Violence or Peace on Earth: From “Early/Primitive Man” to the “Advanced” Man of Technology

The Early Man:

It has been argued that the beginning era, the golden Age in which the Early Man lived was a more peaceful world as the physical universe was much younger and in the early stages of its cycle. That there were less human conflicts then, and that the early-man who inhabited earth then was a more contented man who lived a more truthful and peaceful life than the man of today. Yet there are those who argue that looking at the advancement of technology today, there is no way the early man could have lived a better life. Yet again, the conclusion may bother on the basis used to determine what is “better.” Those who argue for the early man insist that although he did not have the technological “advancement” of this age, he was friendlier to nature and related more closely and kindlier to his environment. As a result, his environment was friendlier to him in return. Is there a comparative conviction to say that the early man lived a more serene life in which more love reigned, and therefore enabled an environment relatively more peaceful than that of the present day? Was the early man more in tune with his true nature as soul and did that in turn lead him to live a life more in tune with his divine nature than the man of this age?

The Iron Age, The Holocene Epoch, The Aquarian Age, The Information Era:

The recognition of the Golden Age and Early Man who lived in it and through the era of the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, and into the present (Hesiod) Iron Age, is not a categorical preference of those eras over today’s era. However, it is a statement of comparative reasoning to appreciate why this age is more conflicted. Why mankind is today dealing with so many upheavals, atrocities, violence, strife, and wars than at any other era in history. The physical universe is going through the dwindling era of its cycle of existence. Interestingly, and ironically, man having gone through the three main ages of stone, bronze, and iron is said to have “advanced” into the technology era, the Holocene era or the Aquarian age, or the age of information (depending on what preferred reference is chosen), which is a period that has witnessed a shift from traditional industry (industrial revolution) to the era of information computerization where information and computer drive the economy and social life.

The Yugas, The Ages, The Times:

It is pertinent to mention that in theological studies or circles, there is a preference to refer or calculate these periods by other terms or means. For example, in the Sanskrit scriptures these stages are called the Yugas which represents the stages that the world goes through in order to complete its cycle. Accordingly, there are four Yugas – Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and the Kali Yuga, which is the last of the Yugas which we are incidentally living in now.

Regardless of what we call it or how we choose to define it, the fact is that we have entered a period (more than any other in history) in which man has also become more distanced from his true nature under what has been called or assumed to be “advancement” of the world through technology. There is no doubt that technology today has made a lot of things easy, convenient, and possible in the lives of man today. Such positives must be appreciated in any objective discussion of this nature.

The Other Side of Technology:

It is in these technologically driven conveniences and possibilities available to man today that we find the temptation and preoccupation of man to undo himself. Man now has the ability and therefore the temptation to engage in activities that result in creating and possibly using destructive technology such as nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons among others. So mankind has to deal with nuclear arms proliferation, biological warfare, chemical weaponry. Sometimes the negative consequences of technology are mostly unnoticed by the average man of today such as the experiences with the effects of electromagnetic radiation and global warming among others. There is also the issue that the man of today has gotten so engulfed and used to conveniences provided by electronic gadgets and abstract interactive communication past times via the internet and social media that there is very little if any time left for man to learn and relate with nature or interact with fellow humans and even families.

Ultimately, with all its comparative conveniences, the “advancement” of technology holds a significant threat to mankind and his environment. Man’s inhumanity to man is now at unparalleled levels. Deceived or distracted by divisive factors such as religion, race, politics, status, or wealth, Man has gradually become a being possessed by power, driven by destruction, heartless with hate, deceived by dogma, misconceived by misapprehension, and willing to visit unprecedented cruelty on his fellow man and the world around him. Could such characteristics enable a peaceful environment or allow for a relation to man’s divine nature? Is it not natural that it is only a matter of time before the tipping point is reached? The negative force seeks to distract man from letting his true purpose and nature as soul prevail as that divine being of love he truly is, and instead seeks to make him a debased creature eager to visit evil on all around him and by default on himself as well.

All About Finding Our True Selves:

Yet, in the face of all the troubles and challenges in today’s world and even the intensified depreciation in quality natural life, man is given the chance to reach within and strive to rise and triumph over the challenges of the times. In the process he gets the opportunity to rediscover his true nature and purpose as soul. The attainment of divine peace is within reach of the one who recognizes the nature of soul (the true self) as a being of love that existed and still capable of existing in a state of divine bliss and the heavenly kingdom.

Violence or Peace on Earth:

The search for peace on earth in this age remains a fleeting illusion yet it is important to note that the urge that prompts such seeking is inspired by the yearnings within man to awake to the drums of time and answer the call of soul to return home to the heavenly kingdom where soul once experienced the reign of divine beingness. The mind may not know it, but soul remembers. In the grand scheme of things, all has meaning with the purpose of driving man to at some point in time rediscover his true self as a peaceful divine being of love. So, while some may continue to spur violence some will choose to seek peace. While man is threatened and perhaps immersed in the crudest expression of violence and inhumanity to one another around the globe, he is also offered the busiest opportunity to wake up to the realization that he is a being of love with the freedom to choose between seeking the highest through love, charity, and selflessness rather than to degenerate down the path of the negative, the violent, and the destructive. Perhaps that freedom and the expression of it is what invariably matters. Accordingly, a person’s state of peace and divinity may be largely dependent on the choice of that person’s perspective and acceptance of peace and divinity. Such freedom lies within all man and has been granted since the golden age and through all the ages including the present.

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For a related reading or discussion, see: The Place of Peace in A Conflicting World also by Oliver O. Mbamara

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About The Author: Oliver O. Mbamara is a writer, poet, actor, filmmaker, & Attorney. For more on him please visit: www.OliverMbamara.com

© Written January 2016 (First published January 2018)

Photo of herdsman – Credit: Photographer unknown – Picture courtesy of Social media forum