> The United Nations has proposed to all Governments and to all peoples standards of respect for individuals and for groups, derived from the best in the spiritual heritage of mankind as well as from the realities of our rapidly developing societies.
When the Secretary-General met with the head of his own church, Pope Paul VI, in July of 1977, the Pope eloquently spoke about the spirituality of the United Nations:
> Above all, we want the United Nations to be par excellence, the expression and the bulwark of those human rights, which it so solemnly proclaimed almost thirty years ago. A heightened consciousness is needed to make these rights the touchstone of a really humane civilisation and truly to achieve, without excluding any race or any people, the solidarity which is essential between brothers all created in God’s Image.
As part of his message of condolence upon hearing about the sudden death of the Holy Father in August 1978, the Secretary-General declared:
> In the United Nations we specially recall Pope Paul’s historic visit to our Headquarters in New York and his powerful but simple message, “Never again war.” This visit not only set a unique precedent; it also foreshadowed a much closer contact between the leadership of one of the great churches and congregations of the world and the leadership of the world organisation. It forged a new link between the spiritual and the temporal world which has time and again proved its value.
There is only one religion and one truth: man. All peoples can unite to raise an inner temple where all nations can worship the highest ideals and principles of man. And within this temple of man shall shine the benevolent Smile of God. According to the Pilot of the United Nations Boat:
> The United Nations contains many different faiths, ideologies, and beliefs. It embraces all the doctrines and attitudes of mankind, and it was the genius of the founders to create a Charter to whose principles all nations could freely and willingly subscribe.
The Secretary-General’s fervent request runs thus:
> The United Nations needs the help and the support of all the leaders and of all the great religions of the world, if it is to succeed in solving the very complex problems of peace.
The divine ideals of the United Nations will eventually save and free mankind from ignorance, turning man’s vision of peace into true reality. To the Secretary-General, the Charter is supremely instrumental in manifesting the United Nations ideas and ideals:
> The greatest strength of the United Nations is the enduring power of the great and necessary ideas expressed in its Charter — ideas great enough to encompass the complexities, rivalries and differences of all the nations in the co-operative pursuit of certain common aims.
Now what is needed is co-operation and faithfulness to these ideals by all members of the world family. According to our Secretary-General:
> The United Nations Charter opens with the words “We the peoples of the United Nations.” Thus, every man and woman has a profound personal stake in the future of the United Nations. If we work together in a spirit of friendship and understanding, we will have little to fear. Let that be our personal commitment.
Again, he affirms:
> We must always remember that the United Nations was built upon reason, and not emotion. It was built upon the realisation that the true self-interest of sovereign nations lies in international co-operation. The fact of our physical and political interdependence, and the common dangers which all mankind faces, demand that we continue in our task, together, so that we may move closer to the goals of the Charter, and the hopes of mankind which gave them birth.
His predecessor, U Thant, shared Kurt Waldheim’s soulful commitment to the UN Charter. To quote U Thant:
> Tolerance is the principal foundation on which the United Nations Charter rests. Without the spirit of tolerance, one cannot understand, much less appreciate, the Charter. “To practise tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours” is the actual language of the Charter, and one of the primary functions of the Secretary-General is not only to practise tolerance in his personal dealings, but also to extend this concept of tolerance to international relations. In other words, my conception of the Secretary-General’s role is to build bridges between peoples, governments and states. This is why my main preoccupation during my tenure of office was not only to bring about a détente between differing nations, but also to eliminate the obstacles to such a détente./
Without a doubt, the UN Charter and the American Declaration of Independence are proceeding to the same destination — two trailblazers on the path to human freedom and world peace. True, one started the journey before the other, but the two are now marching together confidently and unerringly. Comparing the UN Charter with the Declaration of Independence, our Secretary-General says:
> There are many parallels between the work of the founding fathers of this Republic in Philadelphia nearly two centuries ago, and the task of the founders of the United Nations nearly thirty years ago in San Francisco... Both have evolved far beyond the expectations of their founders. Both have continued to derive inspiration and direction from the declarations of principles and aims drawn up by their founders.
> The spirit which inspired Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia in 1776 was also present at San Francisco in 1945 and in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Paris in 1948. For above all, the belief that “all men are created equal” is the same faith which made the founders of the United Nations declare their resolution to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women, and of nations large and small.”
About the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Secretary-General Waldheim comments:
> The Universal Declaration was the first occasion in history when the inalienable rights of all individuals were formally established. It was an expression, in simple and clear language, of the principles which should govern human relations. It represented faith in the value of the individual, and in the conviction that politics is about people.
Such a Declaration, believes Mr Waldheim, can serve to form an inner and outer world conscience which will raise humanity’s level of existence from the human to the divine in a practical way:
> The link between human rights and international politics is fundamental. The concept of “the international conscience” is a reality, and we often underestimate the effectiveness of agreed international standards of conduct.
Unfortunate it is that the manifestation of the ideals of the United Nations into concrete world action and achievement is still a far cry. But let us not forget that Rome was not built in a day; vision cannot turn into reality overnight. As our Secretary-General points out, the Declaration of Human Rights “created standards by which all must be judged. It represented, it is true, an ideal. It pointed towards a goal, and did not establish a fact. The authors knew that mankind would not be transformed overnight and that the achievement of their purpose would be a long, difficult, and often frustrating process.”
With the guiding light that shines through the UN Charter and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world is destined to attain harmony and peace, for inside the United Nations vision, reality looms large. The fulfilment of the United Nations ideals is an inevitability, but that hour will dawn only when humanity wholeheartedly and unreservedly accepts the message of the United Nations soul. The Secretary-General offers his encouragement to those who have committed themselves to the United Nations cause:
> We can never relax in pursuit of the human rights goals of the Charter and of the Universal Declaration. Nothing could be more worthy of our continuing labours than a steady expansion of the realm in which the dignity and worth of the human person are firmly secured and fully honoured.
When the seeker in me feels the dynamic inner frame or vital of the Secretary-General, the Secretary-General’s soulful bird, with two hopeful wings, flies to cover the length and breadth of the world. What for? To sow the immortal seed of the United Nations for world union, world salvation and world perfection.From:Sri Chinmoy,A soulful tribute to the Secretary-General: the Pilot Supreme of the United Nations, Agni Press, 1978
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/tsg