Two distinctive seasons in our time cycles are marked by the vernal and autumnal equinox with each signalizing the equal lengths of day and night as the sun crosses the equator. A more rare and spectacular occurrence appears when there is a total eclipsed of the sun–obscuring the light from one celestial body by the passage of another between it and the observers between it and its source of illumination.
The vernal equinox that begins each March 21 signalizes Spring, the warming of the earth after the long, cold winter and the rejuvenation of life with all of its innocent beauty. The autumnal equinox is the symbol of the end of the long, hot summer and the beginning of Fall in mid September. These two cycles can also be equated with the second verse of Eccl.: To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted…” harvest time! Time to reap the fruits of what has been planted!
What seeds have been (and continue to be) planted by us–as individuals and a nation? Too frequently we tend to pool these respective strengths to divide ourselves–racially, socially, religiously, economically, fraternally, politically and in any number of other fractions–the biggest problem fanned by the smallest word in the English dictionary-, ego! A primary underlying purpose–to divide and conquer! How else can a chosen few continue to control the masses as the annals of history clearly record?
Infants are easily controlled with childhood fears as was mankind in its infancy. But the adult should be controlled by more progressive, mature tactics–with love as the ultimate underlying determining factor-–love of God, of man or of other deserving objectives.
“Today the earth is an armed camp,” we are reminded in a pamphlet entitled Beyond National Sovereignty. Expenses for weapons and new war technology strain national budgets, regional wars continue to erupt into wider conflicts while the ominous shadow of global nuclear war raises doubts about humanity’s survival! Even if the superpowers are able to maintain their delicate stalemate, the proliferation of neuclear weapons to other nations enhances the potential for unimaginable disaster!
The spread of terrorism redefines war, disrupting social stability. How does a nation strike back when the enemy is not another nation but a formless group that blends into the population? These and other crises require solutions the present order cannot provide!
“The winds of despair are alas blowing from every direction and the strife that divideth and afflicteth the human race is daily increasing. The signs of convulsion and chaos can now be more clearly discerned inasmuch as the prevailing order increasingly appears to be lamentably defective!”
“America the Beautiful!” How long can we continue to press on with deliberate speed, sowing seeds and issuing threats of war, inevitably agitating hate and destruction? With harvest time approaching, what will inevitably be our harvest?”
