Our Achievments Are A Humiliation

If modern masters are so much in advance of the old ones, why do they not restore to us the lost arts of our postdiluvian forefathers? Why do they not give us the unfading colors of Luxor — the Tyrian purple; the bright vermilion and dazzling blue which decorate the walls of this place, and are as bright as on the first day of their application? The indestructible cement of the pyramids and of ancient aqueducts; the Damascus blade, which can be turned like a corkscrew in its scabbard without breaking; the gorgeous, unparalleled tints of the stained glass that is found amid the dust of old ruins and beams in the windows of ancient cathedrals; and the secret of the true malleable glass? And if chemistry is so little able to rival even with the early mediaeval ages in some arts, why boast of achievements which, according to strong probability, were perfectly known thousands of years ago? The more archaeology and philology advance, the more humiliating to our pride are the discoveries which are daily made, the more glorious testimony do they bear in behalf of those who, perhaps on account of the distance of their remote antiquity, have been until now considered ignorant flounderers in the deepest mire of superstition.

H. P. Blavatsky, 1877: Isis Unveiled 1:239

reply to post by toocoolnc

You may want to put external quote tags on that, since it isn't your work or words. And it would help if you gave us your thoughts on the matter too.

On topic: Because our overlords don't want us realizing, that in some ways, the ancients were so far ahead of us it's like comparing a tree house to a skyscraper. They want us to see social evolution in a linear fashion, not as it really is, a series of peaks and valleys.