Page 35 - Age of Peace Goodword.indd

The Age of Civilization

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iolence is a remnant of the culture of primitive society.
VIn the early ages people knew only one way of settling
their affairs—that of violence. It is said that at some point in
the Stone Age two people, having started a quarrel, threw
stones at each other in anger. The stones collided and this
resulted in sparking. The two men observed the sparks that
originated from the collision. They forgot their quarrel and
began to ponder over the phenomenon of sparking. From this
experience they discovered that there was something hidden
in stones, which was separate from the stones. That is, the
stones do not have light, but what resulted from their collision
was light; stones are hard, while the spark was “soft”, and so
on. It is said that it was such events that started the pursuit of
the study of natural laws.
It took thousands and thousands of years for man to
discover that there are laws hidden in nature and that by
understanding them we may harness the potential of nature
for our benefit. The discovery of steam power is an example
of this unfolding of the hidden potential of nature. Similarly,
cars and aeroplanes were built by utilizing natural resources.
In this way, after a long period it became possible to
convert matter into technology. This process went on
uninterruptedly with a large section of humanity involved in
it. A long time elapsed between the invention of the wheel
and the development of modern means of communications.
The results of the many discoveries and inventions during this

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