This following paper was included in a personal letter William Samuel had sent me years ago. It was an unpublished paper from his private journal. It's truly profound, and as often is with William's words, prophetic. Here is something to really understand with the heart of you. There is a light within these words that will help guide you through the idealogical and political turmoil and upheaval going on in the world today. Steady and true - I share it again with you now.

A LETTER ABOUT IDEALISM AND MATERIALISM

From unpublished papers written by William Samuel, 1978

The age old struggle between idealism and materialism continue with materialism making the most apparent gains. The genuine idealist is becoming rather difficult find.

Now we have reached the point, right here in America, when our two political parties are, in their very essence, embodiments of these two extremes. Idealism, the least popular, because the least understood, is the basis for the conservative view of government. On the other hand, materialism is the foundation for the liberal view of government.

It is my hope that someone will come along who is capable of pointing out so that all can clearly understand the basic difference is these two views. They are diametrically opposed one to the other. One says that “ideal society” can and must be regulated by laws; the other declares that the fewer laws the better an individual is able to operate to build the ideal society. The later group points out that "laws" are “regulations of human conduct” and that “freedom” is the “absence of regulations.” They maintain that we are removing our freedom by over regulating ourselves with laws at all levels of government and that we must reverse the trend lest one day we find all our personal freedom gone the way of government, rule, and regulation, for which we must pay the bill.

It is interesting to note that such a struggle between opposite points of view was waged in China 2500 years ago. Confucius advocated a powerful central government of law and regulations. Loatse, on the other hand, quietly maintained that the less law and less government the better. Confucius carried the day because the bulk of the people approved the idea of a great central caretaker and regulator of their problems. The Loatsen view called for personal humility in the face of Divine Law which was already perfectly established and which could be discerned and followed by men if they didn’t allow themselves to be carried away, distracted, inundated by human laws, rules an regulation.

History records that the strong governments eventually become corrupted in an era of gross materialism, void of religion, and fell apart. Yet the Laotsen ideas became the basis for one of the most magnificent religions the world has ever known—its idealism still a major influence in the world today.

Mayhap someone will also point out that communism can only thrive in an atmosphere of materialism. Whereas genuine religion thrives only in an atmosphere of idealism. Communism is a dead duck in the conservative society. Religion is a gonner in the liberal atmosphere. This is not to say that a liberal is a communist, but it is to say that most liberals are unaware that their own governmental regulation of human conduct is an equal and opposite remover of personal freedom, which, by definition is "the absence of regulation." Neither are they aware that their ideas are rooted in materialism, the belief that money, property, “things” et al, are more important than the overriding "Isness" which is being all "things." Many materialists I know pride themselves in the power of their ‘mind’ while all the while they hold that very mind in total subjection to their opinion of “things.”

The idealist, on the other hand, holds that "things" are secondary to mind, life, consciousness which he equates with God. The materialist must eventually equate his regulating government (who controls the “things” he considers so important) with God. This, of course, is precisely what communism preaches.

Humanity is prone to consider everything it thinks and does from the basis of the appearing. It recons reality from the seen and heard. Its aim and intention is to correct the errors of appearance. Suppose a mathematician did this. Suppose he did all his figuring and calculating from the standpoint of all the errors which appeared on the misworked paper. He wouldn't get much done. As a matter of fact, he wouldn’t get anything done. He wouldn’t solve the first error until he left the mistake long enough to check into the principle of arithmetic which would show him what was wrong about the problem and how to solve it.

So long as humanity is concerned only with the "things" of perception and pays no heed to the very perfect principle of Reality which is the basis for all ‘things’ ---and which, when understood, is the harmony and perfection of all experience---it will suffer the consequences of its own misinterpretation of “things.” Mankind must leave the errors of human experience in order to have done with them, just as the mathematician must "leave" the problem in order to entertain the “answer” to the problem. The answer to the problem is always, always, Reality, God.

William Samuel, 1978 -- Mountain Brook, Alabama

If you would like further guidance in understanding any of William Samuel's work based on Self discover you are welcome to contact me, Sandy Jones - samuelandfriends@gmail.com - Ojai, California -