This dichotomy between spirituality and materialism is a key to understanding the plight of humankind today. In the Bahá'í view, the major threats to our world environment such as the threat of nuclear annihilation, are manifestations of a world-encompassing sickness of the human spirit, a sickness that is marked by an overemphasis on material things and a self-centeredness that inhibits our ability to work together as a global community.