HI Caryn - Halleluja!
Let's look for a moment at the mechanisms. We have disembodied forces that exist as noisy energies and information bits that float around aimlessly, we have a few of those that get into a survival loop in which they expand and have some degree of self-directedness and the ability to assiciate with some material aspects, and then we have those with full sentiency that walk around and worry about the other two taking over the world.

Regrettably our consumption of fuels and production of energy has been aimed at personal greed far more often than at interpersonal growth. This feeds the not-quite-sentient levels of energy and information. Those levels have trouble seeing very far, so insted of using love, a force like the gentle stream that carves away granite mountains, they tend toward turbulence and confrontation, a force more like a fire that destroys everything. As an example, after a battle in Viet Nam a senior officer explained, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it."

The "spirit of God" dwells in everything and everyone, and in spite of all the efforts of the scientific community to preach atheism, many sociologists side with Emile Durkheim, pointing out that the world is a product of the "conscience collective", the "Mind of God in the world". Many physicists work on atheistic proofs, yet believe in an ultimate origination of every in an "Uncaused Cause" - because they can't escape it. Engineers are often chill and stuffy, yet a few get sidetracked into wondering just how the God-force operates, and as they go to investigate they discover a whole new world of experiences, and in at least one obvious case, begin to work in the spirit world to rescue those who are still stuck between materialism and their true nature. (Hi Bruce!) Some of my colleagues are still trying to understand "cold spots" when a ghost appears, and related phenomena.

At this point we can see two general trends, and certainly the negative trend is the most obvious. BUT - when we look to see which trend is more stable we discover that the negative trends are not very stable at all. That's why they cast about so fretfully, like the man who mounted his horse and rode off in all directions.

Why are negative trends so unstable? Because they are improbable. Here's a ten second review of the topology of ideas- Take two ideas, A and B, and put them into a blank mind (or an empty computer). The probability of occurrence of one or the other will be just 50%. If they compete for dominance, then their probability goes down, because they might lose the fight, but it never increases.

Next, allow them to be additive, so that we get a new idea, AB. That means that our empty mind now contains three ideas, A, AB and B.  Ask yourself, what is the likelihood of encountering one of the two originals, say A. We can find it all by itself as A. We also can find it as part of the new idea, AB. But it is not part of the third idea B. So we have two chances out of three of encountering the idea A - and the same for B. The probability of A is now 67%. (This is also where gravity comes from, if you want to look farther.)

The moral of the tale is that making combinations creates a greater tendency for existence, while opposition reduces it, or allows no change. It follows that the mode of existence that includes the most joining, unity, conjunction and togetherness is the most stable idea, and thus will be the one left standing after the wars are all over.

What idea is the most likelt to create unity, conjunction, union, oneness and togethernes? Howsabout PUL? Pure unconditional love - no matter who, no matter what, nomatter when, no matter about anything else, we are One. And that One is God. "Hear, O Israel. Thy God is One."

This idea sits poorly with those who believe in religion only as a "fire escape". It means taking personal responsibility for everything. It means admitting that we are ultimately nothing, and God is everything. (Meditators will understand this.) It means abandoning selfishness in favor of the One True Universal Self. That's very difficult for those who wish to remain rich, powerful, famous and in charge. Still, in spite of holy wars, Inquisitions, mass exterminations, horrible things done in the name of "ethnic cleansing", and the rape of Darfur, the nature of God's Spiritual Nature continues to expand.

For this reason, I suggest that we can see beyond our bloody mucking up of the world in general, to the underlying truth, that this is where we learn to not have to do that stuff to ourselves any more. For that lesson I am grateful. So long as we are willing to see more than this one, immediate, limited, isolated and totally selfish lifetime, perhaps by merely by examining the historical trends over the ages, we can see that civilizion atually seems to be working out pretty well.

And if that doesn't do it for you, howsabout the blessings of flush toilets and central heating?
PUL
dave