Every man lives in two realms, the internal
and the external. The internal is that realm of spiritual ends
expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion. The external
is that complex of devices, techniques, mechanisms, and
instrumentalities by means of which we live.
Our problem today is
that we have allowed the internal to become lost in the external.
We have allowed the means by which we live to outdistance the
ends for which we live. So much of modern life can be summarized
in that arresting dictum of the poet Thoreau: "Improved means to an unimproved
end." This is the serious predicament, the deep and haunting
problem confronting modern man.
If we are to survive today, our
moral and spiritual "lag" must be eliminated. Enlarged material
powers spell enlarged peril if there is not proportionate growth
of the soul. When the "without" of man's nature subjugates the
"within," dark storm clouds begin to form in the world.
Martin Luther King Jr.
1964 Nobel Prize lecture, "The Quest for Peace and Justice,"
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