WATCHTOWER QUOTE RE UN NGOs NAILS THEIR OWN ASSES! (page 5)

stocwach

How ironic also that the Watchtower has to make a comment that religious leaders have even visited the UN facilities, as if it is a disgusting act. Of course then we all know that the Society has no problem making the UN part of the Bethel tour!! (Maybe any JW "religious leaders" are prohibited from visiting, which then makes it ok!) LOL

MadApostate

Thanks to the person who emailed this to me privately. (Evidently, they don't want to be known as a poster to a thread started by me.)

This is the complete "work" by Robert Muller, but the source document has yet to be confirmed. However, it may come from Muller's 1982 book, "New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality". It is also "thought" that this article may have been a revised version of a speech that Muller delivered in 1977/8, when as Secretary of ECOSOC, he spoke at the 20th Anniversary of the U.N. Meditation Room.

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PRAYER AND MEDITATION AT THE UNITED NATIONS

Robert Muller

Prayer, meditation and spirituality at the UN are fascinating subjects. All major world religions are accredited to the United Nations as non-governmental organizations. For example, no less than twenty-four Catholic organizations are represented at the UN. Several of the world's religious leaders have visited the international organization. Most memorable were the visits of His Holiness Pope Paul VI during the General Assembly in 1965 and of Pope John Paul II in 1979. Many religions have special invocations, prayers, hymns and services for the United Nations. The most important examples are those of the Catholic, the Unitarian-Universalist, the Baptist and the Bahai faiths. It is a common practice of the Unitarian-Universalists to display the United Nations flag in their houses of worship. So does the Holy Family Church, the parish church of the UN, with its international reliquary and its many religious services and activities catering to world peace and to the international community.

When it comes to the United Nations proper, one can obviously not say that it is a spiritual organization. How could it be otherwise? For the UN is the creation and mirror of governments, most of whom have "secularized" themselves, i.e., separated spirituality from their daily lives and preoccupations. Nevertheless, prayer and spirituality play an important role in the United Nations. It is a moving experience, for example, to witness the minute of silence for prayer or meditation at the opening of the yearly General Assembly, when men and women from all nations center their minds and souls on the job to be done and when at the end of the Assembly a similar minute of silence permits them to reflect on their achievements and failures. Thus, the world's first universal gatherings of nations are placed under the symbol of prayer or meditation. Also, there are many delegates and world servants whose cultures do not make any distinction between spirituality and public service. Then there are those who are deeply attached to their faiths or for whom the United Nations is a new form of spirituality and ethics, while they remain faithful to their respective religions. Some delegates are known to meditate in a place of worship before speaking in a UN assembly. One of the greatest orators ever at the United Nations, Professor Belaunde from Peru, meditated on his speeches in St. Patrick Cathedral. Then we have the UN Meditation Room, which is visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. We have also a UN Meditation Group led by an Indian mystic. One could tell several moving stories of the spiritual transformation the UN has caused, to the point that this little speck on earth is becoming a holy ground. For example, the rational, intellectual economist Dag Hammarskiöld found God at the United Nations and inspiration for his work as a world servant in the mystics of the Middle Ages. Towards the end, his Markings overflow with spirituality and mysticism.

Then there was U Thant, the man from the Orient, who saw no difference between life and religion, who held that spirituality was the highest of all human needs and virtues. The Western distinction between secular and spiritual lives was totally incomprehensible to him. He found in such cleavage one of the principal causes of the world's conflicts, tensions, injustices and disarray. For him, every single moment of life called for prayer, virtue, reverence, gratitude and total communion with humankind and the universe. He was of Buddhist faith, a religion which does not believe in God, and yet he was one of the most spiritual persons I have ever known.

There are many also in the United Nations for whom the cooperation of all nations towards common goals and values is a kind of new religion, a supreme path or way. They see in the UN the same perennial human dream which has obsessed all great religions and philosophies, namely, the establishment of a peaceful, just, happy, harmonious world society. But there is one difference: while in the past all religions and philosophies were born within specific local, cultural contexts, today we are witnessing the birth of a new philosophy, ideology or ethics which originates from a central place of synthesis where all dreams, aspirations, claims and values of humankind converge. This is new. It constitutes one of the greatest and most exciting attempts at total human fulfillment in the entire evolution of the human race. There has never been anything like it. It is a magnificent story, the beginning of a profound world-wide transformation and transcendence of the human society, a new paradigm of the coming age. True enough, it is as yet a fragile and incomplete story, for the UN largely reflects the priorities and dominant values of our time. For the poorer countries these are food, health, shelter and education, without which there can be no decent life. First one must live, then one can philosophize. In the Western countries too, material, scientific, technological and intellectual achievements generally still occupy the highest priority. They live in an age of rationalism which believes that everything can be explained by scientific, rational means, and this is reflected in the United Nations. But increasingly there are voices which point to other values. U Thant, in particular, was the first great prophet who reminded us of the moral and spiritual dimensions of life and who firmly advocated the development of our moral and spiritual values in order to catch up with rapid technological and scientific advances. For him, the solution of many of our individual, national and international problems rested in the practice of truthfulness, integrity, tolerance, love and brotherhood. And beyond these moral virtues he felt that each individual carried in himself a fundamental question regarding our relationship with the universe and eternity. Hence the paramount place he accorded to spirituality. In his memoirs he wanted to show how spirituality and philosophy should lead, inspire and guide politics.

This point has not yet been reached in the United Nations, but year after year one can observe how moral and ethical issues are being brought to the world organization. A host of codes of ethics and conduct are being elaborated at the UN. The Charter itself is one of the boldest codes of ethics ever drafted for the behavior of very powerful institutions: armed nations. Although its rules are all too often broken by its members, it nurtures progressively a better behavior, a greater understanding and an improved general moral political atmosphere. Our scientific and industrial age has yielded incredible progress to the human race and we should be immensely grateful for it. But this success perhaps led us to believe that material achievement and intelligence were the apex of civilization. There no longer seemed to be any need for ethics, purity, morality, compassion, love and spirituality. This unnecessary poverty of our age is now being increasingly recognized. Humanity needs also to probe the immense possibilities of its heart and of its soul. This is the great new challenge which has been raised very forcefully by a younger generation tired of war, hatred, hypocrisy and injustices.

I have a Christ in my office. My colleague next door has a statue of Shiva. U Thant had a Buddha in his room. Each of us, be he from North or from South, from East or from West, has his own way of expressing faith in the human race and destiny. When a conflict breaks out any place on the globe, we are all in agreement that it must be stopped, that people cannot be allowed to kill each other, that life must be revered everywhere, that the human person is the supreme care of all our efforts. So, despite its imperfections, the UN is becoming one of the greatest and most beautiful sagas of modem times. King Paul of Greece saw it as a "cathedral where we can worship what is best in each other." Pope John Paul II said that we were the stonecutters and artisans of a cathedral which we might never see in its finished beauty. I would not have dreamed that when I joined the United Nations a third of a century ago. The scope of the UN has widened in every direction, owing to the imperatives of a new global, interdependent world. But people do not really know how vast and vital its activities are. The tapestry of its work encompasses the total condition of humankind on this planet. All this is part of one of the most prodigious pages of evolution. It will require the detachment and objectivity of future historians to appraise fully what happened in the last third of our century and to understand what the real significance of the United Nations was.

Meditation, prayer, dream, hope, vision, faith, guidance, foresight and planning all go hand in hand in so many ways. The tall Secretariat building of the UN is an edifice of human hope and dream jutting into the universe and receiving from that universe increasingly clearer messages. Perhaps the time has come when we will understand the full significance of our cosmic evolution. Year round people from all creeds and cultures gather at the UN to design a better future for the world. And they will succeed. Our children will know a better future, a more peaceful world, an unprecedented fulfillment of individual human life and consciousness.

Little by little, a planetary prayer book is thus being composed by an increasingly united humanity seeking its oneness, its happiness, its consciousness, its peace, its justice and its full participation in the continuous process of creation and miracle of life. Once again, but this time on a universal scale, humankind is seeking no less than its reunion with the "divine," its transcendence into ever higher forms of life. Hindus call our earth Brahma, or God, for they rightly see no difference between our earth and the divine. This ancient simple truth is slowly dawning again upon humanity. Its full flowering will be the real, great new story of humanity, as we are about to enter our cosmic age and to become what we were always meant to be: the planet of God.

hawkaw

Thanks MA.

I will see what I can do to get the orginal book and get it scanned.

I actually found this book on the internet the other day and the other books but I have failed to locate a hard copy.

hawk

p.s. - I have also emailed Robert Muller personally on this to confirm where it is located etc.

hawkaw

It is also "thought" that this article may have been a revised version of a speech that Muller delivered in 1977/8, when as Secretary of ECOSOC, he spoke at the 20th Anniversary of the U.N. Meditation Room.

I will check this out now at the University library. It makes sense because "The Beacon" published it on 1978 as I stated above.

Thanks and give me an hour or 2.

Edit 1:40pm

Could not find anything - waiting for Muller or his assistant to contact me.

hawk

MadApostate

I'm a little surprised that noone has picked up on the HYPOCRISY of this denunciation in Paragraph 10:
"... in her quest for peace and security, she insinuates herself into the favor of the political leaders of the nations-- this despite the Bible's warning that friendship with the world is enmity with God."

Anyone who had researched this subject at all knows that the WTS has published numerous "blatant" statements of support for the LN/UN made by various elements of "Christendom", starting in 1919. Those elements of "Christendom" who support the UN have made no effort to hide or disguise their support.

The ONLY religion which has sought to insinuate herself into the favor of the political leaders of the nations has been the WBTS, starting with quietly applying for "associative status" with the UN, followed by attempts to get various governments to intercede on its' behalf with other governments (which has already been proved by my earlier postings of the WTS's participation in UN and other governmental conferences, meetings, and hearings).

...this despite the Bible's warning that friendship with the world is enmity with God."

Naeblis

Ugh. I know this is important. But I just can't bring myself to care anymore. THis isn't going anywhere bud. THe witnesses don't care. And when there are three threads on every page, "apostates" start to not care either. Bleh

hawkaw

THe witnesses don't care

What a wonderful strawman.

Last time I checked most Witnesses had not heard about this scandal.

Most Witnesses do not care about this and every other problem with the GB or the ever chnaging doctrine.

However, those JWs who are starting to think, those people who are being recruited (aka the rest of the world) and those higher ups on the "inside" of Bethal trying to change the system can use information like this to their advantage.

If you don't care about it - fine. That is great and I am happy for you. And just like the TV stations you watch on your TV - don't "click" on the UN threads.

hawk

Dino

Go back to cooing with Mango.

The sum total of your smart-ass posts might equal one popcorn fart.

jerome

I have to agree with hawkak

The average as far as i know dosent know anything about this.

The elders that know arent sharing the news as far as i know.

This information can be useful to show the hyporisy within the organisation to people with doubts.

If it can be show that the watchtower was supporting the UN and even more was an associate of the Scarlet Beast that could cause a stur.

This cannot be swept under the carpet.

Right now this has been known for several months and is still not not common knowledge to the average jw.

The level of information controll that these people have on their followers is simply amazing.

This has to be made public knowledge to the average jw.

And the real reason behind the association has to be made known!

This isnt a waste of time.

The Bible is a two edged sword wield it for evil and it you may get hurt.

GermanXJW

A German DAed JW prepared tracts.

http://www.gimpelfang.de/info2002feb.rtf

Heading the next District Convention?

WATCHTOWER QUOTE RE UN NGOs NAILS THEIR OWN ASSES!

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