CONTENTS

For November, 1967

 

 

PEOPLE, POLLS AND GOVERNMENT   ....................................................................             2

THE YOUNGER GENERATION AND PEACE   ..........................................................             3

REALITY AND LOVE   .....................................................................................................             4

DIALOGUE ON PERSONALITY PREJUDICE   ..........................................................             5

IN DEFENSE OF   .............................................................................................................             7

World report   ...........................................................................................................             9

book reviews   ............................................................................................................             12

Poet’s corner   ..........................................................................................................             13

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING   ....................................................................................             14

bulletin board   ........................................................................................................             16

 

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EDITOR ........................................................................................... Dr. DANIEL W. FRY

asst. editor ...........................................................................   kerttu campbell

circulation manager ...........................................................  edna basmajian

staff artist ...................................................................................  gus tanasale

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UNDERSTANDING

VOLUME XII                                NOVEMBER, 1967                                   NUMBER 11

Dedicated to the propagation of a better understanding among all the peoples of the earth, and of those who are not of earth.

 

PEOPLE, POLLS AND GOVERNMENT

IN almost every edition of every newspaper and magazine in publication today, there will be found the published results of one or more public opinion polls. These polls, which are being taken with constantly increasing frequency, are usually considered to be more or less accurate means of determining the nature of public opinion concerning various subjects of general interest. The sample taken usually represents only a very small proportion of the total number of persons who are concerned, thus some of the polls which have been taken have later proved to be very inaccurate. Nevertheless the average sample usually proves to be a fairly dependable guide to overall public opinion, and so the practice is increasing.

Most of the polls now being taken in the United States are concerned with some branch or function of government. Almost every facet of government in the U.S. is now being examined and tested by way of public opinion polls.

It is perhaps significant. that democracy is one of the very few forms of government which dare to permit themselves to be tested or criticized in any way. The leaders of communist countries, by contrast, are engaged in a constant, and sometimes an almost desperate

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struggle to prevent any criticism or deviation of opinion from being expressed or, if it has been expressed to prevent it from being heard or considered. This is. of course. a sell' defeating principle, and those forms of government which employ it are relatively short. lived. They will soon be altered, either by evolution or by revolution.

In the Soviet Union or today, the previous form; of government are rapidly being changed by evolution, forced by the pressure of continuing public opinion, which will always exist and which will create pressure whether or not it is permitted public expression.

In Red China, on the other hand, the forms of government are being changed by violent and sometimes bloody revolution, brought about by the outright revolt of the people against. some of the more intolerable facets of their government.

'There are two very simple hut basic principles which should he noted and remembered by everyone. The first should be remembered especially by every statesman or dictator who is engaged in creating or administrating forms of government..

The first principle was enunciated by Abraham Lincoln during the Lincoln Douglas debate- "No man is good enough to ,govern another man without that other's consent."

The second was given by Joseph de Maistre in 1811. It was for the benefit of the citizen who i constantly complaining of the faults and inequities of his government, but who does nothing to alter or to improve that government. His statement said simply--" Every country has the government that it deserves!"

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THE YOUNGER GENERATION AND PEACE

(Peace Newsletter, Vol. I, No. 7; Pub. by Gandhi Peace Foundation)

Japanese youth appears to be slightly- more mature, internationally speaking, than its American counterpart, as well as more sophisticated politically. These conclusions are based on an interesting survey made by the Peace Research Laboratory in St. Louis, of attitudes toward peace among Japanese and American 11th grade students (17-year-olds). The Japanese questioned numbered 3,144 from 33 public, private, commercial and religious schools in Hiroshima

NOVEMBER, 1967                    3

and 25 other prefectures. Only 260 American students were questioned, from seven high schools in metropolitan St. Louis. The responses generally showed a greater sentiment toward peace, and greater aversion to war and armament on the part of the Japanese; considerably less anti-communism, less nationalism and a somewhat greater endorsement of the United Nations.

On the other hand, responses to some of the questions showed enormous interest in peace on the part of the Americans, and a willingness to sacrifice both national sovereignty and personal comfort for it. In response to the statement: "My country should be willing to sacrifice some of its sovereignty and special interests for the sake of international cooperation," 63 per cent of the Americans queried said `yes,' with only 52 per cent of the Japanese agreeing. The Americans were more willing (54 per cent to 38 per cent) to decrease their living standard by ten per cent to in-crease the probability- of peace, but many Japanese young people could not manage on a lowered living standard. The Americans believed (57 per cent) more strongly than the Japanese (42 per cent) that the great powers are caught in an arms race whose solution is not being realistically sought.

The similarities between the two nations as reflected in this small sample were as impressive as the differences. Of all 60 questions, there were only twelve in which the majority of each group lined up on opposite sides. Exactly the same percentage of students queried (25 per cent) were willing to surrender their allegiance to their country to a world government. Ninety-three per cent of Japanese and 92 per cent of Americans disagreed with the statement "The UN is futile and expensive and should be abolished." Exactly 65 per cent of each group agreed with the statement: "War is usually caused by small groups of powerful people with whom the interests if the average man have little influence." Seventy-eight per cent of the Japanese students and 68 per cent of the Americans disagreed with the statement: "The prospects of world peace is mostly as ideal existing in the minds of impractical and unrealistic people."

Regardless of nationality, the Doves out-numbered the Hawk. Several answers reflected attitudes most heartening and relevant for people engaged in peace work. Ninety-two per cent of the

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Americans (and only 77 per cent of the Japanese) disagreed with the statement: "I never think about war, and it doesn't interest me." Both groups showed willingness to admit their country's share of responsibility for contributing to world tensions. Seventy-seven per cent of the Americans and 69 per cent of the Japanese rejected the idea that. the army and state department are all the machinery of peace we need, as the blame for existing tensions lies almost exclusively with our enemies. Perhaps most important of all, eighty per cent of the Americans (and 93 per cent of the Japanese) agreed with this statement: "Research on how to achieve peace deserves more manpower and money than research on how to fight a war. "

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REALITY AND LOVE

(This Essay won Honorable Mention in our recent contest : How to Promote Understanding.)

One of the most tragic barriers to the promotion of understanding among peoples is the acceptance of acts of brutality as unavoidable and inescapable in the pattern of life. One man treats another inhumanely and you hear the saying, "that's reality."

You hear people dismiss crimes of violence, hate and sadism with that expression that it is reality. Brutality is spoken of as some-thing preordained and necessary in life.

I do not believe that brutality is a necessary evil. I believe that love and idealism are reality as proclaimed by God. No one in the history of the world had more effect for good upon more people than Jesus Christ who preached the gospel of love and brotherhood.

Great armies marched and fought and conquered and enslaved but victory in battle is not reality; it is death and degradation, for it makes a captive of the jailor.

You cannot build with hate for it destroys. Is reality a man so obsessed with hate that his mind and heart. are paralyzed to the point that he cannot contribute any constructive thought and action to the building of the spirit of love in his community?

Such a man destroys the hope of promoting understanding for

NOVEMBER. 1967                    5

he is a wall between the force, of love. He is the missing link, for communication depend,, upon participation and a man of hate can not participate; he must stand alone. He s like a cloud passing over the sun and obscuring its brightness.

We can therefore help promote understanding if we accept the fact that. love is reality. This will open our hearts and minds to ideas, alert us to new forces emerging upon the horizons of the future. With love we will be able to absorb them into a new pattern of life. We will quickly- be able to adapt ourselves to change. We will regard new ideas without suspicion and fear. We will not look beyond the stars with the feeling that life is unique here on earth, but our minds will project our feelings and thoughts into a mood in which we will be ready to meet the challenge of the frontiers of tomorrow. When science opens a door it will be up to us to enter with love and an open mind. There is only one reality and it is love which makes bearable our existence and which holds the hope for promotion of understanding among the citizens of our world as we know it or future civilizations yet unknown to us.

With love as our reality we can be a link: in the chain of communication between all men. This is how I believe we can promote understanding.

- Vincent Argondezzi

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DIALOGUE ON PERSONALITY PREJUDICE

Prejudice? Might it be a  kind of harmful pre-judgment! Of what?

Of a person of different creed, color, country, character or in any way different.

When we think of a Catholic, white-man, Negro, English-man, Russian, or any man with a label what happens within us?' We may get a mental picture with a feeling of a specific person or group, for one thing.

That image we get might it take on a kind of character with traits of personality

Maybe.

If we can say that, then might we consider that prejudice of color,

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creed, country, character has in common a prejudice of assumed personality traits!

Perhaps. And where we have personality traits might we also have conditioned feelings about those traits and the experiences and symbols and other impressions associated with them?

Surely. And do not feelings involve our own personalities with all the potential traits and emotions and thoughts common to all men

Yes, especially the ones we deny and bury deep within us. Only to have them resurrected in feelings and projections against other men.

If that is so, then what we have rejected in ourselves might live on within us only to be seen and despised in other men.

Yes. And sometimes the buried trait or feeling need not exist in the person we blame, so long as something about him suggests that condition.

That something we speak of might it not be as general as anything different about another man?

Surely. And the stranger or person who reminds us in some way about our hidden traits might serve well as a screen upon which to project our own rejected and hidden parts of personality.

Then do we need to get to know one another better?

Not so fast. How can we get to know any man as long as we can project onto him the parts of our own personality, not faced and understood in ourselves ?

You mean we need first to resurrect and bring to light that about our own personalities which we have denied and buried?

Yes. And that could include all that we loathe, hate and fear. What we're saying then seems to lead to a more basic kind of prejudice-prejudice about ourselves and a need to admit and cope with this self-prejudice.

There you may have touched the very roots of bias. How can a man be free of prejudice against another man or even see him without distortion when lie rejects and denies any part-"evil" or "good"-of himself which he may see real or fancied, in true form or symbol in others?

Do you mean he needs to look within himself without judgment that may lead to condemnation or justification?

NOVEMBER, 1967                    7

The "worst" and the "best," yes, that has not only been expressed through himself, but through all mankind, living and dead, since the quest for the health of wholeness leads to the terrifying deed of finding either latent or expressed in oneself the evil and good of all mankind from the beginning of time.

Scripture says that man cannot look upon the face of God and live. Perhaps he may one day look upon his own face and live more abundantly.

What other beginnings away from prejudice can we find besides admitting our own prejudice-including the prejudice against prejudice-and searching within ourselves for the counterparts of the things we reject in others?

Might we come to the fact that., like the moon, we tend to show only the top surface of ourselves and need to come to terms with the opposites in us before those opposites begin to manipulate us?

You mean such as condemning or punishing others for being that which we have not dared to confront in ourselves?

Yes, like killing the killer in our society and thus protesting to such an extent against murder that we expose the very killer concealed in ourselves.

Then a man with the noblest regard and intentions, if harboring unconscious malice and other anti-social tendencies and wishes not faced by himself, could, unknown to himself and others and even excused or rationalized, act, in such a way as to make life miserable or intolerable for others and himself

It appears as though the poets have once again been here long before us. Have not they said time and again in different ways, "Who knows what mischief the virtuous do ?"

-- Ed Eaglo

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IN DEFENSE OF

The Hippies, who have generated so much ridicule, fear, hostility and curiosity. Who are they? What are they saying to arouse such reactions in our society? What truth is there in their unusual protest of our accepted mores and ways? Can we more effectively achieve their objectives?

Who are they? Generally described, they are the disenchanted,

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shaggy, even dirty, bearded, colorful "flower children,'' whose watchword is "Love": the users of illusion-creating drugs, and the rejectors of the precast molds into which society would place them.

The "Establishment, " as they term it, does not offer a satisfying answer to their needs, filled as it is with hypocrisy, wars, excessive work motivation, and status compulsions. In Time Magazine (July 1, 1967) we read: "Its disciples are mostly young and generally thoughtful Americans who are unable to reconcile themselves to the stated values and implicit contradictions of contemporary Western society, and have become internal emigres, seeking individual liberation through means as various as drug use, total withdrawal from the economy, and the guest for individual liberty."

Among their numbers are those from 16-19 who use drugs for "kicks"; those from 17-22 who use drugs for "mind-trips"; and those "cosmic conscious" hippies, introspective and mystical, whose drug use is primarily "Eucharistic"-an attempt to find God.

We are concerned here only with the thoughtful considerations of the "core group" which seeks a more valid expression of life for men as a totality.

They are saying, according to Dr. Leonard Wolf, professor at San Francisco State College, "Stop making war; it is so ugly. Quit pushing me until I know who I am." A 26 year old hippie says "We are on a spiritual journey without aim or destination, just putting one foot in front of the other."

The hippies have decided to drop out of a society they feel is wrong, and in their way seek to live within God's laws rather than man's. "I don't. believe in churches, I just believe in Christ," says a 21 year old hippie. "I see hint just like me, trying to live without hate."

Philosophically it is the hope of the movement to generate an entirely new society, one rich in spiritual grace that will revive the old virtues of agape and reverence." Arnold Toynbee, the historian, notes that we shall be making a. serious mistake to ignore the revolt of the hippies oil the grounds that "these are either disgraceful wastrels or traitors, or else just silly kids who are sowing their wild oats." Toynbee holds that. the ethical, moral and social habits of the world must change if the human race is to survive.

NOVEMBER, 1967                    9

Shall we listen then to the quiet protests of the hippies and con-tribute to them the best of our social and spiritual wisdom to make for a better world f

What then is a better world? John Spiers in an article in the April-June Religious Digest (Ceylon) asks: "What is the best life for men? Is it to live in a city of vast proportions, with skyscrappers that shut off even the sky and the fresh airs is it to have all the pleasures of endless entertainment, endless television, with so malls mechanical devices . .. to go on until people are without any value whatsoever? And by values I mean life open and universal, thinking of universal good for all, real justice and fairness in which the full range of life can find fulfillment."

The hippie answer seems to be the revival of the tribal unit, a group larger than the family, yet tighter than a small town-a unit of sharing and creativity in which love and simplicity replace work and status. This concept may actually be a forerunner of a future need for society as a whole. With the threat of overpopulation the present total Privacy of community life may become "historic." Father Subramuniya, guru of the Christian Yoga Movement, points out that "we are very rapidly forcing upon ourselves the conditions for brotherhood of man, like it or not ... community living can be enjoyable when we give up the idea of personal possessive owner-ship... living in all enlightened community stimulates some creative aspects in the individual that are of necessity more altruistic than the concerns of people living alone.,"

To have rejected the work motivation of our society to the extent that health is jeopardized is all error. Yet, have we not made work "sacred." the end rather than tile means, tile source of our "fulfillment" -- a source which will soon disappear as automated machines take over our tasks" Can the hippie protest awaken us sufficiently to provide satisfying answers to man's future use of his coming heritage of leisure time'. Dr. William Boyd, Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs at the University of California, Berkeley, states that the hippies "represent a kind of laboratory from which we may discover secrets that will help us cope with a world in which the quality of human relationships will be more important than our absorbing ,jobs."

The hippies also decry our present educational practices, teachings

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which ignore integration and wholeness of man with specialized courses for particular goals. So, they drop out of our schools and colleges. To answer the hippie's educational quest Dr. Leonard Wolf, of San Francisco State College, along with 40 other faculty members, work with the Haight-Ashbury group, holding classes in parks, schools and homes to discuss all subjects, in what is termed "an organic searching process."

The Hippies are not crusaders set upon changing society as a whole, but seek rather, by any and all means, including drugs and "love-ins," to find the personal answer to "Who Am I?" and "What Am I?" Still with maturity and wisdom, when the answers are found, may they not have a profound effect upon all our lives?

"In the end it may be said that the hippies have not so much dropped out of American society as given it something to think about." (Time)

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World report

`UFOs Not All Nonsense,' Says Expert

LOS ALAMOS (AP)- "After 20 years of UFO study I can no longer believe it is all nonsense," says Dr. J. Allen Hynek of the Dearborn Observatory at Northwestern University.

Hynek told a capacity audience of scientists at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory that he has no answers to offer for the phenomenon. He stressed the need for scientific respectability for what be believes is a legitimate area of scientific research.

"The nonsense school of UFOs is dead; after 20 years of UFO study I can no longer believe it is all nonsense," Hynek said, adding: "I don't say it's ETI (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)-that's a possibility-however, it's simply an unexplored section of the universe."

Hynek defines a UFO as "any reported sighting, aerial or near

NOVEMBER, 1967                    11

the ground, which remains an unexplainable phenomena, even after close examination by competent authorities."

He said unidentified flying objects could turn out to be the biggest thing in science since Copernicus.

The greatest bar to adequate research into the subject, he aided, is our culture in which "anything metaphysical or occult is taboo."

Kansas UFO Sighting

(Salina Journal, Salina, Kansas, June 30, 1967)

BROOKVILLE, Fans.-" It was at about a 45-degree angle up in the western sky," Mrs. Otto Laas, Brookville, said.

"The entire family saw it Thursday night at about 11 p.m. "It had an orange and blue, hazy light around it.

"As it. flew west away from us, it moved up and down and to the right and left, finally passing beyond the horizon."

Mrs. Laas said the unidentified flying object was first. seen by her daughter, Danna, 13, and her cousin, Larry Laas, 16.

Mrs. Laas speculates the object was a great distance away but she was sure it was not an airplane or helicopter.

"It appeared about the size of a quarter moon," she said. "As it moved west, it changed from orange and blue to bright yellow, orange and then red."

Australian Sighting

(U.F.O.I.C. Newsletter, August, 1967. Sydney, Australia)

UFO AT WOLLSTONECRAFT : On Sunday 12th Feb., 1967, at 7:30 p. m. Mrs. Pile of Wollstonecraft, Sydney, N.S.W., a former University lecturer, was watching the news on television with her husband when suddenly a bright object, traveling very slowly at eye level, attracted their attention through the window of their second floor home unit. It was just hovering over the roof of a nearby building 150 yards away. Mrs. Pile picked up a pair of binoculars which were handy and focused on the object bringing it so close as to be able to easily distinguish any outstanding features in detail. It was a perfect sphere surrounded by a belt of smaller spheres just below its middle. The whole object, to the naked eye, seemed to be about 2-1/2 to 3 full moons in width. It glowed orange-red and appeared to be pulsating. It began to gently drift away behind the silhouette of the buildings in front. of them. Mr. Pile, witnessing the event, supported his wife's description and

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could not account for it being anything of identifiable nature. The same object was seen some minutes earlier by several independent witnesses from nearby areas but at different angles, as it moved over Wollstonecraft. Reports of similar sightings over the same area were received from time to tune over the next week or so following.

Language Called Icologs

(Mercury-News, San Jose, Calif., Aug. 13th, 1967)

SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (UPI)-Bert R. Taylor, an industrial engineer, and his wife, Dr. Martha P. Taylor, a college lecturer, worked up a whole system of language she uses in her teaching of philosophy of civilization.

The symbols are simple, but Dr. Taylor makes them eloquent. She says each represents an idea and in combination they can bring to mind complex thoughts. Some look like stick figures of a man, others like Greek letters, others are Heart shaped, some look like a bolt of lightning.

The Taylors call them "icologs," a combination of the Greek word "icon" for image and "logas" for word or reason.

"They form a completely universal language," Dr. Taylor said. " People can communicate using these symbols who would never be able to do so otherwise."

She said they are effective in teaching because they can reduce a complete set of  ideas into a brief line of symbols.

More Mysteries to Explore

Francisco Examiner, Sept. 9, 1967)

The possibility of intelligent life in outer space was the topic of two fascinating news stories recently.

At Seattle, a senior scientist of the University of Arizona told a gathering of eminent aerospace engineers how he has exhaustively investigated flying saucer reports and declared: "I now believe, but I am not positive, that we are witnessing extra-terrestrial probes."

In Prague, a world gathering of astronomers decided that the space "signals" were not necessarily caused deliberately. But the alternative explanation offered was that otherwise they were the effect resulting from stars in the process of creation--all even greater mystery.

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Cynics may note that the stories emerged in the hot days of late August, when only mad dogs and Englishmen traditionally defy the noonday sun. It is true enough that both stories deal with subjects that have a peculiar fascination for the lunatic fringe.

Yet in these cases it is significant that serious attention was being paid by highly reputable scientists to matters normally best suited to science fiction.

But what is normal! If man had never experimented with the unknown he would still be shivering in a cave. We don't know, of course, whether there are visitors from outer space hovering over us. And we don't know if minds in distant galaxies are trying to give us a wig-wag.

What we do know is that it would be the worst possible mistake to close our minds to the possibility.

It's a great, wide, wonderful universe we live in. Thank heaven there is plenty in it we still don't know about, and all kinds of mysteries to explore.

Survival of Fittest?

(San Jose Mercury, San Jose, Calif., July 30, 1967)

DURHAM, N. C.-"Survival of the fittest" no longer holds true, and as a result man is in danger of breeding himself into a genetic weakling-if he survives at all.

In prehistoric times, people born With genetic defects died off quickly, said Duke University anthropologist Dr. John Buettner-Janusch.

Today, however, children born with inherent weaknesses such as susceptibility to infectious disease are being kept alive by antibiotics and a host of other aids. "The weakness genes are being perpetuated."

Even the most extreme eugenics programs suggested today, such as sterilization of the feeble-minded, can do nothing about the problem, Dr. Buettner-Janusch said, since those such as the feeble-minded contribute relatively little to what he called the "gene pool" of a population.

The far more numerous "normal" people who carry a recessive weakness gene that does not show, contribute far snore to the pool. In addition, they are much more likely to procreate.

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Many may not reach the point, of characteristic genetic weakness, however, the scientist said, since the human species now faces the dangers of the "technological ability to destroy itself and a population explosion that might do it first."

All is not lost, however, lie believes. Science can already block the ill effects of some weaknesses and can manipulate surroundings to compensate for others. Great efforts should be made, he said, to identify recessive gene carriers "so that they might know the relative dangers."

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book reviews

 

The Savage and Beautiful Country

By Alan McGlashin, Houghton, Mifflin. $4.

Here is a quiet account of an expedition into the sometimes fascinating, sometimes terrifying world of man's mind.

It cuts across many intellectual categories-theology, philosophy, mythology, science, anthropology, psychology and many others-but its chief concern is with the unconscious mind in its present state.

The author is a psychiatrist well schooled in many aspects of knowledge, yet his exposition is clear and comprehendible for the layman.

En route to his main thesis, he offers some striking comments on muddled, contemporary man. In some of our newspaper comic strips he finds an affinity with ancient, primitive concepts. In some of our carnival festivals be sees a deep-seated, traditional, purgative release. He has a psychological key to such phenomena as long-haired

NOVEMBER, 1967                    15

haired beatnik boys and mini-skirted girls, surrealism and Pop Art. But more seriously, he suggests that we are on the edge of discovering the relationship between thinking and feeling, a discovery  that might he a breakthrough; that we used to know how man's dreams might help us reach an understanding of his place in the order of things. (His comment on The Bomb is that it is a typical "end product of the kind of thinking that is disconnected from feeling" -- the disparity between cold science and humanity.)

The interesting thing is that in the midst of his erudite but quite clear exposition, the reader often finds himself muttering, "Yes, that rings trice," or "I'd often wondered  about that," or "That's putting it into words I've been feeling."

This is a contemplative book, suggestive of ideas that raise new questions. It creates sparks in the mind that glow long after the pages have been turned.

- Miles A. Smith, Reprinted from Santa Cruz Sentinel. June, 1967

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Poet’s corner

 

 

God In This Space Age

I send my thoughts into the timeless sky

They chin themselves upon the transient moon,

Searching the wake of lively atom-dust,

While often choking on the arid rust

Of ashes, sifting through astronomy.

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Hold still! My ever moving God, hold still

Just long enough for me to catch your hand;

I sin the stranger in this drifting space,

I see your back, yet never see your face ...

Oh, turn the chase around, and capture me!

- Ralph W. Seager

Who Am I?

I would that I could
walk right out of my skin

And sit upon a star... . ..

I would ponder the glory
of what you are.

 

Oh, God Unlimited-Who Am I
to ask to walk the reaches of the sky?

What Am I oh God and Who Am I?
Will I learn before I die

Or must I from this flesh-house flee

To discover Thee in Me

And Me in Thee

- Jessica Benshoff

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WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

(This article, titled "Thanksgiving" by Viva J. Emmons, is reprinted from "Discovery," a Theosophist publication, Nov. 1966.)

Try to imagine what it would be like if we could become conscious, visually, of the way we feel-if in some mysterious way the whole world of feeling suddenly became visible to us. One result no doubt would be the startling effect of mass feeling generated on holidays. A different effect would result on each holiday, since each has its own characteristic emotional content. It would then be understandable why there is such a distinct "feeling" about Thanksgiving which is entirely different. from all the rest of our holidays.

If, for example, . we could look down upon the whole span of the

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United States on the Fourth of July with this expanded vision, we should probably see a great deal of excitement and perhaps some feeling as to the real meaning of the day.

At Christmas time we should be able to see a rosy glow around the hearts of those in whom the spirit of the Christ child shone. There would be some dark patches of selfishness, but the whole scene would probably appear as a field of bright stars, each home radiant with the loving sacrifices of parents and the joy of little children around a lighted tree or an open hearth fire.

Thanksgiving is a family clay relatives and friends gather around a table laden with the symbols of the abundance which nature showers on all alike, rich and poor, old and young. On this day no doubt the feelings of gratitude for personal. blessings would be apparent. Yet there must. also be in every heart, however feebly expressed, some feeling of thankfulness for sunshine and rain, for seed and growing things, and for the returning seasons in their time, regardless of wars and adversities. But because on this day our attention is turned to the daily needs of all people, we are drawn into a powerful vortex of feeling; one might say we are almost compelled to feel, in unison with all Americans, our common heritage of liberty and opportunity, our common dependence upon each other; and to realize that we are, as a nation, indeed one family, children of one Father.

On Thanksgiving Day the whole of the United States mast. he bathed in a faint, blue-green light, if we could but see it, mingling with the rosy shafts of sympathy rising like a great chorus of voices, swelling into billows of thankfulness over great centers, such as churches, where feeling is concentrated.

And especially on this clay we should be able to feel the great Mother Heart of the Nation, bursting with thankfulness that she be able to offer us the visible proof of her love and protection in the bounty of the Earth. Perhaps she weaves the light of our gratitude and sympathy into a mantle of tenderness for all of her children, with the prayer that none may be neglected or forgotten through the coming year.

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Four things come not back -- the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, the neglected opportunity.

- Omar Khayyam

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bulletin board

 

Gift Subscriptions

We offer again our Christmas Special Gift Subscription price of Two Dollar per year for all orders received by December 15th, at our Pasadena address.

Share with your friends that which you appreciate and value in the Understanding magazine. May we suggest, also, that you order a subscription for your local library and college that others too may become acquainted with our philosophy "To Examine All Things" that we may "promote a greater understanding among all peoples of earth, and those who are not of earth."

Thank you for your orders.

Bishop H. Adrian Spruit to Speak

Unit 22 of Riverside announces that its speaker for the Nov. 12th public lecture will be: Bishop H. Adrian Spruit. His subject will be: The Mysteries of Aquarian Christianity. The lecture will be held at the Izaak Walton Hall, Riverside, at 2:30 P.M.

The Ancient Mystery Schools

The guest speaker for the November 19th public lecture sponsored  by Unit 71 will be Understanding's Executive Vice-President, Col. Arthur J. Burks. His subject. will be The Ancient Mystery Schools. The lecture will commence at 3 P.M. at. the Unity Center of San Bernardino, 6767 Del Rosa Avenue.

NOVEMBER, 1967                    19

Books Received

We acknowledge with thanks the generosity of friends in contributing books for our Understanding Library:

To H. Cromwell Smith for his book of verse - Words of seeing.

To Shri Girdharlal for his book - Silence Speaks.

To the World Juana Sadhek Society and its Founder-for its souvenir book concerning the society.

To Bhabes Chandra Chaudhuri for his booklet -- Language Problems and World Unity.

Change in Copy Deadline

Copy for the Bulletin Board ordinarily must be in Merlin by the 5th of the month preceding publication. However, as your Assistant Editor will be away during the month of December, we ask that you please send your notices for the January issue to Merlin by December 1st. Thank you.

Unit Reports

Unit 37 of Buffalo, N.Y., is planning a lecture by member Norman Weiss upon his return from an extended trip which included Alaska, and the Giant Rock Convention and Annual Understanding Meeting. Their Annual Christmas Party will once again provide for a needy family.

Unit 71 of San Bernardino, Calif., is actively participating in the Understanding Project-Friendship by Mail-with many members in correspondence with friends in other lands, particularly in Japan. Members also mail foreign and commemorative stamps to the Washington-Idaho Council of Churches (2002 Fifth Ave., Seattle, Wash.) for its assistance to needy children all over the world.

Unit 71 is also contemplating a one day Understandorama to be held in San Bernardino on December 3rd. Please contact Esther Ellsworth for additional details. (P. O. Box 626, Morongo Valley, Calif. 92256)

Unit 74 of Myrtle Creek, Oregon, hosted Mrs. Angela Kilsby and her group of speakers in a one day Understanding Convention held in Roseburg (Ore.) on November 1, 1967.

Unit 1 of Merlin, Oregon, reopened its Understanding Library

20                                                  UNDERSTANDING

to the public on October 10th. The Library has been enlarged and completely redecorated. It offers books for children, for students, for the general reader, as well as containing sections devoted to UFOs and metaphysical teachings.

Credit Due

In our October issue we published a Letter to the Editor by Carl E. Hallgren in which quotations were used from the Urantia Book. These "quotes from the Urantia Book were with the permission of the Urantia Foundation, copyright owner." We thank the Urantia Foundation for this privilege.

Flash

Word hits just been received that Understanding Unit 71 of San Bernardino County will sponsor a one day Understandorama on December 3, 1967, at the Golden Agers Hall, 29 Palms Highway,. Morongo galley. Lectures start at 10 A.M. Contact Esther Ells-worth, P. 0. Box 626, Morongo Valley, Calif. 92256, phone 342-6680, for further information.

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The simple realization that there are other points of view is the beginning of wisdom. Understanding what they are is a great step. The final step is understanding wily they are held.

-Charles M. Campbell

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CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT

6c per word per insertion; 3 or more insertions same copy, 5c per word.

PEACE REQUIRES ESPERANTO, Test, record loaned Free, Esperanto Library Dept. USI, Middleton, Wis. 53562.

EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS., Get detailed help. 8 years experience with suicide, alcohol, sex, love, money and psychic problems. $3.00. John W. Malone, 4363 Birchwood Ave., Jacksonville, Fla. 32207

STUDY GROUP TOPICS in Lesson form. Good for Groups, Lectures, or Home Study. Earn a degree while you study in Metaphysics or Divinity. FREE Brochure: Universal Wisdom Seminary, 2635 Calgary St., Eugene, Oregon 97401.

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Address manuscripts to Understanding, P.O. Box 206, Merlin, Ore. 97532.

 

 

 

Memberships in Understanding

Understanding, Inc is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the propagation of a better understanding among all the peoples of the earth so that they may live in harmony and be better prepared psychologically and sociologically for the space age.

Several types of membership are available to those who wish to support our endeavors either with dollars or with time and service, or both.

The Associate Membership is Two Dollars per year; the Contributing Membership, Ten Dollars per year, including the Understanding magazine; Sustaining Membership, Twenty-Five Dollars per year, including subscription; and Life Membership, Five Hundred Dollars, including subscription to Understanding magazine.

Welcome to the Understanding family!

UNDERSTANDING, INC.

P.O. Box 76, Merlin, Oregon 97532.