Vera Stanley Alder Quotes

It will be realized that the first need from the economic viewpoint, is that every nation and community shall be as self-supporting as possible; the second need is that there shall be no unemployment anywhere. It should be the duty of each nation, therefore, to discover and determine to what extent she can be self-supporting in the matter of food, without impoverishing her soil. This settled, she will secondly maintain full employment according to agreed standards, by the production of surplus goods or works of art for which she has especial genius or facilities.

Usually... a person’s breathing has become automatic from childhood upwards, being determined by his childhood’s environment, circumstances and heredity. This automatic breathing is usually very inferior because of our ‘modern’ way of life, and leads to permanent inferior health. Therefore one of the first things which must be taken in hand is an understanding and mastery of the science of breathing.

..In this book, to sort out the whole situation as simply as we can. We will endeavour to produce a guide book to progress for those of us who accept this new challenge of adulthood... we will outline the picture of past and present trends of human development.

The World Government... should be set up in order to deal with all those aspects of life which affect international relationships. It will in no way restrict but rather enhance national characteristics, individuality and genius. This is a point which should clearly be understood and which will be amplified as we go along.

History tells us of wars and conquests and empires and revolutions, of cities and cultures, and of religions and persecutions. Yet actually it is a rather superficial survey. It leaves out almost entirely one vital part of the picture — the most important part. It has very little to say of man’s purpose in living, of his understanding of the reason of his existence and of his conception of life around him, and his interpretation of the mystery of creation and evolution. So little does history say about this aspect of man — the mainspring and motive of his living—that we are left guessing about the most important part of the story—the extent of man’s actual knowledge throughout the ages. We are given superficial and rather materialistic details of the outward forms and the bitter strife which accompanied the development of the various religions as they were interpreted and practised by the people, much of which leaves us with an impression of brutal and bigoted primitiveness. So much for orthodox history. Nevertheless, if we have the time ourselves to go exploring amongst less hackneyed literature than our average text books, we will soon find traces of an underlying, thrilling and significant way of life permeating the history of mankind... The legends of the Flood, the Virgin Birth, the World Messiah, the Resurrection, Paradise, Hades, Reincarnation, the progress of the soul and the Plan of Creation, are to be traced in every land and with great similarity of detail. p.6

Little by little...the embryonic World Government... will set up a series of Councils of experts to study the best means of working out the fundamental problems of human existence — those of economics, agriculture, industry, distribution of populations, application of scientific discoveries, water power, production and distribution of necessities, and the organization of an International Force for the maintenance of peace and order....

The Council for Economics would have the work of planning the arrangements by means of which every child born into the world would be assured of the necessities of life and all the advantages of education.

The terrible exploitation of native labor and destruction of native home life and the degenerating living conditions which have often been the result of private enterprise will no longer be possible.

It is beginning to be realized, not by a few idealists but by numbers of the general public, that in spite of the countless triumphs of science and industry there has been something about humanity’s way of living that is proving to be suicidal. Fear, want, disease and war have been increasing in a steady crescendo until they have nearly engulfed the world altogether. This terrible state of affairs has, in spite of all the amenities of progress, been undermining the health, energy and mind-power of all the public everywhere, until most of them have been dulled into a blind acceptance.

All this will happen more easily and quickly than seems possible today, firstly because it is an inescapable step in the natural process of human evolution; secondly because humanity itself by its earnest aspiration and patient blind endeavour and endurance, has struggled out of the ancient egotistic separatist attitude, and cast aside the fetters of conventional thought, and is beginning to offer an open mind and heart for the impress of new values and inspirations; thirdly, because the initial steps in world organization which arc about to be achieved by such bodies as the World Health Organization, the U.N. Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Economic and Social Council etc., will soon show up the stupendous possibilities lying ahead.

Whatever possibilities and potentialities are latent today, the fact remains that the last word and the final decision will rest with us — the people.

A Yogi, or eastern sage, who wishes to perfect himself begins with the breath, and by its means obtains control over every nerve and function in the body, and finally arrives at super-normal experiences and an ecstasy... Whereas a citizen of Western civilization is usually brought up without any knowledge of the science of breathing whatsoever, his breath being successively restricted by taboos and inhibitions throughout childhood, adolescence, and finally by the anxieties, depressions, bad air and smells, and the nervous rush of modern life. The final result is that the average person hardly breathes at all (compared with what he should do) and therefore is relatively half-conscious most of his days.

Instead of a world with a split personality and schizophrenia, as we now have, we would see a global civilization sanely and centrally controlled.

When fine new laws are made, only half the battle is won. If people do not understand their value and feel no personal responsibility, they go against these laws with every subtle act and thought in their power, often producing new complications and conditions worse than those which it is being attempted to improve. Only when man begins to feel a personal obligation towards his host, the planet, and cultivates an honourable consideration in all his acts for^ the good of the earth as well as for his own benefit, will real harmony begin to exist between humanity and the elements, especially in respect of those subtle conditions which produce some of the diseases and epidemics which are continuing to baffle science.

Can we grasp also that not only have inventions up to date, which would have contrived this, been neglected or misused, but that just around the corner new inventions, such as the application of atomic energy, will, if they arc allowed, change and improve our lives out of all recognition?