Compilation Part I

Volume 1

Chapter 1

Our Place in the Universe

Only a cosmic or heavenly approach, i.e., a correct view of our place in the universe and in time can help us find our right attitude and feelings towards life, our planet, our fellow humans and ourselves.

Life then appears as a true miracle, a tremendous gift of cosmic consciousness, a fabulous glimpse into the incredible, fathomless universe, an opportunity to be co-Creators with God and evolution. Yes, it is an immense luck to be alive.

We humans must still learn to see the largest realities around us: the vastness of the universe and the eternity of time. And yet, how many people pay attention to them? Most of us live blindly, glued to the immediate sights and sounds around us, seldom lifting our eyes, hearts, minds and souls to the heavens and to the breathtaking beauty of the universe.

Spiritual people are blessed with that ability. This is why they are usually happy and serene people: They "know" better.

And the priests say rightly: Sursum corda, lift your hearts.

We should never forget our heavenly, cosmic origin and nature.

I would advise every searching human being to place his search and to search his place within these four vastest realities:

the total universe

total time

the total Earth

the total human family.

No dog, no cat, no animal looks at the sky and the stars. They see only their immediate environment. Humans alone can extend their senses into the infinite and eternity. A cell of my body cannot rise above itself and try to understand the secrets of my being, much less of the Earth and of the universe. Only humans can do that. This is the divine, cosmic spark in us. This is why our search for knowledge, or science, is in reality a spiritual quest. This is why we have the privilege and the duty to govern and manage our planet as a sacred trust, as a unique, miraculous, still evolving achievement of the universe.

Perhaps in the evolution of the universe there comes a time when a species has discovered most secrets of its environment and becomes the master and manager of a planet. We seem to have reached that stage in our evolution. It entails vast, staggering responsibilities.

The central challenge of our time, as of all times, is to find the right relationships between humanity, the Earth, the heavens and eternity.

From the mail I receive, from the articles and books I read, from conferences I attend, from UN debates and documents, I have the unmistakable impression that the whole human race is now engaged collectively in seeking its meaning and ways on this planet in the universe. From individual seeking we are passing to collective seeking. We are entering a great new phase of evolution!

The universe is an infinite, eternally changing cosmos of cosmoses, from the infinitely large to the infinitely small. And among these cosmoses, blessed with my thirty trillion cells, my brain, my will, my heart and my soul, I am a stupendous cosmos of my own, made of an infinite number of cosmoses linked through matter, energy, senses, heart and soul to the entire Earth and heavens. What immense, beautiful opportunities and responsibilities to do good this implies! What happiness, what luck to be alive!

A durable fame can be achieved in our time only by those who seek the ultimate meaning of life and help formulate the right framework and philosophy of life on our planet, i.e., those who see it correctly within the total Creation and time. We need a new ideology for humanity and for our planet. This is progressively being done in the world's first universal, meta-biological evolutionary organization of the Earth and humanity, the United Nations.

Humanity fully depends on the sun and on this Earth for living. Hence we must respect our star and our planet, cherish them and treat them as sacred. And yet, we seem to have lost contact with them. We sleep and no longer pray when the sun rises. We live imprisoned in cities of steel and cement. We hear radio and watch television instead of contemplating Mother Earth's nature and her wondrous gifts. We are mistaken. We are on a wrong trail, as our Indian brothers say. We should make daily offerings to the sun and to the Earth and say with our brethren and sisters in the monasteries: "This is a good day to live and to glorify God."

We are linked with everything in the heavens and on Earth. And yet, like every blade of grass and grain of sand, we are each unique and unrepeatable in all eternity. What a wonder to be alive!

The sky is so beautiful, so infinitely blue, and yet an astronaut flying to the moon, soon after leaving the Earth enters a world of darkness. Our "infinite" blue is only a few miles thick, a minuscule layer in the immense universe. How lucky we are to live on such a beautiful planet! How intensely we must cherish it, protect it, preserve it! It is all we have and will ever be given in the universe. Nothing will be added to it.

The Earth is a solar child. All life on it derives from the sun. Ancient cultures which worshipped the sun were not wrong.

We should not see the Earth as separate from the sun. We should see the sun, the Earth and all teeming, evolving life forms on our planet as one interdependent whole, as a Sun-Earth reality.

We take our sun and Earth for granted. And yet, they are incredible, mystery-filled, mind-boggling phenomena in the universe. We should be in endless awe and admiration before them, in communion with them.

According to one of the most ancient peoples of this planet, the Yanomami people of Brazil, keepers of the memory of Creation, the role of humans is to protect the continuity of life in our solar system. In order to do that we must all be "lamps of concordant tension".

In the vast universe, we humans are true kings, almost Gods. We know so much, feel so much, dream so much, query so much, discover so much. We will not rest until we see, know, feel and understand all there is in the heavens and on Earth. We unquestionably are of a cosmic nature. We want to reach the outer expanses of the universe. We are a transcending species capable of lifting itself beyond its capacities and senses by a universal urge. We are stupendous little nebulas of life on a tiny, solid, watery, warm planet, trying to reach out for the stars and the outer limits of heaven. What a prodigious species we are! What an exciting adventure it is to be human! What a teeming laboratory, what a palace full of treasures our planet is in the vast universe!

And how could it be otherwise, since we are energy, matter and soul of the universe which has passed through many starforms before our present planetary incarnation? Hence the instinct of our divine or cosmic origin and our longings for the heavens and prayers to God. In each of us is all the past experience of the universe, of all past life forms and all our ancestors. You can therefore best learn the meaning of life by looking deeply into yourself.

We should be ready to report at any time to a celestial inspection team. I hope the United Nations will someday publish a yearly report to the Universe, and the religions yearly reports to God or the gods.

Our planet is so small and part of such a tiny solar system among trillions of solar systems of a small galaxy among trillions of galaxies of a cluster of galaxies among trillions of super-galaxies, that our efforts to understand Creation resemble those of a flea trying to understand the whole planet Earth! And yet, we are doing it!

We live in the universe. Hence we are universal beings. We must pursue our evolutionary elevation into fully transcended cosmic beings. We are a rare, unique form of life at the spearhead of cosmic evolution. It is our duty toward the universe, from which we come and receive everything, to fulfill our cosmic destiny. As a first step, we must define that destiny!

Every year, the UN receives a report on radio waves in the universe to detect if there are any other life forms in the heavens. Not a single one has so far been received. We might well be all alone and unique in the cosmos!

Kepler was right when through astronomy and astrology he tried to determine the cosmic laws which should rule life on Earth. And we are right when we try to lift ourselves by our bootstraps through science, religions and world organizations to the heavens in order to fully grasp our cosmic nature, celestial home and destiny.

The spinning of our planet around the sun seems immense to us. And yet, in the vast universe, the Earth is so small that it can barely be seen from the sun! At a distance of a few light years, our planet becomes invisible, a mere speck of dust in the universe. And yet, we are. We are even a lot! The cosmic microbe I am is able to be conscious of most of the universe, from the infinitely large to the infinitely small!

Once in a museum I saw on a huge wall the photograph of the Milky Way, our galaxy. I looked for our sun and planet and found only an arrow with these words: "The sun cannot be seen but is located somewhere in this area."

I was dumbfounded: "If not even our sun and Earth can be seen, how small and irrelevant I must be in the universe!"

But after a while, my optimism took over again and I said to myself: "No, I am not irrelevant and minuscule! I am as big as that galaxy because I belong to a species which was able to take that picture."

In the past, it was only exceptional, genial, godly beings like Jesus, the Buddha, Confucius, or sensitive artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Mozart, Bach and Beethoven who were cosmic beings. Today every child can be educated (inducated) into a cosmic being, thanks to the tremendous knowledge humanity now possesses.

Humanity has now a computer-photography of the remotest milky way of galaxies. Its distance is 15 billion light-years away! Multiply 300.000 km (the distance covered by light in a second) by 60, again by 60, then by 24, then by 365 and finally by 15 billion, and you will obtain the staggering figure of kilometers of 142 followed by 21 zeros!

On a clear night, the human eye can see about 6000 objects in the sky: satellites, planets, stars and galaxies. Through the biggest telescope on Earth, astronomers can see 40 billion objects. With the first telescope in space, we can see from 5 to 10 trillion objects in heaven! And with the first under-sea telescope we will even "see" black holes, quasars and galactic nuclei!

The same is happening with the infinitely small. More than 200 sub-particles of the atom have been discovered. The distance of one of them to the next higher particle is comparable to the distance between our Earth and the sun!

Tell this to a cave-man, to Socrates or to George Washington to see their reactions! We must be proud to be living today. This is said to all children on the first day of their attendance of a Robert Muller School, the new schools of global, cosmic education.

Remark of a little boy to his mother when he came home from a Robert Muller school:

"Mammy, did you know that we are living in heaven?"

Every head of state and every human being should remember this and derive from it a deep joy and sense of responsibility.

Someday soon we will discover our true cosmic meaning. Then everything will fall into place on planet Earth. Then government will become a sacred duty, a respect for divine, cosmic laws and no longer the object of narrow humans wills, whims, interests, gains and ambitions.

A face glued to another face cannot see that face. Until we saw our total Earth from space, we could not see the Earth, we could not understand her. We saw the stars and the heavens and we discovered God, the Father. Now we can see the Earth, and we discover beautiful goddess Eartha, Gaia, our Mother in all languages.

The first duty of Earth government will be to determine what is right in the total framework of the universe, of time, of our planet and of humanity. Then the real, most advanced human history will begin!

If you want to have a sense of infinity and of eternity, look at the sky and the stars. If you want to see the beauty of the small, look at a flower or a grain of sand.

As William Blake said so beautifully:

"To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour."

If you wish to give children a glimpse of the immensity of the universe, of the vast expanses of the infinitely large and of the teeming complexity of the infinitely small, i.e. the colossal range of human knowledge, take them on the same day to an astronomical observatory and to an atomic bubble chamber!

On a wall in my office on the top floor of the United Nations I had this list of major segments of our place in the universe. It reaches from the infinitely large to the infinitely small. On each of these layers, humanity has begun to cooperate actively in one or several of its world agencies:

Our planetary home in the universe

Astrophysics and outer space

Our relations with the sun

The Earth's physics

The Earth's climate

The atmosphere

The biosphere

The seas and oceans

The polar caps

The arable lands

The deserts

The mountains

The Earth's water

Plant life

Animal life

Human life

The Earth's energy

The Earth's crust

The Earth's minerals

Microbial life, genetics

The world of the atom

UN, UNESCO, ITU*

UN, UNESCO, FAO, WMO

UNESCO, WMO

WMO, UNEP

WMO, UNEP, UNESCO, ICAO

UNEP, UNESCO, FAO

UN, FAO, IMO, UNESCO

UNEP, UNESCO

FAO, IFAD

UNEP, FAO, UNESCO

UNEP, UNESCO, FAO

UN, UNESCO, FAO, WMO, WHO

UNEP, FAO

UN, WHO, FAO, UNESCO, ILO

IBRD, WFP

UN, UNESCO, IAEA

UN, UNESCO

UN, UNESCO, IBRD

UNESCO, WHO

IAEA

This is the first of the four cosmic frameworks of our place and fate in the universe.

*For the meaning of the acronyms, see Annex.

Within this vast framework, the human species is exploring and probing our planetary home in every possible angle. The world conferences held for the first time in human history reflect this new phase of our evolution. Such conferences were:

- a world conference on the utilization and conservation of resources in 1949;

- two world conferences on new and renewable sources of energy in 1961 and 1981;

- three law of the sea conferences in 1959, 1970 and 1973;

- a world conference on the biosphere in 1968;

- two world conferences on the environment in 1972 and 1992;

- two outer space conferences in 1968 and 1982;

- a world food conference in 1973;

- a world desert conference in 1977;

- a world conference on the ozonosphere in 1978;

- three world climate conferences in 1979, 1982 and 1989;

- a world water conference in 1979;

- a world science conference in 1979;

- two special sessions of the UN General Assembly on a new international economic order;

- several international conferences on the peaceful uses of atomic energy.

These UN conferences were pathbreaking first foundations for the next phase of government: Earth government.

All along this Copernican framework, individuals, groups, firms, governments, associations and world entities work, search and help humanity fulfill its destiny in the universe. We are now universal, cosmic beings. Think, consult your heart and find your right place and contribution as co-workers in this extraordinary, vast cosmic adventure.

Not a single encyclopedia on Earth presents our total knowledge within the two most obvious and logical frameworks which impose themselves upon us so glaringly, namely: the total universe, from the infinitely large to the infinitely small, and total time, from the infinite past to the infinite future.

The editors of the world's great encyclopedias should meet and agree on that new common table of contents of human search and knowledge.

We are minuscule entities in the universe and in time. We will never fully understand the infinitely large and infinitely small. We will never grasp the beginningless beginning and endless end. And yet, within these limitations we can live miraculous, joyful, confident, searching, fulfilled, extraordinary lives and acquire an incredible consciousness of the stupendous universe and of our miraculous Earth.

If the stars and sun would begin to doubt, they would soon extinguish themselves. So it is with humans.

Even if Einstein proved to me a thousand times that time is a function of space, I will have no use for it. For me, indeed, the two greatest realities in which we live are space and time. No mathematical formula or mental reasoning can take this fundamental reality away from me. The real, true, infinite variations in relationships in the vast universe escape all human understanding. They are beyond the grasp of our human words.

In the United Nations one is promoted from a national human being to a global, Earth, universal being. It is the greatest school of an expanded consciousness and art of living at this stage of our evolution.

Dag Hammarskj–ld and U Thant, two Secretaries-General of the UN, were the most universal human beings I have known in my life.

Seen in the four infinites, human life becomes a tremendous privilege. We could as well have never been born and never received the gift of life in the vast universe and eternity. We must therefore be "good" cosmic units, children of God, in order to merit our lives and contribute to a higher level of evolution. This ancient religious truth is beginning to reappear in the science of "genetic codification" and in the work of the United Nations, the first global genetic memory bank.

The four infinites, planet Earth, humanity and the individual will henceforth constitute the great human agenda of evolution.

The measurements we use to "see" the infinitely large are pretty well "frozen" on our planet: a parallel might not be parallel in the universe, but is on our Earth; time may be a factor of speed in the universe, but we live within a firm earthly time. As for the relationships within the infinitely small, they are safely locked in by nature, unless the scientists and the military let them loose and destroy this planet.

Time, light, speed, space, energy, atomic weight, attraction, gravity, black holes, white dwarfs, quasars, leptons, weak force, etc., I admire you all, you discoveries by great minds of some of the basic factors and relationships in the universe. Thanks to you, we have machines, factories, electricity, longer lives, better lives, and we can see into the infinitely large and infinitely small. But please do not forget this: I have been able to live for many years a prodigious life without ever worrying about my atoms and sub-atoms. Humanity has lived for millions of years, and most of its 6 billion people wake up every morning without knowing or minding about their atomic structure. We live on a specific planet with a specific weight, time, speed, texture and place in the universe. I live on it with my specific genes, weight, time, speed, texture and reality. And none of your laws explains my dreams , my loves, my cravings, my sleep, my conscience, my growth, my life, my divinity and my death. You help me greatly and I am thankful to you. But I would prefer to live without you as humans have done for so long rather than do without my loves, my dreams, illusions and my God.

The instruments we use to "see" the infinitely large and the infinitely small are a function of our human senses and perceptions. We stand somewhere on the fathomless universal scale of distances and volumes, and we judge Creation and time from our point of view. In the universe, "great" and "small," "brief" and "long" may have no meaning. In the universe everything is probably equally important. Perhaps not even "to be or not to be" may be important. But I cannot conceive it. To me everything seems important on this planet.

In the end, it is all a question of joyful surrender to the miracle of life, Creation and God. With our limited human senses and means in the vast unfathomable universe we will never make it. The acceptance of an original force, of a Creator, of a supreme being with whom we can talk and feel one through prayer, faith and love, is still for innumerable people the simplest and greatest way out of the insoluble mysteries.

Humanity must concentrate again on the definition of God, of what the divine intentions are for this planet and for our life in the universe and eternal time. Only then will we find the ways of right human behavior and relationships and of making this planet a haven of peace, beauty, justice and happiness. We must reestablish the reign of God on Earth. We must think, feel and act like universal beings. We must find the rules and laws of the universe as they apply to our planet. This is what is expected of us.

Who and what should guide us on this planet? The vast majority of the people do not even know what they want, much less how to govern the world. Their values, wants and beliefs have been programmed into them by education, religion, ideology, nationalism, politics, business, advertisement, marketing, monopolies, the media. What is needed for our future destiny is the determination of the cosmic laws which should guide us and our planet. That is the gigantic challenge to the United Nations. That is what two Popes came to say to us in the world organization.

It is not so much the world which we should govern or manage well but ourselves.

If we look into the windows of a Cathedral from the outside we see only darkness. If we look through its windows from the inside we see heavenly sights. Humanity should never neglect to look through the window of its skies to the sun, the stars and the breathtaking beauty of the universe.

If we do not believe in God, if we think that we can do it all by ourselves on this little planet, we simply shut out the entire infinity and eternity, which is the blindest thing we could no. No "primitive" people have ever done it.

When humanity will have solved its material, political and social problems, its intellectual, emotional and moral problems, it will be faced with the most fundamental question of all: the spiritual quest, namely what is our place and meaning in the universe and in time? Then will start the cosmic, divine age of our fabulous journey. Then we will find at long last the right answers to our problems. At the entrance of a new century and the third millennium the UN should convene a world conference on the meaning and spirituality of life.

After the Gaia hypothesis will come the Uranus (solar) hypothesis. Then will come the Zeus or Whole Cosmos hypothesis and we will find God again.

Beautiful, satisfying music required the search for the laws of harmony. Similarly, a beautiful, happy human society will require the search for the laws of harmony of the Earth and of the universe. This will be the role of tomorrow's universal, human and Earth preserving, embellishing government.

It takes a great act of courage to try to make sense of life and Creation: it requires faith, love, passion, commitment, dream, enthusiasm, poetry and music as much as mathematics and science. There is more in Shakespeare and Beethoven than in Darwin and Einstein. I sometimes wonder if humanity would not be better off by foregoing its investigations and conquests of the infinitely large and infinitely small. We could as well be content with seeing Creation as it is in all its breathtaking beauty and wholeness manifested on Earth. For will we ever be able to control the forces we unlock? That is the great question.

Of the vast expanses of the universe only a tiny part is of concern to us: our solar system, our outer space and our biosphere. Beyond that we are perfectly safe: we are located in such a remote corner of the cosmos that no explosion of a nova nor a galactic upheaval is likely to affect us for billions of years. Our only danger and potential enemy is ourselves.

During most of human history, people thought that the Earth was the center of the universe. Then we learned that the sun was not turning around the Earth but that the Earth was circling around the sun. So we thought that the sun was the center of the universe. Then we learned that the sun is only a small star turning around the axis of a galaxy of stars. Then we learned that this galaxy is circling around the pole of a cluster of galaxies which in turn is rotating around the pole of a spheric expanding universe! How small and diminished we have become! Scientists further tell us that time, distance, speed, mass and energy are all relative. But, if this is so, then perhaps we are not so small after all! We might even be the only planet with life in a universe of fire, gases, atomic explosions and interstellar voids! Our conditions might be unique: the right distance from a sun not to burn and not to freeze, the right mass to retain water and an atmosphere, the right rotation and orbit, the right atomic density and chemical composition. So we might after all be a true showpiece, a unique, miraculous success of the cosmos. What responsibility this would mean!

What change of thinking, concerns, policies and behavior it would require from our political leaders! What immense human pride, gratitude and truly religious feeling it would command from us! Why not try loving and managing well that miracle?

The sun to humans:

"Look at my nine planets. Three of them are pure ice. Two are masses of gas. Two are fiery balls and one is icy rock. On only one, namely yours, after sending out my rays for 5 billion years, have I succeeded to produce life, a very rare phenomenon, perhaps unique in the universe. And see what a mess you are doing with it. I am ashamed of you. You are playing with my Creation without the slightest comprehension of the miracle it is and of the magnitude or your misdoings. Why are you incapable to manage your planet in peace, harmony and with untold love?"

Our answer: "Soon we will, please give us a little more time. We are only in the kindergarten of figuring it out."

Sometimes when I see nature, people, cars, airplanes, buildings, I stop walking and I say to myself:

"What an incredible globe this is, turning at 1666 kilometers per hour with so much life on it, with people standing on it, their heads pointing like antennas into all the directions of the universe, with leaves, plants, diatoms and algae avidly absorbing the energy emitted by our star. And to think that we are the only planet of our sun, and perhaps of the entire universe, to possess life! How can we not stand in endless awe before such a miracle, preserve it and make it the most perfect cosmic success in the universe.

Secretary-General U Thant once asked an astrophysicist:

"Is it true what the Buddha believed, namely that humans will never be able to leave their solar system?"

The astrophysicist confirmed it: humans are for all eternity prisoners of our minuscule solar system. They will never be able to travel beyond its limits, despite all the fantasies of science fiction.

How lucky we are, therefore, to have our little planet to stand on, our oxygen to breathe, our sun to heat, illuminate and nourish us, our waters to quench our thirst. But alas, to those who destroy it, to the pessimists who denigrate life we cannot even say: "Love this planet or leave it," for there is no other place to go. They will die on this Earth and be recycled in its ground, hopefully to be reborn as optimistic, life-loving creatures.

Humans will now enter a fascinating new period of evolution: added to Darwin's thesis of the survival of the fittest, to Mendell's law of heredity, to the genetic codification of our experiences in DNA and RNA, we are now blessed with the birth of a universal, global, planetary consciousness, which makes us recognize our false avenues, wrong values, and errors. A new anthropology, economics, sociology, values systems, ethics, philosophy, morality, spirituality, and politics are being born under our eyes at the beginning of this new century and millennium.

In the Robert Muller schools the children are taught about their place in the universe in a very simple way: they are asked to fill out the following form and to draw at the end a picture of their home. A child who has done this will not forget it for the rest of his life:

WHERE ARE WE?

UNIVERSE ___________________________________________________________________

GALAXY _____________________________________________________________________

SOLAR SYSTEM _______________________________________________________________

PLANET ______________________________________________________________________

HEMISPHERE _________________________________________________________________

CONTINENT __________________________________________________________________

COUNTRY ____________________________________________________________________

STATE _______________________________________________________________________

CITY OR VILLAGE _____________________________________________________________

STREET ______________________________________________________________________

NAME _______________________________________________________________________

You are truly a citizen of the Universe!

A PICTURE OF MY HOME

Decide to Aggrandize Yourself......

to the vastness of the universe

to the greatness of God

to the beauty of Creation

to the genius of humanity

to the magnificence of our planet

to the unique treasure you are.

Aggrandize your mind

Aggrandize your heart

Aggrandize your soul

Extend all your senses

to the stars in heaven

to the beauty of the Earth

to the potential of the human race

to the infinity of your inner life.

And you will become the universe

You will become Creation

You will become humanity

You will become infinity

You will at long last be your real

divine, miraculous self

in total communion with all there is

in heaven and on Earth.

Then you will contribute your peace and happiness

to our miraculous humanity and well-preserved, heavenly planet in the universe.

UN ACRONYMS

FAO	Food and Agriculture Organization
IAEA	International Atomic Energy Agency
IBRD	International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
ICAO	International Civil Aviation Organization
IFAD	International Fund for Agricultural Development
IFC	International Financial Corporation
ILO	International Labour Organization
IMF	International Monetary Fund
IMO	International Maritime Organization
ITU	International Telecommunication Union
UNCHS	UN Centre for Human Settlements
UNDP	UN Development Program
UNEP	UN Environment Program
UNFPA	UN Fund for Population Activities
UNESCO	UN Educational, Science and Culture Organization
WFP	World Food Program
WHO	World Health Organization
WMO	World Meteorological Organization

Volume I

Chapter 2

Our Miraculous Planetary Home.

We admire cosmonauts who travel in small space capsules or set foot on the moon or space platforms, but we forget that we are ourselves cosmonauts traveling on a space globe the like of which no humans will ever be able to construct. Our artificial satellites are entirely made of materials from spaceship Earth. We must set our values and admirations straight. Human creations can never be more admirable than nature's, for we are part, tools and products of nature and of the mysterious forces of the universe. All our achievements must be traced back to our given miraculous planet and to the Creator or creative forces of the universe. They alone are unfathomable, admirable and sacred. We are admirable and sacred only for being part of them, for being their creation, caretakers and co-creators.

We wrongly say: we live on this planet. We must say: we are part of this planet, in flesh, in liquids, in air, in mind, in heart, in life, in death and in rebirth. We are part of it as long as it will live and beyond our life.

Being born from the Earth and being an intimate part of her, we must understand Her, listen to Her, cherish Her, blend with Her and not conquer Her. We must not destroy or wound our miraculous Mother Earth from whom proceeds all we are, all we have and all we will ever be.

When there is a planet as rich and beautiful as ours, inhabited by a species as astonishing as ours, then we must be patient with the latter's efforts to find its proper place, harmony and fulfillment on it. No one, indeed, can prove that we are not a unique and miraculous planet and species in the universe. We should consider our planet unique in the universe, benefiting from very extraordinary cosmic circumstances and endowed with truly exceptional conditions. From such a point of view, our planet becomes forthwith sacred and infinitely precious, human life and all life on it true miracles, and the government of that planet a sacred, holy function. Yes, we must visualize a possibly lifeless universe to understand our immense responsibility as the trustees, children and caretakers of our incredible, miraculous planet Earth alive.

Astrophysicists tell us that the conditions necessary for the birth of life on any planet in the universe are so innumerable that they represent the most astronomical mathematical improbability figure humans can conceive.

Even if there were other life-bearing planets in the universe, ours would still be unique because it is with planets as it is with humans and all living beings: there will never be two identical ones.

If you feel lost, desperate and hopeless about the human condition, just remember that only 500 years ago we did not even know that the Earth was round, that there existed another continent beyond the seas and that the Earth was turning around the sun and not the contrary. We are still in the kindergarten of the new global age. Have patience and a sense of wonder. We will learn infinitely more and see further extraordinary progress.

Thanks to the UN and to its 32 specialized agencies and world programs, we have now for the first time in evolution an adequate inventory and information on our planetary home, from the stratosphere to the depths of the oceans, from the world's climate to the atom and genes, from the deserts to arable lands, from the polar caps to the tropics and equator, etc. Nations have even agreed to bore holes of at least 1000 meters into the Earth's crust to better know its interior.

As a result, for the first time, our species is in a position to treat and manage well its planetary home. And we will do it. It will be the most exciting period of our history.

There are places on this Earth, natural or human-made which are so beautiful that one wishes to exclaim: "Oh, please remain forever as you are, you are so beautiful." Such places should be protected from change, and someday the entire planet would be a paradise, a cherished world heritage. Then economics will be reduced to our planet's maintenance and to our essential, reasonable needs. Then humanity will be a peaceful, fulfilled species living in incredible happiness and harmony on its beautiful planetary home.

In many respects we do live already in Palace Earth, in paradise Earth, but we have not yet learned to live peacefully and properly in it. We will.

Scientists tell us that a species that does not take good care of its habitat is doomed. Humanity must become a caring one instead of a conquering, destructive, overconsuming one.

There are no greater books than the Earth and humanity themselves. There are no greater novels than our own lives. From morning to evening we can read and write these Godgiven, wonderful works. There should be two basic textbooks in all schools of this planet: the Book of the Earth and the Book of Humanity. And we should all contribute to them.

Once we have seen a picture of our incredible planet from outer space, we are never the same person anymore. That picture should be hanging in all schoolrooms of the world.

It is incredible, albeit miraculous, what we human species have been able to do on this little planet! But now we must beware, for we are beginning to do some serious damage. Thus,

Each minute

we destroy 21 hectares of tropical forests

we consume 34,725 barrels of oil

50 tons of fertile soil are washed or blown off cropland

12,000 tons of carbon dioxide are added to the atmosphere.

Each hour

685 hectares of productive dryland become desert

120 million dollars are wasted on military expenditures, a trillion a year

55 people are poisoned and 5 are killed by pesticides

60 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in the United States alone,

over 5000,000 cases each year with 20,000 cases leading to death, because of the thinning of the ozonosphere.

Each day

25,000 people die of water shortage and contamination

10 tons of nuclear waste are generated by 485 nuclear plants

250,000 tons of sulfuric acid fall as acid rain in the northern hemisphere, damaging lakes and millions of hectares of forests

60 tons of plastic packaging and 372 tons of fishing nets are dumped into the seas by commercial fishermen, killing thousands of fishes, sea birds and sea mammals.

Every five hours a species becomes extinct...

How does our dear, precious Mother Earth feel about that? For in practically all languages, the Earth is a mother or goddess: Matri Bhumi, mother Earth in Sanskrit; Gaia, the goddess Earth in Greek; Eartha, the goddess Earth in Germanic languages; Ixmucane, mother Earth in the Maya language, etc. Someone should collect and publish the etymologies of the word Earth in all languages.

This beautiful planet of ours is fragile like a crystal. We must therefore treat it with utmost care.

I dream of a world in which no bird would fly away and no animal flee at the approach of a human.

O God, let us become the Planet of the Loving People

the Planet of the Smiling People

the Planet of the Peaceful People

the Planet of the Beautiful People

the Planet of the Healthy People

the Planet of the Happy People

the Planet of the Just People

the Planet of the Virtuous People

O God, let us become Your People

O God, let us become like You.

Perhaps we are already part of You, but we have not yet realized it or have forgotten it.

How beautiful you are, O my planet Earth! The yearly UN Earth Day on the spring equinox in March should become the most important day of the year.

Let us proclaim the third millennium the Millennium of Paradise Earth.

These incredible living trees, these beautiful flowers, these flying and singing birds, these mountains, these valleys, these seas and oceans, who created them? No human being could have. So who did? What is the mysterious creative force, still active and invisible around us? We call it God. May it not be in us too? May we not have become the most active manifestation of this creative force, the spearhead of further positive, non-destructive evolution? How wonderful it will be when we realize that.

Oh! how can some people not love, adore life! How can youth not believe in life! I will never understand it. We should remember at all times that our planet is one of the most beautiful ones in the universe. We are blessed with life, waters, plants, animals, seas and oceans, a teeming biosphere and senses which reach far into time and into space. We can see, feel, hear, talk, sing, think, love, understand, dream, embrace the heavens and the Earth. What more do we want? We are probably the most advanced life form in the universe, one of the greatest successes of the cosmos or God, living on one of the luckiest, unique planets, and yet we do not rejoice at all times and do not administer it yet with the divine care it requires. Yes, please let us rejoice, rejoice, constantly rejoice.

Poor little bird on my porch. You will never know all I know. You will never fly where I fly. But to each his God-given world and happiness. For I too am only a little bird on a porch of the vast incomprehensible universe.

I observed a little hen on a hill in Switzerland: it never looked at the beautiful mountains and lakes nor at the sky, as I did. I felt so grateful, so happy to be a human.

In our dreams of a perfect planet, there are no wars, no violence, no hatred, no injustices, no drugs, no alcohol, no armaments, no nuclear dangers, no fouled air, water and soils. All these dreams converge for the first time ever on a universal scale in the United Nations. So are their violations, obstacles and birthpains. Humans should be enthralled with this unprecedented, gigantic, beautiful enterprise, all children of the world should be taught about it.

Human life is truly an astonishing mystery. So much is involved in the constitution and functioning of a single human being: trillions of cells, each a prodigious little factory, thousands of miles of vessels, hundreds of automated clocks, an amazing brain with 100 billion neurons whose mechanical reproduction would require the volume of a cathedral, senses, a mind, a heart and a soul capable of embracing the entire planet and universe. So much is involved in the education of a human: years of learning in the family, in school, in university and the never ending experience of life. So much is involved in his participation in life: the wish to be of use, to create, to be recognized, to be remembered, to leave something behind. And then, when the peak of experience and wisdom is reached, that immense cosmos begins to wobble and to weaken until it returns to Mother Earth. What was the purpose of it all? What kept such an incredible cosmos together? The inborn will for life? Yes. But why? It all makes sense only if we suppose that we are part of an incomprehensible but grandiose design in the universe and in time. The discovery of the reason and ultimate objective of that design remains the fundamental prerequisite of proper human government. This is one of our most exciting tasks. We are still at the surface of things. We still need further Copernican revolutions.

How can people lose their time in trifles, unconcerned, unamazed by the miracle of life?

How can we be blind? The universe is in a child, in a flower, in a garden, in a house, in one's work, in a song, in a painting, in every human being. God is everywhere, as long as our attitude is one of respect, gratitude and endless wonder at the prodigy of life. The beauty of the universe is in my home and in the immensity of the heavens.

These words uttered by Pablo Casals have been a great guide in my life:

"The child must know that he is a miracle, a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been and until the end of the world there will not be another child like him. He is a unique thing, from the beginning to the end of the world. Now, that child acquires a responsibility: `Yes, it is true, I am a miracle. I am a miracle like a tree is a miracle, like a flower is a miracle. Now, if I am a miracle, can I do a bad thing? No, I can't, because I am a miracle."

"God, Nature. I call God Nature, or Nature God. And then comes this other thought: I am a miracle that God or Nature has made. Could I kill? Could I kill someone? No, I can't. Or another human being who is a child like me, can he kill me? I think that this theory can help to bring forth another way of thinking in the world. The world today is bad; it is a bad world. And it is because they don't talk to the children in the way that the children need."

God has given us an inestimable capacity to focus our senses, our mind, our heart and our lives from the infinitely large to the infinitely small. We can see both the stars and heavens and the traces of atomic sub-particles in a bubble chamber. We can love the sky afar or a flower or brook near by. We can tremble at the passionate sound of Beethoven or at the humble song of a bird. We can live with a gigantic mind embracing the entire universe or as a passionate collector of little stamps. We can live with a religious heart encompassing God and all living beings or as parents loving dearly each other and their children.

A being from outer space who would see our planet for the first time would expect it to be inhabited "inside", as is a spaceship. But we live "on" it, stand on it, cultivate it, build above it, breathe the oxygen emitted from it, heat ourselves at its sun, and do not have to live inside it. A strange, lucky, planet indeed with its thin biosphere of constantly renewed life which warms and feeds itself revolving around a glowing overhanging star called the sun.

I had in my office at the UN a drawing made by UN cartographers: it showed the biosphere or sphere of life, a little layer of no more than a few miles reaching into the atmosphere and into depths of the seas. In it all life of our solar system is located. Beyond and below it there is not a microbe left. I asked the cartographers to reduce the radius of the Earth to one meter: the biosphere appeared merely as a line not bigger than an egg shell! To politicians who visited my office I said: "This is what you are playing with. This is what you are filling with conflicts, games of power, money, interests, nations and weapons. Why are you harmful to that incredible, delicate so precious biosphere? Please be their healing, loving guides and statues will be erected to you."

There is still so much to do in our home. A world inspection team should go around, distributing marks of achievements and failures. If I were a member of it I would give highest marks to Holland for having transformed uninhabitable marshes into a beautiful land, to Israel for having made deserts bloom and to Costa Rica for having demilitarized itself, made ten percent of its territory national parks and created the first University of Peace on Earth.

Yes, there is still so much to do on our planet. There is not even a Napoleon who would look at it and say:

"I want these canals and tunnels to be dug; I want this overflow of water brought to this desert; I want these solar and hydroelectrical power plants to be build; I want these new lakes to be formed; I want these deserts to be stopped and made to bloom; I want these world railroads and roads to be build; I want these world satellites to be launched; I want all people to be decently fed, educated and employed; I want world laws; I want world justice; I want a World Treasury; I want proper Earth government; and so forth. Alas, very few talk like that. Doesn't any politician want to become famous?

Nature and evolution have tried so many incredible combinations and forms of matter, energy and life that no idea conceived by humans will ever be able to match them.

With its marvelous life-giving atmosphere, waters and nature, planet Earth is a true miracle in the universe. On it dwell many extraordinary living creatures, including humans which hopefully will not destroy it.

When I was a young UN official, my superiors always deleted the word "world" from my writings and replaced it by "international". Today, the words most often used at the UN are: the world, the planet, the globe, interdependent, planetary, global. The human mind has expanded its vision considerably. But the words universe, cosmic, God, Creation, infinity, eternity, love, soul and spirituality are still rare or missing. They will come too, hopefully fast.

To think that in the universe there is a species with limited brains and senses which tries to understand the entire fathomless Creation and time! What a pity that such a wonderful species has not yet learned to live in peace with itself and to preserve and cherish its miraculous planetary home.

The instruments, frameworks, institutions, forms, formalities and procedures of tomorrow's whole Earth government are much less important than the principle of such government and its planetary, cosmic and all-human objectives. Even the very imperfect UN could serve the purpose.

We are so lucky in the universe: a few thousand miles further from our sun and we would freeze; a few thousand miles closer and we would burn. A less heavy mass and we would retain no water and no atmosphere. A stronger nuclear force and we would be a small, compact ball. A lighter nuclear force and we would be star dust. We must therefore remember at all times that our planet is a true miracle and we should ask ourselves what role and behavior the cosmos or God expect from us humans in the further evolution of this planet?

The Earth is the macrocosm of each individual and each individual is a microcosm of the Earth. We are born from the Earth and will return to Her. Each person therefore has a shared life and responsibility for the Earth.

Our first and foremost experience of God or of the mysterious forces of the universe is in the glory, brilliance and infinite beauty of our planet.

The most important treasure we humans have in common is our planet. Each person, therefore, must be a custodian, a caretaker, a loving child and inhabitant of it.

When the children of a Robert Muller School celebrated Earth Day, a teacher asked them what they thought of that event. A little boy answered:

"Why do we celebrate Earth Day only once a year? Every day should be Earth Day."

Dear God, I offer You all my actions of today, because I am part of Your wonderful Creation. It would be a sacrilege to separate myself from Your works. I am part of Your paradise. I live in Your Paradise. I am one of Your gardeners, caretakers, protectors, guardians and beneficiaries.

When I am in nature, I ecstatically feel that every day is Easter, a Resurrection of the miracle of life. We can be so at peace, so happy in the arms of Mother Earth.

I am so much in love with nature, with planet Earth, with beautiful goddess Gaia, that I often lie down on her, kiss her, embrace her and wish I could make love with her.

In reality I do, because my spouse is all made of Earth, of sunshine and of the universe's mysterious life. Our union is a process of the living Earth, of the living cosmos. It is the most sacred, most transcendent consciousness we can expect as a reward for doing our evolutionary duty. Ecstatic happiness is given to us, for we are cosmic couples giving birth to further life.

We should kiss nature more often, the Earth being our mother. We are her children, one of her innumerable forms of life.

I do not even believe in death as an end, as an annihilation. It is simply a return to Mother Earth which will transform us into other matter and life forms. And our children and good works will continue to live in evolution.

In an old textbook I found this statement by the French historian Michelet of the nineteenth century: "Humanity has been roaming about this Earth, making wars, conquests, invading each other, and yet the French Alps are exactly the same as they were at the time of Hannibal's crossing. Humans cannot change the Earth."

He would be surprised today to see how humans now change their planet, including the Mont Blanc which is losing its glaciers, is perforated by a tunnel, is capped with pollution and was damaged by the Olympics.

I know a young man who wanted to study both ecology and economics. This was denied to him by his University. He then dropped out and undertook his interdependent studies on his own. Today it should be a requirement in all Universities of the world that ecology (the study or science of our home, from the Greek oikos) and economics (management, use of our home) should be either studied simultaneously, or preferably ecology first and then only economics. Most of the current trouble on this planet is due to the fact that we started with economics (oikos, nomos) the changing of the home, before ecology (oikos, logos) the knowledge of our home.

In a few short decades we will see

a government of the Earth

for the good of the Earth

by the people, the children of the Earth.

It will be the Earth Republic dreamt of by George Washington.

Declaration of The Sacred Earth Gathering

at the UN Conference on Environment and Development

(UNCED II) in Rio de Janeiro, 1992

The planet earth is in peril as never before. With arrogance and presumption, humankind has disobeyed the laws of the Creator which are manifest in the divine natural order.

The crisis is global. It transcends all national, religious, cultural, social, political and economic boundaries. The ecological crisis is a symptom of the spiritual crisis of the human being, arising from ignorance. The responsibility of each human being today is to choose between the force of darkness and the force of light. We must therefore transform our attitudes and values, and adopt a renewed respect for the superior law of Divine Nature.

Nature does not depend on human beings and their technology. It is human beings who depend on Nature for survival. Individuals and governments need to evolve "Earth Ethics" with a deeply spiritual orientation or the Earth will be cleansed.

We believe that the universe is sacred because all is one. We believe in the sanctity and the integrity of all life and life forms. We affirm the principles of peace and non-violence in governing human behavior towards one another and all life.

We view ecological disruption as violent intervention into the web of life. Genetic engineering threatens the very fabric of life. We urge governments, scientists and industry to refrain from rushing blindly into genetic manipulation.

We call upon all political leaders to keep a spiritual perspective when making decisions. All leaders must recognize the consequences of their actions for the coming generations.

We call upon our educators to motivate the people towards harmony with nature and peaceful coexistence with all living beings. Our youth and children must be prepared to assume their responsibilities as citizens of tomorrow's world.

We call upon our brothers and sisters around the world to recognize and curtail the impulses of greed, consumerism and disregard of natural laws. Our survival depends on developing the virtues of simple living and sufficiency, love and compassion with wisdom.

We stress the importance of respecting all spiritual and cultural traditions. We stand for preservation of the habitats and life style of indigenous people and urge restraint from disrupting their communion with nature.

The World Community must act speedily with vision and resolution to preserve the Earth, Nature and humanity from disaster. The time to act is now. Now or never.

Decide to Love Planet Earth...

With all your heart, mind and soul,

With enthusiasm, passion

and endless wonder.

You are a part of her

You are living Earth

You are born from her,

You grew in her fold,

you are nourished by her

You will return to her

And be reborn from her

in endless, different forms of life

Study your miraculous

planet Earth, know her, understand her,

Care for her, love her

It is the only home we have

And will ever have in the universe

She is so beautiful, so incredible,

So unique in the fathomless cosmos

Be proud of her

Be in peace and harmony with her

Be in ecstasy with her

And she will return to you

your love a thousandfold.

Volume I

Chapter 3

Our Genial Human Family

This beautiful text by UNICEF should be taught to every child on Earth:

I am a member of the world family

I am related to those who stand next to me

by the air we breathe, by the light we share,

the hopes we have for a better world.

I have a responsibility to give, to receive,

to be open, tolerant, free.

I have inherited the world from those who have lived before.

I occupy space and time for a few short years.

I hold this world in trust for those who will follow.

My life, with others, can fashion this world

toward PEACE rather than strife,

HOPE rather than despair,

FREEDOM rather than slavery.

I, with those about me, can make the HUMAN BROTHER AND SISTERHOOD a living thing.

I pledge my willing spirit to this thought.

WE WILL DO THIS TOGETHER.

Yes, let us above all be humans. Let no sectarism, no religion, no fundamentalism, no nationalism, no colors, no language, no North, South, East or West divide us. We are all dependent on each other. We must all be members of one peaceful, loving family, living happily together on our extraordinary, beautiful, so rich planet Earth in the universe.

In my office at the UN I had a table with this list of the major segments of the human family. It reaches from the total world population to the individual. On each of these segments, humanity is cooperating actively in one or several of its world organizations:

Our Human Family

The total world population and its changes

Human settlements and migrations

Human longevity

Races

Sexes

Children

Youth

Adults

The elderly

The handicapped

The individual

Our levels of nutrition

Our levels of health

Our standards of life

Our skills and employment

Our levels of education

Our moral levels

Our spiritual levels

The family

Local communities

Professions

Corporations

Institutions

Nations

Federations, regional communities

Religions

Multinational business

Transnational networks and associations

World organizations

UN, UNFPA

UNCHS

UN, WHO

UNICEF

UN and most agencies

UN, WHO

UN and all agencies

FAO, WHO

WHO

UN, UNDP, IBRD, IMF,

IFC

ILO

UNESCO

ILO

UN and all agencies

UNESCO

This is the second great planetary framework produced by the United Nations as a basis for proper Earth government and human fulfillment.

Within this social and institutional framework, humanity has probed and studied itself from every possible angle. The first world conferences and International Years ever held in human history point at a new age of our evolution. Here are the highlights:

- 3 UN world conferences on population, in 1974, 1984 and 1994, and a World Population Year in 1974;

- a UN Conference on Human Settlements in 1976;

- 2 world conferences on racism in 1972 and 1982;

- 2 world conferences on human rights in 1968 and in 1993;

- an International Year of Peace in 1986;

- an International Year of the Child in 1979;

- 4 UN world conferences on women in 1975, 1980, 1985 and in 1995;

- an International Year of Youth in 1985;

- a UN World Conference on Aging in 1982;

- An International Year of the Disabled Persons in 1981;

- An International Year of the World's Indigenous people in 1993;

- An International Year of the Family in 1994;

- An International Year of the Elderly in 1999.

These UN Conferences and Years are the first attempts in all human history to appraise, study and express concern for the fate of the entire human family. Until 1952, we did not even know how many people lived on this planet!

All along the above social framework, individuals, groups, firms, governments, associations and other institutions and entities can find a place to see themselves, to work, to search, to be useful, to contribute, to help humanity fulfill its destiny in the unfathomable universe. We are all cosmic co-workers.

The question remains: what is our meaning, our ultimate destiny in the universe? Have we ever asked and resolved this question?

Think hard

Consult your heart

Find your right place

As a weaver of the great cosmic tapestry.

Who said this?:

Humanity ought to be like one body with many parts. All the parts should work together, each according to his or her special gifts. Some should preach, some teach, some heal, and so on. Each part should understand the importance of all the other parts, feeling pain with them, feeling gladness with them.

It was St. Paul, but I replaced the words at its beginning, namely A religious group by Humanity.

Humanity is really incredible! We have extended the capacity of our eyes millions of times into the infinitely large and infinitesimal small through telescopes, space probes, television, microscopes, picoscopes and atomic bubble chambers. We have extended our hearing to the entire world through telephones, radio and satellite communications. We have multiplied the range of our legs with cars, airplanes, boats, trains and space capsules. We have extended the power of our hands with incredible machines and the capacity of our memory and mind with computers. We have become a new, extended species on this planet, incomparable with what we were in prehistory. But we still have to extend our love and skills to the entire planet and humanity, and our soul to the entire universe and God. We now have global senses, global limbs, a global brain and a global nervous system, but we still need a global heart and a global soul. This will be the next stage of our evolution. Deep concern for nature and for our Mother Earth are the first manifestations.

Each of us is a drop of water in the ocean of humanity, but without drops there can be no ocean.

Young people love to display a poster proclaiming a monumental truth:

"Humanity is greater than all nations."

God looking down upon the Earth does not see any borders, nations, races, religions or corporations but only the Earth, its living creatures and the human family.

We are all brothers and sisters of the same family, because we are all children of Mother Earth and of Father God.

As an Alsace-Lorrainer I learned that only elevation to a higher plane - namely Europe - could solve the divisions and conflicts between France and Germany. Humanity too will be able to solve its problems, if it seeks the highest elevations and broadest common denominators, namely the world, humanity and God. These are the highest points of reference conceivable to judge what is good or bad for humanity. In the last instance, all our earthly human efforts must be related and reported to God who is the highest ideal, dream, perfection and ultimate apotheosis of human evolution. If God did not exist, we would have to invent Him and endow Him or Her with all our ideals. God is the heavenly personification of our dreams and answer to all our questions.

Wisdom is the ability to distinguish between good and bad. Hence, there is a wisdom for every particular entity or group: a personal wisdom, a family wisdom, a corporate wisdom, a national wisdom. The greatest wisdom still needed at this point of our evolution is world wisdom, namely the ability to distinguish between what is good and bad for humanity and for the Earth as a whole. It is the fundamental role of the United Nations to help develop that wisdom.

O, what a better world it would be if people and nations spoke less badly of each other! This was U Thant's first law for personal as well as international behavior. His son-in-law, Tyn Myint U, once told me:

"There is one thing I did not understand about my father-in-law. For example, when a new Ambassador was invited to our home, invariably after he left, U Thant would say: "What a nice man he is." I retorted to him: "How can you say that? Why don't you wait and see how he behaves before pronouncing judgment? He might turn out to be quite bad." U Thant answered:

"In my eyes he is a human brother and a nice man until proven contrary."

U Thant had another rule: if he disliked or disapproved of someone, he would never say it, he simply remained silent, even if asked for his opinion.

If the human body ceases to grow why should humanity ceaselessly grow, the world economy grow, production grow, construction grow, consumption grow, transportation grow, dissatisfaction grow, waste grow, the destruction of nature grow? Why don't we follow the example of nature which changes slowly? Why are we in such a hurry? If we grow at four percent a year for the next two hundred years, this planet will be finished. We want already population not to increase. Why do we want economic development to grow, especially in the rich countries? Why do we not reduce the injustices between the poor and the rich?

Please, governments, give us peace so that we may enjoy the miracle of life;

please, governments, suppress your ugly armaments so that our children might sleep in peace and all human beings on this planet have bread and schools;

please, governments, work together to manage this planet for the benefit and happiness of all;

please, governments, do not interfere with but fulfill our basic needs.

All too often many entities and groups are created, led and promoted by individuals who are unable to fulfill themselves as simple, great human beings, members of one human family under the rule of God.

I have thirty trillion cells in my body but my entire being is only one cell in a human family of 6 billion people. The total biomass of humanity consists of thirty trillion cells multiplied 6 billion times!

Intellectual qualities are superior to physical qualities; moral qualities are superior to intellectual qualities; and spiritual qualities are the highest of all. This is borne out by our daily observations: a person endowed with a good physique and a fine mind is superior to one having only a good body; a person who has also good moral qualities is superior to the former; and most admirable is he or she who has a good physique, a great intelligence, a good heart and a soul in communion with all humanity, with God and the universe.

The same is true of any social group, from the family to the entire human race. Our present human family is still very imperfect because:

- it has not yet assured good physical lives to all its 6 billion members: more than a billion still go hungry;

- it has not yet provided for good mental lives for all: there are still 800 million illiterates;

- it has not yet become a moral world: there are still many wars, injustices, inequalities, violence, hatred, lies, miseducation, misinformation, corruption and dishonesty on our planet;

- it is not yet a spiritual world: we have mostly earthly, materialistic concerns and seldom lift our minds, hearts and souls to the universe and to the eternal stream of time.

Humanity has still a good way to go.

What have reason, science, art, love, religion, poetry and philosophy in common? They all wish to be king, but in reality none can be it.

What then is the ultimate motor of human ascent? Is it the will for life? Happiness? The fulfillment of life? Union with God? Supreme consciousness?

Why has the universe or God or evolution created human life?

What can be my satisfactory answers to these momentous questions? I do not know, but of one thing I am sure: my reason, my science, my art, my love, my religion, my poetry and my philosophy are all a hymn of praise to the splendor of Creation and to the miracle of life.

We world servers are a new breed of human beings: we come from all parts of the planet, we are most knowledgeable about our globe and human family, we work for the entire Earth and for all our human brothers and sisters. From us will come a new world philosophy, world spirituality, world sociology, world psychology, world ideology, world political science and world vision. We are the midwives of the birth of new paradigms for our species' prodigious planetary journey.

UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskj–ld and U Thant had different views regarding the allegiance of world servants: for Dag Hammarskj–ld world allegiance was the rule, superseding national allegiance. U Thant for his part was allegiant to himself, to his family, to his culture, to his nation, but also to humanity and the Earth. His belief in multiple allegiances is closer to the true reality of life, namely diversity in unity.

The human family, emerging from its checkered past, is still dominated by competition, power contests and glory seeking, while in the natural family cooperation and love are the dominant values. A wonderful, new historic era will soon begin, when cooperation and love will predominate the world. The first examples we see at the United Nations are full of promise.

One happy human family of several billion individuals on one little planet in the fathomless universe and eternal stream of time, that is the central, marvelous challenge of tomorrow's Earth government.

Let there be no illusions: armaments will only disappear when national sovereignties will disappear, for their main purpose is to protect, maintain, assert, strengthen and expand these sovereignties. To discuss disarmament is therefore fruitless. We must discuss instead the disovereignization of nations and create a common world security system and Republic.

We have made great progress of late towards the concept and concerns of the Whole Earth or globe or planet. We must make similar progress towards the concepts and concerns of the whole human family, the global human race and planetary citizenship.

To obtain a better humanity, we must validate others, love them, not diminish them.

Our globe could say to us:

"At long last you have one place on my crust, the United Nations, to which you send representatives from all around my body to figure out your fulfillment, destiny and proper action for my environment. Bravo, a thousand bravos! It is the most intelligent thing you have done in a long time. But I have yet to understand why so many of you throw stones at that place instead of loving it as the most important sacred place on me. Your blindness never ceases to astonish me. Why are you so slow to understand the most obvious values and assets?"

When the Bangladesh upheaval broke out, the Ambassador of Pakistan exclaimed in response to a speech by India: "What you call right to self-determination, we call treason." How many times do we hear people called patriots by one side and traitors by the other! This can end only after humanity has organized itself into one family under one government, one world morality and one world law and ethics. The world's 189 nations must be molded into one Earth community, a democratic World Republic.

I wish the people of this planet would cease to "belong" to groups or to be "special people" who proclaim that they are superior to others or that they hold the ultimate truth given to them by nature, by God, by sacred scriptures or by social reformers. If we found another planet in the universe with so many "ultimate truths" - economic, social or religious - we would consider its people utterly misguided and would ask them to put their thinking and house in good order. Why don't we start with ourselves?

Once I saw a woman write on an official immigration form: "World citizen with a Swiss passport." We should all follow her example.

I once asked an Asian attendant of a gasoline station of what nationality he was.

He answered: "What does it matter to you? I am a human being like you."

As long as highjacking took place from the communist countries to the West, the highjackers were received as heroes and the word highjacking could be found nowhere. In the western press it was called: "detouring from normal air routes." After highjacking took place from the United States to Cuba, the West went into uproar and it was then called air piracy or highjacking. Different sides, different words. Even today, in the western media, an airplane is not "highjacked" from Cuba but "commandeered"!

Society can never consider individual human life as precious and foremost enough.

The last Ministers on Earth who refuse international cooperation are the Ministers of Armies, of Justice and of the Interior, all ministries par excellence of national sovereignty. And it is precisely in disarmament, world justice and world violence that most urgent progress is needed. No wonder, therefore, that the situation remains the same or worsens year after year in these three fields on our little planet. Whose fault is it?

We must become one planetary society on a vast orderly evolving planet.

Planetization will force the global community to undertake new tasks for the happiness of all human beings in the global community. This is the awesome challenge to impending planetary management or proper Earth government.

Earth government has two ways of behaving: like a good mother give the breast to the baby when it is feeding time, or feed it only when the baby cries of hunger. Good Earth government consists of foreseeing needs and preventing cries.

Outcries of injustice resemble the human body's pains: they point at a malfunctioning of the system.

It is typical that in the attempted coup against President Gorbachev, the three main instigators were the head of the armed forces, the Minister of Interior and the KGB. Two of the three committed suicide.

It is not Germany nor any other country that should be above the world, as their national hymn proclaims. It is the world which should be above all countries. Menschheit, Menschheit ¸ber Alles, not Deutschland, Deutschland ¸ber Alles.

How can a planet be properly run by 189 heads of totally distinct sovereign states?

Once in a corridor of the UN I commented to a colleague that within a few minutes we had met three heads of states. He replied: "Never mind. If you have seen one, you have seen them all."

Who ever was the sick mind who invented nationalism and national sovereignty? We need today humanism, globalism, humanity sovereignty, Earth sovereignty.

When people ask me if I feel more French or more German, I answer: "I do not feel either. I am a human being, not a Frenchman, not a German nor anything else. If you insist and ask me where I come from I will answer: from a beautiful region of Earth called Alsace-Lorraine. And my love for it does not require that it be a nation. On the contrary, I am happy it is not. If it were, I would love it less."

"I am not an Athenian, I am not a Greek, I am a world citizen," said Socrates

The world would be a much better place if we considered ourselves to be angels or saints, i.e., fulfillers of the will of God and doers of good on Earth. Just try to be an angel for a day or two and you will be astonished by the results. We should all try.

A world of angels and saints? Why not?

It is not only the world-wide demand for greater justice, physical well-being and education which is at the root of the present world crises. Even deeper is the process of planetization, a major phase in the Earth's and humanity's evolution.

I am always astonished by the admiration of so many people for Ambassadors, Ministers, heads of government and state, etc. They are just human beings. Some are good and others are not. Admiration of a title or function blinds the concern for the real value of the person. It might even prevent seeing the deeper realities: the nation-states of the world with all the pomp and glory of their rulers, generals, flags, anthems, armies, history, monuments, arts and literature often conceal the immensely more important beauty of the human family, of the Earth and of each human being. They make humanity look like a woman who would never be visible in her entirety, because attention is directed to over-ornamented, made-up parts.

Above all, be a good human being, a loving, concerned member of the human family, a loving instrument of life and of a better world.

Decide to be a Great Human...

An Earth citizen

A global being

A good member of the human family

To place humanity before anything else

To love your human brethren and sisters

As your own family

Never to kill

not even in the name of a nation

Never to exercise physical

or verbal violence

To know, love and respect your beautiful

planetary home

To live in it as a grateful, joyful guest

To contribute to humanity your peace,

kindness and

happiness

To help the further ascent of the human race

To cherish its endless, beautiful diversity

To educate your children as world citizens

and loving servants of God

To leave behind you the memory

of a joyful, kind human being

And to spend your heaven doing good on Earth.

Volume I

Chapter 4

Our Place in Time

If our globe could speak, he would say to us:

"You make me laugh, you humans. I have been twirling around for four and a half billion years. I have seen many upheavals in my flesh, I have seen continents disappear, seas change place, mountains surge, ice covers come and go, an atmosphere be born, vegetation arise, life develop, species' evolve and disappear. You came into being only a million years ago. I have seen you crawl in utter ignorance for most of that time. Only a few hundred years ago did you at long last discover that I was round and older than just a few thousand years. I have observed you and I must tell you this:

You will go nowhere if you do not remember that I will be around for several more billion years, that my body will be shaken by many more physical and climatic changes; that for your maximum enjoyment and survival you must treat and manage me with care; that you must put yourself in my place and lift your eyes, as I do, to the sun, to the universe, to infinity and eternity of which I am only a tiny part. After your cave age, after your crawling age, after your tribal age, after your feudal age, after your national age, you have at long last entered my age: the Age of the Globe, the global age. But this is still insufficient, for you will have to enter the cosmic age in which you will see your proper place and responsibilities in the universe and in time. This will be the next great period of your journey. And I can assure you that you will find it exciting and very uplifting."

We have learned to see into the infinitely large and infinitely small. We have made immense progress in investigating our planet's present and past. But we are barely beginning to conceive our future, our place and role in evolution. The most important dimension of planetary management is still to come.

There are scientists who believe that everything can be explained by evolution. Yet evolution is only a small period of time of a few million years on our minuscule planet in a minor solar system. Creation is infinitely vaster and more mysterious than what we can ever comprehend. Evolution is just a drop in the cosmic sea.

This does not mean that we are not a marvelous planet, a tremendous achievement, a true jewel in the universe. Everything in Creation is a manifestation of a sublime, stupendous force, of cosmic blueprints or designs. But scientists must not limit life on our planet to a theory of evolution. There is infinitely more in the heavens and on Earth than in any human theory.

On the eve of the year 1000 humans believed that the world would come to an end. It didn't, and cathedrals were built to thank God. We were more hopeful as we neared the year 2000 and had a great Celebration of the Bimillennium. Now we must settle the last conflicts on Earth and develop for the 21st century a novel vision of the human destiny on our miraculous, celestial planet. Let us plan one positive decade and century after another toward an unprecedented world-wide Trimillennium Celebration.

I would like to see a whole series of studies and articles published, showing how the world, nature, the continents, the regions, countries and local communities looked like in the years 2000 BC, 1000 BC, 1,1000 and 2000 A.D. It would show the incredible extent of our journey, our successes and failures, give us a clue to the deeper meaning of life and guide our future destiny in the next 1000 years.

For each of the layers of our place in space, of our planet and of the human family, there is a time dimension. Add to them the past, the present and the future and you will have an image of the fathomless ball of intensities and complexities our planet constitutes in the universe. We might never be able to grasp it all. We can only try and partake in it.

Our consolation is that there is still immense leeway for our further search and that we are a lucky species which is able to transcend itself into such a prodigious knowledge and time dimension.

Our Place in the Universe

the universe: past present future

the stars: " " "

our solar system: " " "

our Earth: " " "

the atmosphere: " " "

the biosphere: " " "

the seas and oceans: " " "

the polar caps: " " "

the arable lands: " " "

the deserts: " " "

the mountains: " " "

the Earth's climate: " " "

the Earth's water: " " "

Plant life: " " "

Animal life: " " "

Human life: " " "

the Earth's crust: " " "

the Earth's minerals: " " "

the Earth's heat: " " "

infinitely small life: " " "

infinitely small matter

or energy: " " "

The Human Family

world population past present future

human settlements " " "

and migrations " " "

Human longevity " " "

Races " " "

Sexes " " "

Children " " "

Youth " " "

Adults " " "

The elderly " " "

The handicapped " " "

The individual " " "

Our levels of nutrition " " "

Our levels of health " " "

Our standards of life " " "

Our skills and employment " " "

Our levels of education " " "

Our moral levels " " "

Our spiritual levels " " "

The family " " "

Local communities " " "

Professions " " "

Corporations " " "

Institutions " " "

Nations " " "

Federations, regional

organizations " " "

Religions " " "

Multinational business " " "

Transnational networks " " "

and associations " " "

World Organizations " " "

This is the third great canvass produced by the United Nations for a better understanding of our place and journey in the universe and as a framework for proper Earth and human guidance and government.

In each UN agency, the above facets are examined from the three points of view of the past, the present and the future. Each agency is concerned about the future in its field of competence: Population 2025, 2050, 2100; Environment 2013; Food 2010; Health 2010; Education 2010; Climate in the next centuries; etc.

In the 17th century, Bishop Usher thought that the Earth was 4000 years old. Then the French naturalist Buffon estimated that it was at least several hundred thousand years old. Today we believe that our planet is more than 4 1/2 billion years old and that our sun and Earth will remain in existence for another 6 to 8 billion years until we explode and vanish again into the universe to become other stars and planets.

We are therefore beginning to wonder how much longer we can grow "economically" at the expense of the planet. Limits to growth have been recognized and the concept of sustainable development is now predominant. Concern about the future is arising and spreading rapidly throughout the human society.

There are not yet Ministries of the Future in governments, but the new European Union has created the position of Commissioner of the Future.

"In our way of life

with every decision we make

we always keep in mind

the seventh generation to come...

When we walk upon Mother Earth, we

always plant our feet carefully,

because we know that the faces of our

future generations are looking up at us

from beneath the ground.

We never forget them."

Oren Lyons

Faithkeeper of the Onondaga

Jacques Cousteau has correctly raised the question of the rights of future generations.

I have myself raised the following new rights:

- the right of humans to a proper planning of the future by governments and world agencies;

- the right to a well-preserved planet

- the rights of the Earth and implementation of the UN Charter of Nature and Earth Charter

- the right to a preserved past

- the right to life of other species

There is no need for a new revolutionary expansion of the human brain in order to grasp the unprecedented complexities of our human and planetary conditions. We must learn to reorganize our brain and to utilize it better. There is need also to recognize the birth of a global brain of which the UN and its agencies are the nascent core. The dinosaurs died out because their brains were too small. The human species might die too if it does not acquire and nourish a greatly expanded, improved global brain.

The extreme span and diversity of our knowledge is luckily accompanied by an extreme diversity of human capacities and inventions. We have sufficiently diverse talents and professions to deal with the complexity. We have telescopes and space probes to study the universe, satellites to observe our planet, microscopes, picoscopes and bubble chambers to study the infinitely small; we have the necessary computers to store our immense knowledge and make calculations of which our brain would not be capable. For all practical purposes, we have become a new species with tremendously expanded senses, transformative and reactive capacities, and global means of forecasting, action, adaptation and course correction.

The time dimension of human disciplines varies enormously: the exact sciences are generally very future oriented, while the social sciences usually relish with the past and with limited areas. In order to foster the emergence of a global human family and prepare for proper Earth government we need more future oriented social sciences. In particular we need:

a global anthropology

a global philosophy

a global sociology

a global psychology

a global spirituality, etc.

Margaret Mead used to say to her students:

"Go and study the United Nations which is for young anthropologists today what New Guinea was during my youth."

A good comparison is to see the entire history of our planet reduced to the span of one day: the birth of the human race occurs only 5 minutes before midnight, the industrial civilization only at the first strike of twelve, and the environmental crisis at the second strike.

Another view is to see that we have still two long days before us and that the strikes of midnights are in reality opening our global age.

Humanity, like an individual, needs a purpose, dreams, new visions, shores to swim at, peaks to climb. Our next target must be the year 3000.

The study of organic deposits in the ice layers of our Poles has revealed that the last million years were divided between ice ages of about 100,000 years and warm periods of 20,000 years. The question now arises: are we entering a period of accelerating warming due to our activities or are we coming to the end of the current warm period and heading towards a new ice age? In the series of world conferences convened by the UN for a better knowledge of Planet Earth, the first world climate conferences in history met 1979, 1982 and 1989. Opinions were divided among scientists, but a world-wide climate watch and study program was agreed upon. The most vivid proof of human optimism is that means for avoiding a warming up of the planet and techniques for the avoidance of a new ice age are being considered, for example reflection of solar heat by satellite and spraying ice masses with heat-absorbing carbon black! Imagine! A species ready to change the geophysical course of a planet! We are really a tremendous race in the universe! God may even have some admiration for us.

To believe in the future is the best contribution to humanity's progress. No one should ever commit the sin not to believe in the success of the human species. It is the most inhuman, damaging error.

A Hindu UN colleague kept telling me that I was in the hands and power of a Hindu Goddess who had a special fate in store for me. Each time we met, he had an allegory ready. For instance:

"A Chinese emperor assembled his wisest philosophers on top of a mountain to agree on a single sentence that would contain the ultimate wisdom of life. After several days they gave him this answer:

"Everything has an end."

My colleague was watching me intently with his deep, dark, mysterious eyes. My mind caught his challenge and I answered:

"They were wrong, utterly wrong. The idea of a beginning and of an end is a very poor human concept derived from our limited senses. The notions of beginning and end are even more incomprehensible than those of eternity and infinity. There is no end. There is only a change of worlds. If one sentence could encompass the incredible mystery of life, I would say:

"Thank You, O God, for the astonishing miracle of life."

His eyes brightened up and he seemed satisfied.

Human history so far has been a rather primitive history. Only now, with planet-wide knowledge and consciousness, can we cope with the real challenges to our species: the proper management of our planet, the global age, the planetary age. That global story began with the birth of the United Nations and its specialized agencies, the first world conferences on outer space, population, the environment, water, energy, habitat, the deserts, the seas and oceans, the climate, the children, youth, women, the aging, the handicapped, etc.

History is the recording of a journey through time. Nations hold the forefront and monopolize the word: national history is the only history taught in schools. Neglected are: the history of the universe, of our solar system, of our globe, of humanity, of world organizations, of continent, bioregions or regions, of cities, of village, of families and individuals. Local history and world history are the worst off. The national histories of 189 nations are all pervasive. There must be a revolution, the introduction of a rational logic in the concepts and teaching of history, of the time frame in which we evolve.

Our life-long learning and search must have a reason. Is it for ourselves? Partly yes, but largely no, for we will die. So it must be to enrich humanity and its future journey. My life makes therefore sense only as part of the total flow of human life through time. I am part of the whole flow. Perhaps we do not even die: we simply go through a special life form, the human form.

This planet perhaps needed a bloodstream, a nervous system, a brain, a heart and a soul in order to become fully conscious of itself. So it developed the human species. It took only a short evolutionary period of a million years for humans to reach the stage when today we can perform these tasks. But we must realize that we are not performing them for ourselves but for the Earth, as integral parts of the Earth and of the universe.

Since the Earth is part of the universe and is made of cosmic matter and energy, we humans are living cosmic units driven forward to incessant further cosmic consciousness and responsibility. We are co-Creators in the evolution of this planet and of the universe.

Once when I delivered a speech, a man put in front of me a cosmic clock which showed the speed at which the Earth was rotating around itself, around the sun and around our galactic center. When I finished speaking, I could see the millions of miles covered by our little globe during my speech! Such clocks should be available in every home, in every meeting and on the desk of every head of state.

Suppose the universe is producing innumerable stars - like a tree produces innumerable seeds, like a fish lays innumerable eggs - and heats innumerable planets for billions of years until one of them produces a miracle: life, matter and energy become life of ever more complex and marvelous forms! What a responsibility that would mean for us! What a change of politics, attitudes and values it would demand!

I am part of a vast interdependent flow, from the I through the family, the group, the nation, humanity and the globe to the heavens and universe. Pantha rhei as the Greeks said: i.e. everything flows. I, my family, my group, my nation, humanity, the globe, the heavens and the universe, everything is interdependent and flows in the eternal stream of time.

Each day is a self-contained unit of eternity. Use it preciously and with utmost care. Every moment is great, for it is part of a precious cosmic journey.

A 13 year old girl of a Robert Muller School wrote:

"We should study the mistakes we made in the past.

We should correct our current mistakes.

We should prevent mistakes in the future and prepare a better world."

What a wonderful concept of history this is: history as the study of our mistakes! Few are the historians who have conceived it in such a useful way!

The great Renaissances in human history were all due to fundamental new advances in human understanding and consciousness of the mysteries of life and of the universe: the Greek Renaissance was due to the discovery of the power of the mind. The Renaissance after the Middle Ages was due to science and the spread of discovery and knowledge. Today's Renaissance will be due to the grandiose framework of our knowledge of the universe, from the infinitely large to the infinitely small, of our planetary home in all its aspects, of the entire human race down to the miracle of individual life, from the remotest past to the most distant future. It will be the birth, the flowering of a tremendous global, cosmic, transcendental, spiritual age.

The philosopher Leibniz predicted that humanity would be so thrilled by the power of science that humans would dissect and analyze reality for centuries, with endless excitement, but that there would come a time when the complexities of our discoveries would be such that a renaissance of universal, global thinking would arise. We have reached that stage when all our knowledge must be put in good order, in a comprehensive all-including framework which shows the sense and directions of our further evolution and behavior on this planet. In the Universities it is called the need for an "interdisciplinary" or "interdependent" or "holistic" approach.

Once I met an expert who had been hired by a big foundation to evaluate the UN's first world conference on the environment held in Stockholm in 1972. He stopped me and said: "Robert, you will be interested in my conclusion, the environment is basically a spiritual issue."

He saw surprise written on my face and continued: "Yes. If a businessman or a politician takes a decision thinking only of its effects during his lifetime he will not care about the environment. But if he thinks of the effects on his children, grandchildren and future generations, he will care for it. It is therefore a spiritual question."

If you called the 189 heads of state of this planet and asked them what the world population will be in the year 2025 or 2050, probably not one would know the answer. They might not even know the figure for their own country. And yet, it is one of the most crucial factors for the future of their nation and of the world. It is high time that we change our outlook, that we futurize it.

The majority of politicians of tomorrow should be biologists, no longer lawyers and economists.

From the mail I receive, from the articles and books I read, from conferences I attend, from UN debates and documentation, I have the definite impression that the whole human species is now engaged collectively in seeking its meaning and ways on this planet in the universe. From individual seeking we are passing to collective seeking. It is a fantastic, unprecedented new page of history. From a pessimistic young man after World War II when I entered the UN I have become an optimistic believer in the success and fulfillment of the human species.

MY DREAM 3000

ANNEX

Proposals for a Strategy of Concerns for the Future

Objective: how is the future dealt with and treated by those who govern, guide or deeply influence the future of the world and humanity?

These are:

national, provincial and local governments

heads of states

parliaments

business, especially big business, the multinationals and world corporations

the military

scientists, mostly employed by governments, business, the military and universities

universities and education

the media and advertisement

religions, many international, with cosmic views and millions of followers

international organizations

world organizations

continental organizations (e.g. the European Union)

regional organizations

world non-governmental, peoples' organizations

A major first step would be to survey to what extent and how the future is being considered and dealt with or not by these main actors. It would be a vast project but it seems essential to consider it. Examples: the UN University or the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) could produce a survey of how the future is dealt with in the United Nations, by its 32 specialized agencies, world programs, and regional Commissions. The Union of International Associations in Brussels could make a survey of the international non-governmental organizations which deal with the future. The United Religions Initiative could make a survey of how the future is treated in the world's religions. The same for universities, etc. projects like that could be financed with grants from the Foundation for the Future.

The above actors should take organizational steps. For example, the UN should create a Main Commission of the Future as part of the General Assembly, or a World Council of the Future or an entire new specialized agency. All governments should create Ministries of the Future, universities Departments of the Future. The US Vice-presidency for Global Affairs could become a Vice-presidency for Global Affairs and the Future, an example to be followed by other countries. One major regional organization, the European Union has a Commissioner for the Future, an example to be followed by other regional organizations.

The result would be a quantum leap into concern about the future and might save us from major future disasters.

Three fundamental elements must be remembered when dealing with the future and its treatment in the current human society:

1. the conclusion of astrophysicist Eric Chaisson and Nobel Prize winner biologist Christian de Duve that we have reached a point of evolution when new values, a new wisdom are needed on this planet if evolution is to continue. This must be learned and accepted by the above actors, and implemented by them in their constituencies;

2. institutions are a major factor of world government and further evolution. Alas, they are generally closed to change and to adaptation to new requirements of evolution. They resist the creation of new institutions or institutional reforms which would make them lose their power. How can that obstacle be surmounted?

3. people often act only when compelled by legislation (e.g., to pay taxes). The 1997 special UN General Assembly revealed that almost the entire recommendations of the second world conference on the environment in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the famous Rio Agenda 21, were not implemented by governments! Further evolution of our planet might be seriously impaired as a result of non-coercive implementation through national and world laws.

Volume I

Chapter 5

The Miracle of Individual Life

What a miracle it is just to be alive! How we will regret to have underestimated it, when we die!

What a stupendous happening it is in the universe when on a tiny planet of rocks and water, innumerable species' can see, hear, walk, fly, swim, sing, build, and that one of them has been able to transform itself into a new species by multiplying:

- the power of its hands through incredible machines and factories;

- the distance of its legs through boats, trains, cars, airplanes and space vessels;

- the range of its eyesight through telescopes, television, microscopes and atomic bubble chambers;

- the range of its hearing through telephone, radio, sonars and satellites;

- the capacity of its mind, memory and imagination through electronic brains and computers.

We must be proud to belong to that species and through right knowledge and behavior be worthy of the privilege of living on that planet and of not impairing its future.

It is amazing how little humans are aware of the incredible phenomenon they are in the universe, of how great human life is, of what wonders their lives can be. This planet must be governed so that each individual human life can be a miracle, a work of art. Each human must be taught and helped to be the artisan and artist of his miraculous life.

A fourth framework produced by the UN for a better understanding of our place and role in the universe is this:

The miracle of individual human life

- good physical lives

knowledge and care of the body

the human ability to see, to hear, to observe,

to create, to do, to use well and expand all our

senses and physical abilities

- good mental lives

knowledge

the ability to question, to think, to imagine, to dream, to analyze, to synthesize, to conclude, to decide

to communicate

the ability to focus from the infinitely

large to the infinitely small, from the distant past and present to the future

- good moral lives

the ability to love

the human needs for truth, understanding, liberty, reverence for life, compassion and altruism

- good spiritual lives

spiritual exercises of interiority,

meditation, prayer, and communion with the universe, eternity and God.

Again the UN and its agencies are actively working and cooperating on all these aspects of human life, the lead agencies being:

On individual life in general

On good physical lives and well being

On good mental lives

On good moral lives

On good spiritual lives

The UN

UN, FAO, WHO

UN, UNESCO

Human medicine thinks it has done a miracle when it is able to repair a malfunctioning of our body. But what an infinitely greater miracle it was to create that body with its 30 trillion constantly renewed cells, all working harmoniously together in a stupendous variety of organs and automatic functions!

If we were to command our heart to beat every second, our lungs to breathe, our brain to interpret the millions of bits of information received by our eyes and ears, we would get crazy and die within minutes. But all this, and much more, functions during a whole life automatically, without our intervention. What an infinity of miracles our body consists of! Just think that during 75 years - the longevity in the rich countries - a heart beats 3 billion times! What an extraordinary, faithful life servant this is!

Every day we should thank our body, our cells, our eyes, our ears, our heart, our hands, our brain, our lungs, our legs, our stomach, our bowels and all other organs for serving us so well, so faithfully and so long. We should ask them for forgiveness when we mistreat them, poison them with drugs, tobacco and alcohol, risk them and do not love them dearly enough.

There is not a moment in life when we cannot learn something, see a new wonder of Creation, have an unexpected thought, be thrilled by the profusing beauty of our Mother Earth. We should be constantly all smiles, open eyes, open minds, open hearts, and drink avidly from the marvelous waters and sights of life.

My aim is to live a wholesome, happy very long life and to belong, body, heart, mind and soul to the wholeness of Creation.

From a reader:

"Your book Most of All, They Taught Me Happiness puzzles me more and more. Every evening I read or reread a chapter and each time I discover a new truth. I now find myself being grateful for every day of my life and thanking God for that extraordinarily precious gift. I had never done this before. I have learned more from your book than from my Ph.D. in philosophy."

Human life is a many-sided marvel. Our little cosmic unit reaches out into every possible direction: the past, the present, the future, the small, the infinitely large, the above and the below, the most immediate events, objects, persons, feelings and thoughts, and the entire planet and human family. We seem to contain the nuclei of the entire universe and time. And yet our little, intensively packed cosmos has difficulty to understand itself, the mystery of life, Creation and evolution! Could full self-knowledge be a built-in "limitation" of the infinite, eternal reality? Might Paradise simply be to feel, to enjoy, to be happy, to let flow and not try to analyze and understand the miracle of life?

I can love my life without understanding why,

like a mother loves heavenly her child

And my life will love me simply for loving it.

We still seem to be at the point when the serpent said to Eve:

"God knows that from the day you eat from that tree, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be gods, knowing good and evil."

After Adam and Eve ate from the tree, their eyes opened and they knew that they were naked.

They hid and when God found them, He asked them this momentous question: "Who told you that you were naked?"

From that consciousness on we were challenged to organize our own paradise, to manage the Earth and to try to become like God. We are still trying.

No other animal or life form knows that it is naked.

I often feel that my life is a lamp: a temporary container filled with light, a flow of energy, condensed and held together for a while in a mysterious, marvelous living cosmos linked with the rest of the Earth and the heavens through material, touchable, and immaterial, invisible ties. Someday the lamp will extinguish. The material elements will be reabsorbed and reborn by Mother Earth in her flows of life and energy. The immaterial elements will return to a universal pool to be reborn in other forms on this planet or elsewhere in the universe. My light will shine brightest, longest and happily if I take good care both of my material and immaterial forms, i.e. my body, my mind, my heart and my soul.

Seen in the context of the four infinites, human life becomes a tremendous privilege, a gift, a miracle of the highest order in the universe. The Hindus are probably right when they say that we must be good people in order not to fall back into darkness or into lower life forms endowed with dimmer perceptions. This truth is dawning ever more clearly upon us. It should receive a modern, scientific formulation and be part of education.

I often feel that our four qualities go in pairs: body and mind are close relatives, and so are heart and soul. The mind seems to be more at the service of the body while the heart seems to be mostly nurturing the soul.

Each individual should be considered sacred until proven contrary.

When we cry the loss of a dear one, we bemoan above all the loss of life. Hence life must be something incredibly valuable, to judge from our grief. But why wait until death to recognize the miracle of life?

At the end of my French novel, Sima Mon Amour, I wish that the following be inscribed on my tomb:

"O you who passes by, I beg you: love your life with passion, embrace it with fervor, cherish every moment of it, do not lose any of it, for it is an astounding miracle. Contemplate the blue sky and the passing clouds, your human companions, your sisters the flowers, your friends the animals. Be drunk with sunshine and starshine. Be convinced that this Earth is paradise.

Here rests under some soil from various lands he loved, a body who was inhabited by the miracle of life. I would give a thousand years of my death for a brief ray of light, for a flower touched by my hands, for a kiss of my beloved one, for a smile of my child...

O humans who are still alive, do not lose your precious time in sterile wars, in useless hatred, in mediocre ambitions. Ceaselessly love life, your enchanted planet, God and the universe. They are incredible treasures. Love with passion the miraculous world which surrounds you. Here where I am, a few feet from you, there is only darkness."

Life, life, life, o God-given life, how I love you, how I am in passion with you!

My schoolfriends used to laugh at me when I said: "Das Leben is g–ttlich", "Life is divine". Today after a half a century of living all over the globe, through war and peace, I still hold that view, more firmly than ever and proclaim that life is godlike, is divine.

In the end, we must be concerned not with materialism or spirituality, religion or atheism, capitalism or communism, nationalism or internationalism, individualism or altruism, but with the immensely more profound question: what do these vast, stupendous mysteries around us mean, what is the purpose of life, why do we live and die, what sense does it make, what is our ultimate reason for being, how can we enjoy and fulfill our extraordinary gift of life instead of believing, doing, learning, reading and coveting what a few privileged, often misguided individuals tell us or sell us to do?

The human journey on this planet in the universe is so fabulous that no one should ever tarnish it with hatred, injustice, falsehood, harming and unhappiness. Such a story commands unlimited respect, thanksgiving, wonder and joy. Wars and violence have no place on miraculous planet Earth.

Never commit the mortal sin not to believe in life, not to love passionately the incredible miracle it is.

The first thing we see when we meet another human being is that he is alive. Those who are sick and dying are out of sight in their homes or in hospitals, and those who are dead have been removed. Hence the supreme value for humans is life itself, not youth, not beauty, not intelligence, not prosperity. A poor, old, ugly living human has an immense advantage over a dead child, a dead beautiful woman, a dead wealthy, powerful man: he is alive.

Therefore, the great truth for us is not "I think, therefore I am", but "I live, therefore I am." "To be or not to be, that is the question."

Many indigenous people of the world greet each other with the words: "I am happy that you are alive." What a great, meaningful greeting this is!

In Latin America one is greeted in the morning with the words: Como amaneciÛ? How did you wake up? I always answer: AmanecÌ! I woke up. That alone is vital.

The first and greatest commandment on planet Earth should be:

"Thou shall not kill, not even in the name of a nation nor a religion, nor anyone else."

War and its killing tools must be totally eliminated from this planet. Under no circumstance can they ever be justified, for they are against the sanctity, the miracle, the uniqueness of individual human life. All problems and conflicts on this planet must be solved by peaceful means and methods. Any other ways which harm or kill human lives must be declared inhuman and outlawed. There can be no excuse.

From a reader:

"My husband has found your thought that each individual is "unique" and unrepeatable quite rewarding. He now sees something good in every person he meets."

Life is divine. Period.

And this planet must be governed so that each individual life can be divine.

O God, what means the breathtaking, fathomless mystery of life? Please tell us.

What an incredible miracle I see in every human being! I can observe them with endless fascination, especially when they are kind, smiling and beautiful!

What an endless, delicate, complex miracle life is! We will never be able to fathom its depth. But we must never cease to try, to be astonished and to be in deep love with it.

I cannot thank God enough for His miraculous gift of my eyes through which the minuscule creature I am can see the stars, the heavens and our beautiful Mother Earth! How lucky we are!

We must let the best flower in each individual.

It would have been wrong to make of Jesus a lawyer or an economist.

Thank You, O God for having allowed me to write Most of All, They Taught Me Happiness, were it only for engendering this beautiful sentence by Norman Cousins in the preface:

"The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die in us while we live."

Having found it, I would like to help others to see the incredible beauty and meaning of human life.

How strange that not many people are interested in the most stupendous, most miraculous, most unique, most fascinating treasure on Earth: their own life and being. Try to understand your physical, mental, sentimental, spiritual and total life, and you will be astonished beyond belief. This should be taught in all schools of the world as it is in the schools which bear my name.

Life is our most precious gift, treasure, capital, belonging, wealth, stock, worth, asset, jewel, miracle, etc. Nothing can equal it.

I do not want life to have a meaning, I know that it has a meaning, a tremendous one!

I love the Hindu concept of Trilokonath: one who is able to live on three planes - the plane of inner life, of outer life and the life above, the heavenly, cosmic, angelic or spiritual life. This is the cosmic, divine characteristic of us humans: we can aggrandize ourselves from our inner and daily life to the totality of humanity, of the planet, of the universe and of infinity. It applies to any group which has an inner, an outer and a spiritual, cosmic life. To participate in these lives aggrandizes our own personal lives.

I similarly love the Hindu concept of Trikaldarshi: one who is able to live in the past, in the present and in the future.

Humans are the only species which can do that.

We are very advanced cosmic beings: we try to comprehend the time dimension of the universe through paleontology, archaeology, history, current knowledge and futurology. Each human group tends to do that from the individual family to humanity. As a cosmic unit of perception, I can derive much happiness from my own trikaldarshism as well as from the trikaldarshism of the human society.

The human being is a tremendous multi-oriented miracle:

we can be inward-looking

- people-oriented

- nature-oriented

- heaven-oriented

- past-oriented

- present-oriented

- future-oriented

No human-made robot will ever match the multi-capacities of a living human being.

President Franklin Roosevelt used to place memorabilia on his desk to remind him of happy events and people. He changed them once in a while in order to broaden and diversify his sources of happiness and inspiration. I did the same at the United Nations, adding also objects which reminded me why I was there. Among these was a picture of me as a young underground fighter in France and a German helmet pierced with bullet holes from World War II. Gandhi recommended to Indian officials to have on their desk the picture of the poorest person they ever saw to remind them of their duties. Every human person can do that. I do it at the University for Peace. Many display pictures of their loved ones.

We should be happy to be born at a time when we know so much and live longer than at any time before.

No one can conquer the world. But you can conquer yourself and make a masterpiece of your life. Take this as your objective and you will find untold unhappiness.

A human being is something so miraculous, so well-built, so extraordinary, so incredible, that God or evolution or the cosmos must have had a special reason and design for creating us. To find that reason should be our main concern and research if we are to progress in our cosmic, ascending journey. Yes, what is our ultimate reason in the universe?

At the core of each human being there is a power house, a center of command, a chip of cosmic memory, a genetic bank which judges all our actions, successes and errors in trying to be fully human, i.e. to fulfill the cosmic function for which we were born on this planet in the universe.

In the end, each human being is therefore the judge of his or her own actions and an interpreter of God's or the universe's will.

Never come up with the excuse that someone else is greater than you and that you cannot be like him or her. Be fully what you desire to be and you will be it. The results will astonish you.

I am incredibly egotistic: I want to be the happiest, most fulfilled, optimistic human being on Earth. To achieve that, I open myself to everything around me, to every happening, to every encounter. My total, global, universal outreaches enrich me to an incredible degree. It is with enrichment of life as it is with enrichment of wealth: you must seek it wide and far and let it in.

When I do not like the present, I dream of a beautiful event of the past or of a brighter future.

When I do not like the world, I think of the heavens.

When I do not like my body, I think of my soul.

Even in the worst circumstances one can at least try to find happiness. Arrested by the Gestapo and thrown into a cell filled with prisoners, unable to sit or to lie on the floor, I moved towards the door and with a pencil wrote on it a love scene on top of a mountain with a beautiful girl, view and the freshest air in the world. My body was in the prison, but not my mind and my heart: they were outside, in heaven.

There is a world of food out there. We eat, digest and transform it. There is a world of sights out there. We see, digest and transform them. There is a world of ideas and values out there. We take, digest and transform them. We are both external and internal beings. We are part of everything and at the same time incredibly distinct. What a marvelous unique, sacred creation each human person is!

Always go home to yourself, the way a tourist returns home after visiting the world. We are all tourists of life. We need to go home to ourselves every evening.

Do not admire me. Do not consider me great, for it would mean an abandonment of your own greatness. You are great. You are a miracle. You are a divine cosmos. Never have any inferiority complex towards others. I only want to show you the path, not to be admired. If you admire me, you defeat my purpose. Be yourself, respect yourself, cultivate yourself, validate yourself. This will be your best way of thanking me for my innumerable writings, speeches and actions..

Every human being is unique and precious. My father the hatmaker was as precious as Jesus, Mozart and Shakespeare. This is what Jesus, Mozart and Shakespeare were trying to tell us!

To be alive! What wonders, what riches we can extract from the mere fact of being alive! No wealth on Earth can ever match the worth of a single human life.

Do not concentrate on your little woes and worries. See the beauty and uniqueness of your miraculous being. Little imperfections and accidents are your safeguards.

How marvelous human perceptions are! I think of you and forthwith I am with you.

My fundamental, most sacred allegiance is not to a nation, to an ideology, to a religion, but to life itself. As long as all humans do not follow this rule, there will be no peace on Earth.

All humans are equally important. The extra capacities of geniuses are no more than small bushes on a mountain.

We have all limits and unlimits. Our nature is both limited and unlimited. Observe and utilize well both realities of your astonishing being.

What is your greatest treasure? Most people will answer: "to be in good health, to have a good family, to be well-off, etc. Yes, but the first answer should be: to be alive."

Each of us is a crossroads of eternity and of infinity.

Each of us is a creator of eternity and of infinity.

No human words will ever be able to express the real meaning and greatness of life!

Truth cannot be found outside of a human person. It is deeply enfleshed in our being. Know thyself and you will find truth, fulfillment and happiness.

All great projects begin with one single person with one thought, with one idea. From that person, vibrations will reach out to like-minded people in the world. The individual person is the alpha and omega of all great changes on Earth.

What is the most fascinating thing on Earth?

My own life.

All external things are fascinating only inasmuch as I see them as such.

My own life, my own functioning, my own complexity, my own capacity to think, to dream, to imagine, to love, to act, those are for me the most fascinating things on Earth: I, a microcosm of the universe.

Dear philosopher Descartes,

I believe that I am infinitely more than what you thought when you said "I think, therefore I am". In my opinion.

I breathe, therefore I am

I see, therefore I am

I hear, therefore I am

I think, therefore I am

I love, therefore I am

I feel, therefore I am.

Of course, you might return:

"You thought everything you just said. Therefore I am right after all!" No, you are not right, because when I breathe, when I see, when I hear, when I love, when I feel I do not necessarily think.

What a tremendous amount of potential life, what an intensity of feelings, what a power of thought and imagination there can be in one single human being! Please, dear reader, do not miss to explore the wealth, the miracle, the divine work of art you are.

If human beings probed the power of their imagination, they would be endlessly astonished.

Everything has been lived, everything has been thought, everything has been dreamt, everything has been felt, everything has been said, but the great art of living is to live it all over again, to think it again, to dream it again, to feel it again, to say it again yourself. Each human being repeats the entire story of the universe. And while we are all fundamentally the same, we are each unique and forever unrepeatable. This is one of the beauties of Creation.

God has placed us on this planet to take good care of it and to chant the miracle, the glory of life.

Decide to be a Miracle....

Open yourself widely

To God

To the Universe

To humanity

To all your brethren and sisters

To your vast inner life.

Open your mind

Open your heart

Open your soul

Open all your being and senses

To the greatness of Creation

To the beauty of the Earth

To the potential of the human race

To the riches of your inner self

And you will become the Universe

You will become Creation

You will become the Earth

You will become humanity

You will become infinity

You will be at long last your real,

divine, miraculous, intended self.

Volume I

Chapter 6

I and Creation

To count the grains of all the sands of our planet would yield an infinite number.

To count the drops of water of all the seas and oceans would give an infinite number.

To count all the molecules of the Earth's atmosphere would yield an infinite number.

To count all the atoms of the sands, water, air, rocks, plants and beings of our planet would produce an infinite number,

And yet, in the infinite universe, our planet is only a small mass of matter.

And yet, on this small planet, humans feel, love, dream, think and act as cosmic, divine beings.

And yet, as all those billions of fellow humans I am unique and unrepeatable, a world or cosmos of my own linked with all there is in the heavens and on Earth.

And the greatest marvel is that I could understand and write what I just wrote!

To live one's life optimally is the road to happiness and God. This entails optimum physical, mental, sentimental and spiritual lives. It also means optimizing one's life over time: to live a long life, to learn during all one's life, to love at every age, to seek God and a perfect union with the universe at all times.

If you feel lost in life, put your arms around a tree, hug it, talk to it, and you will feel the reassuring energy of the universe.

When I was a little boy I had a sense of wonder at the miracle of life and at the Creation around me.

Then I was taught to hate other nations, I knew war and the horrors done by men to God's Creation and to others.

Then God led me to the United Nations and I learned to love the entire Earth and all humanity.

I ended where I started: I considered life to be divine and I regained my sense of wonder at the whole Creation.

A Catholic sister once explained to me why I had become a spiritual person at the United Nations:

"You were at the crossroads of all nations, at a center of the universal. You discovered that, you lived it and you became a universal, spiritual being. You had been cut from this source by your previous education and more limited interests."

This remark could be valid for many human beings. Perhaps the ultimate role of the United Nations will be to transform all humans into fulfilled members of a universal, cooperative, loving, fulfilled spiritual family.

We must admire life and Creation with the wondering eyes of a child.

I once said to a Trappist monk:

"I often feel that my education programmed me wrongly about the meaning of life and my place in the universe. It took me many years at the United Nations to "deprogram" myself of my national educations in France, Germany and the US and discover that all that really counts are the world, humanity, one's family and the individual human being."

He commented:

"And then you found enlightenment"

"Yes, this is what I felt. Everything fell into place. Soon thereafter I also learned to see myself constantly as part of total Creation and time, and I experienced an even higher enlightenment which I am tempted to call "Cosmic consciousness."

He commented:

"And then you found God."

"Yes. I found Him again."

We should not tighten ourselves and be full of barriers and obstacles. We should open ourselves vastly and serenely to the great streams of life and of the universe. They are so wonderful.

I sometimes feel that there are flocks of mysterious, invisible forces, unemployed saints and ancestors floating around this Earth. They would like to help us but they cannot if we are closed to them. When they find someone like me who is wide open, they stream into us and create all kinds of wonderful circumstances, coincidences and sometimes even miracles. Hence the importance of prayer which opens us to them. Then God, the invisible forces, the saints, the angels and our ancestors are happy and can work with us and for us.

The most beautiful question a human can ask himself is: "How can I be of service to Creation, a carer of it, a lover of it?"

There is need for a science and art called "individual cosmology". Each individual being a unique cosmic unit, there is indeed need for a "personal cosmology or art of living".

It is usually at dawn, when I write, dream, watch the sunrise and am alone with myself that I feel closest to God.

Happiness in solitude and in good actions: the two most direct communications with God.

How wonderful it is to be able to say in the evening before closing one's eyes that one has been a good, kind, just and happy person during the day, helping to fulfill the divine or cosmic designs for humanity on this miraculous planet.

One of the great lessons I have learned from my religion is to make an examination of conscience, a daily balance sheet of good and bad every evening before going to sleep. It is a practice which should be followed by all religions and peoples of the Earth and made part of the new global, world-wide spirituality. It is a subject which the United Religions Initiative created after the second World Parliament of Religions should place on its agenda.

How wonderful it is to be able to say at the moment of death that one has been a good, honest, just and kind person during one's life, helping to improve the human condition and preserve our beautiful Earth. As we proceed on the trail of life, we should often visualize this very last moment of reckoning, of total review of our passage on Earth as one of her and God's children. And then why not consider leaving this earthly incarnation with a smiling face?

The greatness of life depends on our capacity to expand our mind and heart to the entire world, to all peoples, to the infinite universe and to eternity. Humans are so lucky, compared with animals: we can extend ourselves to the godhead, we can lift our eyes and hearts to the heavens.

As a member of the human family and a beneficiary of the miracle of life, it is my duty to be peaceful, good, just, kind, generous and cheerful in order to contribute to the peace, goodness, justice, kindness, generosity and happiness of the whole human family. The more numerous we are to do that, the better the world will be. Under no circumstance must we allow a different attitude by others to deter us from our determination. Virtue and action begin with the self. Humanity cannot be miraculously different from its billions of members for it is the sum total of our virtues and actions.

A Sister wrote me:

"I am constantly in awe and amazement as to how God speaks to people. Each person is uniquely communicated with in their own particular way of understanding."

How right she is! Each human being is a unique manifestation of the miracle of life, an expression of divinity, a co-worker of Creation in her marvelous endless living and changing forms. The worker communicates with God through the work of his hands, the mother with her love for her family, the intellectual with the work of his mind, the monk and nun through prayer and contemplation. There is not one, but a myriad of ways of communicating with God. And each is unique while being branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds of the same tree.

God in His endlessly diversified Creation, the universe and the Earth,

The Father and His children

Humanity and each individual miraculous person

The great law of the universe:

UNITY IN DIVERSITY

We can see more clearly if we learn to look through the eyes of others. To espouse the lives and feelings of others is to live many lives and to immensely enrich one's own. I have been privileged to do this innumerable times in my encounters and work at the United Nations.

When I look at the head of a little bird, of a dog or a cat, I thank God for having given me a human brain which can encompass so much of the universe. But then I think that the human head is still so tiny that it can understand only an infinitesimal part of the stupendous, infinite Creation. O God, what is your "real reality", out there, beyond the limits of our human comprehension?

Oh! To be alone in nature in the night and to embrace the stars! How many times did I have this privilege from the terrace of our farmhouse on sacred Mt. Rasur in Costa Rica.

In all the infinite twirlings of cosmoses in the universe, I am my own cosmos. From birth to death, from seed to fruit, I must see myself as an unfolding, miraculous cosmos in the infinity of cosmoses evolving in time and in space.

My cosmology is very simple:

I am fascinated by all there is in Creation, from the infinitely large to the infinitely small,

I attempt a total grasp of time, from the past, to the present, to the future,

I seek a total view of our planet,

I seek a total view of the human family,

I seek a total view of the human person, of myself

as part of Creation, space and time,

I place on all that an engine called love

and let my life-boat float eagerly on the cosmic streams of Creation and life.

I feel sometimes like a microbe in a jar, trying to understand the culture and the vessel around me, but unable to grasp the beyonds of the jar! But it is so exciting to try, even if I knock my head everywhere.

Since each of us is unique in the universe, we must spend a good part of our time trying to understand that uniqueness and what the universe expects from us, has in mind for us. It is so exciting and we are often given answers. I receive them constantly.

I look around at the sky, at the people, at a river, at nature, at a city and I am struck by this overwhelming truth: all this seems absolutely and permanently beyond human comprehension. And yet I am determined to try to understand. It is my human duty and nature.

Due to the infinite variation of the physical, mental, affective and spiritual characteristics of each human being there will never be an absolute unity of values on this planet. Life, like the entire universe, is decentralized and diverse down to each individual, to each cell and atom.

This is why the issue of human rights is of such capital importance. In the sky above us and at the entrance of the United Nations, there should be this sign proclaiming our planet's trademark:

UNITY IN DIVERSITY

A whole gamut of allegiances is open to humans: from allegiance to the universe, total Creation of God, to the allegiance to one's self, passing through allegiances to planet Earth, life, the human family, a race, a culture, a language, a religion, a belief, a nation, a province, a company, a city, one's family. There are also most intensive single allegiances, allied multiple, global and cosmic allegiances, as illustrated by Dag Hammarskj–ld and U Thant.

Personally, I believe that our allegiances cannot exclude the universe and eternity, for without them life has not its fullest meaning. I must accept the lessons of my lives in the past, of my ancestors and contribute to my lives in the future, of my children, my descendants. I am doing it fervently in my actions, writings and speeches.

You can never consider yourself precious enough. But precious in a sense of being precious and of service to God, to the Earth and to humanity.

O life, how I love you! I just cannot visualize being interred in ground and darkness, never to see again the heavenly skies, mountains, seas, lakes, forests and beautiful human beings.

The Earth:

"Do not worry. I will resuscitate you in other life forms. Have you forgotten it?"

It pays to reflect on every possible aspect of our mysterious life journey in the universe and on planet Earth. The reward is each time more enlightenment and happiness.

The word Weltanschaung (world view) seemed awesome to me when I was young. Today I consider it insufficient. Humanity and each individual now need:

A Universeanschaung

An Eternityanschaung

A Weltanschaung

A Humanityanschaung and

A Selfanschaung

Einstein tells us that nothing can be faster than the speed of light, namely 300.000 kms per second. He is wrong. My thoughts and my soul are infinitely faster: I can be on a far away galaxy and embrace the starry sky within split seconds. I can also go backward and forward in time, which light cannot.

The only basic problem worth solving in our time is the place and meaning of all humanity and of each human being in Creation. We have doctors to heal people. We need also enlighteners to tell us our meaning. What a great new profession that would be!

Wherever you are, whatever you are, always consider yourself to be a center of the world, which indeed you are. Be at all times the voice and conscience of the Earth and of humanity.

I have two mothers: my natural mother and my Mother Earth.

I have two fathers: my natural father and my Father God.

Many people seek cosmic union through prayer, meditation, yoga or mysticism to see the bright, divine light as a transcendence, as something beyond, "higher", "above". But suppose we see this Earth from another planet "below" and see it as a bright planet manifesting cosmic or divine energy in many life forms? Then our planet would be a transcendence and human life would appear as something superior, "higher", "above", a transcendence. As a matter of fact, heaven is always above us, wherever we are.

I sometimes think that societal thinking and hierarchies should be turned downside up:

on top should be all human individuals, their families and the Earth;

below them should be all the entities created by humans for good or for wrong or for historical reasons: groups, institutions, nations, governments, religions, associations, corporations, international organizations, etc.

This second group should be the servants, the instruments of individuals and families and the Earth. Individuals, families should never be the instruments, the servants of the former, which nowadays alas is all too often the case. And the Earth should not be considered as a mere object good enough only for exploitation by all these institutions.

Try to be such that others will say: "It is nice being on the same planet with you."

Most of the time, I do not feel at all my organs, my cells, my bones, my vessels, my hundreds of internal automatic mechanisms. Sometimes I do not even feel my body. Then my brain seems to be completely detached, separate and independent from my body. I wonder then if my soul or intelligence does not come from another part of the universe and is simply grafted on an Earthian mass of elements.

We must seek four harmonies in life:

the harmony of the body with the elements

the harmony of the mind with reality

the harmony of the heart with Creation

the harmony of the soul with God.

Right human relations are not all: we must also find our right cosmic relations, our relations with God, the universe and eternity.

Each morning when I awake I experience the extreme happiness of being alive. Each day is a resurrection. Each day is a rebirth, an added time to the continuation of the miracle of my life.

The Christ showed us the way: He came from heaven, he returned to heaven and he always spoke of the Father in heaven. He wanted us to know that we are all heavenly, cosmic beings, which indeed we are.

The only true objective of life is to find one's right place and role in Creation.

It is easy to become a hero or a genius: see yourself always as part of the total universe, of the total planet, of total humanity and of eternity. Then you will see and receive your exact place and role in the great design of God.

A human being is always a prisoner of something. The only real freedom is within ourselves. From the inner self we can escape and embrace the entire universe and God. Even imprisoned persons can do that.

The great blessing by Dame Fate was

to place me at the center of world affairs

whence I could observe humanity and the globe

at the precise moment when the human race was becoming one,

the world global, nations interdependent, the people knowledgeable of each other, and our planet visible from outer space as a self-contained miraculous spaceship in the universe.

A human being can spend an entire life studying the nervous system or electronic circuits or world communications. I have spent my life studying everything, feeling everything and loving everything good and beautiful for humanity and for our planet.

O Creation of God, my eyes are blinded by your resplendent beauty!

There is a message in everything on Earth, for everything is the embodiment of divine forces. We are part of, surrounded by a cosmic picture book. We must read it, enjoy it, and constantly learn from it.

Each member of the human race has a little share of the world and a place in it: a region, a family, a culture, a religion, a nation. To grasp the soul of that environment, to give it sense, to cherish it, to make it live, to enhance it, that is the current art of living. If you can relate to the entire world, to the whole human family, to the universe and to God, then you will live a truly divine life on Earth. That will be the new art of living in the 21st century.

I am part, a very important part of the total sensitive web of life on this planet. So is everyone.

I am a simple man who adores to live and is impatient to see a peaceful, happy, fulfilled and grateful humanity living on a well-preserved, miraculous planet.

We are all children of the sun and of the Earth. All our matter comes from the Earth and all our energy from the sun. Perhaps this gives us a clue to our cosmic reason and destiny.

There are moments when the beauty of nature penetrates us, empties us of our self and makes us one with Mother Earth, with Creation. Look intensely at a flower or at the stars and you will feel this oneness.

I am among the first humans who has dealt during an entire adult life with the whole Earth and humanity. This gives me an awesome responsibility. It makes me quite an instrument of God and evolution. There will be millions like me tomorrow. They will judge if some of what I felt, said, wrote, and did was close to the truth, and if some of what I predicted became reality.

"Know thyself". Learn who you are and you will also know why you are.

We are both captives and free agents of the universe, captives of the past and co-workers of the future. This is very exciting.

Who am I? A capacity to grasp the entire Creation, our planet, Mother Earth, humanity and my incredible self. I cannot repeat enough that each human person is a miracle.

Live upward into the infinitely large

Live downward into the infinitely small

Live inward into the mystery of life

Live outward into the breathtaking beauty of Creation

Live backward into the origin and history of everything

Live forward into the evolution of everything

Feel an irrepressible joy at the incredible gift of life.

Harmonize yourself with everything: with your loved ones, with yourself, with planet Earth, with time, with the universe and with God. Untold happiness will be your reward.

Decide to Love All Creation...

To be a living cell

An active center

A cosmic perceptive unit

Of the universe.

Decide to live an optimum physical life

An optimum mental life

An optimum sentimental life

An optimum spiritual life

And to fulfill the purpose for which

you were born.

Live in the past

Live in the present

Live in the future

Live beyond death

Live in the heavens

Live on the planet

Live in yourself

Be in total, joyful union

with the universe

Be in love with God

Be living Creation

a perfect, shining example,

an irradiating light

of the miracle of life.

December 2001 when I was reading a last time the text of Volume I for printing, I received the following text cited at the celebration in Paris of the 20th anniversary of the yearly Peace Education Prize awarded by UNESCO:

Laureate of the 1989 UNESCO Prize for Peace Education: Mr. Robert Muller

"Mr. Robert Muller (France), (1923-), from Alsace-Lorraine, was profoundly marked by the sufferings of his region and by his own experiences during the Second World War. After the war he decided to devote his life to working for peace and to transcend national divisions by a deeply humanistic philosophy similar to that of Albert Schweitzer and Robert Schuman, After forty years of devoted behind-the-scenes work at the United Nations, in 1986 he became Chancellor of the UN University for Peace, Costa Rica. He has inspired and given hope to innumerable people through his actions and idealism and his work has set an example for the young in every nation. He has emerged as one of the great peacemakers of our time."

Thank you, dear God and UNESCO, for this beautiful crowning of my efforts. And since it was in large part my World Core Curriculum for a Global Education which earned me the Prize, I reproduce it below. May it inspire more schools in the world to adopt it, thereby raising schoolchildren who never fight each other, because they are told that they are each of them a miracle and that one miracle does not fight, does not hurt another miracle. On the contrary, being miracles their task is to respect each other, to cooperate and to love each other in order to create a peaceful, happy, wonderful world.

INSERT WORLD FRAMEWORK FOR PLANETARY AND COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS

Books by Dr. Robert Muller

In various languages

English

A Planet of Hope, First edition Amity House,