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Returning to Bondage 

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependency back again into bondage." --Sir Alex Fraser Tyler (1742-1813) Scottish jurist and historian

This quote really impacted me and I wanted to share it with you. Are we doomed to repeat this progression? And if this is the actual progression of great civilizations, where are we in the process?

As a society we've move past bondage and spiritual faith as concepts that define us, and I hazard to say that we've also moved past courage and liberty though politicians still like us to suggest we're in the midst of it, despite some wanting to take away our civil liberties (NSA wiretapping?).

Clearly, we were once an abundant nation and if the recent reports on our country's obesity epidemic are an indication, we are at the very least physically quite abundant still.

My fear is that the masses have moved into selfishness and complacency, and really nearing, if not already totally on board with, apathy. How else have our bridges begun to collapse? How else have our civil liberties begun to erode dramatically? How else have we allowed New Orleans, an American city, to become scarier than a third world country?

We've also become dependent, that's for sure. Look at how we've outsourced many jobs to India and China for cheaper foreign labor. What about our dependence on foreign oil? That seems to have presented a few problems for us in the last few years.

With all the hubbub about "illegals", it seems we really want all of the jobs that used to be good, middle/working class careers which used to provide for a family a living wage, health insurance, the ability to buy a house and two cars, put your kids through college, and have a pension for retirement. . . we want those jobs to be performed somewhere else for a fraction of the price and with no safety or environmental restrictions.

If this all weren't enough to prove dependence, what about that foreign oil? On road trips with my children, I often hear, 'Are we there yet?' We're there. We're on borrowed time. And I fear there's an imminent return to bondage. We've gone over this 200 year cycle by 31 years.

What do you think? Are we past the point of no return? Have I stirred you up? Ready to reframe this and explore a different perspective? Drop me a line at www.maxpersuasion.com.

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Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of wealthy prospects using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies. Click here for other unique persuasion articles.

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