It is not
necessary for the U.N. to participate in addressing the
spiritual needs of all humanity.
At the very
outset, the founding fathers of the United Nations, the drafters of
the charter, focused primarily on an organization for
governments,
and less so on one for
people.
More importantly, in the creation of the UN there was a complete
disregard for the importance of human spirituality and the
significance of religion in relation to both human moral standards
and global affairs.
Absent religion and the
recognition of spiritual principles, values and standards, the world
has drifted increasingly toward analyses and prescriptions that are
materialistic and secular in nature. In so doing, it has lost sight
of the profound wisdom to be found in humanity's spiritual heritage.
Most fundamentally, any truly global
institution must be built on a secure foundation that takes into
account the full potential of the human being - not only as a
political, economic, and social being, but also as a spiritual being
with spiritual needs and a capacity for spiritual wisdom and
insight.
That is, we must have an
integrated view of the human being, a view that does not extract one
aspect of human nature and, on that foundation, construct a vision
of peace. Our vision of peace must be comprehensive, and any
institution we establish to build a world of peace must be
comprehensive in the same way.
While spirituality has been rejected by some
intellectual traditions of modernity, most notably naturalistic
science, and materialistic philosophies and ideologies. These
worldviews are themselves limited and lacking the capacity to arrive
at either ultimate truth or practical wisdom. Suffice it to say that
the history of science and methodological atheism has not led to
either peace or prosperity.
Of course religion itself also has to change. In
too many ways the history of religion has been marked by narrow
sectarianism, strife, and competitive struggle with other faiths,
all to the detriment of the cherished goals and teachings of the
founders and scriptures. This cannot continue. The need to eliminate
corruption, selfishness, and bad governance applies not only to the
United Nations and its member states, but also to the world's
religions.
Religion, above
all, must be an instrument of true love, and a vehicle that carries
human beings from selfishness to unselfishness.
The spiritual world is not
merely a place of memory or static passivity. The spiritual world is
alive and vibrant. And just like our world here on earth, it is a
world that has much pain, regret, suffering, and grievance. So many
people's dreams of peace were left unfulfilled. And yet, those who
ascend to that other world, do not cease from their efforts to
fulfill those hopes, or from their efforts even to make amends for
their sins and failures.
When we think of peace, therefore, let us not lose sight of both
unseen communities, those who have already lived and those not yet
born. The former is more immediately significant, for it is a
community that can and does directly impact our world. That is,
those in the spiritual world are also committed in an ongoing way to
making sure their children and their children's children dwell in a
world of peace. We are their children and they care for us and our
descendants. Moreover, those in the spiritual world hope that those
who pass over do not bring with them the hurts, scars, resentments
and grievances that make it so difficult to have peace of mind where
they are now.
As our moral and spiritual consciousness heightens, we expand the
earthly communities that can be included in our moral universe,
adding many respected and valued stakeholders who dwell beyond the
borders of our own race, religion, nationality, class, status group,
etc. So also we must expand our consciousness to include both those
who have lived and those who will live,
represented by our parents and our children.
We must listen to our ancestors. At this time in history,
increasingly, those in the spiritual world are -- and will continue
to become -- active participants, activists if you will, in the
pursuit of peace.
In this sense there needs
to be a revolution, a spiritual awakening, moving humanity from its
preoccupation with secular, humanistic and materialistic values,
toward a spiritual, God-centered worldview. The goal is the
harmonious integration of these two dimensions of human reality. The
spiritual and material capacities of the human being are to be
harmonized. In particular, confrontational, dialectical practices
will only yield suffering and decline. Humanity must adopt the
principle of true unselfish love, and pursue reconciliation,
cooperation and peace.
For this
reason, the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) advocates an
inter-religious and international approach to peace that seeks to
forge cooperative partnerships between governments and religions, as
well as NGOs and representatives of the private sector. The UPF
seeks to be God-centered, and advocates the core principle of living
for the sake of others.
