On the Threshold of Paradise

fourth phase, probably the last period of civilisation, will occur in the future. This author calls this fourth phase the Super-Industrial Age, which will be less materialistic than the previous stages. Therefore, equating this fourth phase with spiritual civilisation would be more appropriate. Let us take the first period of civilisation. It was a time when a man could only use whatever material was present in its original form on the Earth. The stone was the most readily available and useful of all the materials. Although many other things existed on the planet apart from stone, like wood and animals, and even a simple form of agriculture, stone took pride of place as the most widely used material; this phase came to be called the Stone Age. So far as early homo sapiens were concerned, he possessed the same natural qualities as the people of the present day. For example, the latest research has shown that the human brain contained one hundred billion particles during the Stone Age, no less than what is contained in the human brain today. It was only because of a lack of education and knowledge that man could not utilise his hidden potential at that time. Then came the dawn of the agricultural period, during which man discovered more and more ways of harnessing Nature. This period saw the development of irrigation, ploughing, the rearing and breeding of animals, iron and carts with wheels. This way, leading a better life than the previous age became possible.