Mankind has made great progress over the last two hundred years, if not in their spirit, at least in the material and practical things that so many of us take for granted such as electricity, ease of communication, tools, and knowledge. The problem is that mankind has advanced to the stage in which so many at the top feel that they truly are the masters of the world, of which those, of great insight and great intelligence, have consciously shunned aside the Master of it all, in the ultimate hypocrisy that these privileged elites need bow down to nobody and that man is indeed the measure of all things.
But whether man is truly the master of it all or not, can easily be answered by the results that we see in this present day world in which we are surrounded and overwhelmed by such things as violence, drunkenness, abuse, greed, injustice, hate, war, troubles and tribulations. Sure, there are pockets of love, charity, and consideration, but these are the exception and almost never the rule, as mankind seems preordained to see the world in the most selfish dog-eat-dog light, and even at the very top of the material chain, it's ego v. ego.
Sadly, despite everything that mankind has mastered and accomplished, we still see in essence the exact same results since time immemorial in regards to life and death that are produced, in the sense that what is born here, dies here. Yet, so many, don't even have an inkling or a desire to contemplate that if earth represents nothing more than known beginnings that have known endings, than certainly there must be something beyond this material plane, because what is transitory cannot now and never will be the signature point of what consciousness really represents.
In point of fact, the end of all sorrows can lie only in a dimension that is eternal, with truth, justice, and love its abiding stars, and all this has been written into our hearts by the very hand of God. Unfortunately, so many people here on earth do not want to listen to that voice, because they enjoy, while the going is good, the things of this earth, which constantly entices them and draws them in, or if not exactly enjoying it, they take pleasure in the wrongs that they commit, because it amuses them, but whichever way that the wind blows, there comes a time when the wind is stilled, and each of us stands naked and exposed for what we really are, no matter our belief or unbelief.
Still, we can take solace in knowing that there are some people, not necessarily religious in the common sense, that follow the joy within their soul, and provide to their fellow brothers and sisters, compassion, selflessness, and love, and these very people whether they have profess their love of God or not, by their fruits are known by God.
It is vanity of vanities, the deception of the age, to believe, to really believe, that this staging ground of earth, is the be-all and end-all of existence, as opposed to what it really is, a testing ground, determining indeed whether you have the "right stuff", and those that fail to recognize or acknowledge this First Point, suffer from the ultimate delusion that will entrap them into endless cycles of birth, death, and re-birth, until they recognize that theirtrue immortality only comes from the knowing of and the desire to re-unite wholly with their Creator.