he mere existence of the body and its
parts.

What is true of the life of the individual has its parallels in human
society. The human species is an organic whole, the leading edge of the
evolutionary process. That human consciousness necessarily operates
through an infinite diversity of individual minds and motivations detracts
in no way from its essential unity. Indeed, it is precisely an inhering
diversity that distinguishes unity from homogeneity or uniformity. What
the peoples of the world are today experiencing, Baha'u'llah said, is
their collective coming- of-age, and it is through this emerging maturity
of the race that the principle of unity in diversity will find full
expression. From its earliest beginnings in the consolidation of family
life, the process of social organization has successively moved from the
simple structures of clan and tribe, through multitudinous forms of urban
society, to the eventual emergence of the nation-state, each stage opening
up a wealth of new opportunities for the exercise of human capacity.

Clearly, the advancement of the race has not occurred at the expense of
human individuality. As social organization has increased, the scope for
the expression of the capacities latent in each human being has
correspondingly expanded. Because the relationship between the individual
and society is a reciprocal one, the transformation now required must
occur simultaneously within human consciousness and the structure of
social institutions. It is in the opportunities afforded by this twofold
process of change that a strategy of global development will find its
purpose. At this crucial stage of history, that purpose must be to
establish enduring foundations on which planetary civilization can
gradually take shape.

Laying the groundwork for global civilization calls for the creation of
laws and institutions that are universal in both character and authority.
The effort can begin only when the concept of the oneness of humanity has
been wholeheartedly embraced by those in whose hands the responsibility
for decision making rests, and when the related principles are propagated
through both educational systems and the media of mass communication. Once
this threshold is crossed, a process will have been set in motion through
which the peoples of the world can be drawn into the task of formulating
common goals and committing themselves to their attainment. Only so
fundamental a reorientation can