If "man is a being in search of meaning," as Plato once said, then I would suppose that man created civilization to pass the time until he finds all the answers. There is a great deal of conflict and frustration to be found in the history of man. I believe in the idea that history repeats itself over and over throughout the ages. If this is so, then man's progress is like an obese person getting liposuction: the fat is gone, but the bad lifestyle remains. Man's progress is the illusion of man's advancement. How is this so? The best example I can use is war. Napoleon said that war is…
