As the twentieth century draws to a close, it is no longer possible
to maintain the belief that the approach to social and economic development to
which the materialistic conception of life has given rise is capable of meeting
humanity's needs. Optimistic forecasts about the changes it would generate
have vanished into the ever-widening abyss that separates the living standards
of a small and relatively diminishing minority of the world's inhabitants from
the poverty experienced by the vast majority of the globe's population.
This unprecedented economic crisis, together with the social breakdown it has helped to engender, reflects a profound error of conception about human nature itself. For the levels of response elicited from human beings by the incentives of the prevailing order are not only inadequate, but seem almost irrelevant in the face of world events. We are being shown that, unless the development of society finds a purpose beyond the mere amelioration of material conditions, it will fail of attaining even these goals. That purpose must be sought in spiritual dimensions of life and motivation that transcend a constantly changing economic landscape and an artificially imposed division of human societies into "developed" and "developing".....
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