Anything we may conceive of doing or being a part of needs to be based upon something fundamental. Whether you are planning to build a shed, a house, your life, or a moral framework a sound foundation is essential; without something solid to build upon any undertaking will fail; it would be like building a house on sand.[1]
This refers to what the project will be based on, what its underpinning will be; everything must be based on something; a house upon its foundation or a life upon a moral framework or a plan to transform society on spiritual reality. The next section discusses what happens when a plan to transform society ignores spiritual truth.
When building a house the foundation must be appropriate for the environment in which the house will be built; the foundation must rest on something firm like bedrock. Houses can be built in many types of places but each time having a strong appropriate foundation is the most important aspect of planning.
This is also true for our life planning; we need a strong moral foundation before going out into the world. Education could participate in a spiritual awakening if it would help youth to develop life plans and encourage character development. There is great need for the teaching of moral discipline in the place of so much self-gratification. Upon such a foundation religion may contribute its spiritual incentive to the enlargement and enrichment of mortal life, even to the security and enhancement of life eternal.[2]
The only worthy goal for our life should be lasting, based upon spiritual reality. We are entitled to transitory physical pleasures and human affections but these are not the eternal foundations upon which to build the immortal personality which must transcend space, vanquish time, and achieve the eternal destiny of divine perfection and… service.[3]
This even goes for our civilization, it needs a proper foundation. Building a civilization on an inadequate foundation would be like building it on sand and our secular civilization certainly has such an unstable base. It is clear that such a civilization cannot long last because there is no guiding principle behind it; nothing of lasting value is holding it up. True religion must ever be, at one and the same time, the eternal foundation and the guiding star of all enduring civilizations.[4] The evidence for this in our society is in the constant stream of news about violence, hatred, greed and other materialistic excesses; such a civilization cannot long endure.
The life of Jesus was rock solid because it was based on a firm faith on the presence of his Heavenly Father in his life. The divine sonship of Jesus is the foundation of the living temple of sonship and we who become conscious of being the sons of God are the living stones of this temple, which is being erected for the glory and honor of the wisdom and love of our Heavenly Father.[5]