Please click here
to hear a snippet from
Aldous Huxley's BBC talk,
"The Causes of War"
(text below)

"... My subject is the psychological causes of war. But I cannot conclude without saying a few words about possible psychological cures.

"The first problem is that of the groups into which humanity is divided. The tendency to form groups is not only natural, it is also ethically desirable: the basis of all morality. The trouble, as history constantly shows, is that hate is nearly as exciting as love, and much more exciting than rational benevolence. One of the pleasures of belonging to a group is precisely the pleasure of despising other groups. Moreover, nothing brings men together more effectively than a common dislike of someone else.

"There is only one certain way of creating the utopian world-state: and that is to invite an aggression from Mars. Confronted by these non-human enemies, humanity would immediately unite. Unfortunately, we cannot rely on the Martians. It is quite possible that for lack of a common enemy, the union of humanity will never be achieved...."

- Aldous Huxley, from a talk titled, "Causes of War"; Track 1 from "The Spoken Word," an audio CD from the British Library of historic recordings of Aldous Huxley (July 15, 2010, # ISBN-10: 0712351035, # ISBN-13: 978-0712351034) (Available at Amazon.com)

Please compare this to U.S. President Ronald Reagan's speech to the United Nations given in 1988 (I believe):

"... I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war?"


Please note: the misspelling "Regan" in the video above is not my own...