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What are the obstacles to becoming a more advanced society? Do we want to become more advanced? I'm sure everybody has something to say on this matter with each comment colored by one's culture and upbringing. Rather than trying to figure out who's right and who's wrong, let's look at some of the advancements we've made so far.
I could go back to the cave or to ancient Egypt, but instead let's visit the the early days of the Catholic Church and subsequent religions and political beliefs. When Roman power transitioned from the Caesars to the Popes, the barbarity of punishment did not change but instead shifted. Always fear based, the fear of God was added to the mindset. If you were found to have different beliefs than the church, you faced a horrible, painful death and fire and brimstone thereafter. Now that's laying down the law! But who's law?
How did we escape those frightening, inhumane times (or have we)? Was it conservative thought that allowed humanity to grow or was it someone or something thought to be dangerously revolutionary? Well, you know the answer to that. Conservatism would have us stuck in the dark ages at best. How could anyone argue this fact?
A couple of years ago I spoke at length with a devout Christian man about New Thought spirituality. Every argument I raised was countered with statements found in the New Testament written a generation after the death of Christ, translated, or rather interpreted from foreign languages and edited brutally to meet the political needs of the day. His most emphatic argument was that God did not want us to become too knowledgeable. He said that we should avoid the fruits of science and so-called advancement just as Adam (not Eve) should have avoided that damned apple. I sho note that while he and his brothers seemed kind to their wives, the women were clearly second class and totally subservient as is the case in many societies and religions.
Is the goal of western society to remain the same or to grow in ways that foster peace and love to all peoples regardless of social status, sexual preference or wealth and to ensure that all people have the necessities of life and can live without fear? If you chose the latter, I'd agree with you but ask you one last question. What is the first step we can take to achieve this worthy goal?
