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Vera Stanley Alder

115 quotes

“Rather will it be a public of inherently free individuals w'ho can keep an individual purpose, learnt in the fields of intense suffering and experience. Such a public are likely to accept and wield responsibility in respect of their own government and their own religion and education.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“History tells us of wars and conquests and empires and revolutions, of cities and cultures, and of religions and persecutions. Yet actually it is a rather superficial survey. It leaves out almost entirely one vital part of the picture — the most important part. It has very little to say of man’s purpose in living, of his understanding of the reason of his existence and of his conception of life around him, and his interpretation of the mystery of creation and evolution. So little does history say about this aspect of man — the mainspring and motive of his living—that we are left guessing about the most important part of the story—the extent of man’s actual knowledge throughout the ages. We are given superficial and rather materialistic details of the outward forms and the bitter strife which accompanied the development of the various religions as they were interpreted and practised by the people, much of which leaves us with an impression of brutal and bigoted primitiveness. So much for orthodox history. Nevertheless, if we have the time ourselves to go exploring amongst less hackneyed literature than our average text books, we will soon find traces of an underlying, thrilling and significant way of life permeating the history of mankind... The legends of the Flood, the Virgin Birth, the World Messiah, the Resurrection, Paradise, Hades, Reincarnation, the progress of the soul and the Plan of Creation, are to be traced in every land and with great similarity of detail. p.6”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All this will happen more easily and quickly than seems possible today, firstly because it is an inescapable step in the natural process of human evolution; secondly because humanity itself by its earnest aspiration and patient blind endeavour and endurance, has struggled out of the ancient egotistic separatist attitude, and cast aside the fetters of conventional thought, and is beginning to offer an open mind and heart for the impress of new values and inspirations; thirdly, because the initial steps in world organization which arc about to be achieved by such bodies as the World Health Organization, the U.N. Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Economic and Social Council etc., will soon show up the stupendous possibilities lying ahead.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Spiritual Cabinet would be composed of ... [people] who stand highest in spiritual training and quality amongst a considerable rank of such. Some of these... would be drawn from the leaders of the great religions, but not all... the Spiritual Cabinet should not govern. Rather, by a life of aspiration and meditation should they offer themselves as a channel through which the Will and Love of God can be interpreted. They should consciously act as a link between the Divine Mind and mankind, between the Hierarchy of God’s unseen helpers and planners, and those who wish to serve them in the administration of human affairs. Their problem would be to translate the sensed Plan for mankind into terms applicable to the particular situation which is being dealt with.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Economics will have ceased to be mainly connected with finance in peoples’ minds, because all that concerns finance now will have undergone such radical changes that the word itself will no longer have the same meaning. Finance, as we have known it, established a false set of values in the public mind. It was concerned with money and the things that could be bought with money. Money has been considered to be the first thing of value, or the thing that embodied all value in the world. It will later be realized that the thing of value on this earth is the human being, in so far as he is fit and fully developed.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The first concern of the Agricultural Section would be the serious one of preventing soil erosion through large-scale cropping of the land and through the cutting down of trees. It may be that such world-wide ravages will be stopped only just in time. At the present date of writing (1900) the menace is grave indeed. It will readily be seen that the cure of this type of devastation and the rehabilitation of great tracts of land can only be achieved under the most rigid authority and over a long period. By the time of which we are speaking a good beginning will have been made. The newly formed deserts and dustbowls of America and Africa will have been gradually reduced in size by afforestation and by the introduction of water systems around their borders.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Spiritual Cabinet will encourage the Research Panel to do much work on this subject, until finally they are able to prove the truth of many revolutionary ideas to the Agricultural Council and to mankind. The Earth, is indeed, a living entity in a certain sense of the word, a Being who pursues His course of evolution and achievement as courageously and as inevitably as do all other living creatures. They will prove also that man bears a very special, intimate and fundamental relationship to the life of the planet—that there is a close interdependance between the morals, motives and acts of mankind and the reactions in climatic terms, of the planet to themselves.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They will realize the fact that planet and man can and should work hand in hand, so to speak, to their mutual benefit and understanding; and that the majority of cataclysms, earthquakes, droughts and floods are in actuality man-made. The past unfortunate period of ignorant self-interest resulting in private enterprise, which has among other disasters, exploited parts of the planet to the extent of flaying the surface of its layer of fertile earth which has taken aeons to build up, will be found to have given all of mankind a serious set-back. It will be necessary for the people fully to realize that this is so, and therefore to subscribe to a patient and lengthy process of renovation of the soil.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When fine new laws are made, only half the battle is won. If people do not understand their value and feel no personal responsibility, they go against these laws with every subtle act and thought in their power, often producing new complications and conditions worse than those which it is being attempted to improve. Only when man begins to feel a personal obligation towards his host, the planet, and cultivates an honourable consideration in all his acts for^ the good of the earth as well as for his own benefit, will real harmony begin to exist between humanity and the elements, especially in respect of those subtle conditions which produce some of the diseases and epidemics which are continuing to baffle science.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Spiritual Cabinet would bring forward the ancient law of the cycle of seven, the seventh period being one of rest and change. The symbology of God’s rest upon the seventh day will be understood, and this rhythm should be applied to the laws of living... Especially should that one which stipulated that the ground must lie fallow every seventh year be revived. The Agricultural Council should organize stores of food for the seventh year, and the Industrial members should arrange for a complete change of occupation for every individual during every seventh year. Naturally, in both cases these periods would be staggered. Therefore in the life of every human being every seventh year would be one of rest and change. This means that a seventh part of the community would thus be occupied every year. Each person could look forward to his seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first year and so on, as welcome landmarks in his life, which nothing would be allowed to spoil. Such holiday years need not be useless from the community’s point of view, as the person could be sent abroad on a year’s tour or visit, for the purpose of cementing international friendships, studying world conditions, spreading new ideas, practicing languages, and enjoying the stimulating art of making new friends abroad.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even the attitude towards Law itself will have changed. In the dim past the laws of the earliest great civilizations were founded upon the ultimate Divine Principles and Laws which were at work behind all manifesting life, and which were earnestly studied by the priesthood who were usually the law-makers by virtue of that same study. Today many of those old laws would still be invaluable but for the fact that although they have stood the test of time they have been cumbered up by a succession of haphazard man-made laws which depended not upon the Ageless Wisdom for their worth, but upon the mood of some rather mediocre Government.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Principle of Sharing which will eventually rule all these arrangements will produce an attitude to property and possessions impossible to visualize to-day. If a person has more than his share he will feel as uncomfortable and ashamed as one now does who has insufficient. The misfortune of not knowing how to give and to share will produce the inferiority complex of the future. The Christian admonition that “if a person ask of thee thy coat give him thy cloak also” will be understood by all. Those who need something will not rob, but will state their need at their Community Centre and will thereby be given by their neighbors a much greater choice of goods than they could attain by attempted theft. Furthermore, tastes and requirements will become successively reduced and simplified in measure as peoples’ needs become choice and few.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A Yogi, or eastern sage, who wishes to perfect himself begins with the breath, and by its means obtains control over every nerve and function in the body, and finally arrives at super-normal experiences and an ecstasy... Whereas a citizen of Western civilization is usually brought up without any knowledge of the science of breathing whatsoever, his breath being successively restricted by taboos and inhibitions throughout childhood, adolescence, and finally by the anxieties, depressions, bad air and smells, and the nervous rush of modern life. The final result is that the average person hardly breathes at all (compared with what he should do) and therefore is relatively half-conscious most of his days.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Correct breathing must be deep, slow, even, and controlled by the mind and will. If it is deep it allows all the necessary rays and forces of nature to be drawn in and to reach every part of the body. If it is slow, then all possible benefits can be obtained before it is expelled again. If it is even, a rhythm is established in time with the rhythm of nature; the various vibrations of the body tune in with each other, and with the cosmic life-giving rays, thus producing a complete harmonious integration. If it is controlled by the mind and will, outside influences cannot upset the personal rhythm, nor distract the individual from his goal.”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Correct breathing also performs a constant massage of the internal organs by raising them up and down, thus curing constipation when it is caused by faulty insufficient breathing (as is often the case) which holds the muscles of the abdomen in a static position. Therefore the first thing to do is to make sure that you know how to breathe from the physical standpoint, and how to control the muscle of the diaphragm. This muscle forms the dividing line between the chest and the stomach just below the ribs. Place the fingers upon the diaphragm muscle just below the ribs and under the centre breast bone. In this arched hollow lies the muscle upon which correct breathing depends. Take a slow breath, drawing the muscle upwards and inwards, following its movement with the fingers, fill the lungs with air right up to the collarbones. Then breathe out slowly whilst tucking the diaphragm still further inwards and upwards!”
Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source