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Many beliefs teach that we came from a Golden Age and that we are not evolving but deteriorating.

Under the Ages of Man, Greece taught that we came from a golden age when man lived in peace, harmony, stability and prosperity. People did not have to work and the earth provided an abundance of food.

Fields knew no taming hand of husbandmen
To mark the plain or mete with boundary-line.
Even this was impious; for the common stock
They gathered, and the earth of her own will
All things more freely, no man bidding, bore

The Golden Age was first; when Man, yet new,
No rule but uncorrupted Reason knew:
And, with a native bent, did good pursue.
Unforc'd by punishment, un-aw'd by fear.
His words were simple, and his soul sincere;
Needless was written law, where none opprest:
The law of Man was written in his breast

They lived to an old age, but were young in appearance. Thereafter, each age man deteriorated just as the value of the metals did in each age, becoming violent, greedy and selfish.

Hinduism had a similar idea, the Yugas, the Krita Yuga being the Golden Age, the Kali Yuga being iron age.

In Norse Gullaidr means Golden.

The bible also references them “Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue - an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were all broken to pieces and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. - Daniel 2: 31-35

2 Answers

+2 votes
by

Dear Katherine,

This is a remarkable, amazing, multi-faceted question…wonderful!

My own knowledge of the yugas in Hindu philosophy comes from Priyanath Karar, monastic name Sri Yukteswar (1855-1936), his little 1894 book THE HOLY SCIENCE. His astronomy suggests we go around in cycles of 24,000 years; well we hit the bottom of that cycle in 500 AD, and then we finished the darkness of Kali Yuga in 1700 AD. So we are now 300+ years into the ascent toward wisdom and scientific understanding; and our scientific progress certainly is consistent with that idea!

As far as an area where we have lost ground evolutionarily, maybe our amazing science has led us into an economic system which excites a kind of predatory greed in certain vulnerable people, so that they view other people along with everything else as commodities to be exploited for profit...the commodification of everything! 

But even that brings a backlash, so that many others are now looking for ways into a better system - where we are not so vulnerable to a very few predatory types who misuse capitalism!

And as for the future? I think we will begin to understand ourselves better, what makes humankind tick. Also, we will come to acknowledge our own mystery; that we are beings of wonder and mystery.

 * * *

And yes, I do buy into the idea of a Golden Age, and loved your quotes from Virgil and Ovid.

by

Thank you for your reply Virginia, I often get confused as to which Yuga we are in, some still suggest Kali Yuga.  You are spot on we are making great strides in science, and a few are becoming more aware consciously, however, I'd still say the majority are still hypnotised by consumerism and wrapped up in celebrity and the self, and television is definitely dumbing down the populous, I hardly watch it at all anymore unless a wildlife, space, or history or survival documentary is on. I often wonder what it was like when man was free to live on the earth, to eat freely from mother nature, without taxes, boundaries, concrete, and rules. I cannot help but view civilisation as a prison sometimes, caging ones spirit.

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,1
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

by

Katherine! Did you know Dozy/Didge from Ask.com? That is one of his favourite songs...a protest song, Malvina Reynolds...


by

I sing that often :)

by

Malvina's song...she's still timely. <3

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