Applying basic Buddhist logic in looking at the whole development of society, we cannot say that there is going to be a Golden Age. For that matter, we cannot say that there is going to be a Dark Age. But at the same time, the Dark Age does exist in certain depressed areas of energy in the world. Within that situation, the question still remains as to whether the energies are going to be channeled toward destruction and negativity or whether the energies are going to be channeled toward the creative and the positive. In any situation, there is always that interplay.

For instance, in America there is constant dissatisfaction, pain, and complaints taking place. And also, because of that, America is becoming a spiritual center of the world. That kind of interplay takes place all the time. You can’t say that one country or one whole age is entering the Golden Age or the Dark Age, as such. The aggression, speed, and chaos of individuals always raise the same questions, no matter what the larger situation is, and those questions provide new answers. We cannot destroy civilization. Civilization cannot be destroyed, because civilization is not one entity. It is a group. It is a commonwealth. And because of there being common wealth, therefore, when there’s a depression on one side, the other side begins to be elevated. It is like the change of day to night. The situation goes on and on and on.

The nationwide or worldwide karmic situation is very powerful. It is a never-dying situation. Depression automatically raises the question of why we are here, and the question automatically brings the answer, and we begin to come to some realization. The two sides of a situation play with each other, which is the Indian concept of maya or lalita—dancing with a situation. The situation actually dances with itself constantly. Chemistry helps to maintain both sides of a situation. The positive chemistry cannot exist without the negative, and vice versa. So the darkness and the light are complementary to each other.

From The Future Is Open: Good Karma, Bad Karma, Beyond Karma, pages 12 to 14.