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THE ELEVEN PRINCIPLES OF PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT
SPIRITUAL UNITY (LOVE)
The entire creation, whether animate or inanimate, is an expression of
one universal spiritual consciousness, which when realized reveals the
unity of all things. The desire for spiritual unity (love) begins in
the human mind as a thirst for limitlessness. Yet, human beings, not
recognizing this thirst as a spiritual longing, try to fulfill it by
pursuing finite objects -- material accumulation, sense gratification
and mental pleasure, which never completely satisfy. The realization of
spiritual unity (love) is the supreme happiness of life, its ultimate
fulfillment.
TRANSFORMATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The process of realizing spiritual unity occurs in the individual as a
transformation from ignorance to enlightenment. This process is the
evolution of individual consciousness and occurs in the collective as
well. Regardless of different expressions, languages, and cultures,
human beings are, in reality, a single species. This understanding
poises humanity for an evolutionary leap that will allow us to realize,
as a collective, that we are all members of one human family in
relation with all of life.
BIRTHRIGHTS AND BASIC NECESSITIES
In order to realize the greatest human potential, we must first meet
certain basic necessities. It is the birthright of every human being to
be guaranteed the opportunity to work for food, clothing, shelter,
education and health care. No one should suffer from lack of, or be
denied, these basic necessities due to illness, calamity, fate or
greed. It is also the birthright of every human being to receive love
and care, and to live in a clean environment which promotes growth and
well being without fear.
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
It is our personal and collective responsibility to fight for improved
living conditions worldwide. Moral life requires each individual to act
in the best interest of the collective and, in turn, for the collective
to act in the best interest of each individual. Each person must
realize that, in fact, every thought, word, and action carries
consequences. It is not necessary to "know all of the answers" to
accept one's personal and social responsibility.
UTILIZATION OF RESOURCES
To improve living conditions worldwide requires restructuring the
utilization and distribution of individual, collective and planetary
resources. These resources are physical, mental and spiritual and
include soil, water, air, ozone, minerals, plants, animals as well as
all human potentialities. There is an abundance of resources to meet
world needs including the power and information to realize world
progress. Yet, we are handicapped by dogmatic thinking that keeps
us in conflict with each other and the environment. It must be
recognized that all resources have intrinsic existential value over and
above their utility.
THE ENVIRONMENT
For all practical purposes our environment is the planet Earth, a
unique and complex eco-system in which all life forms exist within a
critical balance. Our environment is more than a store of resources for
human consumption; it has an inherent value as an expression of
spiritual consciousness. Our progress and future survival is dependent
upon its care and protection. The meeting of human needs and desires
must be balanced with the rights of the Earth and all species for all
to survive and prosper. It is our personal and collective
responsibility to utilize appropriate technology, renewable resources
and methods of conservation and recycling for sustainability to ensure
the protection of our environment for future generations.
ECONOMICS
The quality of life on Earth is being destroyed by conspicuous
consumption, waste, and toxification due to human greed, cynicism, war,
and ignorance. In reality, we work within a world economy in which
goods and services are exchanged between people worldwide. There is a
direct link between our economic behavior and the destruction of our
planet. An economy which is based solely on the profit motive, without
respect for human and natural resources, exploits and endangers life. A
sustainable economy would allow for the ability of all to work for the
provisions of basic necessities and amenities as well as promote
individual incentive and expression without jeopardizing the collective
and planetary well being. Moving society to an improved standard of
living while protecting the environment is the goal of a sustainable
economy.
EDUCATION
Because human development is the process of realizing spiritual unity,
true education is the instruction of human beings toward this goal.
Insofar as we are educated by the impressions of everything to which we
are exposed, the educational process cannot be separated from the
movement of society as a whole. Therefore, each individual shares
responsibility for the spiritual development of others. The print,
radio, film, and TV media and all forms of cultural and commercial
expression also share the responsibility to promote human development.
However the educational system, as the institutional representative of
society, must take the lead in providing the social impetus for
realizing the greatest human potential. Along with teaching
traditional academic studies, teachers who promote true human progress
will provide the greatest service to society. Dogmatic thinking, which
continues to divide humanity or which keeps us alientated from the rest
of life, must be stopped.
POLITICS
The political arena is global in scope and is comprised of factions and
forces that exist even down to the personal level. Political behavior
to date has largely been the acting out of limited self-interests in
which individual or group achievement comes at the expense of others.
"Success" is predominately accomplished by imposing authority,
interests, or simply by taking something that belongs to another. This
type of behavior is antithetical to human progress on every level. It
results in manipulation, greed and violence. The most aggressive and
powerful human groups today control the Earth's resources and labor,
and the "lion's share" of the production, distribution and consumption
of food, machinery, weapons, drugs, energy, money, etc. The motivating
idea for benevolent politics, on the other hand, is to organize
activities that are not at the expense of others but are for the
benefit of all. In order to maintain a balance of forces, humanity
requires a global political institution based upon moral, universal
human values. The formal expression of such an institution would be the
establishment of global executive, judiciary and legislative bodies to
provide vision, planning and the execution of those policies and
procedures that empower and help humanity to grow while protecting the
welfare of life.
TRUE PROGRESS
Life is comprised of physical, mental and spiritual attributes.
Although there are improvements and advancements in the physical and
mental realms, we recognize that every improvement or advancement in
the physical and mental realms creates new sets of concerns and
problems. As activity begets activity, the consequences of our actions
forever "raise the stakes" forcing our hand to even greater levels of
problem solving and conflict resolution. True progress is spiritual
attainment and can be measured and recognized only by the increasing
degree of love, devotion and cooperative spirit that human beings
realize for the care of themselves, each other and all of life. The
consequence of true progress is the overall advancement of humanity
thereby diminishing the condition of conflict and problems as a whole.
A NEW VISION - SPIRITUAL AND SOCIAL SYNTHESIS
An entirely new vision for society is required that synthesizes
spiritual and social values and integrates all aspects of individual
and collective life. History demonstrates a largely unconscious attempt
by individuals and groups to compensate for and fulfill the most
fundamental human aspiration -- to be happy and feel loved. We also
recognize that human life is a weave of needs, desires, emotions,
feelings, thoughts and expressions most often complicated by fear.
Fearing for survival, human beings desperately try to avoid pain,
conflict and death. Fear is the root of the problem that alienates and
divides humanity into dogmatic, self-serving groups whose actions
threaten the life of the planet. As human beings, we must accept total
responsibility for creating the conditions of our reality and
understand, therefore, there exists no problem greater than our
capacity to solve. The most precious treasure that we possess is the
capacity to love. Our vision needs to be centered on this treasure and
displayed by the nurturing care of ourselves, each other, and all of
life. It has been said that "the realization of spiritual unity (love)
is the ultimate fulfillment of life." Spiritual unity (love) is
the antidote to fear. Therefore, every aspect of society must support
and be geared in this supreme direction. It is time to plan, implement
and maintain a complete spiritual-socio- economic system, a new way of
living, which acknowledges humanity, protects the environment, cares
for all life and allows all to grow physically, mentally and
spiritually. This is the direction we must now take.
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