9 SOCIETY


We have become a World Society and, consequently, we must treat
all the inhabitants of the world as if they are a part of our local
community.

We each belong to several societies simultaneously. We belong to a
family, a city or town, a nation, the world and generally to a religious
philosophy, to name a few.

However, our membership in most of the societies to which we belong is
generally involuntary. We are born in a particular place, which
automatically subjects us to the laws of a particular city or town, state
and nation.

From our parents we generally inherit a religious philosophy. We have
little choice regarding this religious philosophy until we mature to an
understanding that there are alternative religious philosophies which
may more closely harmonize with our individual personalities.

Each society has a set of rules which specifically dictates acceptable and
unacceptable behavior for the members of that society. These rules are
generally classified as laws and these laws evolve over time. As a
society's needs change, so do the laws. This is a natural process.

As humanity developed and populations increased, families grouped
together into clans, clans grouped together into towns, towns grouped
together into states, and states grouped together into nations. Each
time smaller units come together as a larger unit, a new social order
comes into existence which considers the needs of all the various
sub-units. This a complex process and slow-moving if done peacefully.
If done by aggression, it can be achieved quickly but with great and
lasting trauma.

We have now reached a point in the world economy where nations have
become interdependent and these interdependencies are increasing in
number daily. These interdependencies will reduce the possibility of war
because a nation tends not to declare war on those nations who buy
significant goods from it nor does it make war on nations who have the
ability to cut off its source of vital goods. Wars between nations will
soon disappear because war will be detrimental to national economies
and consequently to the individual members of those nations as it
manifests as unemployment and its legacy social unrest.

As the world continues to become more economically interdependent, a
World Government will slowly gain power because only a World
Government can arbitrate between nations if war is not an alternative.
The United Nations is the embryo of that World Government.

We are one race of human beings and the time is soon coming when we
will no longer be able to exclusively enjoy the abundance of certain areas
of the world simply because we were born there. In very simple
terms, no nation with food and energy reserves will be allowed to let the
people of another nation go without. This is the foundation of
WorldPeace.

What will eventually manifest is an opportunity for an overall minimum
standard of living worldwide. This will not happen overnight, but we
must accept its inevitability and try to move toward it peacefully and not
use our national power to prolong its manifestation. Is the death of
even one child in a war for nationalism anything more than a sacrificial
waste of human life and the reinforcement and perpetuation of national
prejudices and hatreds?

We are on the road to a World Government because we have become a
World Society. It is our most common social denominator and it is
inevitable. Acceptance of this reality promotes peace; rejection manifests
everything but peace.

Inner peace comes when we embrace the whole of humanity as one
and harmonize with it.

Inner peace comes when we embrace the world community and do not
separate ourselves from it.