Newsletter January
Our Health Tip:
Use a hot water bottle when you have pain.
This old home remedy has now been scientifically confirmed. When over 40° C. heat is placed on the skin over a painful area, for example, the abdomen, the underlying pain receptors are blocked; the pain is eased or disappears. This according to scientists at University College of London.
Hard Living Conditions Led to the Formation of Advanced Civilizations
In Sept. 2006, researchers at the University of East Anglia in England published a study on the question: Under what kind of conditions do advanced civilizations develop.
Until now, many researchers had assumed that in times of surplus people were more able to develop an advanced civilization. On the other hand, climatic changes tended to be blamed for the destruction of civilizations. New archeological studies, however, are showing the opposite, adverse living conditions provided the initial spark for the formation of advanced civilizations.
Thus, archeological finds in the Libyan sector of the Sahara have confirmed that the advanced Garamantean civilization developed at a time when the living conditions in this region took a dramatic turn for the worse. 3000 years ago the once green landscape began to dry out and human habitats were reduced to small areas surrounding still existing water supplies. Reduced resources forced people to accommodate each other and work together. In this way, for instance, they developed ingenious irrigation systems.
There were similar developments all over the earth. The motivation for developing advanced civilizations in China and Egypt was not a higher quality of life, but the necessity to accommodate each other and work together. Most people had to clearly work even more than before.
These latest archeological findings point out that in mankind’s history of climatic changes and thus, of disasters, creative activities were the result.
Our commentary:
Necessity makes for creativity!
This old saying has a much deeper meaning than we may have given it before.
Most people believe, as many scientists did till now, that prosperity is a prerequisite for cultural and social development, for research and an advanced civilization. But this study demonstrates exactly the opposite. Particularly in times of scarcity, of poverty, of the fight for survival, human beings are most creative. It is under these circumstances that a human being becomes creative. People don’t think about themselves so much, but the goal is to attain the best for all together and thus, to ensure survival. Only when everyone is well off will the individual also be well off. This is the basis for a social structure based on mutual help and selflessness.
When an individual is well off, then his own greed comes out. Perhaps this is also what led to the decline of all advanced civilizations in the past.
These historical developments thus point the way to an advanced civilization, in which every person can live well, in which the individual does not aim to satisfy his own greed, but is active for the good of all, according to the motto: “When everyone works for the well-being of the other, then everyone is well off.” But unfortunately, this also shows that we human being have learned nothing from this until now. When the need is over, everyone is again his own best friend …
Perhaps we can also learn from this that a lasting advanced civilization, with an ever-higher development of the individual, and thus, of the whole society, is possible. To be precise, this is possible when people help each other not only in times of need, but also by making selfless giving, the concern for the good of their fellow man, of nature and the animals, and an active striving for this, a fundamental goal in their life and make efforts to live accordingly. This is the basis for a higher development and an advanced civilization, and not the result of conditions of need. It is only in this way that an advanced civilization can be lasting.
Can this be the key for making the divine Kingdom of Peace, of which the great prophets speak, become reality here on earth? It is up to each one of us to make it become a reality bit by bit, so that a little more happiness, contentment and health for all can develop.
