40.The rise and decline of human civilization

Xuefeng

In The Story of Mankind, a well-illustrated book, Hendrik Van Loon strings together the great historic events of mankind like pearls.

Based on his on-site interviews and investigations in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India and other countries,Yu Qiuyu wrote a book called A Sigh of Millenium

Based on the on-site interviews and investigations in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India and other countries the Chinese author Yu Qiuyu wrote the book” A Sign of Millenium”.

These two books are of great help for the accurately understanding of the rise and decline of human civilizations.

We may find that civilizations are the crystallizations of human wisdom when we review the civilization of ancient Egypt civilization, Maya civilization, Persian civilization, Greek civilization, Athens civilization, Roman Empire, Islam civilization, civilization of medieval Europe, and the rise of England. The rise of a civilization depends on the progress of science and technology, without which there would be no civilization. Monkeys and gorillas have longer histories than man, but they have always remained in the wild and primitive stage for lack of the development and progress of science and technology.

Then why did the arisen civilization decline?

Civilization needs the guidance of an eternal spirit and pursuit. Without the guidance of an eternal belief, a civilization will be formidable and may perish any time. When a nation or country has a relatively advanced productive force, it is likely to think little of everything else. Swelling in pride, it deems itself the Greatest Creator when looking around. It does what it wants and regards itself the savior of the world.

The consequence of swelling pride is that it tends to impose its will on other people, and the result is that it not only has destroyed others’ civilization but also brought about its own downfall.

TheEphraim can survive from many disasters because they have the support of the Bible.

The Indian civilization can endure because of the support of Buddha, Brahma, and Magmatron.

Chinese civilization has sustained unflaggingly until today mainly due to the support of the idea of “oneness of heaven and man”.

With an eternal supporting point, man will not be overweening. Instead, they will feel modest and know that there is always someone stronger and that man is not the supreme form of life and not the dominant force of the universe.

America is the most powerful civilized nation in the world. The rise of its civilization is mainly due to their belief in god. Let’s look at the word on the reverse side of the dollar bills,it is “In God we trust”.

If America does not believe in god but in itself, it is bound to decline and fall.

It is not an easy course of development that man has gone through, and we should cherish what we have today. On the one hand, we are enjoying the fruits of modern civilization, but on the other we are faced with the danger of destruction. Lao Tzu said, “When people have no fear of force, then (as is the common practice) great force descends”. What is great force? It refers to a power unimaginable and uncontrollable by man. It is like the “deluge” recorded in the bible, which was then unexpected and uncontrollable by man.

There is an article called “Ten Major Crises Confronted by Man”, which mentions the impact of comet hitting earth, nuclear war, and biorobots’ control of mankind. But it didn’t mention the Greatest Creator. It seems that the mere mention of the Greatest Creator means religious superstition and deviation from science.

Will civilization unavoidably come to its end after it has reached certain phase of development?

The answer is no. Whether a civilization can develop sustainably depends on whether man has the Greatest Creator in mind. With the belief in the Greatest Creator, the civilization will continue; without, the civilization will perish any time. Just like a group of elephants, they will be punished by man if they ignore the existence of man and deem themselves masters of the earth, doing whatever they want and going on the rampage.

Then what if I just believe in gods not the Greatest Creator ?

The answer is: No!

The civilizations in history that were destroyed all believed in gods, but had they got the salvation?

Gods are not the supreme masters of the universe. Conflicts between gods often occur. They are busy attending to their own affairs. How can they spare themselves energy to care about us? How did Jesus’ twelve disciples die? Just like in the era of Chairman Mao, if we did not uphold the banner of the thought of Chairman Maobut instead raised the banner of Liu Shaoqi, or the banner of Zhou Enlai, or the flag of certain minister or governor, we would not be able to save ourselves, and worse than thatthe flags we raised would may have been overturned.

Will it do if I only believe in Buddha? As a saying goes, “Like a clay Buddha fording the river，hardly able to save oneself”. Buddhas are just life far superior to man. Living in the Elysium World, they have once made bold to come to the earth and the Greatest Creator has forgiven their past wrongdoings and given them a way out. Do they have energy to attend us? In the history of Buddhism, there have been numerous cases, in which temples were destroyed and monks were expelled. The sixth master of Buddhism could not even save himself but had to hide himself in hunter’s home. Buddhism cannot even protect its founder then can it protect us?

In addition, the purpose of belief in Buddhism is not to enjoy life in human world but only to go to the Elysium World of the west for another life. You are only daydreaming and know nothing about Buddhism if you want to enjoy the pleasure of life in human world and to go to the Elysium World after death at the same time.

From 2013 onwards if we prioritize our service to the Greatest Creator, we humankind may usher in the more glorious era. But if we pay no attention to the existence of the Greatest Creator, it is likely that “The Great Force “will come to the world.

We must ponder over the paths to be taken.

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To know more about the Greatest Creator, pls check:https://chanyuan.org/guide/db4930149d3c11e8a62910f005716da3