Perhaps "not" is the answer to that question for us humans. In fact, it has been hypothesized that the Bible's fall (Genesis 2) was the beginning to the end of human evolution. Yes, yes, yes, we have jet planes and cars that zoom about. But, how have we evolved? Planes don't impress me. If we grew wings, then I'd be impressed.
Oh, but science knows so much now that our ignorant ancestors didn't know. So then you have a guy with a PhD writing a book like The Tao of Physics? That was recent. It was in the 1980's for goodness sake. The Tao was written when? Long before Christ if I'm not mistaken.
Sorry folks, life is not black and white. Science and her findings are NOT necessarily pitted against religion. The traditional religions we are used to in the West may be in question. And, they should be for many of the western churches are very much caught up in Greco-Roman rationalism. Indeed, I would say Christians in many cases have become the Roman Empire. (By the way, Nero's number was '666' which instituted the number being assigned to the anti-Christ. Hey, if someone put my wife, child or best friend into a lion's den, anti-Christ would be an extremely mild label that I would give them).
The number itself according to many is a solar number. In that sense, '666' is our ego mind, which is our more Romanized/Greek intelligence. It's a very surface level intelligence and not very deep. If you identify yourself as your ego, then you are minimizing who you are. You are defining yourself as a ripple riding a wave and not the entire ocean.
(Please note, I AM not saying follow me on this. I'm just putting it out there for you to explore. There is a lot of conflicting information regarding this number. I do know from past studies that 666 was a solar number. Given our being ego based, then it makes sense that being of shallow waters, it does inhibit evolution, which Christ, in mystic Christianity, is exactly that, the evolutionary potential of all creatures (note, not just men, nor just human beings, but of all creatures, plants and other living forms).
If you want a challenging read, I would advise Evelyn Underhill's "Mysticism" in this regard. She does a very good job at putting forth the works of many of the great mystics such as Meister Eckhart, Jacob Boehme, and others. While being Christian oriented, Underhill does a fairly good job at linking the mystics of Christianity to oriental mystics such as Buddhists.
Regarding this morphing of Christianity to Rome, Dylan writes in his "Desolation Row:"
"Fearing not I became my enemy, in the instant that I preached"
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