Something is off
Do you have a sense that something is off? Something not quite right? Do you feel confused, bewildered, and even, lost today? Does the world feel topsy-turvy, like there is no firm foundation? Seems like no matter what happens, things get worse and we, as a whole, lose. We cover all of these in a shorter version of Solving the Crisis of Modernity. See Full post here – https://www.thedifferentview.com/solving-the-crisis-of-modernity/
There must be more
There must be more. Some purpose, something! There has to be more than working these jobs, these pointless, soul-destroying jobs to buy things.
We move from one temporary high to the next. In the end, none of this provides deep, meaningful satisfaction. A satisfaction that cannot be, must not be, a tank of gas, always on the verge of needing to be filled again.
The blame game
There is no single person or organization that is to blame for the crisis of modernity.
Three Crises of Modernity
One crisis is unique to the United States., one shared with the West, and one shared with earth.
First – The America that rose to heights is no more. The U.S. must reshape and remold itself to face a new people and a new world.
Any nation starting out begins with a vigor, a certain spirit animating it and setting it on a course. Eventually, this spirit peters out and becomes stale as successive generations lose touch with the original spark.
What was driving force behind success is distorted, becoming the force behind its problems. For America, the “marble cake” of numerous competing interests was a great strength and is now a great weakness.
Dynastic Decline
Confucius called this dynastic decline, Polybius was widely influential with his theory of the six natural cycles of government which he adapted from Aristotle. Many authors from their day to present including the American founding fathers had a concept of the cyclical nature of governments.
In the book, The Glory and Fall of the Ming Dynasty, Albert Chan quotes a passage at length about the similarity in the history of Eastern monarchies: “they were always at the peak of their power immediately after an invasion. In Egypt, India, Persia, and China alike, the foundation of an empire, or its renewed expansion, followed on the infusion of new blood and the emergence of a great barbarian leader from some neighboring nomad tribe. The people, having lost all fighting spirit, under rulers enfeebled by luxurious court life, found themselves helpless in the face of the invading force.”
Destruction of the basis of value
Second, Western Civilization gutted itself of values, virtues, and ethics. In finding that Aristotle and others, including the Catholic Church, were wrong is many aspects, they cast it all aside. The West removed all the glue holding it together, undermining the fabric at the very time it was most necessary.
Science and technology left morals and psyche in the dust
Third, simultaneously, Western nations unleashed industrial forces with science and technology, bringing unfathomable wealth and prosperity. As many writers, such as Montesquieu, have mentioned, commerce has a down side. The progress achieved via scientific and technological advances came so rapidly that the emotional and moral side of humanity did not keep pace.
We have no idea what to do with ourselves
We don’t know what to do with ourselves. As a result, we are vulnerable to those who exploit our primal instincts such as greed, lust, gluttony, rage, fear, jealousy, and so on.
We eliminated all aspects of society that provided us with guidance on how to live our lives. The institutions were removed from our culture that would have given us an ethical or moral framework.
We distracted ourselves…until now
Matters have now come to a head. We are not able to disctract ourselves with things any no longer. We desire the concrete and the permanent. Like the humans in the first version of the Matrix, we are now trying to wake up from this superficial world.
they were a virus, defined by suffering.
Reignite the fire
What we are doing is not working. Every proposed solution to a problem is more of the same. These answers are all based exclusively within the current system. A system that is now in great need of a kickstart, a jump, a reignition.
An authority of last appeal
The solution is final arbiter; a final authority that we all agree is such an authority. We do not have this today and this is the reason all debates end poorly.
What constitutes a healthy human?
Next, we need a conception of the species type human in an Aristotelean sense. Study of the species reveals its intent and purpose, from which we deduce what constitutes a healthy species. We cannot proceed without a definition of what a human being is and what the attributes of a healthy, successful human are.
If we cannot agree in general terms on what a healthy human is, then any remedy for a human will be nothing more than an opinion, however cloaked.
All successful societies agree on basic things
Everything flows from these basic tenets. We have to agree on humanity. From this flow morals, ethics, and virtues, which, in turn, form the institutions on which we base civilization. From this, we gain the authority of last resort, from which there is no appeal.
A new final arbiter
The removal of the final arbiter. The loss of agreement on generally accepted fundamentals is the defining issue of our time. It is not, nor has it been, a single issue or party in power. It is not being left, right, or perpendicular; it’s about basic fundamentals of our lives.
We must strike at the root
We cannot solve the Crisis of Modernity by striking at branches. Branches, which seem like the root that will cure all but as you know, never does. Branches that are quite deceptive in the heat of the moment. A major thrust of the Different View is differentiating the roots from the branches.