The Bells of the World

The bells of the world
Have tolled long enough for death
Let them now ring for life
The bells of the world
Let them now ring for life

This is now a very critical time
We are struggling with the problem of poverty
And we don't seem to be making any headway
We are moving into an era of energy shortages
We have the ecological crisis
Technology has become too big
Too complex, too expensive and too violent
So then let's look in the opposite direction.

The bells of the world
(the behaviour of most people...)
Have tolled long enough for death
(...has been conditioned by circumstances)
The bells of the world
Let them now ring for life

We need a technology for the people
For the spiritual and mental health of humanity
To fight poverty
A technology that works with nature
And doesn't bludgeon her all the time
An altogether more intelligent technology

Our intelligence
Our capacity to create new knowledge
Is almost the most precious thing we have
And therefore we have to become extremely sensitive
To the abuse of this capacity

The bells of the world
Have tolled long enough for death
(we have the resources...)
Let them now ring for life
(...to eradicate poverty)
The bells of the world (what we lack...)
Let them now ring for life (...what we lack is the will)
The bells of the world (organise, organise! Co-operate!)
Have tolled long enough for death
(you can always find like-minded people)
The bells of the world (the pioneers are already at work)
Let them now ring for life.

Everyone of us make up their own little mind what do we really think?
Which means what do we applaud and what do we detest?
We're very muddled on that
Once we're clear in our own little minds
Then we look around for the pioneers
Who are already doing the right thing and join them
Join them! It doesn't cost much
We've got to come to something more rational than what we've got now
And if we don't do it deliberately
It will be forced upon us through the facts of the universe