How Far Has Mankind Progressed?

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There's a growing trend in Europe of 'believing without belonging' and spirituality is alive in many forms.
For example, we are exploring angels, gurus from the East, meditation, reincarnation theories, as well
as fresh forms of Christianity. So why so many of us continue to believe? I would say humans are
inherently faithful - they have faith in something, now this might be faith in their group, in technology, in
a social-political system or whatever, but they're going to have faith in something. Humans do have the
capacity for self-awareness, and we are concerned wirh finding meaning in our existence. Evidence has
shown that faith has a key part to play in making meaning and can, in turn, bring benefits.

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Neurotics get a bad name, but being on the neurotic end of the personality scale
can have some surprising benefits - they're more likely than other personality
types to get absorbed in most things. While this means they enjoy other things
far less they get enjoyment (neurotics usually have a highly reactive sympathetic
nervous system, making them sensitive to environmental stimulation) they get to
enjoy and feel-good about most things than the rest of us. That is why the love a
good laugh.

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The most precious treasures are often the simplest...

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Of all the dynamic royal families in European history, the Bourbons were probably the most remarkable, and certainly the most tenacious. They ruled three kingdoms, France, Spain and Italy simultaneously, and in the 18th century almost controlled much of the Netherlands, all of South America bar Brazil, immense swathes of southern and western North America, all the West Indies bar Jamaica and the Philippines, as well as possessing considerable interests in Africa and India. All The royal Bourbons from Louis 111 onwards were descended from Juana the Mad of Castile and of over half of the latter Bourbons were officially declared as mentally defective, and the rest exhibiting varying forms of physical and mental abnormalities. It really helps greatly in understanding key events in European history.

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The British ruled Iraq from World War 1 until 1932, instituting a model of rulership which consisted o f a
mandate from the League of Nations to exercise authority through a network of officials and to control the
country's oil resources. The ruling Sunni urban majority represented less than a quarter of the total
population, resented by Shi'as and Kurds, though the sheikhs who benefited from the mandated and kept
the rulers in power were from both Shi'ite and Kurds communities. Britain's principal objectives were
secure communications with India and the protection of the Persian and Iraq oilfields. During the
1920s the imperial thinking underwent modification s , and it was felt that British interests could be
guaranteed equally well by more discreet form of control. This is a definitive account.

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For the Hellenistic period, probably the most profitable archaeological evidence came primarily from Athens,
Rhodes, Pergamon, Ephesus, Miletus and Al Khamun in Afghanistan. Only now is Alexander's empire beginning
to be interesting and valuable new techniques is landscape archaeology - the detailed contextual analysis of
regional terrain in all its aspect, both man-made and natural. Added to this is the layout of cities, beliefs and
customs detectable from graves and shrines and their contents, self images, taste in household objects,
decorated floors, the arrangement of living space and the size and nature of estates. The Hellenistic Age
flourished for only 300 years and was a rich and hedonistic era, characterised by bloody political and military
violence. It featured a colourful tapestry of characters - incestuous and ruthless monarchs glory-hunting
warlords, philosophers, courtesans, libertines and dramatists to name but a few, Alexander the Great, the
world's greatest conqueror, and Cleopatra the world's most legendary Queen. A complex and spectacular
story.

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The 500 years that followed the accession of Augustus were an era during which Rome reached
the height of economic prosperity and cultural achievement, but also plumbed the depths of
anarchy, cruelty and chaos. This history of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire is packed with
vivid accounts of the most celebrated and notorious Roman emperors including Julius Caesar,
Nero, Anthony, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Dimitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus
Aurelius, Commodus, Diocletian and Constantine. One murdered is mother, another fought as a
gladiator, two were philosophers, another wanted desperately to be God when he died, and yet
an other is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church ...

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From the arrival of Julius Caesar and the Roman Army in 55BC to the death throes of the Jacobite rebellion at Culloden Moor on 16th April 1746, warfare has regularly cast a deadly shadow over British history. It is also likely that warfare was present thousands of years before this,in Mesolithic and late Upper Paleolithic Archaeological sources indicate that warfare was a feature of life in prehistoric Europe and the number of prehistoric weapons including fortifications is huge and iconographic representations of war and warriors in art and supplement the earliest evidence of the occurrence of warfare in prehistoric Britain at Gough's Cove.

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Whatever exists has its character independently of its being perceived by human or divine minds;
it is opposed to verification and some versions of idealism and phenomenalism' Idealism the
philosophical doctrine, held by Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, and others. A theory about universals
held by Plato, which maintains that properties such as redness exists outside the minds; it is opposed
to nominalism and conceptualism. The philosophical thesis that scientific theories aim or should
aim to depict the way the physical world really is;it is opposed to instrumentalism, which holds that
theories should only be assessed on how effective they are as explanations and predictions.

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The notion, especially prominent in Indian religion that one is born not just once but many times in a
succession of lives according to one's deeds (Karma). If one deeds are good the next birth will be more
favourable; if they are not good, the next birth will be less favourable. The ultimate aim of life within this
world-view is to escape from the round of rebirths into the salvation of nirvana. The notion of rebirth,
absent from the early parts of the Hindu Veda, emerged in the Upanishads and the later Hindu and
Buddhist scriptures. It implied that one life was not enough to work out one's total destiny, and also
implied a just solution to the age-old problem of suffering: one is reborn just according to what one has
done and how one has lived. Hindus and Buddhists differ in that the Hinduism believe that there is a
permanent self that is reborn, whereas the Buddhists deny the notion of the self while retaining a belief
in rebirth.

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The belief that the body and blood of Christ are actually present in the bread and wine
at communion (Eucharist/Mass). The nature of Christ's presence became the subject
of great controversy at the Reformation,

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Reincarnation, the belief that following death, some aspect of the self or soul can be reborn in a new body
(human or animal), a process which may be repeated many times. This belief is fundamental to many
Eastern religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism , and is also found in more modern Western beliefs
systems such as theosophy. Alleged past-life regressions, where a hypnotised person appears to 'remember'
past lives, have recently fuelled Western interest in reincarnation, although such cases may only representthe
person trying to meet the implied demands of the hypnotist.

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Claims for miraculous cures which seem to be supernatural or to defy conventional science
have been made since ancient times. Miracle cures are now also associated with modern US
television evangelists, many of whom claim to cure afflicted people by faith health.