It may be presumptuous for an individual to generalize about civilizations of which he knows so little.  On the other hand, if we recognize the limitations under which all assumptions and generalizations operate it is possible and often helpful to assume and generalize, although the generalizations may be no more than interim reports, subject to later amendment, correction or rejection.

What were the prevailing ideas of civilizations and what ideas were put into practice?  What purposes dominated and directed the lives of civilized peoples?  How successful have civilized peoples been in achieving their objectives?

At the outset we must realize that in any complex society there are wide ranges of ideology, from the body of ideas held by small uninfluential sects to the purposes, ideas, policy declarations and actions of governing oligarchies.  We do not wish to defend or attack the ideas, but to summarize them and understand them in a way that will give a group picture of the purposes, ideas, policies and day-to-day activities of the civilizations in question.  For convenience in our discussion we will take up, first, civilized societies as collectives, and then the operation of civilized ideology as expressed in the lives of individuals.

Presumably the most immediate purpose of all civilized peoples has been survival, getting on as a collective or group from day to day, through summer and winter, under normal conditions, and/or in periods of stress and emergency.  If the group cannot survive it loses its identity, breaking up into the self-determining parts of which it is composed.

Survival means continued existence as a group—­in the face of disruption from within or attack and invasion from without.  The group which survives continues to exist and to act as a group that maintains the common defense and promotes the general welfare.

Each social group competing for survival has a sense of its own identity and a belief in its capacity to survive.  This ideology is strengthened by the belief that the group has special qualities and is protected by powerful entities that will guarantee its success in the survival struggle.  The group considers itself better qualified to survive than neighbor groups.  Such ideas, carried to their logical conclusion, make the group in question superior to its neighbors in survival qualities and a people chosen by its gods.

A superior people, chosen by its gods, is in a class by itself.  Other people, by comparison, are inferior.  It is the destiny of the superior people to take the lands of their inferior neighbors, and, whenever opportunity offers, to defeat the neighbors in battle, capture them and force them to do the bidding of the captors.

Cults of ideological superiority are widespread.  Put into successful practice by a victorious tribe, nation or empire, they develop into cults of superiority which assert:  “We, the victors, are stronger, better people than our weaker neighbors.”  As one victory follows another the belief in superiority grows.  People in an expanding empire or burgeoning civilization are obviously better survivors than their less successful competitors.