"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years.These nations have progressed through this sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
from spiritual faith to great courage.;
from courage to liberty;
from liberty to abundance;
from abundance to selfishness;
from selfishness to complacency;
from complacency to apathy;
from apathy to dependence;
from dependence back again into bondage."
-Sir Alex Fraser Tyler, (1742-1813, Scottish jurist and historian)
I find this quote interesting and also a little frightening. The idea of civilizations following this pattern is similar to the pride cycle in The Book of Mormon.
It's a cycle that isn't unique to civilizations, we certainly find a version in individuals (myself, for instance) in the form of the pride cycle. The art is learning to avoid the downward trend; how to stop mid-cycle. How to stay grateful in abundance, lest we end up in bondage!
