From a distance, we can see a direction to both biological evolution and human history. Neither is a smooth, strictly linear process. But with perspective, we see a process of how love (and the lack of it) can change individuals, groups, communities, nations, and even civilization as a whole.

Human history has its ups and downs, and agendas at odds with each other. Cycles of conquest and expansion, fragmentation and collapse, have characterized the rise and fall of civilizations forever. As civilizations come and go, civilization itself continues to flourish, growing in scope and complexity. Progress is made; new forms of disruption come along, yet new and more complex forms of cooperation also arise.

To sustain this innate pattern for a harmonious future, an inclusive altruistic love in its fullest is needed, now more than ever. Our challenge is to become more aware of our inner spiritual nature, and let this direct our entire lives.

We are our spiritual essence. Directing our aspirations toward the heights of our spiritual potential will infuse altruistic love into a burdened world. If we had as our deepest ambition to help bring about the achievement on earth of such a spiritual civilization, we would, according to Baha’u’llah:

“Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor…a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy…fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful…a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression…a breath of life to the body of mankind.”

All of these spiritual qualities, attributes, and virtues are offspring of the mother of all emotions: love. When these virtues are put into action on the collective level, we will see even more clearly how attraction alters civilizations.