientists to learn more of its origin than would normally be possible, the Smithsonian spokesman said. He added that preliminary findings indicated it came from Mars' orbit.

Airport Picture Poses Puzzle

Arkansas Democrat, Little Rock, Arkansas, Jan. 25, 1970

Last summer an Oakland, Calif., woman took a picture of a small jet plane that had landed at the Marion County Airport near Flippen, Ark.

When the color prints were returned by Kodak to Miss Vivian Kocher, she noticed an unusual blur in the upper right-hand portion of the picture.

She sent the print to her brother-in-law, Lawrence Willett, remarking jokingly in an accompanying letter that maybe she had inadvertently snapped a photograph of a UFO.

Willett, manager of the Flippin airport, didn't consider it a joke. He had been interested in the possibility of UFO's for many years. Fighting back a fear that he might be called a; "nut," he sent a 9-by-10-inch copy of the color print to the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, Inc., a non-profit organization in Tucson, Ariz.

Kodak, upon request from Miss Kocher, had already confirmed that there were no flaws in the film.

Richard Greenwell, assistant director of Aerial Phenomena Research, wrote Willett on Jan. 8 that the picture had been examined and that their preliminary finding was that "you have actually photographed an unidentifiable object in the sky."

Greenwell wrote that the object was probably between a half and 2 miles from the plane.

"The object is therefore quite large, ruling out the possibility of hoax."

He said the object appeared to be between 80 and 320 feet across.

12 UNDERSTANDING

The picture is being studied further by the organization with the assistance of Dr. Ray Frieden, an associate professor of optical sciences at the University of Arizona at Tucson, and by Dr. William K. Hartmann of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona.

Religious Experience Data

Daily Courier, Grants Pass, Ore., Jan. 8, 1970

LONDON (UPI)-Prof. Sir Alister Hardy believes large numbers of people have felt some power beyond themselves which has influenced their lives and it is time there was an attempt to study scientifically "what they can tell us about it."

Sir Alister told the Royal Institution in a lecture that he is not at present studying the more ecstatic or mystical religious states but what sociologist Beatrice Webb once described as being "in communion with a superhuman force which makes for righteousness."

He told his audience at the Royal Institution that he hoped large numbers of people would send him a simple statement if they ever had the feeling of being in contact with some power beyond themselves, whether they call it God or not. "What I'd like," said Sir Alister, "is a brief account of their experience and how it has affected their lives, giving details of age, sex, nationality, religious upbringing and other relevant factors-sent to me at Manchester College in Oxford.

Anti-Destruction Plea

Morning Star, Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 28, 1969

Boston-A plea for preservation from destruction of secret Air Force records on unidentified flying objects, compiled over the last 22 years, was made here yesterday by astronomers, physicists and social scientists taking part in a symposium on the subject.

The appeal was spelled out on their behalf by Dr. Thornton Page, chief organizer of the meeting and director of the Van Vleck Observatory at Wesleyan University at Middleton, Conn. Page is currently working as visiting scientist at the Manned Spacecraft Center near Houston, Tex.

He reported that, according to Air Force sources, the unclassified files compiled by the Air Force's Project Blue Book are to be transferred to archives at Maxwell Air Force Base near Montgomery, Ala. Project Blue Book, with headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force

MARCH, 1970 13

Base near Dayton, Ohio, has been responsible for investigating UFO reports.

On Dec. 17, Dr. Robert C. Seamans Jr. announced that it was being terminated. It could no longer be justified, he said, "either on the ground of national security or in the interest of science."

According to Page, the Air Force has revealed no plans for preservation of secret files of Project Blue Book. These, he said, contain reports by Air Force personnel that have not been adequately explained, as well as episodes involving secret military projects.

He and other participants in the meeting expressed fear that these records are to be burned. It was proposed that they could be helpful in understanding future sightings and the physical-or psychological phenomena responsible for them.

The two-day symposium on UFOs, which ended here last evening, was held as part of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science after two years of emotionally-charged debate. It had originally been scheduled for last year's annual meeting, but was postponed because of the furor.

The need, according to Dr. Phillip Morrison, professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is for a link-by-link chain of unambiguous evidence to establish the nature of a UFO.

Technology Outstretches Brain

Tom Ferschweiler, Staff Writer, The Oregon Journal, Portland, 1/7/'70

FOREST GROVE (Ore.)-The human brain can't keep pace with the world it has created.

So believes Frank Thorn, associate professor of physiology at Pacific University. He is conducting a course in psychobiology, an area dealing with behavior and the physical structure of the brain.

According to Dr. Thorn, the brain is essentially the same as it was 3,000 years ago when man was operating in a world considerably less complex than that of 1970. He theorizes that the brain has been evolving for tens of thousands of years but has experienced little appreciable change since the beginning of recorded history.

He goes on to suggest that the brain, primitive though it may have been, was nevertheless able to cope with anything the world could dish out until about 1960.

But, came the 1960s, the world's thinking machines began producing

14 UNDERSTANDING

knowledge at a rate that the venerable, conventional cerebellum couldn't handle.

He thinks "factual overloading" is a major factor in the student rebellion occurring across the United States.

Dr. Thorn believes the human brain has practically unlimited capacity for handling information, if the information is presented properly. Methods of presentation include "programmed instruction" in which the student must work with an electronic teaching machine. He manipulates the machine to indicate personal understanding of the subject as contrasted to the practice of sitting and listening to a lecture.

Man wasn't designed for interminable listening, he insists. Man is a creature who learns by doing.

He goes on to assert, "The human brain has so many cells and inter-connections that we haven't even begun to test its true capacity for information handling. Our problem is that our present systems so overload the brain that it falls far short of its true potential."

May Have Located Noah's Ark

Daily Courier, Grants Pass, Ore., Jan. 7, 1970

LOS ANGELES (UPI)-A group of explorers and scientists have announced they will attempt to uncover an "artifact" enclosed in a massive pack of glacial ice on Mt. Ararat, Turkey, that may be the biblical Noah's Ark. Among the party is Fernand Navarra, who first chopped a five-foot long, hand-hewn piece of timber from the stationary ice pack high up the mountain in 1955. Carbon tests dated the section at from 4,000 to 5,000 years of age. The group said it hopes to definitely locate and expose the artifact they believe could be the biblical ark.

——— ♦ ———

UFOS INTERNATIONAL

"Panorama," publication of U.F.O.P.I.A., Australia, published in its Sept.-Oct. 1969 issue an article-$200,000 Plan to Seek UFOs - from the Sun Herald of Sydney, Australia. The article reads:

A Sydney astronomer says Australia should spend $200,000 looking for unidentified objects. He is Dr. D. Herbison Evans, a bearded 32 year old Oxford University Physicist at the Sydney University.

After analyzing the UFO report compiled at the University of

MARCH, 1970 15

Colorado, Dr. Evans said: "The book shows there is evidence that extra-terrestrial visitors have been here. If this is true then it is of stupendous importance. The evidence justifies a deeper look, in a scientific way, not just involving a collection of reports from people who have reported sightings."

Dr. Herbison Evans said there were two ways Australia could conduct this research and each required the use of field cameras snapping pictures of the sky every 30 seconds or so day and night. Scientists have done this already to record meteors and the aurora.

The cameras should be concentrated in areas which records suggested were probable places for UFO sightings, or a much larger number could be distributed at random throughout Australia or NSW.

"If you distributed 2000 cameras costing about $100 each far enough apart, you would have a good chance of a sighting in a year," he said. "The possibility of extra-terrestrial visitors is fantastic to think about. If proven it would change our whole way of life, our religions and philosophy. The University of Colorado report ... has shown that it is worth going on with."

(From John Snow, editor of Oasis magazine, Farnborough, Englandcomes this report. Date line "The Times," August 7, 1969.

AERIAL OBJECT UNEXPLAINED

An unidentified object was seen glowing in the sky near Carmarthen last night by a farmer and at least two policemen.

The farmer, Mr. John Moffat-Bailey, aged 42, saw the object from Ewarallt Farm, Llansynybb, about five miles outside Carmarthen. Mr. Moffat-Bailey, a former radar technician in the R.A.F., said he was repairing his television aerial when he saw a bright, spheroid object which appeared to have some sort of undercarriage. It was varying its height from about 5,000 to 20,000ft.

He watched it through binoculars, and at one time heard "a peculiar buzzing-whistling sound."

The object was also seen by Mr. Moffat-Bailey's wife, and other relatives.

Mr. Moffat-Bailey called the police and a constable on a motorcycle was sent from Ammanford.

An officer at the Ammanford Division of the Carmarthenshire and

16 UNDERSTANDING

Cardiganshire Constabulary said: "One of our men saw the thing from here. It appeared to be silver, and stationary."

Mr. Moffat-Bailey watched the object for an hour and three-quarters. One of the constables confirmed that it suddenly vanished.

The R.A.F. and the Ministry of Defense could offer no explanation.

——— ♦ ———

THE SPIRIT AND THE SOUL

People usually confuse the Spirit and the Soul. I may even add that the word Spirit is more than vaguely understood. Yet, the Soul, the "immortal soul," as they put it, can die. Christ often spoke of those who "lose their soul," but He insisted upon the fact that those who "sin against the Spirit, the Holy Spirit are doomed."

The Spirit of Childhood, the Spirit of Poverty, the Spirit of Simplicity, Humility, Charity, the Spirit of Hope are Supernatural because they are from the realm of God's graces. The Spirit is God: The soul may be spiritual, not Supernatural. The soul is spiritual when it is fed by the Spirit. The Soul is doomed when it loses all contact with the Spirit.

The Spirit is immortal, for the Spirit is God. The soul is lost when the Spirit gives it up, and it gives it up when Love is completely, incurably dead. Self-righteous love is not Love. If I love you because you are like me, I love nobody but myself, and if you are different from me, I shall hate you, become a sadistic persecutor. We have not invented Love. It has its Order, it has its Law. Thus, I should never try to be "like you." I must try to "be you," and all your sufferings and griefs will be my sufferings and griefs, and such is the Spirit of Love and Compassion. And, if I become you, my ego (which isolates me from you) must die in order to be born again in the universal sigh.

"It is by giving that we receive," said Saint Francis, "it is by pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is by dying that we resuscitate for everlasting life." "By dying" means mostly, of course, the death of the ego.

Our soul's hopes may also have little to do with the "Spirit of Hope." The prayer of our soul may have nothing to do with the "Spirit of Prayer." Our soul's prayer, our soul's hope are often sentimental and selfish. The "Spirit of Prayer," the "Spirit of Hope" shall never betray us if they will the Will of God.

MARCH, 1970 17

The soul is lost when the Spirit is' disowned for the sake of our self-righteousness.

The Spirit gives up the soul (in spite of the infinite Mercy of God) when we are absolutely dehumanized by our own sense of what is "good." The Saints are not "sublime." They are the most human of human beings. And to be human is to bear the Cross of all races and creeds. To be human is to love and pity like Jesus Christ pitied and loved. To be human is to accept crucifixion for the sins of the whole world.

Thomas Merton said that Adam was in contact with God. He was not, therefore, the giver but the receiver of Life. Adam was a soul, an eternal soul, since God was his loving Father. But the moment Adam's transgression broke his communion with God, death became our common lot, and little do we realize that we are the victims of the most dreadful disaster.

Then came Christ, the second Adam. Christ was not the receiver of Life. He was the Giver of Life. He was the Source of the "Living Water." Christmas the Spirit. He was not the Soul. We may save our soul by receiving on our chapped lips at least a drop of "Living Water" that has not been refused to the Samaritan woman.

- Georges Agadjian (Professor, Gannon College

——— ♦ ———

In the Right Place

Every sorrow

Every hurt

Every tiger

Every bird

Every flower

Every tree

Every dream,

And Every fantasy

Has its

Own true place

In the spacious

Universe.

-Ingrid Sherman

18 UNDERSTANDING

bulletin board

Donations Still Needed

As we thank all who have sent donations to Understanding, Inc. towards furnishing and equipping the International Cultural Center we must add that hundreds of dollars are still needed before all will be in readiness for the June 19-21 Dedication and Convention.

Mrs. Wilma Thompson, who made the Center a reality, and those in Merlin who have given of time, materials and money would be happy to receive financial support from those too far to contribute otherwise. Volunteers here will be called upon to give the building its second coat of paint, to landscape the garden area, wash the windows, and do many other little tasks.

If you have neither spare dimes nor dollars, perhaps you have trading stamp books-S & H Green, Gold Bond and Top Value are redeemable in Oregon-Stamp books can provide us with many items, but it will still take Dollars to purchase the one hundred or more chairs still needed for the lecture hall.

(All contributions are U.S. Income Tax Deductible.)

May we count on your help-any way you can? Thank you!

June Dedication and Convention

The formal dedication ceremonies for the International Cultural Center of Understanding will be held on Friday, June 19th. Everyone is welcome.

Registrations will also be taken on the 19th for the following two

MARCH, 1970 19

day Understanding Convention. Announcement of speakers and the registration fee for the Convention dates of June 20 and 21 will be made at a later date.

Jack Schwarz and the "Alethia" group will continue the Convention for another three days-June 22, 23 and 24.

For Our Canadian Friends

Miss Marianne Francis, Dr. Sp., Sc., Director of the Solar Light Retreat, will lecture at the Paul Sauve Arena, Montreal, Canada Friday, April 10th. Lecture title: "Starcraft Contact."

Miss Francis, lecturer, writer and telepathic contactee, has received much material through Telethought beam from the Space people over the last twelve years.

Mrs. Madeline Rodecer of Maryland will also take part in the program, showing a short movie film of Flying Saucers.

Tickets will be on sale at the Arena after February 10th.

UFO Booklets from England

From Anthony Brooke of the Universal Foundation have come two small but very interesting booklets on UFOs and Space.

One-Some Facts About Space-is a series of reasoned statements supporting the reality of the UFOs. The other-Some Implications of the Space Ships and the Space Command---is a transcript of a lecture by Silas Newton, geologist, geophysicist and magnetic scientist. Mr. Newton's personal sightings of UFOs led to extensive research, particularly as to space ship propulsion.

Copies of these booklets may be had from: The Universal Foundation, 71 Princes House, Kensington Park Road, London W 11, England. A donation to cover costs would be appeciated by the foundation.

Inglewood Unit 15

Lee and Barbara Yates, recent officers of the Understanding Unit 15 of Inglewood, California were interviewed by the local News-Advertiser Press. The article by Tony Kiss was entitled: UFO Expert Views Changing Attitudes. It presented fairly the views of Mr. and Mrs. Yates and members of the Understanding group. The article also mentioned the areas of astrology, ESP, astral projection, and expansions of consciousness. This seems indicative of public acceptance,

20 UNDERSTANDING

rather than former ridicule, of new areas of study of "the essence of existence."

The Father's House

The year 1969 saw the beginning of an excellent new publication in the religious and esoteric fields. "The Father's House," is a full sized magazine of 32 pages containing many interesting articles and pictures. It is published quarterly, on a donation basis, by our friend Brother Francis.

If you wish to receive this magazine drop a card to Ralph F. Raymond, 1422 Harvard St., Santa Monica, Calif. 90404.

San Jose Convention

An ESP Convention is to be held in San Jose, California on April 4th and 5th at the San Jose Civic Auditorium. The Convention is sponsored by the Universal Receivers Association, which is directed by Jerome Quintero.

Among the speakers will be Dr. Daniel W. Fry, Gina Cerminara, Fred Kimball, Francis Dixon, Heather Buckley, Damien Simpson, Dr. Fred Andrews, and Alexander Everett.

This is the first Convention of this nature for San Jose.

Monthly Lectures in San Francisco

Unit 11 of Understanding, Inc. in San Francisco holds regular monthly lecture meetings on the 4th Tuesday of each month at the Metaphysical Town Hall, 345 Mason Strut (off Geary) at 8 p.m.

Write to Understanding Unit 11, P.O. Box 1228, San Francisco, Cal. if you wish to be put on the mailing list for lecture announcements.

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