In the first millennium, Pope Gregory the Great understood humanity to be blind, cold, and lost since the fall of Adam, drawn to materialism and false gods and religions. With humility, humans who subjected themselves to God's divine will and grace could learn to live righteously and channel God's higher purposes to their fellow human beings. Gregory's vision of history was one of the species' gradual movement closer to god. The three stages of our collective spiritual development were paganism then Judaism and finally Christianity. Some of the tribes he endeavored to convert came easily. Others not so easily.