Sri Aurobindo saw history unfolding in cycles, where the symbolic or intuitive age is followed by the typal age of ethical and philosophic ideals. In India the former corresponds to the age of the Vedas, while the latter corresponds to the time of the development of the Upanishads. When ritual rigidity and external worship of forms prevail, the living force of spiritual and ethical truths degenerates into fixed formulas and precepts. The separation of humanity from the sacred and numinous is then complete as the conventional age sets in. All the major cultures and religions of the world have gone through such phases, and society has been shaped accordingly.

...   more »