I postulate that the great filter preventing civilizations from colonizing the universe is something which abuses the very qualities that allow civilization to develop in the first place. The creation of self replicating molecules has been reproduced in laboratory conditions, and doesn't seem all that difficult to achieve on any planet with hydrocarbons (basically all of them). Evolution of life from that point on would seem to naturally follow from that. Having determined that pretty much everything leading up to this point isn't so astonomically unlikely, we must conclude that the filter is either at a point slightly ahead of us, or we are currently moving through it.

So, what social qualities must a species possess to allow the development of civilization, and can you think of any particular entity or entities around us that take such profound advantage of those qualities as to reduce a civilization to eventual ruin?