The past year has seen its ups and downs ... a lot of downs it seems. Next year will likely be so too. (And the year after that!)
This is the roller coaster of life.
Do you know the still and quiet center at the heart of all ups and downs?
Do you know that the world has always been so?
Do you know that things are probably not as down (or as up) as you might think?
Do you know that the world has always been so?
Do you know that things are probably not as down (or as up) as you might think?
You are less likely to die a violent death today than at any other time in human history. In fact, violence has been declining for centuries. That is the arresting claim made by Harvard University cognitive neuroscientist Steven Pinker ... Just a couple of centuries ago, violence was pervasive. Slavery was widespread, wife and child beating were acceptable practices, heretics and witches were burned at the stake, pogroms and race riots were common, and warfare was nearly constant.... anthropologists have found that people were nine times as likely to die violent deaths in the prehistoric period than in modern times, even allowing for the world wars and genocides of the 20th century. Europe’s murder rate was 30 times higher in the Middle Ages than it is today. What happened? Human nature did not change, but our institutions did, encouraging people to restrain their natural tendencies toward violence.
(LINK ; for some of the recent debate of the question LINK )
Let's get real ... let's not go to extremes of exaggerated pessimism or cockeyed optimism!
What transcends "up" and "down" even as we strive to make the world better?
We have lots of problems, sure, and more chance now to get to work and fix some things!
The roller coaster of life ... flow with the ride!
Listen Through our Treeleaf Audio Podcast HERE:
https://treeleaf.podbean.com/e/decem...years-message/[/CENTER]
Thank you Jundo!
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