What is happening, does one thing really affect another?

Remember Peter Parker's uncle telling him that with great power comes great responsibility?

I often wonder how responsible we are for the worlds current situation. We, just as the little guys, not the elite, not the politicians but just the regular Joe on the street.

I was re-reading over world history and our advancement this last 150year something struck me to the quick.

As we advanced in wisdom as a people our grief increased. As our knowledge increased so has our sorrow. All the advancements in science, social and political relevance has not given the world any happiness, it has actually brought about more problems, grief and sorrow than any time before.

How is it that as we increased in wisdom and knowledge in this world that exponentially our grief and sorrow also increased?

It would be so nice to go back to the years past, of slower times to a time when family and communities really cared for one another. A time of less grief and sorrow.

oh well the price for progress I guess.

a reply to: ChesterJohn

You make a fair point about more sorrow - but that is not caused by progress. It is caused by greed, selfishness. "Happiness has to be taken" - that is not true, happiness actually has to be multiplied.

I see what you're saying, although people's lives are immeasurably more comfortable now than they were in the past.

Just not freezing and starving in the Winter does, I'd suggest, make life a lot less hard to bear.

Also, the infant mortality rate is so much less now. There are heartbreaking photos from Victorian times when people would photograph their dead children, posed as if sleeping or propped up amongst their siblings.

Perhaps the sorrow we feel day by day is less personal. We read about tragedies and the awful things that go on in the World and the grief we feel is slightly removed from us, albeit there's a lot of it.

Sort of a more quantity, less quality sorrow - so to speak. (On a daily basis that is, I'm not suggesting that tragedies that cause deep, personal sorrow no longer exists).

I think we can each make a vast difference to the World, just by the way we interact with each other. There is a lot of debate just now about divisiveness but if we make the effort to be at least pleasant to others we can go to sleep at night knowing that we didn't put ourselves out to ruin someone else's day and add another little dollop of misery into the mix.

a reply to: berenike

Here here Berenike! I agree.

It struck me to that the type of sorrow and grief was different than in times past but the level of it seems to have increased. Knowledge and wisdom does seem to have an negative effect as much as a positive effect upon us a people and a society at large.

Someone in a PM sent me a Bible verse that said exactly what my OP actually saw and I was amazed at it.

here is the verse, now we can accept it and believe it or we can believe it has no relevance to the subject at hand.

Eccl 1:18 For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

I can give you my personal perspective.

There have always been empires since man settled down in large cities. Although they might have been intended to maintain the needs of the population, share an idealistic view on the world whatever...

With every major advancement in human development, from using fire to cook, to domesticate animals and farm, drink milk and so on, it opened up new and better ways to sustain a larger population.
The last colonial era started out with the European technological superiority, and industrial age that caused huge difference in the rest of the world. The ever expanding need for more resources, and room to grow just got kick started in ways unimaginable before that time.

What happened is that a curtain people started thinking as better or it is their right to claim control over people without the superior technology and power.
In a twisted way and a history of violent wars, it kept getting better for the average Joe to live a relative save and stable life, while more food has been feeding more people every year, and better health care developed along side of it...

Populations sky rocketed... At the same times hunger and war killed millions, scientific and technological advancements cause more people to live a good life, then there were people dying.

Inside fact : Every time people died from the lack of food, it was plenty available, if only those in power distributed it to them. Yes horrific in my opinion, but not any less true...

So basically all the drama and conflict happening right now, is all hyped up as we got eyes and ears everywhere, even when the news is almost always what they want you see, in your government or Continental block or financial system favor... There are currently less people getting killed, and less people in imminent danger on Earth, then ever before.

Basically, we live in one of the most peaceful times in recent human history.

How is that for boosting your faith in humanity huh ?

For me, it's with a bitter taste of mass murder and genocide, but not any less true.


Just my 2 cts

a reply to: ChesterJohn

I hate to say it, but we have decreased in wisdom not increased....

Our knowledge has increased exponentially as a species... but the collective wisdom has decreased drastically...

Generally speaking, our race is worse off then we were 200 years ago

We know too much, and the world is collapsing around us as a result...

Only because we lack the wisdom to handle the knowledge