it has been said, again, that the scientist must accept social responsibility, must be cognizant of the consequences of his work. To achieve this, we must maintain our sense of history, of perspective. We are in a period of vast shift in our world of thought, and the exploding core of all is our conception of our own nature, of our relations to man and things and events. Our premises first appeared during the renaissance of learning and early took the form of insistence upon the individual as the origin of change and action, as a source of power. These new ideas broke away in violent contrast from those of the collectivism and absolutism of the Middle Ages. Rationalism—the belief that reason could enable the individual to solve the problems of the day-to maintain himself as autonomous and single unit in society was a natural consequence. an From these new premises, breathing freedom and power, there sprang in bold and rapid sequence beliefs in the controlability of nature; men of the West saw themselves freed from the full, deadening oppression of destiny-and seeing themselves so, they empowered themselves to act. In long, swift sweeps across these centuries they opened up the earth and the universe beyond; the tre mendous interplay between science Of all the immense release of initiative and imagination which this great shift in thinking brought about, by far the greater part has gone to an attack upon our material universe, to the solution of the basic problems of how to get from here to there, how to send a message to a million men across ten thousand miles, how to feed, clothe, and shelter our ever growing numbers. But that great enterprise must dim in the vaster problem now arising before usthe stark, elemental puzzle how to live with each other in this new world which we have created. The objectives which we seek are the immemorial ones of mankind: freedom from anxiety, freedom from his own destructive impulses, freedom to express himself, freedom for him, for his children, and for his neighbors to grow to full stature as human beings. To the searching eye and the thoughtful mind, many of the conflicts between us are conflicts of means and not of ends: and our abilities to perceive these deeper meanings can constitute binding forces in these disruptive days. NEW OUTLOOK There are great rifts in our cultural patterns. We are familiar with the social requirement of yielding and compromise, acceptance and passivity, and the diametrically opposed need for drive, energy, push and aggressiveness, for independence and vigor. But we must be equally aware of our relations; that hate and love do quite normally exist in the same person. We must understand the vast anxiety and guilt which is created when cultural beliefs do not correspond with the basic facts of human nature. And we must be equally alert to the fact that in a period of such rapid change, fixation of custom and belief, long past their days of relevance, is common. Our understanding of our period also demands a recognition that this is a period of cultural clash, not only in the older sense of the term (as applied to the relationship be tween immigrant and host groups) but now much more pervasively present in the great clashes between value systems, which are only now being appreciated and which will become increasingly meaningful as the facts concerning the extraordinarily varied cultures which exist around the earth become known and understood by men everywhere. As citizens of our age we can see that there is going on a great exchange of liberties and responsibilities between the individual and society. The individual has gained an increased freedom from want and has suffered the loss of some freedom of initiative. The ultimate effects upon social anxiety and upon motivation are still unclear, but it is certain that in the countries of the West the old conception of education for work as a means of basic survival is giving place to the conception of education for living. As citizens, also deeply concerned with happenings in other national communities, we can recognize and pass on our understanding to others concerning the catalytic effects of that industrialization which many newly formed national groups seek. We can point to the rapid and widespread changes which this brings about in the relationships of man to his community, in family life, in the status of women and in deeply rooted rural customs and beliefs. The hostilities and social insecurities which may arise when these are not understood are a matter of painful record in our own industrial history. No matter how disturbing the times, how destructive they may seem of human values, yet the man who views the long panorama of history must see us still in the full flood of that enormous tide of humanism which was set to flowing almost as far back as the Renaissance and which has expressed itself in this last half-century, in vast changes in our social structure—all destined for the wellbeing and welfare of the individual man and his neighbors. If we measure and assess our daily acts, our triumphs and our failures against this vast backdrop of an unfolding historic process, we shall differentiate between the relevant and the incidental. As a third rule of conduct, I would stress our great need to be whole men. None of us, if we are to be pillars of security and strength and dependence for our neighbors, can afford to be divided individuals. And yet, the fact that we are men and women of our age and, at the same time, men and women deeply engaged in the scientific study of human behavior, renders it more difficult for us to maintain that inner consistency which must be the basis of strength. As we grew through our early and adolescent years, our personalities developed in the beliefs, customs and age-old tradition of our societies. The way of thinking about human behavior which we learned throughout those years is a way of thinking which is diametrically opposed, in many important respects, to the way of thought demanded by the scientific approach to human behavior. Many things in which, in our younger years, we gave allegiance are now seen by us as ineffective. We have passed, for instance, from the concept of punishment to that of rehabilitation. And yet, how many of us, in periods of stress and resentment, are likely to fall back into more primitive approaches when fronted with aggressively defiant human behavior. When faced with the pressures of immediate and personal involvement in such problems, it is essential that we should face them with an inner consistency and that we should not be overwhelmed by the ancient past. con At the same time however, if we are to reach our greatest effectiveness as citizens and neighbors, it is no less essential that we should feel ourselves in historical continuity with the great ideals and objectives which have moved men from immemorial times. As a fourth rule of conduct, I would list the never ending need to be simple in approaching these problems. There can be no doubt that the inquiring mind, attempting to grapple with the enormous complexities of our nature and of these exceptional times, explores and throws up an endless variety of suppositions and conjectures; and that these, un NEW OUTLOOK fortunately, tend to become organized in a theoretic superstructure which may give some comfort to the insecure, but which, in truth, constitutes a barrier of thought. One thinks here of the simplicity and yet the power of a mind which could see a great and basic problem in why an apple fell to the ground, and the humility of a mind that, at the end of a life of most outstanding brilliance, could liken itself to a boy playing on an infinite beach and picking up curiously examining one or two of its endless number of pebbles. Finally, I would give an enduring rule to conduct which has guided men everywhere in days of trouble -namely, to follow always courage and wisdom. This may seem ancient wisdom, but it is wisdom which must be everlastingly learned afresh by each new people upon whom devolves the duty and responsibility of crossing the frontier and driving forward into that enticing but greatly feared unknown land of new ideas, new ways of life, untried premises and yet-to-be-formed beliefs. are There are few gifts which we can bring to our neighbors and fellow citizens in these days which greater than steadfastness of minda steadfastness of mind which is not swept by rumor and by fear, which is not daunted by unjust ac cusations, which does not lose faith. in another because of idle and unfounded gossip; a steadfastness of mind which is not swayed by the hairtrigger decision, by the enticements of immediate and explosive action-action simply for the sake of action, without thought and deliberation. already huddling little groups of One thinks of chance meetings of men and womenspeak, to act, save in accepted form; -afraid to look, to afraid to be different, for difference afraid to tread off the beaten track; is danger. One thinks of men at great universities who will not speak out on controversial subjects; and those who will not these days speak out against error and fear and hate, may never speak again in freedom's name. But courage without wisdom is not enough a wisdom which, despite the pressures that may bear upon long objectives of man's journey; a us personally, can still discern the wisdom which will enable us to view the immediate pressures of the day, of the hour, as part of the problem which we have to solve and not as something which can arouse our fears and hostilities, and which, in so arousing, can drive us from carefully constructed and ordered attempts to solve these difficult matters and leave us running here and NEW OUTLOOK ALL THAT WE ARE ALL THAT WE ARE is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me"-in those who harbor such thoughts hatred will never cease. "He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me"-in those who do not harbor such thoughts hatred will cease. For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases only by love; this is an old rule. -Dhammapada, 1, i-v Trans. by Max Muller NEW OUTLOOK |