Civilisation at the Cross Roads — Page 3
an international character. In the· course of this process, various sections have had to contend with many difficulties. 1'hc struggle has left troublesome legacies, which are still awaiting settlement and adjustment. In many spheres even our most advanced thinking, however,. still falls short of that which bas been made imperative by the scientific revolution. In most respects our thinking is still national or, at the most, continental. It is not yet truly international !>r global, though even that would 11ot be adequate to the needs. of to-day. I Our first need is that our thinking must transcend all intervening limitations and barriers and should embrace humanity and the universe, in its scope. The atom bomb was exploded twenty years ago; we now have the hydrogen bomb, are faced with the cobalt bomb and may soon be confronted with even more po·. verful and far renchin(? dcvdopmcnts. 'Ve cannot· hope to keep pace with, much less control and direct, "stratospheric", "fissionary" aud "fusionary" forces, if I might be permitted so to designate them, with thinking at the pedestrian, bow 11nd arrow, and gunpowJer levels. We must train ourselves to think in terma of humrmity and the universe. But when I say humanity and the universe, I do not mear1 to <'Onfine myself to man and his life on this planet in all its dimensions. 1'hat again is ·a limitation which tends to distort our perspective. To prove adequate to our needs of to-day and to-morrow and to exhibit things and values in their true proportions, our perspective must acquire the widest, almost a limitlesa, sweep. In the speed of our movement, we have pierced the sup<'rsunic barrit'r; our moral nnd spiritual vision must also pierce the barriers set up by our present concepts of life and mortality. We must learn to think, not only iu terms or life and death, but also in terms of the hereafter. It u only then that our perspective will become correctly adjusted and we shall be able to devise and put into effect a true standard of values. If Wf do not. begin to think in terms of. eternity, our thinking will be out of measure and will continue unbnlaneed. We must, therefore, adjust our thinking to new dimensions, namely-Humanity, Universe and Eterni. ty. 3