MRA Reply: Not A Mystery

Sirs,—Hbr's article is a crude attempt to surround MRA in mystery when he could have discovered the truth had he bothered to contact the Wellington office and inquire after the facts.

I attended the recent May conference at Wanganui and can say that no member of the force that went to Mt. Isa made the claim of having solved the dispute. Their intention was to take an ideology big enough to help the community see beyond themselves so that their way of life could be a pattern for Australia.

Briefly, MRA states that for the world to change people must change first. How can a world operate sanely when the people who live in it are dishonest, have hate for others, loose morals and, where self first and foremost is the conscious or subconscious philosophy of most people? I hope that all of us want to see and live in a better world, but most of us wish to see the other person change first. To hope that someone is going to create a better world for us is completely passive and reactionary. It is up to every one of us to begin creating this new world. The question you may ask is, how do you propose to create this new type of man? If you are willing to try an experiment, write down absolute love, unselfishness, honesty and purity. Next, ask God how these absolutes apply to you. It works, believe me, as I have tried it. Even an atheist can make this experiment by being specific in how he wants to see others live and then trying to live that way himself. Once you have straightened up your own life, then you are in a position to create a new world. "You can't live crooked and think straight."

You will never reach the ultimate of each standard as this is God Himself. But by basing your life on these standards you have a guiding line. The standards must be absolute for a relative standard is no standard at all.

MRA is definitely not anti-Communist, for an ideology that cannot include everyone is too small for this time and age.

H.B.R.'s main accusation against MRA is that the people who practise its philosophy, which is the Christian philosophy, do not think. On the contrary, you begin to think of matters other than those that concern yourself and to question prevalent values of society. You also ask why is the world so corrupt?

Is it the institutions or the people that create these institutions? C. Wright Mills said in his book, "Power, Politics and People." "If there are immoral men in moral institutions, then you kick the rascals out. If there are moral people in immoral institutions, then they should change the institutions. If there are immoral men in immoral institutions, then you revolt."