CR 306/720
| Progress |
| Humans are in the world in order to change and to evolve. This is so throughout the whole Universe on all inhabited planets, always was so and will always remain so, and indeed, as long as there are material humans in need of evolution. Evolution is also the meaning of life, and in this consequence, humans continually strive further and for something higher, in order always to strive for and achieve the relatively highest possible perfection. An urge by Creation to strive for something higher and more perfect, which is fixed in humans, awakens in them the driving force of the healthy and accountable, measured and worthy ambition, by which progress is taken and acquired. The way of progress has both its beautiful as well as its ugly sides. Thus, it brings, for example, successes and valuable innovations in all possible areas, such as in technology and medicine, but also with respect to all kinds of scientific insights, in any form of archaeological research and with regard to various other things. Also successes appear that ensure a longer life expectancy of humans than what was formerly the case, when the humans reached an average age of 28 to 42 years. Also with regard to the hygiene of humans, progress brings a tremendous amount of value, which also contributes in part to the prolongation of life, along with new and more valuable food, medicines, and surgical as well as medical capacities, etc. The opposite of progress, however, also has its very ugly sides, and indeed, especially when technical, chemical, and all sorts of scientific achievements become negatively redesigned and implemented for military purposes or for improper profit purposes. So it will appear in the coming time through the unstoppable progress, good as well as evil and negative as well as positive. Thus, the monstrously negative and evil already occurred on the 6th of August, 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan, the first use of a nuclear weapon, and a short time later, in Nagasaki, Japan, the second one followed. These atomic bombings, which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of humans, terrified all of humanity, while the Americans responsible for this fell into the flush of victory. But that’s not enough, for the progress of the future will still bring many other deadly weapons, and indeed, also those that will be based on deadly vibrations and rays, which can destroy the coming electronics technology as well as all animal-organic and human-organic life. However, the whole environment will also be affected, and the terms “environmental pollution” and “environmental degradation” will become just as bad catchwords as also the incessantly growing overpopulation, for which the foundations are already laid, which will allow all earthly and human-produced problems to grow immeasurably. Also space-flight technology will be included in the progress, and already soon, this technology will also belong to everyday life. However, there will also be a mixing of peoples, which will bring hatred and death but also disease and epidemic carryovers, which will demand very many victims. Thus, diseases and epidemics will be displaced from the southern into the northern countries and from the northern into the southern, and especially human-sexual perversions and greed for profit will play very important roles. Diseases and epidemics that are believed to be eradicated will appear anew, as well as various animal diseases, whose pathogens mutate and spread to humans, and there won’t just be a few of these diseases and epidemics. But still, progress will also bring about successes that will bring tremendous benefits to very many interests of humans, particularly through genetic engineering and gene manipulation, which will be in the mouths of all humans. Yet also in surgery and medicine, successes will appear through the progress, which humans and particularly the scientists of the present time don’t even dare to dream of yet. |
| Striving for better values, for progress and success, as well as for higher things with regard to knowledge, real love, and wisdom is given to man by Creation, so that from this, he develops a healthy ambition, in order to ensure progress and, with it, the meaning of life. Yet man must always be mindful of this, so that he knows how to restrain and control it. If he doesn’t learn this, however, then progress can become very dangerous for him and lead him to his own annihilation, even to the complete destruction of the planet Earth. Generally speaking, there are different forms of striving and ambition. Nevertheless, man himself determines each form because he has his own and free will in every respect; accordingly, he can change it at his own discretion and exercise it as he always sees fit. However, this gives him the ability to think for better or for worse, positively or negatively, to create his feelings as well as carry out his actions. Solely the perception and exercise of one’s responsibility or just its neglect or malicious, willful, or wanton disregard decide whether good and positive or bad and negative result. And this applies to both sexes of humans, both to the female as well as to the male. Nevertheless, the striving and ambition are different, depending on the specific gender, even though the boundaries are sometimes blurred and barely recognizable, as this will very especially be the case in the coming time, when an emancipation-driven equal rights delusion breaks out, which will sprout strange flowers. However, it will be irrevocable that the women – who have been beaten down by the male world for thousands of years – will slowly be able to free themselves from the male bondage and, thus, be able to work in the areas of the male domain, and indeed, particularly in professional interests. |
| If one observes man and woman, then one can’t help but notice that the thoughts and feelings of the woman are more oriented on what is useful and meaningful as well as on the facts and objectivity, and with this, she is also more pragmatically oriented than what is the case with the man, while the man always wants to conquer the whole world, indulges in visions, and is very strongly attached to the material. Instead of minding the dirt in front of his own door, he looks at the filth of his neighbor, gladly interferes in foreign affairs, believes that he is great and strong, and acts at every opportunity – all the same whether appropriately or inappropriately – as though he would be the Lord of the world and omniscient. Conflict and war are often appropriate for him, and the consequences arising from it are very often just as foreign to him, like when he actually seizes the power for himself without hesitation, exercises it with evil force, and thereby sows death and destruction, and indeed, very often not only in relation to his country, or rather his nation, province, or city, but also in his own family. In contrast, there is the woman, who is much more pragmatically oriented and, therefore, first of all wants to change the world around herself, whereby her own family and immediate surroundings come first, for everything there should be good, harmonious, and prosperous, as well as peaceful and without great worries and problems. This is also the reason why she tackles and exercises everything very practically and straightforwardly, in stark contrast to the man, who often displays a disgraceful complexity and a great lack of understanding in these things – and indeed, without leading any great speeches. Still, women must fight for their equal rights, which will still be the case until some time in the future, and indeed, even though they have found access to the male world of employment since the 19th century, and this will increasingly be the case in the coming time. However, this will resolve itself with time because the events at the present time are also at a breakneck change as well as all of the events that will follow from the future and shape a whole new worldview. But overall, this change means that there will be a tremendous upheaval that will throw the old world order completely over the heap. All of the coming progress will be so immense and will come so quickly that many people won’t be able to keep up with it. Thus, man must change himself if he reasonably wants to overcome everything and without all too great collisions. Change must come quickly, however, because time and progress do not stand still. Each individual must take all his things into his hand and bring them to good progress and success. If he does not do this, however, then he will remain in his old person and will continue to muddle along in the trot, in which he has gone until now. Thus, the only ones who will profit from the progress and success are those who go along with the times and the progress and who do not simply walk along the same, lousy, and unprogressive path before them, as they have done up to now. And this also has reference to one’s life-attitude and lifestyle with regard to real love, true knowledge and wisdom, as well as to one’s own peace, harmony, and freedom.
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| The human can, in fact, develop a healthy ambition from his Creation-given striving, by what means he can change himself to the better person. Every individual must do this, and if he does, then he can thereby also change other people indirectly, namely by living before them a good and positive example which is accepted by the others, for they find it as good, in order, then, to exercise it themselves and induce a similar change in themselves. It may be a close associate or a foreign person – it absolutely doesn’t matter – because it’s only important that one’s own creations and one’s good and positive living example produce their effects within their own framework and are, thus, also transferred to one’s fellow men, from which new fruits emerge. Indeed, the fact is that every person can influence his nearer and further surroundings a lot more than what he himself is aware of. But one must be clear about this: |
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If one wants to see humanity |
| change, then one must begin |
| with the change in himself. |
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School House B/Bülach ZH, Tuesday, February 3, 1948, 3:16 PM |
| Eduard, 11 years old |
| Corrections: Teacher Gustav Leemann |
Beam of Light 