In God's scheme what is a few billion years here and there. Perhaps there have come and gone a dozen human civilizations in the past billion years that we know nothing about. And after this civilization we are living in destroys itself, it will all start up again in a million years when the planet has all its messes cleaned up. Then, finally, one of these civilizations, say five billion years from now, will last because people treat each other the way they ought to.

Summary

This quote suggests that in the grand perspective of God or the universe, the length of time and the rise and fall of civilizations are insignificant. It implies that there might have been numerous human civilizations in the past that are unknown to us, and our current civilization may eventually destroy itself. However, in the future, when the planet has recovered from our mess, a new civilization might arise after a million years. The quote suggests that this future civilization has a greater chance of lasting because its inhabitants will finally treat each other with the decency and compassion they should.

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