The continuing shrinkage of the U. S. dollar, both at home and abroad, is of growing concern to our political leaders, our economic leaders, and most of the rest of us. The country's top financial experts are scurrying to meetings with the financial experts of other countries, to discuss the situation, and to issue hopeful bulletins of early recovery, which none of them actually believe. Remedies will be compounded which may ease or temporarily conceal the symptoms of the continuing decline, but it is exceedingly unlikely that any steps will, or can, be taken to deal with the cause, which is not peculiar to the U. S., but is common to most world currencies.

To understand the real problem, one must go back to the use of metal as a medium of exchange. The chosen metals, usually gold, silver and copper, were fashioned into disks of a certain size and weight. The value of the coin was determined largely by the kind and the amount of metal it contained. The metal had intrinsic and tangible value because it was useful for many things other than money.

The system worked quite well. Almost everyone had a few coins to jingle in his pocket, and the miser had a bag or two hidden in his closet. The principal drawback was that the coins could be bulky, if one had

2 UNDERSTANDING

too many, and might wear holes in the pockets. To solve this problem, some people, who wanted to start what they called the Federal Reserve System, suggested that most of the bulky coins be stored at the place where they were made, and that ownership certificates be issued for the coins retained in the mint. The certificates, being only small bits of printed paper, could be folded neatly in the wallet. Also, a single certificate could show ownership of a number of coins. The certificates were not, nor were they intended to be, money. They simply indicated who owned the coins held in the mint.

This system also worked fairly well until the operators of the system noticed that hardly anyone came in to claim the coins to which his certificate entitled him. Consequently, it was decided that it was foolish to waste all that expensive silver and gold by making it into dollars and double eagles when they could simply print the certificates which said they had, and no one would be the wiser. (The more than half billion silver certificates that were printed and distributed without any silver dollars having been minted to validate them, was probably the largest single fraud in the history of finance, and the most successful, since very few complained and they were simply ignored.) The silver certificates were then quietly collected, as they circulated through the banks, and "Nothing Certificates" were issued in their place.

When the U. S. went off the "Gold Standard," (defaulted on its promise to pay), the first deadly blow was struck at public confidence in our money system. When, in the sixties, the Treasury defaulted on its promise to pay, even in silver, money lost all connection with tangible reality. It became a mysterious etheric "something" controlled and manipulated by a few persons who seem to think they know what they are doing, although certainly no one else does. (The Treasury Department has lately been selling, at public auction, silver dollars which it never owned, but which, in fact, belong to those who still hold certificates of the Treasury's specific and solemn, but worthless, promise to pay.)

It is gradually being realized that all money in the U. S. today, even our coins, are counterfeit, in the sense that it will not be redeemed by the maker for anything except another piece of paper, when the first one wears out.

Only the law distinguishes today, between the printing press money of the banks, and that printed by the citizen in his own basement. Money, like water, constantly seeks, and eventually finds its true level. It is not likely that our currency will prove an exception to this universal law.

MAY 1973 3

THOUGHTS FROM THE SPIRITUAL DIARY OF MELITA

MELITA has generously offered to contribute a series of articles to the Understanding Magazine, based upon her SPIRITUAL DIARY. This is the first. About MELITA: She is married, has a family, a gardener's "green thumb," sews, and "enjoys the pursuit of knowledge of all kinds, particularly the psychic. Her 'mission'-if any, she says, "is to help dispel misinformation and fear of the paranormal."

In addition to her many writings, MELITA lectures and does research for the purpose of obtaining information on the scientific aspects of the psychic. Her articles will cover such subjects as ESP, trance, regression techniques, yoga, meditation, etc.

Since I was very small, I've kept a kind of diary. It hasn't been the kind of diary in which one writes every day, recording ordinary events, putting down passing trivia. It's been what I have come to call my "Spiritual diary." Sometimes months went by without an entry, and sometimes one entry covered many pages-but always, it had to do with something on a higher level than that of earth.

I would like to share some of the entries I have made over the years with you. Perhaps some of them have been like unto experiences you have had, and certainly they have been helpful to me, offering solace and guidance and instruction, so they can only be considered-in a sense-"inspired."

Leafing through the pages with their sometimes neatly written, some-times hurried notes, looking back over the years of this present life experience, I project myself in memory to the times and places of the writings. One of them gave me rather a shock, for I have spent years in tracing all the known methods of Spiritual healing, traveling far to meet "healers," listening to learned lecturers. But this entry was made when I was 14 years into this incarnation, and it covers the entire subject. It says, "There is nothing to be healed but my own sometimes erroneous perceptions." Consider: if we are aware that the Creator of this magnificent Universe is the all-pervading Principle of Good, then there can be no opposite; whatever we observe that appears to be less than perfect,

4 UNDERSTANDING

or ill, or hurt, or ugly, can only be a sort of blind spot in our own perceptions-and so, the thought I was given at that point in my ongoing was correct. I don't need the instruction of materia medica, nor the counsel of those who have discovered the various ways of curing certain specific ailments; all I need is to KNOW-"There is nothing to be healed but my own sometimes erroneous perceptions."

On another subject, at a much later date, I received from the Consciousness with which we are all linked, "Fear not, it is I." This at the time was a riddle, for I was in a foreign country, faced with a situation that brought out the very most of endurance in me; I found myself responsible for the safety and the physical comfort and care of several people, and I had not even the knowledge of the language of the country in which I was stranded. Yet they, and I, were led safely out, and blessed with all that we needed. The writing at that very disturbing time said, "Fear not, it is I." "I" always means "God" to me, and so, I had to give much thought to that experience; at last it dawned upon me that all I had come through had been a series of encounters with God. For there IS naught else. I had learned. I had been tested (not for God's in-formation, for He already knows; but for my own, to show me my weak spots)-and I had come through it. And what if I had not? What if I had failed? "Fear not, it is I." Even if I had had to lay down my life, it would only have been the physical consciousness I'd lost, and certainly not my LIFE. But the lesson was well learned, and the test was passed.

There have been scores of entries, some of them referring to specific human experiences, and some general. I find one entry in the Spiritual Diary that was made at a time of great upliftment, great exhilaration, and I felt-as I recall-very far beyond ordinary human life that day. I had had a meditation in which the heavens had almost literally opened up, and I had-so to speak-sat at the base of the Throne. And the writing that day said: ". . . lest ye become as a little child." I had to be as a little child, and give as freely as a little child does, of the mighty and wondrous blessing I had received-I had to be simple and plain, and give to the world whatever it was that I had to give, as a little child gives, or it was only a beautiful experience, shared with no one, doing no good except to me. And so I set about to try to give of whatever I had, where-ever it was needed. In the giving, over the years, I have discovered one basic and overriding truth: it is impossible to give of myself, without receiving in magnified measure, a flood of returning good-and the greater the gift, the more inundating the return.

Many discoveries have come to me, through intuition and higher-than-human logic; many of them deal with specific subjects, and some

MAY 1973 5

of them have to do with everyday affairs. But ever and always, the un-changing truth that underlies them is, God Is.

Whatever happens in the world in which I live, I am a center of calm. The hurricane may howl about me, but at its eye, at its center, there is peace which passeth understanding-and I have come to think of this "hurricane's eye" as the I Am, That I Am that is Eternal and Infinite and my very own forever. As beauty is in the "I" of the beholder, peace is within the I Am of the hurricane. This, too, is one of the entries in my Spiritual diary.

I try to live by these thoughts, and by the one which was given to me this day: "Be a bridge, be a beacon, be a fresh breeze blowing through the litter-thoughts of human consciousness; do not attempt to show the Way, but for a little while, try to BE the way." My life is dedicated to this, and to you, my sister, my brother.

TYPES OF CHANNELING

(With the Special Permission of the Mark-Age Meta Center, Inc., 327 N. E. 20 Terrace, Miami, Florida 33137, publishers of MARK AGE literature, we quote from their January 1973 MAIN booklet.)

1. Trance or Sleep Mediumship. The person loses total conscious awareness and then speaks in this state, perhaps in languages unknown and about subjects unfamiliar to the present personality development.

This information can come either from his or her own subconscious memory bank, carried in the astral body, which is the sum total of past incarnations; and/or from astral beings who control the body and the mind at that time, wherein the medium vacates his or her own vehicle and allows this takeover.

2. Automatic Writing, Drawing or Music. Forces from another level, from the subconscious memory, or from the super conscious I AM Self take control over the hands and perform through them. The person is usually conscious or semiconscious and cooperates with the process, though not always understanding the material as it comes forth.

3. Clairaudience (clear hearing), Clairvoyance (clear seeing), Clair-sentience (clear sensing or feeling). These are our spiritual senses, be-yond the physical frequency range. Voices, visions, information channeled from the astral, etheric or celestial planes can be received without our conscious control or desire. They are spontaneous and independent experiences and are not the result of the person's training.

4. Mental Telepathy or Thought Transference. Specific words or ideas are projected through the brain apparatus of the conscious medium or

6 UNDERSTANDING

channel, to be written or spoken. This usually occurs after having experienced some of the prior three, as it is much more complex and requires conscious training.

A highly developed channel can work cooperatively, but with complete objectivity and impersonalness, with a master of the etheric or with angelic beings of the celestial, so that control over the physical mechanism is possible to the extent that exact words or inflections can be expressed.

This is the highest form of communication via channeling in the evolvement of man on Earth now. Such channels are on the road to complete Christ consciousness or mastery on the physical, for the process helps to transmute them in body, mind and soul.

5. Space Beams. Extraterrestrial spacecraft can use electromagnetic beams to transmit thought and words to, or physical control over, those on Earth. Usually this occurs with those interested in psychic and spiritual matters. But it also is occurring now to those with no prior training or understanding. This can be traumatic if not understood, and is one reason why information and education on these changing conditions in our world during this Mark Age period and program are so essential.

Space beams usually are felt physically, such as: a helmet or cap clamped on the top of the head, pressure across the forehead or at the temples, a rod or beam from the head down through the spine, a sudden chill or heat which turns off as though by a switch and' leaves no after-effect or sensation. Healings have been known to occur in this manner.

6. Inspiration, Intuition or Hunches. Specific or general information can be relayed to the conscious mind either through the subconscious memory pattern (soul or past experiences), through the super conscious (the I AM or high Self within), or from those of other planes and planets.

This is the most common form of communication, which has manifested in all forms of art; in many scientific discoveries, inspirations and inventions; in abstract philosophies, religious theology and other teachings; and in guiding each one of us in our individual growth and under-standing.

Many masters have incarnated throughout Earth history to implant new ideas and information to help build a bridge from mortal to immortal experience for the entire race. These masters are not usually aware of who they are or why they came. But they bring with them, and leave through their works, higher energy forms for the gradual upliftment and transmutation of Earth expression from the third dimensional

MAY 1973 7

(physical) into the fourth dimensional (spiritual) expression.

7. I AM Consciousness. Direct knowing and experiencing from the God Self within. The individual can communicate consciously with all energy forms in the universe, thus knowing and seeing that all things are part of the All, Which is the one and only God, Who is Creative Energy in action.

THE AREA OF MUTUAL AGREEMENT

This is the second of the prize winning essays submitted in our recent contest for proposals to be considered by an International Congress "to determine the areas of mutual agreement in the social sciences." It was written by Mrs. Dorothy Stevens of West Los Angeles, California.

1. It would promote understanding to narrow our disputes to specific problems, rather than to attack national or personal character and motivations.

2. All groups are made up of people, and people are growing and changing. It would promote understanding to remember that group judgments and generalizations have their limitations.

3. Individuals have to relate to expected standards of behavior on personal, national and international levels. It is important that the expected standards of behavior be as consistent as possible, to avoid con-fusion and mistakes.

4. Appreciation encourages people to do their best, and grow in their abilities.

5. Words are imperfect carriers of meaning, especially when several languages are involved. When working out our differences, it would pro-mote understanding if we first study to see whether they are differences of word meaning or actual differences of belief.

6. It would promote understanding if we endeavor to have a balanced consideration of all aspects of our world, our job, our family, etc. to avoid over-emphasizing one aspect at the expense of others.

7. Everyone needs the opportunity for creative activity.

8. The personal integrity of individuals in our civilization is of great value. In making of laws (forced action) let us remember our responsibility to the development of personal integrity through the action of making choices and taking the responsibility for these choices.

9. When errors are made, most people appreciate the opportunity to correct the error. Condemnation and blame do not encourage creative re-building.

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10. When the decision is made that something is important, enthusiasm seems to open the doorways of creative ideas and the sharing of time and material.

ARGUMENT AND DISCUSSION

(Editorial note: The mathematics of relativity do not actually deny the existence of absolutes, but only point out that the interaction of the various factors of nature may change the manner in which they appear to the observer. The question is not whether a line which we assumed to be straight would actually be so. - D. W. F.)

Everyone has heard of Einstein. He has come to be a symbol of extremely high human intelligence. He set forth a theory, called Einstein's Theory of Relativity, whose profound influence on modern thinking is embodied in the popular notion, "There are no absolutes."

The origin of this concept goes back before Einstein's time to earlier in the nineteenth century, when certain mathematicians purportedly gave proof that certain Euclidian geometrical postulates were not valid-notably, the parallel axiom, and the straight line axiom.

The straight line axiom states that a straight line can be extended to an infinite length. The new theory claimed that a straight line cannot be extended to an infinite length, without returning upon itself. Which is the true statement? That is a very subtle question, requiring a lot of deep thought to answer fairly. The fact is that neither statement can be logically proven, since there is a limit to how far anyone might extend a straight line. Therefore, it is a matter of conjecture whether the line would remain straight forever, or whether it would begin to curve, eventually forming a circle.

However, since it is only a question of which fact is logically preferable, and since the first is more consistent with experience, careful analysis of the statement that a straight line must curve eventually would lead us to conclude that it is merely an attempt to circumvent the authority of the former axiom.

Another argument that was advanced against Euclidian geometry states that it is impossible to draw any parallel to a given line. This is also not consistent with experience. It would be true, if there were no such thing as a straight line; but since there is such a thing, it is not true.

The proof or disproof of that does not lie within the bounds of logic, but in the bounds of intuition. For, everything logical is founded upon intuition. For instance, take the concept of a point in a plane. It cannot be described or defined logically. It is merely accepted intuitionally as a fact. Such facts are perceived intuitionally. If we deny our ability to perceive them, we deny our ability to know anything, since all logic is founded upon such facts. Thus, to say, "There are no absolutes," is the

MAY 1973 9

same as to say that logic is not valid, and that we can therefore know nothing.

This would also make it a delusion that we are too cold or too hot, or that someone is stabbing us with a knife. By this method of reasoning, in fact, we can hardly affirm the fact of our existence, since to know that we exist would be to know something, and would therefore be an absolute.

Therefore, if one man trusts his intuition-that is, when he is cold, he believes that he is cold, and is not the victim of self-delusion-and gets into a discussion with another man who denies it, it will be nothing but an argument with no valid purpose.

We might here go into a complex logical proof of the necessity for the existence of a straight line; and then, from that, prove again the possibility of drawing parallel lines. But why do that? Those who accept the possibility of logical knowledge already acknowledge it; those who do not believe that logical knowledge is possible would hardly be convinced by a logical proof.

Thus, it is merely a question of creative discussion, or worthless argument. If one is conversing with one who has enough sense to trust his intuition, a constructive discussion is possible. If not, only a pointless and wasteful-if not destructive-argument can result.

MICHAEL STEELE

PEACE

Peace is serenity. Peace is freedom. Peace is release from the restricting boundaries of this earthly plane. Man was born with the desperate desire to be reunited with that which created him. Peace is the fulfillment of that constant quest.

Peace is judgment. Peace is brotherhood. Peace is tolerance of man's imperfections. Peace is the ability to tap the source of wisdom and knowl-edge, the stream of consciousness which flows around us, surrounding us with the answers to our questions. Peace is possession of a practical education, the tool with which we may unlock the secrets of the universe.

Peace is the new morality. The old God is dead. The new God lives in the hearts and minds of men. Man is God in that he is an integral link in the chain of existence. Peace is acceptance of the role one plays in the Creator's plan. Peace is selflessness. Peace is the realization that every act and every deed has never-ending consequences. The pebble cast in the pool broadcasts ever-widening circles of influence which reach out to far

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shores.

Peace is perfection, in ourselves, in our world, and in our universe. Peace is understanding one another. Peace is the all-forgiving, over-powering, unrelenting disregard of self which culminates in the respect and regard of each human being for the other.

Peace, my friends, is love ... MARY ROGERS

UFO's INTERNATIONAL Four Hour Mystery

(SUNDAY MERCURY, Birmingham, England, November 12, 1972)

A sighting was reported at Beoley, near Redditch. A housewife and a young farm worker claimed to have seen three lights hovering about 600 feet in the air, over a belt of woodland for four hours.

Police from Henley-in-Arden visited the scene twice, and two of the officers also saw these lights. The investigation continues.

The farm worker, 15 year old Keith Harris said that he went to see the lights from the home of Mrs. Rita Tallis when she phoned him. "They were like radiating lights and kept changing colour from red to white and back again. They kept hovering backwards and forwards-disappearing over the horizon and reappearing again.

"Sometimes they were travelling very quickly and at other times quite slowly. We were watching them from the back garden and there was absolutely no sound from them."

Keith said that the lights were most active early in the evening, but they kept flying over the area for more than four hours. He added, "I am certain they were not planes, otherwise we would have heard the noise from the engines. I am quite satisfied that they were UFOs."

♦ ♦ ♦

OUT OF HIS OWN

Starved, man seeks,

Humbled, he shares,

Repentant, he declares,

Unworthy, he knows,

Trustworthy, he shows,

What things are wroght,

What things are taught –

What to him God is, he is!

Geraldine W. Ferguson

MAY 1973 11

Is there any human being that doesn't have something to say to us? Even the most case-hardened criminal, if we would but listen and study his situation and value what he has to teach us, might help prevent the crime that sent him to prison.

Allan A. Hunter

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING

Expect A Miracle

(Mary McGrath, San Jose (Calif.) MERCURY, April 12, 1971)

The automobile bumper sticker said: "Expect a Miracle." Nothing else was on the sticker-no source to give a clue to its meaning, no tag line to indicate an affiliation ...

Could it be that only a miracle can now make a difference? ... Maybe things-war, dissension, struggles, peace-are in such a state of turmoil that only a miracle can straighten them out. Obviously, those who affixed such a sticker to their car think so.

To some it might seem a sort of doomsday idea that only the intervention of powers beyond ourselves could possibly bring harmony out of the chaos that covers the earth. After all, miracles are things that happen when all rational efforts have failed, when all possible choices have been exhausted. Miracles are what happen when you despair of anything happening at all. They are the last hope of the desperate.

But the "expectation" of a miracle hardly seems desperate at all ... expecting a miracle must surely be a sign of hope that must be fulfilled. "Expect a miracle"-what a marvelous idea. What an absolutely soul-exploding concept.

For, "expecting a miracle to happen" is almost a guarantee that it will happen. You expect it to be there, and you live your life accordingly. Why not take it as your personal motto? No matter what mess your world is in, "expect a miracle" and it's bound to get better.

Of course, there is more to "expecting" a miracle than merely stating the expectation. First, you begin to live it, then to live it as though it had happened. You do nothing to impede its influence on your future. You let down your defenses to allow it leg room. You become the per-son to whom it can happen. Love and peace, harmony and contentment flow into your life, and out of it into the lives of others.

In a way, you BECOME the miracle on its way to happening. And, that may be the biggest miracle you can expect, after all I

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there are many intelligent civilizations.

The fact there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy and a billion other galaxies of probably comparable size persuades the scientists that there are several billion planets suitable for civilization to be born and flower. Many may be technologically equal to or far ahead of our own.

♦ ♦ ♦

Sugar From Wood

(DAILY COURIER, Grants Pass, Ore. February 27, 1973)

MANILA (UPI)-The Philippines can produce sugar from wood wastes left to rot in the forests, according to scientists of the Forest Products Research and Industry Development Commission. It may not be first class sugar, the scientists said, but it's good enough for livestock industry use.

Bony Building

(DAILY COURIER, Grants Pass, Ore., 12-5-72)

MOSCOW (UPI) - A 23,000-year-old building made of mammoth bones has been uncovered south of Minsk in Byelorussia, according to the Tass news agency.

Seeking Extraterrestrial Life

(MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Ore., 12-20-72, by Roscoe Drummond)

WASHINGTON - A combined team of Soviet and American scientists is organizing a joint venture that unquestionably dwarfs anything man has attempted in his 1 million years on this planet. These scientists are concerting their skills and imaginations to contact extraterrestrial civilization in distant space-billions or trillions of miles away.

They are convinced it is possible. They are convinced it can be done. The team comprises the most qualified experts in both countries and is drawn from nearly every intellectual discipline: astronomers, physicists, computer scientists, sociologists, archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, theologians.

The first international conference to explore the project, held last year in the Soviet Union, examined the feasibility, techniques and requirements to accomplish this startling goal.

MAY 1973 13

Present were the elite of the scientific world. They were unanimous that the prospect of contacting extraterrestrial civilizations is "sufficiently high to justify initiating a variety of well-formulated research programs."

This was not the vaguery of dreamers. It was the judgment of doers. Almost to a man, the scientists are convinced that in distant space Why is now the right time to begin a search for other civilizations in cosmos? The U.S. and Soviet scientists recognize that only now does man have the capabilities, the technologies and a full enough understanding of the universe to justify trying.

What a challenge! What fun! Only those who fear knowledge will shudder.

Flying Objects Unidentified

(SUN-GAZETTE, Williamsport, Penna. March 2, 1973)

STROUDSBURG, PA. (AP)-State police here have confirmed re-ports by residents that strange objects with flashing lights have been seen over the Pocono resort area.

Trooper Jeffrey Huntz, sent to the Sailers Lake area last Thursday night after police received several phone calls from residents, said he saw four of the objects pass overhead, all travelling west to east.

"But don't ask me what they were," Huntz said. "It was like a Christmas tree flying in the air." He said there was no noise and believed the objects were flying at an altitude about. 1,500 feet above ground level. Most had white lights, according to Huntz, but some had blue lights.

One resident told police she and her neighbors spotted 39 objects between 7:25 and 10:45 P.M. Thursday.

The New York Air Traffic Control Center could not identify the objects, saying they were flying too low. John Doster, chief of Federal Aviation Authority district office at the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton airport, said he had not been notified but believed the objects may have been military airplanes. A spokesman at the Pentagon told the Allentown Morning Call that no military aircraft were scheduled to fly over that area however.

Psychic Studies

(DAILY COURIER, Grants Pass, Ore. March 9, 1973)

NEW YORK (UPI)-Russian scientists are intensifying their studies

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of psychic phenomena, according to Alexander Everett, president of Mind Dynamics, an educational institution which teaches self-improvement through the controlled use of alpha waves.

Everett made that point when speaking in New York on Soviet efforts to utilize psychic energies. He was one of a small group of American scientists and educators invited to Moscow last summer for a closed international conference at the Russian Institute of Parapsychology. Russian scientists reported on investigations of the psychic, its meaning and possible usefulness.

Giants of the Amazon

(MONTREAL STAR, Montreal, Canada February 7, 1973)

BRASILIA-A Brazilian anthropologist has become the first white man to meet the fierce giant warriors of a legendary lost Amazon tribe. In a historic encounter, Claudio Villas Boas met the giant Indians of the Kreen-Akrore tribe, some more than six feet six inches tall, at his jungle camp at the Piexoto de Axeredo River in northern Mato Grosso state. The warriors, feared by neighboring tribes for their use of clubs to crush the skulls of enemies, handed over gifts of arrows and bows and were given steel axes, knives and kettles by Villas Boas.

Villas Boas and his brother, Orlando, Brazil's foremost Indian experts, have waited more than a year to make contact with one of the lost Brazilian tribes.

By radio from deep within the Amazon jungle, Claudio told what happened when 30 warriors walked into the white man's camp. Their heads were shaved and black paint was daubed on their naked bodies. The anthropologists embraced the giant tribesmen, one by one, then exchanged gifts.

After jabbering excitedly, in an unknown language, the warriors slipped back into the jungle, but reappeared the following day for a few minutes and exchanged gifts again.

Known for decades as the mysterious giants of the Amazon, the Kreen-Akrore women, the same size as their men, are also famous for their prowess in battle.

Heading Toward Disaster

(Philip Till in MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Ore. October 11, 1972)

VIENNA (UPI)-Mankind is heading toward disaster and will have to turn to the use of spaceships to survive, according to space scientist

MAY 1973 15

Werner von Braun.

Von Braun, speaking Tuesday at the 23rd International Astronautical Congress, described Earth as "a solitary spaceship with an unknown destination. It has 3.5 billion astronauts on board who are using up its resources without taking steps to replace them.

"We are approaching a global catastrophe," the scientist said. "We must do something for spaceship Earth."

He said man must turn to the use of space "otherwise we will end in sudden disaster."

Von Braun said one way to head off the catastrophe was to form a worldwide "food and nutrition management system" by launching space satellites designed to find minerals and ore and keep track of pollution levels.

He said satellites, by means of infrared photographs, could detect crop diseases on Earth, and help in harvests.

Rain at Night

Von Braun said by the year 2000 "we may well be able to influence the weather by satellite."

"It may be possible one day to make rain fall only in the night to keep the farmers happy and let the sun shine all day to keep the hotel owners happy."

Braun cited NASA's new Skylab project as a means of helping earth-men keep their world safe from their own destruction.

Skylab will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 270 miles for eight months and have a three-man crew which will be exchanged at regular intervals.

American Acupuncture Journal

(TIME MAGAZINE, March 12, 1973)

Ever since American doctors returned from the People's Republic of China with enthusiastic reports on the country's hospitals and clinics, interest in Chinese medicine has increased enormously in the U.S. Doctors at several major U.S. medical centers have organized programs to study acupuncture, the Chinese technique of treating illness and inducing anesthesia by inserting needles at certain points in the body. Politicians, public health officials and hospital administrators are trying to learn more about how the Chinese cope with disease and provide medical care. To help spread the word, a group of American and European physicians has decided to publish, twice a year, the American

16 UNDERSTANDING

Journal of Chinese Medicine, which will, according to its editor, Dr. Frederick Kao of the State University of New York's Downstate Medical Center, "try to advance the cultural exchange of theories, techniques and attitudes that should promote the development of medical sciences in both East and West."

♦ ♦ ♦

THOUGHT JEWELS

Beloved (You)

Each one of us knows a busy, successful person. We may wonder how they manage so many things in the course of one day. Their secret is well-channeled energy. They have learned to focus all their attention on one task at a time.

One also must be positive. One has to do something and one has to commit oneself. Unrest leads to nothing. One must have the desire to shape and direct one's purposes.

Learn to do your most important duties first, and learn to say NO to distractions, for only then will your days be busy and successful, with all things done easily and quietly.

AMOURIAAE

Hunt for the good points in the other fellow. Remember, he has to do the same in your case.

We must consider the possibilities of space science and technology as related to religion and the social problems. This is not to say that we expect to meet a flight of angels on the way to Mars. But I think it well within the realm of possibility that science will find in space many clues to the origin and functioning of the physical universe. In doing this, science and technology may well reveal more about the creator through the creation.

I do not believe that science and religion are two incompatible concepts. In fact I think they belong very closely together and that some day they will consolidate their findings and man will be nearer to ultimate truth.

Dr. Werner von Braun

MAY 1973 17

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Amsterdam, Holland

Dear Dr. Fry:

In answer to your request concerning UFOs in Holland, I would re-port that people here are aware of them. For, last year, three times on television, long talks about UFOs, with pictures, were presented. We are pleased about this! Whether or not the people believe in UFOs they have, at least, heard about them!

Now and then there are pictures in the newspapers or magazines.

My husband, Cornelius Sypkens, an attorney, and I have pictures as well as a small film of a moving UFO. It is very interesting to see the "bals" under the saucer going in and out, when it is attracted to, or going away from, the earth. People are very impressed by this short film.

When asked we give lectures in schools and private homes. We bought a projector for the film so we can show it everywhere.

In 1957 we both saw UFOs for three days, while camping along the river Moosel in Germany. At night we saw a big sun-like shining ball, without noise, going over our heads. It came back for three nights in September. The same year we saw the whole sky over Amsterdam lit up by colours that suddenly changed from green to red, to green to red-and then five big golden rays coming out of the clouds, going from one end to another. The paper said: "It was Northern Lights" but that is not true. They were UFOs.

Many of our friends are telling us about UFOs over Holland. I hope they will come soon to help our world.

MRS. W. C. SYPKENS-VAN ANDEL

CONSIDER THE CONCEPT

"Truth must be re-expressed in every era in ways appropriate to the time and place. It would be useless for us to import half-understood classical or oriental words from epochs, or they might prove like Scrooge's undigested crumb of cheese and give us frightening dreams. It is ideas, principles, that are important, and as long as men honestly search for Truth, these will re-embody from age to age. The time may not be far away when in our own fashion we shall once again greet Father Sun with the reverence he deserves, and look upon the countless lives around us as fellow pilgrims on an infinite journey from darkness into Light.

John P. Van Mater

18 UNDERSTANDING

book reviews

One Life at a Time

(Maria Rinchuiso, Lois van Paassen, Sandra Conlan and Laura Elgin. Vantage Press, 516 W. 34th Street. New York, New York 10001, $5.95.)

The authors, Marla, Lois, Sandra and Laura, had been casual neighbors within a one block area in Canoga Park, California, for seven years. Then, "they happened to come together" and much happened, of which they tell in One Life at a Time.

Each had studied, individually, various phases of telepathy, psychometry, reincarnation, clairvoyance, etc. As personal events drew them together, they undertook a variety of experiments to delve deeper into these aspects of our nature. In offering the results of their studies and experiments, the four hold "that the time has come for these subjects to be presented as they really are, normal not supernatural, at times, hilariously funny instead of mundane."

A delightful sense of humor pervades the book, and you learn as you chuckle.' This is no textbook of spiritual truth but a very readable ac-count of such laws as they affect our daily lives.

The first half of the volume covers the personal experiences and experiments of the group in such areas as automatic writing, mental telepathy, dream interpretation, past life regression and the like.

Our authors believe that a correlation of the truths of various sciences is needed. "We find it hard to believe," they say, "that an individual science, such as astrology . . . can be the complete governing force of a life. In our opinion, this also includes numerology and palmistry, and last, but certainly not least, personal environment."

Thus, the second half of the book covers palmistry, with illustrations for study; numerology with keys to interpret one's personal number; and astrology, with zodiac aspects and tables of ascendants-a work book for the reader.

MAY 1973 19

Marla, Lois, Sandra and Laura say, "We believe that the majority of people who read the book are doing so because they want to develop their psychic ability and to understand why they are in their present position. We have tried to give you a basic foundation to build an understanding of yourself."

Enjoy the adventures of these delightful women-a legal secretary, a bookkeeper, a nurse, and a worker in parapsychology, who in the terms of the publisher, "did not bring adventure into their everyday lives but contrived to develop the adventure that was there."

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Southern California Understandorama

Mrs. Esther Ellsworth, Moderator for San Bernardino Unit 71 has announced another UNDERSTANDORAMA, for Sunday, May 6th, to be presented at the Griswold Inn, Flamenco Room, 525 W. Foothill Blvd., Claremont, California.

Speakers include George Perkins, Executive Director of the New Age Interpreter; Elizabeth Maxwell, esoteric teacher of Idyllwild, Calif.;

20 UNDERSTANDING

Bill and Elizabeth Finch, Phoenix, Ariz.; Jack Coleman, world re-searcher in metaphysics; and L. G. Lawrence of the Ecola Institute. Registration will start at 9:00 A.M. and the program at 10:00 A.M. Donation for the Day Session will be $3.00, and for the Evening Session, $2.00.

Additional information: Mrs. E. Ellsworth, P. 0. Box 626, Morongo Valley, Calif. 92256. Telephone: 714-342-6680.

-"Hello Again"-

Merlin, Oregon bids you welcome to Understanding's Fourth Annual Convention, where old friends return and new ones meet. They come from the four corners of the States to gather in Peace and Understanding with each other, gaining knowledge from a wide range of speakers-from the President of Understanding, speaking on Space, to the Editor-Publisher of Pyramid Guide (a protégé of the late dowsing mentor, Verne L. Cameron), a lecture demonstration on Divining at all levels; plus many more, also healers.

Don't miss this Event-June 22, 23, 24. Public Welcome!

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THE LIFE SOURCE, Its very detail open to view in FUNDAMENTALS OF THOUGHT, by L. Ron Hubbard. Send $3.00 to: Book Store U, Founding Church of Scientology, 1812 19th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20C39.

INVITATION TO AUTHORS: Manuscripts evaluated. Two week service. Comprehensive report given, without charge or obligation. We print books, mini-books, pamphlets. Editing and counselling. TRUE DAY PUBLICATIONS, 370 Hargadine St., Ashland, Ore. 97520.

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White Sands Incident – Dr. Daniel W. Fry (hardbound) $2.95

Atoms, Galaxies and Understanding

Dr. Daniel W. Fry

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Dr. Daniel W. Fry

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