The average age of the world's greatest civilizations,
it has been said,
is only 200-300 years.
These nations have all progressed
through the following evolutionary sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From great 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.