69. Through the foregoing chapters we have now achieved a general view of the world situation as it has shaped itself for terrestrial mankind around the nineteen-thirties. We have thus witnessed how the general perception of life has become antiquated. And as this is naturally a basis for the formation of moral development, it means that terrestrial mankind is now going through a crisis concerning morality, a crisis which has already led to an increasing decline in that attitude of revenge and conquest which belongs to an old civilization; it has turned people's eyes away from ancient traditions and superstitions, and has aroused longings in them for a new and better civilization, for a purer view of life free from militarism and war and for a world full of spirit, art and love.
      Moreover, we have seen in those chapters the guiding, divine forces behind all culture and creation of consciousness, the final analysis of which, under the concept of the "Creative Principle", we concluded was the main factor in the nameless reality we shall learn to know later on in Livets Bog under the term "X2". We mentioned that the said forces manifested themselves in the form of rhythms or impulses, each of which always left behind a new spiritual basis, and thereby a new and better civilization for individuals. Furthermore, we learnt that the Earth's present spiritual basis, or world religions, have originated from such an impulse, which is now slackening off, or becoming outdated, and consequently a new impulse is already making its influence felt, and that terrestrial mankind is in the process of experiencing a world civilization's fall and a world civilization's birth.
      In this chapter we are now going to illuminate the more direct circumstances, or local details, in this great upheaval within the consciousness of terrestrial mankind. So we will point out here those realities in the terrestrial community that are imperfect and consequently on the decline, and those which are under development; those which have led to suffering and pain, and those that lead to harmony and happiness, or constitute the absolute, unfailing road to World Peace.