SNARE OF MATERIALISM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 June 1938, Page 9

SNARE OF MATERIALISM

CONCEIT AND SELFISHNESS MUST GIVE WAY. Both in the East and in the West it is more and more the secular leaders who are called upon to perform the duties which at one time were almost a monopoly of the Churches, says Mr Rom Landau in his new book “Search For To-Morrow,” an account of his observations in the Near and Middle East. Thus it is the responsible men in cultural and political life who must show the nations that to adopt the ethics contained in the Christian gospels—often very similar to those in Islam —is the only method which can lead to success. This means that nationalistic conceit and economic selfishness must give place to a constructive acknowledgment of the truth that humanity is one living body. No single limb can sustain an injury without the entire body being affected sooner or later. It means that public affairs must be conducted within religious faith, and also with that supreme courage which is necessary for the translation of such faith into daily action. It means that future “Realpolitik” will be anything but real if it continues to be based on the present non-Christian doctrine of “national interests.” Without spiritual foundations no health international relations can be established. Politicians are apt to call the advocacy of a spiritual approach sentimental. Yet it is more than likely that the next Armageddon will make them —or at least those who will be left over —realise the superiority of the spirtual approach over the traditional policies based on materialistic conceptions of life.