THE BROTHERLY WAY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 126, 29 May 1937, Page 8

THE BROTHERLY WAY

M IHSK AL and mental welfare. MASS SL'ICIL IL i..00n were gods, and when the ihunger and the lightning were their spoken decrees, man had already surrendered himscli to that deathless urge that drives th - spirit, willynilly, ever a little nearer and ever little closer to the Source of all comfort and of all security. Out of the divine, imperishable hunger of the soul, man fashioned his fust crude consolations of early religion and early science. Later came the Founder of Christianity. Whose message -ave certainty where only yearning had reigned before. The t nentielh-cen-tury re-birth of Christianity and of science is called upon "I > fan And wiruiuv. iron; the <-oming steps of time AH chaff of custom. v ipe a wax all slime Left by men-slug> ;-nd l.j human serpent ry.” Christianity undeiiled and .-ciencc incorruptible are non at hoik, leading men back to yie natural things of life- They are working together for the same ends, the one being the Landmaid of the other. The question now arises as to whether their re-born, combined message has arrived in lime to save the remnants ol present civilisation, for in the meantime those nanons which have been driven mad by their gods of sloth and pleasure and power have accomplished all that wa.‘ humanly possible in the way ot temporarily maiming and crippling noth Christianity and science. Modern Parables. Science and Ciui-iianiti proclaim that Mother Nature is not mans enemy but that she is indeed his friend. The natural laws regulating material and spiritu::! creation and ■evolution are lav. > of harmony. Wherever discordant agencies manifest themselves, Mothe: Nature gets o work to eliminate them. Disease s not a law of Nature. Wherever disease appears. Mothe: Nature shows her disapproval of it* meaningless waste by inflicting pain or death. Insanity i< not a law of Nature. Whereever insanity appears on a large scale <as it i- doing to-da\ », .Mother Nature aoanuons the race to its selfsought doom. -Whom the gods wish ’ io destroy, they lirst make mad.” Mother Nature may only be regarded : as man’s enemy when lie rejects her • laws, when he destroys her balance. ■ when he ignores her land and sea- : ycles. when he neglects to yield a 1 loving response” to her unceasing ef- ; orts on his behalf. Man would de- j ire to force Mother Nature to serve i lim in opposition to het own infinitely , ;ieater understanding of the eternal ’ uling of the universe. .Man s so- J •ailed “scientific victories” over i Mother Nature are elusive, decoying . him along the path that leads to mad- j r.ess and to extinction. Wherever and [ whenever man co-operates in har- ’ mony with Mother Nature (in "dis- ‘ covering” her benelicient secrets, etc.), j mere is no “victory” on either side, t hut only augmented t o-oneration. Without that co-operation, there can lie no real harmony, mid therefore no real progress. .Mother Nature’* Miracle*. The roots (alone) of plant an-i trees have for ages past been performing miracles in their efforts to maintain man’s health and sanity, and to stave off the decaj of Lhe rac®.

-G an instance of "natural miracles " one might mention that the total ength Of the root system of a single ")I<l oat plant, grown over a period ot eighty days, has been known to be - much as fifty-four miles; and that •ne root systems of three-vear-old ■bants 01 broome glass and of crested • neat grass have been proved to be u ™ ,les and 313 miles respectively. - other Nature has done her best lo “comb’’ lhe soils for essential con--'wituents, m order to pass them on to man. lhere is a limit, however, to ’ ’ lothci Mature and her plants and Hees may tor ought to) accomplish in the service of man. When at last it comes 1o the point that man maKes it clear that he and sanity have definitely parted company. Mother Nature eliminates his meaningless presence from the face of the earth. Discordant irritants being out of tune 'vilh the harmonious laws of Mother Nature, she proceeds to destroy man’s false and artificial civilisations. Repeated race-suicide is a wasteful method of learning to walk hand-in-hand with the immutable and benehcient laws that rule the universe. >urely. by this time, man should have had an experience of meaninglessness suflicient 1o teach him once and •im all how indispensable meaning is! 1 ’uwards Suicide. ( That. Mother Nature has already begun to abandon present civilisation is more than apparent. On the material Mde of things, evidence of coming dissolution are being constantly provided by individuals, by communities • and by nations. 'The world’s essential forest ranges have suffered a diminn[tion which current afforestation policies are inadequate to remedy. Sur-face-soils that took hundreds of years |io <•:eate have been washed away by l floods and blown away by dust storms. iTiiiy soil-animals and liny soil- ■ flowers whose life work it. is to cooperate with Mother Nature in the working of miracles are being largely wiped out of existence. The "garden under the soil” has in many places become strangled and dwarfed, and man’s foodstuffs have consequently become deficient in sanity-giving minerals and vitamins. The governments of the world are neglecting to insist that agriculturists shall “render unto Nature that which is Nature’s” in the way of natural manures. In the interests of large-scale commercial enterprise, the peoples of the world have I been encouraged to omit natural i foods from their dietaries, thus further aggravating falling birth-rates nid rising mental disability rates. I tin New Zealand alone, some thousand mental cases are admitted to our i asylums each year, about a quarter of • horn remain permanently in the care iof the mental hospital authorities. ; with not the slighest hope of receiving treatment). National and : municipal works are being undertaken • without first being approved by a board |of guiding scientists. Witness the obsolete sewage-disposal schemes now in [existence and shortly to be renewed; >as well as lhe fact that the Governiment is apparently prepared to launch ‘ a five-million population programme, j and a national physical education [system, without first making any nutritional or psychological enquiry into ithe possibility of the prevention of the ) physical and mental diseases that are ‘ playing Lavoc with the actual and the ■potential population. Yours as over. (To be Continued!.