There was an unusual party in my neighborhood last night - since one pair of them always gave a St Patrick's Day party, but were gone for that date, April 17 was elected as a Paddy's Redux. And so we sat with corn beef and Guinness and Jameson's Whiskey and very soon the conversations got going. The man across from me was a turkey hunter, and we talked turkey for awhile, noting how many there now were and how they simply did not exist in most of the US in our childhood, or even our early adulthood. That got us to talking about species extinction, the passenger pigeon, and finally the fate of all civilizations. Extinction. With a look that perhaps gave away the store, I then asked anyone listening what they thought of our civilization at its present time. Several answered and the decision was unanimous: we are falling apart.
The demographics of our group range from conservative to liberal, academic to blue collar, and yet we all agreed. To be fair, we are all of an approximate age, and the old do tend to look on the upcoming world with criticism. But there is something more to it, I think. I have never seen a survey done asking that very question, "what is the state of our civilization;" instead, it is asked, "what is the direction of our country?" and most recently, a very large percentage - I recall about 70 % - said it was poor and heading in the wrong direction. But that is more often than not dependent on the politics of the last few years. But even with this caveat, I do believe most of us understand that we have gotten to a point, world wide, where the center cannot hold. That things are falling apart. While we can point to any number of things for this belief, from climate change to broken homes, I believe that this is a gut feeling, more intuitive than anything else. In the past, such presentiments were often based on religious auguries, such as millennium fears for Christians, and celestial combinations for just about everyone, but that is not our case today. Rather, it is an unease with the speed of change around us. Things are happening so fast that we realize that we have no time to adopt them to our cultural standards - and I mean that on a world-wide basis. Some Muslims are reacting to that change in unbelievably violent ways, while others are simply giving in with a whimper rather than a bang. Still, we seem to know that the jig is up - that the old ways, as changed as they have become, have been stretched to the point of breaking. In the past, this has led to the downfall of empires, to dark ages, and to the ascension of the "barbarians" outside the gate. Now, we are all in this together, whether or not we see it or want it - and I think most see it in their own culturally-driven way. The WWI generation of literaries and artists saw it in their time, and they were right: the end to monarchies and colonialism had come, and the worst war ever was coming closer on the heals of the War to End All Wars; and now we are seeing the same thing. For some it means freedom from cultural restraints and they glory in it; for most, it means the end of order and the reign of chaos. As the I Ching says, we must impose limits on ourselves and on our understanding of nature. Without that, we fall into chaos and misery.
I have perhaps taken too long with this theme, but it does hinge on the Redemption, what Christians the world over are readying to celebrate this Sunday. The Redemption through the blood of Christ is a mystery within the Church of Rome; to social scientists, it can be explained through cultural cross-reference. For instance, the Aztecs felt that our (natural) system was a closed one, that energy taken had to be replaced. This was done with human sacrifice. The pre-Biblical Near Eastern people had similar beliefs, but when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Jehovah spared him at the last minute and had him substituted for a lamb. Thus Christ was called the Lamb of God, who took away the sins of the world. The original sin then would be the taking of energy (life) from the natural system that had to be appeased. Human sacrifice was needed, substituted by animal sacrifice, and then the sacrifice of the very son of God, He who had demanded sacrifice in the first place. It is in this that there is symbiosis and reconciliation - God sacrifices his own to free mankind of his need for sacrifice.
The last bit is a convoluted thing, though, and no social science theory can really touch it. It is something like the dragon eating its tail, this replacement of human sacrifice to God by God's sacrifice to himself, for humans. The Church is right; it IS a mystery. But, to tie the two discussions together, where is our redemption now? As things fall apart, there is less and less belief that such divine reconciliation exists. In the Old Testament, such disbelief was called "sin" and it led to such things as the Great Flood (interestingly, most cultures have a great flood in their mythology). Is this what we really feel? Not the specific fear of the Christian or Jew, but the general fear that we are out of touch with nature, and with ourselves? Recall that the party conversation quickly veered to extinction before settling on civilization. As we no longer sacrifice to nature, and many no longer believe in a symbiotic relationship with God, are we sensing the falling apart from this? For, believe in this or not, the inner psyche of humans demands such a feedback or a redemption. It is seen from the most primitive societies to the highest (most complex) civilizations. When that sense of reciprocity is lost, don't we feel that the center is not holding? That we are missing something, and on the edge of the abyss?
I, for one, will pay more attention to the meaning of Easter this Sunday. FK
The demographics of our group range from conservative to liberal, academic to blue collar, and yet we all agreed. To be fair, we are all of an approximate age, and the old do tend to look on the upcoming world with criticism. But there is something more to it, I think. I have never seen a survey done asking that very question, "what is the state of our civilization;" instead, it is asked, "what is the direction of our country?" and most recently, a very large percentage - I recall about 70 % - said it was poor and heading in the wrong direction. But that is more often than not dependent on the politics of the last few years. But even with this caveat, I do believe most of us understand that we have gotten to a point, world wide, where the center cannot hold. That things are falling apart. While we can point to any number of things for this belief, from climate change to broken homes, I believe that this is a gut feeling, more intuitive than anything else. In the past, such presentiments were often based on religious auguries, such as millennium fears for Christians, and celestial combinations for just about everyone, but that is not our case today. Rather, it is an unease with the speed of change around us. Things are happening so fast that we realize that we have no time to adopt them to our cultural standards - and I mean that on a world-wide basis. Some Muslims are reacting to that change in unbelievably violent ways, while others are simply giving in with a whimper rather than a bang. Still, we seem to know that the jig is up - that the old ways, as changed as they have become, have been stretched to the point of breaking. In the past, this has led to the downfall of empires, to dark ages, and to the ascension of the "barbarians" outside the gate. Now, we are all in this together, whether or not we see it or want it - and I think most see it in their own culturally-driven way. The WWI generation of literaries and artists saw it in their time, and they were right: the end to monarchies and colonialism had come, and the worst war ever was coming closer on the heals of the War to End All Wars; and now we are seeing the same thing. For some it means freedom from cultural restraints and they glory in it; for most, it means the end of order and the reign of chaos. As the I Ching says, we must impose limits on ourselves and on our understanding of nature. Without that, we fall into chaos and misery.
I have perhaps taken too long with this theme, but it does hinge on the Redemption, what Christians the world over are readying to celebrate this Sunday. The Redemption through the blood of Christ is a mystery within the Church of Rome; to social scientists, it can be explained through cultural cross-reference. For instance, the Aztecs felt that our (natural) system was a closed one, that energy taken had to be replaced. This was done with human sacrifice. The pre-Biblical Near Eastern people had similar beliefs, but when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Jehovah spared him at the last minute and had him substituted for a lamb. Thus Christ was called the Lamb of God, who took away the sins of the world. The original sin then would be the taking of energy (life) from the natural system that had to be appeased. Human sacrifice was needed, substituted by animal sacrifice, and then the sacrifice of the very son of God, He who had demanded sacrifice in the first place. It is in this that there is symbiosis and reconciliation - God sacrifices his own to free mankind of his need for sacrifice.
The last bit is a convoluted thing, though, and no social science theory can really touch it. It is something like the dragon eating its tail, this replacement of human sacrifice to God by God's sacrifice to himself, for humans. The Church is right; it IS a mystery. But, to tie the two discussions together, where is our redemption now? As things fall apart, there is less and less belief that such divine reconciliation exists. In the Old Testament, such disbelief was called "sin" and it led to such things as the Great Flood (interestingly, most cultures have a great flood in their mythology). Is this what we really feel? Not the specific fear of the Christian or Jew, but the general fear that we are out of touch with nature, and with ourselves? Recall that the party conversation quickly veered to extinction before settling on civilization. As we no longer sacrifice to nature, and many no longer believe in a symbiotic relationship with God, are we sensing the falling apart from this? For, believe in this or not, the inner psyche of humans demands such a feedback or a redemption. It is seen from the most primitive societies to the highest (most complex) civilizations. When that sense of reciprocity is lost, don't we feel that the center is not holding? That we are missing something, and on the edge of the abyss?
I, for one, will pay more attention to the meaning of Easter this Sunday. FK
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