There are no golden ages, no utopias, no heavens on earth. This world is a scene of continuous process, or diversification--which means it is an ever-changing scene. Sometimes it is better, sometimes it is worse--if looked at from a human standpoint--but none of these two conditions remains forever fixed. Only romantic dreamers or pious, wishful thinkers look or wait for one that is. What we may reasonably look for and, if fortunate, hope to find, is an inner equilibrium within ourselves which will yield a peace or a presence. Let us not lessen what we are by refusing to accept the responsibility, by practising self-pity, or by blaming environments. They have their place and may make their contribution, but in the end it is our own ignorance of our own possibilities which is the basic cause.
-- Notebooks Category 26: World-Idea > Chapter 2 : Change As Universal Activity > # 13
