The cause of universal education, which has already enlisted in its
service an army of dedicated people from every faith and nation, deserves
the utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For
ignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of
peoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success
unless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits
the ability of many nations to fulfil this necessity, imposing a certain
ordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do
well to consider giving first priority to the education of women and
girls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge
can be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. In
keeping with the requirements of the times, consideration should also be
given to teaching the concept of world citizenship as part of the standard
education of every child.
A fundamental lack of communication between peoples seriously undermines
efforts towards world peace. Adopting an international auxiliary language
would go far to resolving this problem and necessitates the most urgent
attention.
Two points bear emphasizing in all these issues. One is that the abolition
of war is not simply a matter of signing treaties and protocols; it is a
complex task requiring a new level of commitment to resolving issues not
customarily associated with the pursuit of peace. Based on political
agreements alone, the idea of collective security is a chimera. The other
point is that the primary challenge in dealing with issues of peace is to
raise the context to the level of principle, as distinct from pure
pragmatism. For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by
a spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude
that the possibility of enduring solutions can be found.
There are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which
solutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned
group can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems,
but good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The
essential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a
perspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature,
it also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which
facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders
of governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts
to solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles
involved and then be guided by them.
III
The primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its
entrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and
co-operation will prevail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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