PureInsight | October 27, 2008
[PureInsight.org] The Amazon River is the largest river in the world by volume, with water coming from both southern and northern hemispheres. According to many media reports, the Amazon basin was once home to an ancient civilization.
According to reports, previously people have always thought that there were only primeval forests in the west of Brazil. However, now there is growing evidence showing that there were human activities there before. Researchers have found a network of residences connected by roads, with a large street market in the center of this ancient neighborhood. Some artifacts reveal that the people there developed agriculture, cleared open spaces, and likely set up fish farms. Researchers said that similar to the relics from ancient Greek civilization, these residences by the Amazon were surrounded by thick structures like city walls.
However, today this once prosperous region has been reclaimed by uninhabited forest.
Twenty-first century people are mainly concerned with pursuing an easy and comfortable life, without thinking much about the passage of history. After experiencing the many vicissitudes of life, the civilization along the Amazon River disappeared, the Mayan civilization disappeared, and those ancient Central Asian civilizations such as Loulan (also called Kroran or Kroranyina, a 2nd century city-kingdom along the ancient Silk Road in what is today part of China’s Xinjiang Province, now completely buried by desert) and Dunhuang (another major ancient Silk Road city located at the junction between the Northern and Southern Silk Roads during the Han and Tang dynasties, a major point of trade between China and the West) also disappeared. What are left today are forests, deserts, and legends…
When a calamity strikes, when faced with earthquakes, tsunamis, and epidemics, we start to realize our human abilities are so insignificant. Certainly, from the legends and prophesies, it can be seen that a society is gradually approaching a dangerous crevasse whenever people in that society will stop at nothing to fight with each other for personal gain using any means; you can imagine what people would be facing when they neglect compassion and give up basic morality.
In this busy world, could you calm down to think about what is most precious in your life?
Maybe heaven would give man chances and reveal to you the answer. When we search with our conscience, we may find the answer quickly.
References：
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=lost-amazon-cities&sc=rss
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7586860.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loulan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunhuang
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/9/7/54736.html
