98. As the people on Earth have concentrated themselves into nations, and each single nation constitutes in principle an individual in a common, larger nation which does not yet have any basic government, any system of law and justice, any police force, and which, concerning social order, is on the evolutionary level of Stone Age people, while as regards murderous weapons or means of conquest it represents the highest product of genius, then we have reached the core, or basic cause, of terrestrial mankind's material state of suffering. This state of suffering is due to the absence of a supreme world government, of an international court of justice and of a supreme authority which can deal with, protect and guarantee the freedom and right to live of individual nations, individual peoples and individual races. But in order that an authority or system of justice of this kind can become fundamental, it has to develop in such a way that it will eventually come to possess all valuable goods. As long as it does not possess the valuable goods, it does not have the power, and therefore can never become a perfect administration of justice, but is bound to be a slave of power instead of a master of power. But an administration of justice which is the slave of power instead of its master will never be able to carry the law of existence into full effect, and so mankind will remain without harmony and World Peace as long as there is no international world government representing the whole of terrestrial mankind, possessing all valuable goods and thereby constituting "right" united with "might".
      All power from the Divine Creative Principle's light radiation is therefore based on guiding the whole of evolution in the material as well as in the religious field towards a common basis, towards unity. And in this development, "right" - or the whole system of law and justice throughout the world - has, as mentioned before, reached the point we call "State power". As State powers constitute mainly units or areas which are national, sometimes separated by wide rifts and lack of mutual understanding and co-operation, this will then mean that terrestrial mankind's collective system of law and justice is still like a nebula, consisting of scattered particles. It is a machine which has not yet had the cog wheels assembled. And just as a machine cannot be used until it is assembled, so also the terrestrial system of law and justice cannot establish harmony, security or peace for mankind as long as its individual parts - the State powers - are not united to constitute "an inseparable, coherent, international world power - an insurmountable barrier to injustice", and thus a guarantee for the kingdom of peace on Earth embracing the whole planet.
      The first great fundamental step towards world harmony, towards peace on Earth, would therefore be the development of a world authority. The law and the court room can never in any way become a guarantee for justice, peace and security as long as they constitute a law court only for individuals. There must also be a law court for nations. It must develop so that it is able to compel nations to acknowledge their responsibility. Every nation is, after all, an element in the whole of terrestrial humanity's conditions of life and existence, and it cannot justifiably continue to be irresponsible in its actions against other nations.