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The fragile nature of civilization.
Our presently achieved, advanced civilization, having been created intelligently, is vulnerable to be destroyed when regressive movements unfold in the background, especially when the nature of these movements is not understood. The regressive forces must first be recognized, before the society can protect itself against them. The age old warning to be aware of "wolfs in sheep's clothing" unfolded out of this recognition. In this regard, understanding universal history is enormously important to modern living. By exploring universal history, scientifically, the society can become aware of the hidden processes which cause destruction, which often hurt the society more deeply than any other force on the planet.
Speaking in broad terms, the dark periods of history, and the rather rare periods of renaissance, have fundamentally opposite foundations. For instance, the imperial structures, regardless of their occasional achievements in creating order and social stability, have been universally detrimental to human development. This is so, because in an imperial state the resources that should be available to the society are constantly depleted and redirected to maintain the imperial classes, their status, and the power of the imperial state. Therefore, in an imperial state, few resources are devoted to advancing the status and the well-being of the society as a whole. This difference explains the general backwardness of the colonial nations in contrast to nations operating on a renaissance based economy.
It was this backwardness of the colonial nations of the British Empire that had caused Franklin Delanor Roosevelt to insist throughout the years of World War II, when conferring with Winston Churchill, that these nation's social well-being and status must be improved. "I think I speak as America's President," Roosevelt is quoted, "when I say that America won't help England in this war simply so that she will be able to continue to ride roughshod over colonial peoples." Apparently, there were many such exchanges, especially about the Empire's exploitative free-trade, which Roosevelt said were the cause of the backwardness. In response to such demands an exasperated Churchill is quoted: "Mr. President, I believe you are trying to do away with the British Empire."*(Elliot Roosevelt, As He Saw It - New York: Duell, Slogan and Pearce, 1946)
In contrast to the imperial periods of history, periods of renaissance are characteristic for a mentality where the focus of the society is shifted away from imperial objectives, from serfdom towards the pursuit of knowledge, from exploitation towards the creation of resources for an advanced state of civilization and a freer and richer life. Periods of renaissance are characterized by creativity and technologies that increase the productive capacity of human labor and enable noble cultural objectives to be realized. The developments in such periods invariably raise the status of living of the renaissance focused society to a much higher plane that reflects the native dignity of the human being as an intelligent creator. On the foundation of its grand intellect, the human being stands alone and infinitely tall among all forms of life on this planet. This foundation is drawn to the fore-front in periods of renaissance, or is trampled into the dust by the powers of imperialism which cannot maintain their dominance over a society of intelligent and creative people.
The question needs to be explored, here, as to which periods reflect most the principle of truth? The answer is not a hard one. The development trend that marks every period of renaissance bears profoundly witness to the productive and creative capacity of the human being; unequalled in the natural world in terms of range of thought and corresponding capability. During periods of renaissance, the focus was towards the development of this potential. The institution of the nation-state was created, for the renaissance purpose, to serve as a platform for setting up the most ideal environment for the realization of the creative and productive potential of each individual human being. The goal of any unfolding renaissance is to advance the common achievement of the society and to thereby raise the state of civilization. Only, here, the individual is truly free and prosperous.
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Stories about
Sex
from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche
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