Quest of the Spirit: From Suffering to Acceptance

5.4 A Cry for Freedom!Asimov,Niebuhr,Lewis,Einstein,Born,Barth, Niebuhr

                                      An Appeal for Forethought, Compassion, and Understanding

Today our world is caught between the need for freedom and the threat of communism! As Einstein said,  "We are caught in a situation in which every citizen of every country, his children, and his life's work, are threatened by the terrible insecurity which reigns in our world today. The progress of technological development has not increased the stability and the welfare of humanity. Because of our inability to solve the problem of international organization, it has actually contributed to the dangers which threaten peace and the very existence of mankind."—Einstein's Open Letter to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

   2.  Although Albert Einstein wrote this message at a different time and under different circumstances, the tone of insecurity, technological failure, and threats to peace equally apply today throughout the Middle East. The US and Allied manpower and technology are involved in many of these areas, where soldiers are fighting. Western technology has yet to produce any lasting form of peace. According to Albert Einstein, "The capitalist drive for economic dominance is the primary source of evil, insecurity and frustration in the world. The desire for physical gratification from hollow materialistic values induces man constantly to seek new forms of emotional fulfillment." Einstein goes on to say, "All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naïve, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life" (Einstein 128). These victims are suffering at the hands of capitalism. As he suggests, "The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers, the members of which are unceasingly in compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production, that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods, may legally be, and for the most part are the private property of individuals" (Einstein 128). Thus, the large corporations are using the law to support their immoral exploitation of the public, when, in reality, the wealth earned by the workers should belong to them. Today people are bombarded with advertisements encouraging them to borrow money at low interest rates, which if unpaid however, soon force the public into indebtedness or bankruptcy that shackles whatever quality of life they may have potentially experienced. Referring to corporate power, Einstein says, "Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological developments and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of the smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population" (Einstein 129). Just as it is today, big government, united with big business, has created a tragic situation in which it is virtually impossible to meet the needs of the poor. Einstein furthermore suggests that public awareness campaigns will also meet with overwhelming opposition. Most of the media itself is owned or controlled by the powerful force of conservatism that belongs to super-corporations that reflect the goals and values of their stockholders. The public faces both a structural and attitudinal barrier. As Einstein suggests, "Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights" (Einstein 129). The quest for competition, he says, is one of the sorest features of a capitalist society. According to Einstein, "Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before." In closing this section entitled "Public Affairs," he says, "This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career" ((Einstein 130). Consequently, just as American society is grooming a younger generation of producers, so are other less developed countries producing a generation of subjects who will forever resent the US for its imperialistic policies. As Einstein suggests in Chapter 38 of his Autobiography, "Therefore, it is essential that the American youth direct their energies to the end that the United States shall take active part in all efforts toward making international order a reality" (Einstein 215). the common interests of mankind, not nation, should come first. As Isaac Asimov suggests, "There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don't come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity."