Theos-Talk Archives (March 1995 Message tl00389)

>> Lewis quoted ASTREA and replied [in part] thus:
>>
>> To look at it from another point of view, that conduct is not
>> something that is just "adopted" by an reluctant personality, but is
>> the result of the development of principles based on laws in nature.
>> Laws which are benign in intent, aiming at developing individuals
>> "latent" powers of compassion, love, and a lucid understanding of
>> how to nurture these qualities in others.
>
>
> While this is, as you say, a point of view, what is the _evidence_
> for laws of nature being benign in intent, aiming at the utopian
> outcome posited by such a view?

Evidence is difficult to agree on isn't it.  History seems to
record man's failures, atrocities and was often written by the
conquerer.  Another problem which HPB wrestled with was dates of
events and civilizations, saying the Europeans had squeezed
events into their preconceived time lines which reflected their
christian bias.

Beyond this we have whole civilizations to contend with whose
existence there are no written historical records of which we are
aware, although HPB does say these records are preserved by the
Mahatma's.

If we turn to science or the arts the graphs showing advancement
and decline would look like those of history, jumping up and down
across the known time line.

So, I see your point, but would suggest there is much in heaven
and earth of which we have not dreamt, to steal a line from
Shakespeare.  Someone else has said that plotting the
advancements of mankind gives mixed results because humanity
moves in large spiral cycles.  It would be necessary to track one
group of souls through time to see the gradual upward march.  To
place a point at the pinnacle of each succeeding civilization and
then draw a line through those would give such an upward incline.
Deciding when a civilization had reached its peak could prove
challenging couldn't it.  Has ours or is it only in its infancy.

Some astrologers claimed the Babaloynian civilization flourished
for over 20,000 years.  HPB said the Atlantean civilization
lasted 75,000 years, I think.  If we could recover enough data to
verify these times it would still leave the question of how one
would measure the moral devleopment of humanity.  What kind of
evidence would you accept? If was said that we no longer throw
christians to the lions for entertainment, being satisfied to
dress men in shoulder pads and helments and send them into the
arena to bang away at each other, would you consider that
evidence of moral development in civilization?

Lewis