How each aeon, or major period of history, brings with it a particular mode of consciousness; and each of these periods framed how people perceived the world around them and the forces within it. Such periods establish what we may call ‘consciousness structures’ (reality or belief sets) that then influence the worldviews, behaviours, and environments that emerge from this. This affects how cultures and communities are formed; how value systems are agreed upon; and other moral and ethical implications. 

As human civilization passes further into a materialized existence, particular forces shall arise that find their domain within such an environment. That is, each epoch of civilization contends with forces, known and unknown, according to humanity’s state of development, awareness, and in correspondence to the form of existing cultures and societal structures. Forces that impinge and participate within human life in this realm do so relative to the time and place. In other words, it can be said that consistent forces involved within the evolutionary journey of humanity are consistently adapting according to the epoch. Human life upon this planet is now transitioning into an era of techne (technē).

It is a natural, yet incorrect, assumption to accept physical events at face value. Influences come to us upon many varied levels, and the visible, physical carrier or medium is the most superficial form. All of life is a play of forces; we may call these ‘universal forces’ for they act both within and beyond the physical. We have become accustomed to giving personal forms to many of these forces, and we believe that we are independent and free from their influence. The Greek-Armenian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff used to say that humankind lives under 48 laws, of which they are mostly unaware or ignorant of.