It Is Important That Spiritual Advancement Must

As Is Commonly Said, ‘to Start Anything Is Simple; To Develop It And Bring It To A Successful Culmination Takes Great Effort.’

Like Twentieth-century Iran, The Remnant Of The Persian Empire, Ethiopia Under Haile Selassie Attempted To Preserve The Absolutist State Throught An Accommodation With Modernizing Forces In His Own Terms Without Completely Subduing Traditionalists. This Was Not A Strategy Of Haile Selassie's Own Choosing. Instead, He Was Overtaken By Events And Forced To Deal With Contradictions That Were From The Very Beginning Too Formidable To Be Managed In The Long Term.

I Have Heard Of That Idea [i.e., Of Haile Selassie Being The Reincarnation Of Jesus Christ]. I Also Met Certain Rastafarians. I Told Them Clearly That I Am A Man, That I Am Mortal, And That...they Should Never Make A Mistake In Assuming Or Pretending That The Human Being Is Emanated From A Deity.

It Is Important That Spiritual Advancement Must Keep Pace With Material Advancement. When This Comes To Be Realized Man's Journey Toward Higher And More Lasting Values Will Show More Marked Progress While The Evil In Him Recedes Into The Background. Knowing That Material And Spiritual Progress Are Essential To Man, We Must Ceaselessly Work For The Equal Attainment Of Both. Only Then Shall We Be Able To Acquire That Absolute Inner Calm So Necessary To Our Well-being.

History Teaches Us That Unity Is Strength, And Cautions Us To Submerge And Overcome Our Differences In The Quest For Common Goals, To Strive, With All Our Combined Strength, For The Path To True African Brotherhood And Unity.