Without doubt, events are moving to a point of climax. Daily, the news communicators report the growing incidence of crime: violence, murder, torture and rape. Fear grips the elderly and discourages the young; hope fails in the cities as the drug kings rule. Across the countries of the West, a deep malaise asserts itself and corruption, great and small, becomes the order of the day.

Driven by market forces, governments vie with one another in fierce competition, sacrificing thereby the livelihood and well-being of their peoples. In the name of business efficiency, health care and education, once hallmarks of civilized life, fall foul of the predator's claws. Rootless and hopeless, millions face the future with despair.

Unholy

Blinded by ìthe logic of the marketî, the ideologues enact their unholy ritual on the long-suffering poor. Nor do they see the inevitable result of their folly: the collapse of the structures they seek to control. Whatever they do, whichever way they turn, they find the working of the law against them; cause, and its effect, may not be denied.

Soon, the remnants of this civilization will be seen for what they are – the frail and final fragments of injustice and greed. Soon, the people themselves will usurp this faltering power and claim their rights as citizens of the world and children of God. The sickness at the heart of the present dispensation is selfishness, complacency and fear. Where these three reign, separation and exploitation, handmaidens to ruthless greed, inevitably flourish.

Only a rethinking of the meaning and purpose of life will suffice to steer men from the edge of disaster. Only a new sense of realism will provide the key to unlock these mysteries. When man's erstwhile temples, the stock markets of the world, crumble and crash, that key will turn and reveal a new beauty waiting to be born.

Guiding star

Then men will know themselves as brothers, searching in the dark for the same guiding star. They will come to see that the only way forward is together, in co-operation for the general good. They will realize anew the reason for their presence on earth and seek to implement, in every possible way, their understanding of the Plan. Thus will it be.

Thus will men accept the counsel of their Elder Brothers, and know that through all vicissitudes they have never been alone. Always, behind the scenes, have stood these wiser and more experienced way-showers, ready, when called upon, to shine their light on man's problems, and to illumine his way. Now, as never before, does that light shine brightly, and no longer from afar. From the midst of men's anguish does that light now serve as beacon, gathering all who are ready to ease humanity's pain. The call to service has sounded, the Teachers are ready. Awake, awake!

From the April 1993 issue of Share International