Life Cycles of Civilizations

The mythology of youthful civilizations, accurate or not, dictates that these young cultures are fecund and enjoying their own existence, generally living in harmony with their natural environment, and not especially technical or scientifically rigorous in their approach to the world.

Middle-aged societies are seasoned by time and often depicted as semi-pastoral, semi-urban. Compared to their youthful counterparts, these balding cultures are socially stratified, aggressive in more subtle and destructive ways, legalistic, bureaucratic, corrupt and askew in relationship to Nature.

Societies in decline have lived beyond the Age of Hope and are now firmly in Despair. Their infrastructure is crumbling, government and policing skeletal. They have gone through a period of overpopulation and are now likely underpopulated with birth rates plummeting steadily. They are dying.

Dead societies may still influence the living. Their karma may still occupy certain places, causing old ideas to resurface and replicate.