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people], he sairh, Behold the days
come, sairh the Lord, when I will
make a new covenanr with the house
of Israel ...
1 witl put my laws into
their mind, and write them in their
hearts"
(Hebrews 8:7-10).
That was simply theological lan–
guage explaining how the Sehavioral
problem with the human mind
would be solved. It will cake a divine
source of power available ro roan if he
wanrs
co
rap rhar Source, ro change
the human mind. That Source is not
in man. Ir can be received or tapped
only when man is willing ro acknowl–
edge rhar he has erred by narure .and
is in need of supernatural help.
W bat Is Needed Beyond Law
Speaking of legalism - the ar–
rempt ro legislare human behavior,
Paul says: "The law made nothing
perfecr" (Hebrews 7:18-19). Again,
he is emphasizing rhe obvious. You
cannot legislare good behavior. A
sign may say, "Don't walk on tbe
grass." Bur írs observarion is depen–
denr on the attitude of rhe human
being involved. If he says, " I'll walk
on the grass anyway," rhe law is use–
less and unprofirable.
Perhaps rhe most definirive srare–
menr of what a human being lacks is
found in Paul's book of Romans.
Read ir yourself: "For whar rhe law
could nor do, in rhat it was
weak
through the flesh,
God sending bis
own son in rhe likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh" (Romans 8:3). A few sen–
rences larer, Paul made chis all-encom–
passing srarement about che human
being: "The carnal mind [che human
mind atruned ro a wavelengrh of re–
bellion and disobedience] is enmity
against God: for it is not subject ro
rhe law of God, neither indeed can
be" (Romans 8:7).
This characrerization of che human
mind as being influenced by and/or
contammg a lawless elemenr in ir
should not be consrrued as merely a
theological statemenr about sorne
ethereal sinfulness of man. Ir
is
very
basic and perrinent ro our discussion
34
of the science of behavior. Thar man
tends ro be attuned ro a wavelengrh
of lawless behavior is quite clear from
a cursory Jook ar our world.
Ir
is
filled with crime, juvenile delin–
quency, disrespect for law and sym–
bols of aurhoriry, chearing, srealing,
bate and killing.
Hered iry or Environment -
W h icb?
At this point, sorne may argue,
"Bur we still can't tell whether it is
really rhe sociery or rhe individual
mind which is ar faulr." Ir is not a
question of eirher/or. The evils of
society and the individual human
mind are intimately connected and
both are at fault.
Skinner phrases rhe connection ef–
fectively, "Man himself may be con–
trolled by his environment, bur it is
an
environment which is almost wholly of
his own making..
..
The social envi–
ronment is obviously man-made - it
generares che language a person
speaks, the cusroms he follows, and
rhe behavior he exhibirs wirh respecr
ro rhe ethical, religious, govern–
menral, economic, educacional and
the psychorherapeutic insrirutions
which control him!"
Who, for example, was able ro an–
ticipare rhe consequences of mass mi–
gration ro che ciries wirh rhe acrend–
ant evils of urban deceriorarion, drug
addicrion and crime? We muse be
able ro
anticípate
actions which will
rurn out ro be social catasrrophes.
le
is foolish ro try, for example, to
atrempr ro solve heroin addiction by
substituring rhe use of a synrheric
drug. We musr roday, if ar all pos–
sible, place rhe addict in an enviren–
mene conducive ro a non-addict men–
tality. More imporcandy, rhe addict
himself must acquire and build an ar–
tirude that voluntarily decides to sray
away from heroin. The same system
of arrack musr be used for orher social
and global problems.
Looking for che New Man
We come full circle ro the need
for, as Skinner phrases it , "a cech-
nology of human behavior." To Skin–
ner, there is no such rechnology avail–
able. Yer, if we have eyes ro see, rhere
is such a rechnology.
Ir is a
spirituat
rechnology of man,
derived from direcr conract wi th the
Spirit of God. Ir has been developed
in Phase Two among those individ–
uals who were willing ro
overcome
rheir environmenrs by a change of at–
rirude and of mind. Bur rhac spirirual
cechnology is yec
ro
be applied world–
wide - ro mankind in general.
We now come ro Phase Three of
che uropian experiment discussed in
chis arricle.
Ir
is discussed in che writ–
ings of the prophets who foresaw an
age where a utopian environmenr and
a change in human mind and narure
would be combined. Phase Three
would nor deal wirh only scarrered
individuals in an adverse environmenr
as in Phase Two. It would include
everyone
-
rhe whole of society. A
new world environmenr would be
created as a by-produce.
The Ten Commandments which
defined rhe paramerers of rhar experi–
mental utopian society would no
longer be engraved on srones or
scratched on parchmenr. The Ten
Commandmenrs would be indelibly
etc hed in rhe MINDS of living
humans. Nor as so many words but as
living behavioral conceprs.
This will be che man and rhe
world of che rwenry-first cenrury, rhe
firsr cenruty of rhe World Tomor–
row! It will be a new world - a
world of joy, peace and !ove.
Thar's wha t
The
PLAIN TRUTH is
al! abour and why our broadcasr is
ca lled
The lf/orld Tomorrow.
Thar's
why rhis magazine is without sub–
scripcion price - so that rhe impor–
ranr message of
why
we have prob–
lems and
how
they will be eliminated
can be available ro everyone today.
You can also read abour ir in our free
booklec
The lf/onderfu.! lf/ortd Tomor–
row
-
lf/hat It lf/i/1 Be Like.
Isn't
ü
time we looked into chis
Great Experimenr and asked ourselves
where we fit into ir? •
PlAIN TRUTH
July
1972