Editorial June 25, 1979 Issue

The individual and world needs

Nathan A. Talbot

We don't have to be overwhelmed when we take a broad survey of the world and see enormous and bewildering challenges confronting mankind. Each of us can be an effective global citizen. There is no unsolvable problem. There is no final impasse. Something specific and effective can be done. And it can be done by the kind of humble, quiet individuals who feel they can't begin to grasp the deep complexities of economic difficulties, energy policies, governmental bureaucracy, intricate international relationships.

Sometimes there is an advantage to not being so thoroughly engulfed in puzzling, difficult issues. This certainly doesn't imply that we should be uninformed citizens of the world. But it does indicate that an entirely fresh perspective, uncluttered by an array of knotty materialistic detail, can contribute something invaluable to solving major difficulties.

So, how can you single-handedly have any realistic hope of positively affecting some of society's entrenched problems? The problem should be properly defined; then we'll be able to look at the most logical way to approach its solution. The reason for much confusion over how to confront major challenges is that those challenges haven't really been accurately defined. If we aren't sure of the nature of the problem, we are going to be even less sure of the solution. It is not enough to describe these predicaments as simply troubles of materiality. They are the quandaries of material mentality. Every single hardship our world is facing stems from the belief in a limited material mind—the belief that man has his own personal mind, separate from God.

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