The 1st Wave took hunter gatherers, and fixed them to the land.  It created classes within society, and made land, food, water and slaves items of value.  Competition drove this system to excess, until the masses came together to challenge the system.  

The World Religions

Around 1500 BC, the first modern world religions were born.  It was during this time that the teachings of Moses spread among the slaves of Egypt, followed by other religious movements among the peasants of China and India.  This was the next major change in human consciousness, the result of a backlash against the excesses of the hierarchical order of the day. 

In many ways, these movements empowered the powerless by giving them a new way of relating to their environment and to their reality.  In the west, for example, the religion of Moses brought together an entire people under a new philosophical order, one that was successful in liberating them from Egyptian slavery.  Over time, however, even this movement succumbed to hierarchy.

By the time of the birth of Jesus, His religion was under the control of a corrupt ruling body known as the Sanhedrin, dominated by Sadducees and Pharisees.  Just like before, another backlash developed against the hierarchy of the day, resulting in the birth of Christianity.  

Again the pattern repeats, as Christianity is co-opted by the Roman Empire, leading to a new hierarchy called the Holy Roman Catholic Church. As this new hierarchy controlled its subjects through its control over information, we entered one of the darkest periods in our history -- the Dark Ages.  

Over time, new inventions like the printing press, along with heretical thoughts from Copernicus and Galileo, went on to challenge the teachings of the Church.  As the Church's control over information began to crumble, the world entered The 2nd Wave.

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