B655 <=> B657 [BTG XXXIV Russia, p. 656]

“Here, by the way, it is necessary to remark that the duration there of the existence of any community plays indeed a great role in the sense of the acquisition by beings of its good customs and instinctive habits.

“But unfortunately for all the three-brained beings of the whole Universe of every degree of Reason, the existence of every grouping of theirs, already more or less organized, is in general short-lived, thanks of course to that ever same chief particularity of theirs, namely, ‘periodic reciprocal destruction.’

“As soon as good being-usages for automatic existence begin to be established in the general process of any of their groupings, this terrifying process suddenly begins to proceed, and thus either these good customs and ‘automatic habits’ acquired during centuries are totally destroyed, or the beings of the given grouping, thanks already to the mentioned property, fall under the influence of beings of another grouping who have nothing in common with those under whose influence they were before this, and therefore very soon all these customs and moral habits acquired during centuries are replaced by other ‘new ones,’ which in most cases are premature and which in most cases are good for only, as is said, ‘a day.’