Mark 4:1-10, 13-20 Mark 4:1-10,13-20

CHARIE S FILUMO~E, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY12, 1933. ~. , CHRISTIANITY AND TECHNOCRACY

Mark 4:1-10, 13-20

CHARLES FILl,MORE, SU~mAY, FEBRUARY12, 1933.

CHRISTIANITY AND TECHNOCRACY

Mark 4:1-10,13-20 ~ ~\ The parable or the sower has always been a ravorite or ~CI) :r-£r~ U:r the metaphysical school of Christians, because it illustrates, '"'-U .5'~ O-Of:: rorciblyand according to a law that we emphasize, the power i5~ Cf) ~I or thought and wo~d and also the necessity of i~lust~ating ~ the absolute truth. So many persons expect spiritual thln.gs 2

to be expressed in human language, and we know that spiritual things must be spiritually discerned. So Jesus used parables, rigures of speech, illustrations.

Now the supremacy or Jesus as a great teacher is being more and more appreciated as the need for spirituality in our race civilization becomes pre~singly apparent; that we need more religion to save us from the ultimate destruction of materialism is patent to all pt~rsons 01" clear mental vision

.'3

vie are told in the lesson t4is morning at the very outset that a very great multitude gathered to listen to Jesus. This was two thousand years ago, and a still greater multitude would travel long distances if they could listen to Jesus today. Ap- pearances may seem to deny the fact that there has been a very pronounced religious activity among people in this country in the last few years; but a recent survey by the New York Times of the colleges of the country proves that there has been a new 4

spiritual quickening, a new desire on the part of young people, and especially those in our colleges. We have been told that the younger generation was going to the bowwows because of their materialistic tendency; that they have no desire to be spiritual; to know about religion. But here in Harvard College is what the leading student said:

"Vie \yant to build up. Among my asso,ciates, the literary group, I haven't met a student who is an atheist. They all

believe in God, but the problem ~s the approach to God. We

don't find it in the existing churches, and we \~nt it. If

some n:en would show us the way, we'd run to him.'.

"An of'ficial at Columbia, who makes it a practice to enter-

tain freshmen in his home, was describing the characteristic

course of such a gathering. UThe boys are all new, most of them

strangers to one another. Talk is tentative and slow at first.

It drifts along for half an hour perhaps, but soon some fellow asks a question on religion. Then they all snap to attention,

and the rest of the evening is spent in the most animated

I know no other subject that is of such sure-rirst

interest."

"An official at Yale, in no way connected with the religious

activities of the university, volunteered this report: 'Yale

students will talk about religion, discuss it seriously, even

eagerly and inquiringly, but they don't go to church--not much.'"

Jesus Christ was a very spectaculAr teacher. He taught in

a way that the public could understand. He taught in a way that

took hold of the public mind, and that is the reason he was so

popular; but we are told that He taught them many things in

parables, and the parable today deals \vith outer circumstances.

He told them, in this parable, about the thoughts and wcrds that

Ivere sown in the minds of men. First He compared it to the way-

in which the birds take up the grain. That represented

discussion.side, 8

Satan, He said, or that adverse mind \vhich is so active in

outer circumstan.ces. Then it vias the rocky ground in which

there was no depth. There was the great enthusiasm to start

and the thorns of course v/ere the attractions or the

especially the deceitfulness of riches. Then came the

good ground in which the crop was thirtyrold and sixtyrold

even a hundredfold.

Now we often ignore this good ground. vie think that there

is more evil about the \7orld and the conditions in the world

than there is good, but the ract is that everything 1s tending

to the good. It is a mJBtery, to the external onlooker, to

the good, but Jesus said: ftUnto you is given the mystery of" the

kingdom or God; but unto them that are without, all things

done in parables." Conditions today are apparently a parable

to those who live in outer consciousness; at least they have thorns,world, to be explained in parables. Jesus did not at all times know

just how to ~proach this subject or applying the \vorking or

Spirit to outer things. He said, n Ho\v shall ye liken the kingdom

of God? or in what parable shall we set it forth?" and He said

it was like a grain o~ mustard seed, which \vas very small, but

which increased and multiplied wonderfully. We see an analogy

between this increasing power or a seed and the Word or God,

every word. We don t t apprec 1ate ho\v powerrul our words are.

are a productive activity. We know that the \vaving fields of grain are latent in a very small seed. We are told that a water- melon increases 200,000 times in bulk and weight. How do vie

know the value or the very small seed thoughts and seed words,

how they increase?

The gardener tells us that many failures in germination of seeds occur because a complete contact 1s not made between the soil and the seed; so they m1x some of the soil with ashes 12

or sand, to make a complete contact with the seed. So we find

that we must make contact with the spiritual side or things. . We must inquire into the metaphysical side; then we will know

the meaning of the many changes that are coming into the world

Jesus said that the coming or the Son or man would be like lightning shining from the east even unto the west. The conclusions of a research organization called Technocracy, working at Columbia University, since 1920, primarily to determine the

effect on our civilization of the many labor-saving inventions

01' recent yeers, has startled the world and especially America, like lightning out o~ not a clear, but a threatening, sky. These labor-saving inventions'have heretofor"e been hailed as evidence of the erriciency or man, and prophecies have been rreely made that they would eventually eliminate all drudgery and manual labor f~om the face of the earth.

But \7hen Technocracy announces that the extensive unemploy- .:L4

ment is caused by these labor-saving devices a mighty howl goes

especially when Technocracy says that if the inventive

genius of man continues f'or the f'uture as it has in the past

we shall soon be doing all our work by machinery and human labor

,,'lill be extinct. This conclusion has struck terror to an already

fear-burdened people, end there is appre,;henslon of more depression

and harder times, if the conclusions of the Technocrats prove

On this point there is widespread diversity of opinion,

have split into two ~actions \vhose views are quite diverse on

some points.

The figures which this t echnologlcal research has presented

are startling and they appeal to the average man as logically true.

A strong wave or critical rerutation has set in to counteract, if

possible, the apprehension and fear that the Technocrats have

but confidence is rar rrom being restored. A prominent

up,true.engendered, American economist is reported to have said, "TeChnocracy's

~igures on production and unemployment are very startling and terrifying, if'true."

llow we ask, \Vhat should be the attitude or Christians

tov{ard the rindings or Technocracy? Christians should rejoice at this further evidence or the end of the old Adamic dispensation, during which man has been under the thought that he had to labor physically ror his sustenance. It was not upon the image-and-

that the penalty of disobedience vias pronounced: "Cursed is the

ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days ~>- or thy lire." ~ f- \ (j) (I) ~ That means the li.fe of the physical man, and the physical I ~ t) ~ u. man has struggled \vith nature ~orages, always trying to overcome 0 -l ~ 0 0 ~ her by his physical strength. Considering the ~ons that the I z t) ;:) (/) human f am1ly has meekly subm1 tted to the bondage or the world ~ Ir Z :) 18

age-long st~uggle for leisure and the elimination of toil, has finally arrived at that position where, for tl~e first time, this goal is not only possible, but probable."

But before \ve shall attain the rreedom from toil prophe- sied by Technocracy there are adjustments o~ economic conditions to be made, not only in this country but the whole world. issues cited by Technocracy are but a fraction of the causes o~ the f'inancial distress of the nations. But the present hardships 20

of unemployment, resulting partially from labor-saving

devices, \vill be follo\ved by freedom from toil and time

ror more ,~~f and Ie isure. Thererore we should welcome

Technocracy as the modern Pr'ometheus announcing the

triumph of intelligence over brute force and bringing anew

the fire o.f heaven to man.

The primal cause of this .vorld-wide congestion in the

even ~low of earth's commodities is the v~ong use or a mental

raculty common to all men--acquisitiveness. Acqllisitiveness is the accumulative desire which man exercises to acquire the things that he needs, or thinks he needs. Under the divine law, which is the only la\v worth considering, man dravfs his sustenance rron Divine Mind.

In the Adamic allegory this is illustrated in the command

to "eat, " or appropriate, none of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of' "good and evil. fI The \vorld of ef'fects or appearances 22

the human

round, and the scramble fat' the products of' mother earth has

the minds of men, and have so accumulated in the race thought

that fear and appreher~ion have clogged the wheels or industry.

error thoughts by the race as a whole. The present patchword

will all prove futile. Greed and selfish ambition have bank-

rupted the nations or the world. The people want confidence and

and these can only be had by incorporating principles security, into our government that will turn the attention or men from

the world of' effects to the \'1orld of causes, that is, the

"kingdom of" the heavens, It which Jesus describes ~ and which He uses so many parables to explain. - T chnocracy points to \vhat I:1Dn has attained in the use of A his creative mind in lightening labor, and it beckons us on

to still greater achievements. Instead ,of crawling as parasites

on the e srth, we should reach up to the heavens and use our

restricted creative ability to produce an abundance of' every

good thing. \Vhen enough trained minds are developed we shall control the elements, maJre climatic conditions to suit us, have rain or s:'tlnshlne as we decree, and by the power of" thought keep our body in perpetual health

The f'ulf'illment of' these dreams of' idealists is to be realized in the near future. Everything points to the passing of the effete civilizations of the past, and the multitudes or 26

earth are asl{ing, Vfuat next?

The f'acts are that the creative minds of' a f'ew inventive genj.uses are making it possible for all men to be relieved of

toil that the7)T may have time to develop their souls. The soul

of man has infinite capacity and vrhen the spiritual plane of consciousness (Christ is opened to it, an amazing transforma-

tion talres place. The slo\v-thillidng plovm&~ quickly evolves

a Cincinnatus and is called to govern the nation. This

quickening of the latent powers 9f the soul will become uni-

ends and is focused on spiritual things.

Soul quickening on a lerge scale takes place \vhen a numbe.r or persons decide to rollo\v divine guidance. Then the cosmic or Christ mind, which created and under \mose will the people of this planet are sustained~ empowers its executive law,

Holy Spirit, to open the floodgates of heaven and pour out ~J- ~~

dynamic energy to the whole creation.

This he avenly out pour of dynamis took place on a small scale

in the time of Jesus, when He ordered His f ei thful follo\vers

to gather in Jerusalem and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The promise Vias, "But ye shall receive power, when the Holy

Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my \vitnesses both in

Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost

part of the earth. II After giving this command Jesus disappeared

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in a cloud, a:nd while His discip~es were continuing to gaze into

the heavens, ~vo men in wvhite apparel called their attention to

this ~vorld as the place of Jesus t activities: f~e men of Galilee ,

\fhy stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who \vas received

up from you into heaven, shall so COll~ in like manner as ye

beheld him going into heaven."

I,lodern scientists claim that Oi~t of omnipresent space

come all creative forces. It is to this f'kingdom of' the heavens"

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that we shou1d look for the source of the intelligence and power

of a race of supermen, ~li th Jesus at the head in the, earth.

Now let us look at the ~ Instory of the early followers

of Jesus. ~Vefind that their \vork was confined to a small corner

of the earth, but they were spiri tually uni~ied and economically

organized. It is written: l'And all that believed v/ere together,

and had all things common; and they sold their possessions and

goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need.!.

Ferrar Fenton translates this as :follows: "And all the believers

\"rere united, and formed an organized community; and selling

their estates and possessions, they distributed to all, according

to the needs of' each. II

It is universally admitted that the uneven distribution

of the products of the earth is the immediate cause of the present

That there is plenty for all no one disputes. Then

the one and only remedy is to organize as the early Christians

depression. .,~

organized and then make the distribution permanent. You doubtless

say this sounds like communism and we fear the Soviet. The

Soviet is not desirable, because it has excluded religion from

its economic plan, which dooms it to ultimate failure. The

moral principles th&t Christianity teaches, and especially the

unself'ishness that our lav/givers, executives, and all our people

must cultivate, was ~undamental in the successful colonization

of our nation. The f'irst step in this coming model civilization

~~:, ---:,--,\,;;'if~ " 33

\vas taken by these early follo\vers of Jesus, and. the reason

they did not perpetuate the economic end of the movement was

the Judas obsession in the race thought: acquisitiveness. Jesus

said that He had cleansed all His disciples save one and he had

a devil. Vie do not have to ask what that 'tdevil" '.vas. Judas

told us in action planer than words when he betrayed the

Master for thirty pieces of silver.

Conditions are ripe for all the followers of Jesus to " 34

overcome this mighty dragon of" se1f'ishness and thereby save ourselves and our civilization rrom destruction. vVe must only as individuals but ~ masse seek the kingdom or God

Ills righteousness; then "all these things" shall be added unto us and to all people

This is a time of' adjustment, and \9'e as practical Christians should be cultivating this inner, spiritual side of Ol~ souls, that; we may take advantage of: this leisure that is coming to

the v7hole race. Circumstances are changing. We are on the eve of a new dispensation, and we should be alive, we should be alert in recognizing it and taking advantage of it, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.