Decadence
The word decadence (wikipedia) means progress toward
moral ruin. The Indo-European root words are de- and kad-. The prefix
de- has many meanings including towards and from. The root word kad-
originally meant sadness or hatred. Therefore, one would be able to
say that according to our philosophy of life the word decadence means going to or from lower emotional states. In our Philosophy of Life language we define decadence as "Moving Towards Sloppy Discipline (according to Socrates "towards licentiousness").
Our modern Western civilization, has been on a trend
towards a more decadent way of life for quite some time. Materialism is in the
forefront. Established science study only those things which can be measured,
weighed or registered using physical means. It seems as if money is the key
yardstick for success. Duty has been replaced with the demands (of rights),
while sexuality gets more and more perverted and degenerates. Spirituality is
limited to the activities of "religions with holy sripture" or
"new age fuzz". What can not be measured by physical means is
regarded as more or less witout value - i.e. such things as friendship, love,
liberalism, law, order, rights, responsibilities, freedom, imagination and the
upbringing of the next generation. Good education, freedom of expression and
freedom of opinion was once essential building blocks of Western democracies.
The question is whether these values still get sufficient attention today? Or
has political corretness become our new censorship on freedom of expression?
The advertising industry is flourishing as it teaches
how the public can be made to purchase more and more goods and services than is
needed to satisfy natural needs. When modern people meet, they often have no
time for live communication. Instead they communicate through mobiles or
computers.
As the Roman Empire began to decay and the Emperors
offered their subjects "bread and circuses" today's rulers invite the
public to varieties of different forms of entertainment, from reality shows to web-browsing
and facebook activities. The industries of Pornography outbid each other with
porn videos that teach the rising generation brutal raw sex. Online, young
people who absolutely have no natural needs to learn about perverted sex, can
download whatever catches their attention, without any censorship or age
limitation and take advantage of everything offered.
The vapid, materialistic futility grips the minds of
licentious men. Instead of engaging in uplifting, creative activities they
become idle spectators or bewildered consumers of software.
Researcher have
discovered that the more our governments takes over responsibility from
individuals, the weaker the initiative in our societies.
The West has never experienced such a long period
without war as after WW2. Our material wealth has reached unprecedented
heights. Meanwhile, the suicide rate has increased and the use of drugs,
happiness pills and medicines are soaring.
Do check "System
failures that threaten the world" (available on youtube at):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amrRxONj3bI - Time: 1
hr 26 min
There is a follow-up film to "System"
called: "Decadence: The Decline of the Western World". The film
describes how lobbyists take over policymaking, banks are printing money that
is used for speculation (instead of investment in resources that create useful
products). At the same time our students of economics are turned into obedient
supporters of free market forces without the knowledge of the historical
disasters that were created this way.
The most important question of our time, might be
whether it is possible to reverse the trend. How should we get rid of the lobbyists
and exorbitant bonus payments? Philosophy believes that when the idea of fair
exchange disappear from trade, ethic goes out. It is easy to note that
exorbitant bonuses and high salaries has nothing to do with fair exchange.
If the greedy bonus
directors and finance industry speculators were left alone all by themselves without
contact with the rest of humanity and the communities they operate in, they
would not enjoy any of the luxury they now can purchase with their greed. If our
civilization did not abuse the lifeforms of the planet and the physical
resources of mother Earth, it would not be possible for humanity to live in an
abundance created by parasitism.
The modern man lives a life where egoism and
selfishness is more important than empathy and consideration. Greed and the
statushappiness have corrupted civilization as the contempt for politicians is
spreading and admiration for billionaires grows. Politicians often care more
about their own interests than the country's. Many ordinary citizens follow
their example. By helping to create house- and assetbubbles, they have been able
to mortgage properties and use the borrowed money for shopping and consumption.
Egoism is spreading and wayward debauchery takes place at the expense of others
(in the form of loans that can never be paid back). Instead of seeking
meaningful pursuits that benefit the many, rather than the ego they strive more
and more to maximize their own income with minimum effort.
Today's insatiable bonus managers and speculators, who
profit from derivatives trading, are establishing a new upper class in our
societies. They are above laws and regulations created to make societies
function. The gap between the rulers and the ruled has been growing as the
monetary system has been relieved from virtually all regulation (this really happened when the last link to gold was broken in 1971 by President Nixon and
then when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher freed the banking system from the
regulations imposed since the depression of the1930's).
Today executives in
some of Sweden's 50 largest companies earn more than fifty times the salary of
a normal industrial workers. Parents who have already paid off the loans on
their homes can live lifes in luxury as senior citizens. Most of today's young
people can not even dream about such a life (especially not once they turn into
senior citizens).
At the same time the finite resources of our planet
are consumed. Even if "peak oil" is pushed a decade into the future
by new (environmentally harmful) methods to extract more oil from old oil
wells, there are other finite resources that will affect civilization as they
peak (such as phosphorus, rare metals, sand that is irregularly shaped, etc.).
The explosive population growth exacerbates the problems.
The "curling method" of upbringing future
generations does not bode well for the future. It seems that modern parents
have some kind of idea that children are all by themselves going to turn out as
well behaved without parents tutoring them. Or that parents can get their
children to grow their ablity to take initiatives by organizing their lives
through giving them maximum service.
Studies have shown that the more governments assume
responsibility for decisionmaking for their citizens, the poorer the ability of
citizens to take initiative. That obviously applies for child-rearing as well.
Educating children (or citizen) means that difficult decisions have to be made
and responsibility needs to be handed over when the right opportunities arise.
Earning, inheriting and destroying
Civilizations are undergoing the same processes (Cycle
of Action) as anything else. They are born, grow, peak and gradually fade away.
The decay progresses at different speeds. A vibrant culture like our modern
Western civilization will hardly go under in less than a hundred years.
The foundation of our
modern society was laid when the American colonies revolted against Great
Britain in the late 1700s. Unlike the planet's past great civilizations, this
current one is global. If that means that the decay will be faster or be more
drawn out, we do not know yet. What characterizes a civilization of decadence
is greed, corruption, nepotism, sloth, gluttony, pride, etc.
The foundation of the modern global civilization was created
with great effort by industrialization and profitable global trade. Subsequent
generations built on the heritage and spread this civilization first to Europe
and then to other parts of the world. That is where we find ourselves today.
But today it is no longer only the countries in North America or Europe that
are doing the arduous work of creating. Instead, countries such as China and
India have started to snatch initiative, while the abilty to take initiatives
of the youth in the west has been curled away by "well-meaning"
parents and authorities.
Historically, no civilization has succeeded in
preventing it's downfall, once it has started in earnest. There is no reason to
believe that our modern civilization would be the first exception. But from the
ashes of decadent civilizations, new viable civilizations have sometimes been
able to rise, when enterprising individuals have been able to organize in time
and managed to save parts of the spiritual and material capital of the fading
civilization left behind. It may make sense to invest in such a bailout today.
What more evidence do we have of the spiritual decline
of the West?
We have confused inherited
wealth with real (creative) wealth. Inherited wealth has nothing to do with the
ablity to know how wealth should be managed.
We have citizens who
in their spiritual distress and their material abundance are not able to create
meaningful lives. Citizens engaged in status hunting (as indulgent food and
wine connoisseurs, art lovers etc.), gluttony and devour unimportant news from
the media.
In China, people are struggling frantically to build a
better future. The Chinese are today in the acquisition face. The Chinese
people are rising from the remains of what is left of an ancient civilization.
The new China is in the stage of creating a future by growing trade. But China
does not share the West's liberal ideas of individual freedom and the rule of
law (good and bad). Instead they have a party influenced by ideas of
confusianism.
Perhaps we should learn from Japan. Japan has since
1990 stagnated. Japan has no immigration because the land is already densely
populated (in the valleys where you can live). Japanese women give birth to no
more than 1.4 children per woman. These two factors have led to a declining population
in Japan. With the diminishing populaltion new problems are surfacing.
In the west women
give birth to less than 2.1 children/woman (which is the birth rate necessary
for the population not be receed). The West has solved this problem by allowing
immigration from countries with birth surpluses (and as a consequent severe
overpopulation - especially in future Africa and parts of Asia - read India).
The loss of initiative and import of labor from countries
with a different culture are threats to western ideals of democracy, liberalism
and individual rights and freedoms.
When the Greek people went out in large numbers into
the streets or when Occupy Wall Street activists (usually young, unemployed
people) gathered to demonstrate in many parts of the world, they admittedly
created headlines in the media, but they did not affect the agenda of the new
upper class (bonus executives and speculators) in any significant way.
Our last hope is to the growing global middle class.
Can this growing group organize themselves across borders? Can the new middle
classes in developing countries somehow learn to cooperate with the dwindling
middle classes in the West? If so it could be possible to out of the decadence
get a new civilization to rise sometime in the future. But for that to occur,
the ability and courage to take the initiative needs to grow.
(Why not read the
book "Foundation Triology" by Isaac Asimov - where you can learn some
ideas about the karma of civilisations and empires)
Quote from history: Socrates (470 - 399 B.C.
- from Plato's "Republic"): Today's
youth loves luxury, is ill-mannered, despise authority, and shows no respect
for their parents. They talk about everything unessential instead of training
themselves to become valuable citizens. The children have become little tyrants
that require the family to serve them. They do not rise to show respect when older
people enter the room. They are insolent toward their parents, prefer to
prattle on instead of learning to get along socially. They gobble up goodies,
and harass their teachers.
Hesiod (Greek philosopher around 700 BC): I have no hope for the future of our people, as
long as it depends on today's thoughtless youth. Because all our young people
are so utterly unconcerned about anything outside of themselves. When I grew
up, you had to learn to behave well and show respect for the elderly, while
young people today consider themselves to be extremely smart. They just
impatiently wait for others to listen to them.
Voltaire (1694-1778): The
only thing we learn from history is that mankind never learns from history.
However, individuals can learn from history.
Todde
PS. Question: Could you do anything about this?
Belivers in holy scriptures are really decadent. Check this:
Socrates on youth:
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of
exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at
the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”
Check the effort to build a greater civilisation (use google translate) at:
https://www.duga.se/
