This is the first of three letters by Samuel Widmer addressed to fellow human beings all over the world
Dear brother, dear sister,
Dear fellow human beings all over the world,
Do we not have a task, a task in common, which is enormous and unbelievable, for which we have all come to this planet? And doesn’t this mission consist in materialising the fundamental oneness of all being on earth, on our planet? The oneness out of which we all come and into which we will unavoidably go again. And does this not imply that we have to help allow this unity to shine through the area of separation, so that it can reveal itself in this particular realm of the universe which is energetically perhaps the most dense?
Till now we have not been too successful in fulfilling this task. Of course we have done well in terms of technology and science, but, when it comes to caring for each other, or to the feeling of togetherness, we are quite backward, aren’t we?
Hasn’t the time come, for us to overcome our egoism, our restricted personal, tribal or family obsessed thinking? To overcome thinking in terms of such concepts as nation and state, and to open ourselves instead to an all-embracing thought process, to compassion, which encompasses each and every thing, which does not exclude anyone or anything and strives for a peaceful coexistence with all things and creatures?
Where are you, brothers and sisters? Don’t you want to help with this big and beautiful goal for which we have eventually come here? Help to finally regenerate our earth into a place of peace, of love and of safety for all?
Weren’t we promised to each other with this intention from the very first, right from the beginning?
Don’t you want to help?
And wouldn’t the steps that we need to take be quite simple and practical, steps to initiate this regeneration? Would we not need a new, quite simple view of things, such as one that every child could develop or really would develop, if we only allowed it to think for itself without subjecting it to all sorts of propaganda, or ideology?
Shouldn’t we finally find the courage to oppose the simple solution that politicians have been offering us for centuries all over the world which is: “War! Let’s kill the guys who are bad!” with another, maybe equally naive message: “For once, let’s try it with love!”
We human beings love simple messages, even though we have long seen through experience that they don’t offer solutions to anything at all. Shouldn’t we have the courage to go for a real alternative, in contrast to the misery which is always the same? An alternative, that could wake up the world and polarise the spirits? Are we afraid we would be laughed at if we were to oppose the eternal war cry with an equally naive message?
“For once, let’s try with love! Why not - at long last - with love?”
Would not a statesman of mark, a charismatic statesman, who seriously represented this view, be able to gather the suffering masses behind him? Such leaders however, always think they need to convince and to gather around them, those in positions of financial power. But the poor are far more numerous. Who could resist them if they were to stand up, and to compel the rich minority to cooperate?
“Love” as a voting motto!
And then to make a concrete, practical political program out of it.
What does love mean, quite concretely?
Shouldn’t we definitely address some basic things? Shouldn’t we in the first place, plead for the de-allocation of all military budgets of all states worldwide and use the money for different purposes? For education, for instance, for social welfare, for the economic regeneration of the third world? We have to do away with all armies everywhere, in all countries. Should we not find the courage, every single country, to go ahead with this? Unilaterally. The time for military solutions is long over. And above all, we need the money that is wasted on it, urgently - in order to live.
And in order to bring about the conditions for equality and justice, should we not develop above all, a totally new monetary system, finally a pure, fair means of exchange, a Terra, for example, which has the same, unchangeable value everywhere. A unified currency, which cannot be speculated with, a money system which doesn’t accumulate interest when hoarded, but instead loses its value and ages, like all passing things do? And should not every person’s time, regardless of where he lives, be worth the same? Should we not finally, correct this mistake in our monetary system, this egoistic betrayal, so that a worldwide and just blossoming would become possible? Could we not, just by this step, protect the resources of our earth, support the development of alternative energies and technologies, bring war and poverty to an end, and in doing this, vanquish all injustice between man and man, between man and woman, between region and region?
If peace and justice among human beings were merely a technical problem to be solved, we would have done so long ago quite skilfully. Why, when it comes to a psychological problem with which we have to struggle, do we act so stupidly and not come out directly with the solution?
With fire and passion we should go for these things, each one for himself, alone, knowing that we are building a more beautiful and happier, a new world with it.
Should we not stand for real globalisation? Away with all the frontiers! Isn’t it high time for a world government to come into being, not one based on might or power but rather a purely organisational and administrative one? Haven’t the structures for this been established for a long time, for instance the United Nations and all other international structures? We would only have to assign them the legislative competence.
Of course, as accompanying measures, other things would have to be done, first of all a categorical reform of land ownership. The land would belong to everyone, would be owned by the community, and private enterprise would only put it to use. And the rent for utilising this land, to be paid to the community, shouldn’t it go to the mothers and children, so that the children, who are actually the children of the whole community - and their mothers, who look after them - would finally get the basic supplies, which they are entitled to?
Would we not also have to do away with the right of succession, which is the background of great injustice too? If someone dies, should not everything he possesses be returned to the community, where it belongs? And of course we would surely also introduce an ecological tax, to protect our earth.
These outer changes alone would of course not be of much use in the long run. We all know that. It would rather take a new inner alignment, an awakening in every single person for community, we would have to wake up to the fact of our belonging together, to our responsibility to each other. So to realise this, should we not totally reform our entire school system? And of course, all of it all over the world. Self-knowledge! Shouldn’t training in self-knowledge be the first topic to be introduced in every educational programme everywhere?
What’s the use of technical knowledge in the heads of individuals who do not understand themselves?
Should we not have deep insight into our self-addictive, self-centred thoughts and feelings and awaken to the fact of our being conditioned to think in nationalistic and tribal terms at the political level? Should we not see the way we are culturally imprinted to be ambitious, competitive and envious? And should we not overcome these things which are not beautiful, in the light of self-knowledge?
And have we not received the best aids as gifts to help us - gifts which we have however demonised and forbidden till now? Should we not finally support the use of valuable means such as the psycholytical substances, those gifts of the gods? Support them both in psychotherapy and in ritualistic, spiritual and community-building utilisations? Should we not make them accessible to all human beings, so that they be helped for their awakening?
Should we not finally also accept “the teaching”, which over and over again and from time to time has been imparted to us by great teachers (the most recent ones being Don Juan Matus and Jiddu Krishnamurti) and integrate it in ourselves? Should we not listen to them and allow ourselves to be taught by them?
Should we not finally question the taboo on incest, which as basic evil lies behind all our misery, understand its effects in our life, and finally negate it?
Should we not encourage each other to do all these things and allow ourselves to be led by them? Should not every one of us stand up for it with a passionate and loving heart, a heart, which has been purified in the process of self-knowledge? Should we not finally embark upon all this, gather together for this – or at least the more mature ones among us?
Dear brother, dear sister, where are you? Don’t you want to help in this great, wonderful and only meaningful task there is, which we are faced with? I’m aware that most probably you will not listen to me, that maybe you never will see, or read this letter, and if you do, you will not accept it, will not take it seriously, will not take it to heart. The message “Love each other! Serve each other!”, although it already reached us two thousand years ago and has spread widely ever since, never really became popular among us.
Nevertheless I’m writing to you, simply because it is right to do it. Simply because it is right to try to reach you. Even if it seems hopeless, it is better to do what to be done.
Samuel Widmer Nicolet
Letter to the world II
Letter to the world III
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