Around 100 generations ago, a Jew by the name of Jesus was born. He changed humanity in ways as few before him. Thousands of years since his death, humanity still drapes his spirit around the fabric of our culture.

His spirit has borne witness to an astounding amount of human progress in that short time. We have grown from million to billions; we now choose our weight, our weather and our level of safety; we now travel from anywhere in the world to anywhere else in hours to a couple days, or communicate with people there instantly; we have built structures thousands of feet high and sent structures thousands of feet below; the majority of us are literate and many have instant access to the entirety of human knowledge.

One hundred generations ago, wine and leavened bread were luxuries. Two to four hundred generations ago we were still learning how to write, and spent huge shares of our spare resources learning the concepts and patterns of winter and summer.

There has been astounding progress in such a short number of human lifetimes.

But, strangely, we are no happier than our Roman, Greek or Egyptian ancestors. We may live longer, fatter, more stimulating lives. But we today are just as likely to be unhappy as if we had been born any other time. We find our lives just as empty as our ancestors, and struggle just as hard to find meaning. We seek out religion to fill this void.

Religion has benefited greatly from our lackings. Buddhism believes life is suffering and teaches us how to endure. Christianity believes in a better place and teaches us endure the present to go there. But billions of people following the doctrines of Christianity and Buddhism has done nothing despite thousands of years of practice. We are still unhappy, leading empty, meaningless lives.

We must overcome.

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