A preview of the unpublished book A CIVILIZATION WITHOUT A VISION WILL PERISH: AN INDEPENDENT SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH by David Willis. CHAPTER 1: INDIFFERENCE (Part 25). This blog is a continuation of the review of The Inner Limits of Mankind by Ervin Laszlo, written in 1989.
Ground rules for a world to be
Having criticized people’s failure to recognize the obsolescence of modernism, deplored the atrophy of positive vision in contemporary cultures, and noted with alarm the crisis of international will, it behoves us now to produce some constructive suggestions. New and pragmatic rules are needed to orient the evolution of personal values and aspirations, to guide the rejuvenation of contemporary cultures, to motivate the emergence of higher levels of political will, and to provide points of reference for the mutual attitudes and relationships of peoples and nations.
Ground rules for the orientation of human aspirations
Truly universal values do exist. They lie at the core of all the major religions and our most noble cultural traditions. The values of universal brotherhood, love for one’s neighbor, and the golden rule of treating others as we would wish to be treated are just some of the ideals that are common to all cultures. They have fostered social union and amity between people for countless generations, inspired great works of art, and continue to underscore our highest aspirations.
Affirmation of these essential spiritual truths
Today’s world would indeed benefit from a profound affirmation of these essential spiritual truths. The adoption of such values on a global scale will guarantee the right of all humanity to strive to fulfill its basic needs for life, progress and justice. Given our interdependence, failure to attain conditions where life, progress and justice are assured everywhere constitutes a threat to peace and fulfillment. Not only individual societies, but the entire world community of peoples and nations must strive to fulfill these needs.
The right to life with human dignity
The world community as a whole must be able to guarantee the right to life with human dignity to all its members; must allow progress to be made in the light of diverse conceptions of social, economic and political organization, and must reduce social and economic gaps to levels where they are no longer intolerably unjust to the poor.
A world community that is sustainable, developing, and equitable
A world community that satisfies the need for life, progress and justice is one that is sustainable, developing, and equitable. Sustainability, development, and equity are useful and universal guidelines for the aspirations of all peoples. What sustainability is with respect to life, development is in regard to progress.
Third World people receive less than their fair share
The enormous gaps, whereby the richest 10% of the world population earns three dozen times more than the poorest 10%, can and must be reduced. The Third World’s sense of justice is outraged today not because the 75% of the world’s population living there do not receive precisely the same amount of goods and services as those living elsewhere, but because Third World people receive less than their fair share (measured against their basic needs, social merits and even their performance) whereas the citizens of the industrialized countries often live indulgently and wastefully.
Different cultures, ideologies, values and ideas flourishing side by side
A world society that is sustainable, developing and equitable does not spend the resource capital of future generations, does not suppress motivation for social and economic growth, and does not violate the sense of justice of the vast majority of its people. But it can be a highly diverse society in which different cultures, ideologies, values and ideas flourish side by side, and to mutual benefit.
Ground rules for the interrelationships of nations and peoples
The achievement of a sustainable, developing and reasonably equitable global society calls for new and intense forms of international cooperation. Mid-century concepts such as coexistence are no longer adequate. Whether practiced by the superpowers, or by the super-powerful economic and military blocs, coexistence implies no more than mutual toleration of each other’s presence.