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where it was only available to the
wealthy few when they were young.
That is a brief summary of what he
said.
He pointed out severa! of the
ACHlEVEMENTS OF MATERIALISM.
And, as the editor of the magazine
added, they harnessed the atom and
sent men to the moon and back.
Material progress? Yes, assuredly.
And the youth of our Western world
need to realize it. Material PROGRESS,
in itself, may be very beneficia! provided
it is put to right uses.
But material progress, alone and by
itself, is not the source of peace, or
happiness, or abundant well-being. Too
many are too prone to overlook the
other side of the coin.
The retired PRESIDENT EMERJTUS of
this university was speaking especially
to those students who were unapprecia–
tive of the accomplishments of their
elders - who were Jacking in gratitude
- who perhaps regarded the contri–
butions of the two older generations
to human society with disdain -
who probably had been swayed with
the trend of revolt against "The
Establishment."
He was showing them tbat tbe older
generations had striven to provide
something better for today's youth than
they tbemselves had. Perhaps there is no
other sin so common and widespread as
ingrati tude.
Material Progress Isn't Enough
Man is a physical being in a material
world. Man needs and must have mate–
rial things. The preceding three or four
generations have, indeed, made phenom–
enal progress in material advancement
and production. This, in itself, is not
bad, but a great benefit to mankind -
as long as it is put to right and benefi–
cia! uses. But on the other hand, this, in
itself, is not enough.
Because materialism, in itself, is not
The
PLAIN TRUTH
enough, hippies bave assumed it is alto–
gether bad. So they remove themselves
from the materialistic "Establishment"
- but with NO SOLUTIONS of their
own - with nothing better to replace
it. So they seek solace in dirt and filth,
"pot," drugs and sex.
I have said there is something crimi–
nally wroog with modero education
today.
It
has gone wholly materialistic.
I do oot mean that materialism is
wrong. It simply is not enough. And
even though it has had beneficia! results
in much of our Western world, it has
not been enough here, and vast popula–
tions of earth have had little or none of
its benefits.
If
1
might have had the retircd uni–
versity president along with me on my
recent trip around the world, I could
have asked him a few guestions.
1
could
have asked questions about the wide–
spread poverty, ignorance, .filth, disease
and squalor in vast areas of the Middle
East, the Far East and in Southeastern
Asia. Vast areas where degenerate peo–
ple have not advanced but retrogressed.
And these deplorable conditions hold
almost two thirds of all mankind in
their grip.
Material PROGRESS? Oh yes, assur–
edly. But we need to look at the
WHOLE picture. True, we may have less
T. B., smallpox, measles, and mumps.
But what about the scourge of cancer
and heart disease?
T he Modero Messiah
About 150 years ago modero science
decided that humans had now "pro–
gressed" to a point where we might
safely discard our swaddling clothes,
throw away the crutch of religion and
belief in God. Modero science stepped
forth as the modero messiah that would
deliver mankind from all his woes and
evils.
Given sufficient knowledge, they
postulated, and we shall solve all prob–
lems and usher in utopia. The produc–
tion of knowledge was stepped up.
Simultaneously, belief in and reliance
on God relaxed. Revelation was rejected
as a source of knowledge. The instru–
ments of knowledge production were
observation, exploration, experimenta–
tion and human reason. The Biblc was
thrown out the window. The Western
December 1970
world plunged into an era of MATERIAL
PROGRESS.
But as materialism progressed, moral,
spiritual and ethical values relaxed.
And as these values began to disappear,
problems, troubles and evils increased.
Knowledge production and material
progress gradually accelerated, and the
pace of acceleration increased with
World War
1
aod tben
still
faster with,
and after, World War
JI.
We entered the Machine Age. We
were whisked into the Atomic Age and
immediately in its wake the Space Age.
And as materialistic progress speeded
up and knowledge increased, human
problems and evils accelerated apace.
Could there be a connection between
lhe two?
Women wanted emancipation from
drudgery, the borne, and Victorian
prudery. More and more they entered
employment, became economically inde–
pendent of their husbands. Family life
began to deteriorate. Juvenile delin–
quency put in its appearance, and esca–
lated. Crime increased, accelerated. The
divorce cate started an upward spiral,
home life began to fall apart.
Despite medica! progress, the build–
ing of hospitals was gaining momentum
along with most other things. The new
profession of psychiatry entered our
world, and gained momentum - but
the increase of mental illness mounted
until about half of the hospital beds are
occupied with mental patients. Now it
would seem we are coming to need
another new psychological profession to
treat the psydúatrists.
In the decade of the 60's, the world's
total fund of knowledge DOUBLED -
largely in the fields of science, tech–
nology and medicine. But in that same
ten years, the world's troubles and evils
DOUBLED ALSO. On the knowledge pro–
duction front - the universities - stu–
dent revolt appeared and accelerated
into campus riots and violence. The
revolt of youth spread rapidly and the
ccy
"clown with the Establishment"
gained alarming momentum. Campus
morality degenerated into the "NEW
Morality" which is only as "NEW" as
the human race, and as the days of
Noah and of Sodom.
The 70's started off with an acceler–
alion of sky-
j ~cking,
bombing of com-