This is a crisis period of significance for the peoples of the world. It should be a time of re-evaluation. A value is the relative worth we assign to some aspect of daily life, or a recognised intrinsic excellence or usefulness. These may be matters of opinion and, therefore, debatable. But many values in human life are basic to the »general welfare of all the people« lying above the daily round and the common task. The principles set out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights are a constant reminder to all the people of the world of the fundamental goals and purity of motive that influence decisions.

Today, in a rapidly changing world we see a basic confrontation between the old and the new; crystallized, outworn forms and progressive ideas, self-interest and human welfare, nationalism and a planetary consciousness, material values and spiritual values.

Material values confine an individual, a group or a nation within limits determined by the forms of life created to serve its own interests. Forms may change; but if motives of narrow self-interest remain, nothing of value to human culture and civilisation results.

Spiritual values relate to the enlightenment, the freedom and the creative growth of the human race. They promote the innate human tendency toward synthesis and wholeness. They expand rather than Iimit the horizons of human vision and capacity. They can be symbolised as an upward spiral of infinite potentiality.

The spiritual values of greatest importance are those that lift us out of our self-centered pre-occupations. Self-interest benefits no one, including oneself, so interdependent and interrelated has human society become.

The »sacrifice of selfishness« would release new values into national and international life. It could hasten the end of the arms race, still perpetuated by the power and profit motive, and lead the way towards world disarmament and world peace, visioned and provided for in the Charter of the United Nations.

The sacrifice of selfishness provides for the sharing and contribution of all parts of society in the growth and prosperity of the whole. It provides for responsibility, concern and commitment, for wholeness in attitudes and actions, for a new perspective on life and its true values. The true values of the peoples of the world lie in a few principles or qualities: unity, tranquility - social harmony, security, freedom, and a general wellbeing - »for all the people«. In such a framework, a sense of responsibility develops side by side with the rights and freedoms to which all are entitled; mutual trust and respect provide the safeguard.

Each nation, great or small, can play its part. Focused, determined, enlightened public opinion is the most potent force in the world and can produce the needed moral leadership. Let our renunciation of selfishness and of materialism light the way into a better future for humanity.