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The Collapse Of A Civilisation With Such Promise. Disconnection And Division All In The Name Of Equality. Maybe There's A Better Way, Huh? PART ONE OF A TWO PART SERIES.

stevenwoodPosted for Everyone to comment on, 4 years ago9 min read

This post is part one of a two part series the second of which will be posted within 24 hours and gets to the crux of what I really want to talk about. I have chosen to do this as I envisage the complete post being 3500-4000 words, I know this is far too much for most people for one post.


Some days of late I feel as though I am watching the final days of civilization...

Do you know what I mean by that, can you relate?

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All great civilisations have indeed come to an end, history is quite literally littered with the ash, relics bones and discarded principles and ideals that formed the cornerstones of each. This is not an opinion, but a cyclical observation from thousands of years of (semi) recorded history. When did you last see a Pharaoh issuing a decree to the people? How about a Roman Emperor? I realise that I have stumbled in to the realms of empires with these examples so in terms of actual civilisations, I am certain that many spring to mind...

The Babylonians, Sumerians, Phoenicians all seemed to be thriving not too long before their individual collapse. Why did this happen? Most commonly Socioeconomic factors send a civilisation in to rapid decline and eventual irredeemable collapse. Cultural stagnation or confusion can seal the fate of a nation or civilisation such loss of identity can cause in-cohesion and send it in to free-fall culturally. Enviromental factors can play a part too although this is less common (arguably it's incredibly likely in the current predicament in which we find ourselves as a species).

OK OK I've done it again, started to ramble before I have explained the purpose of this post...

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Well Dear Reader, it is simply this, many commentators and social analysts have suggested in recent years that we are beginning (in the West at least) to show signs of societal collapse andrushing headlong to the realms of being just another failed civilisation in less than a century. The time-frame may differ widely between the examples given from leading sources on the topic but the consensus seems pretty damning.

It is clear to anybody after the most cursory glance at the economic status of the global economy that many pretty major threats exist when it comes to the faith in currencies around the planet and that those economies themselves are as precarious as the mega-tonnes of debt they are linked to. I would venture to suggest that those movies we have all seen where the bank tellers pull down the shutters and deny people access to their own savings would lead to an incredibly dismal situation out on the streets in no time at all.

In the current world of globalization, the first economy to topple would bring down the global house of cards in a heartbeat. The system would literally be toppled by strings of 1's and 0's on a computer system. We are such a pampered, soft civilisation that has lost it's resilience and toughness to survive such a collapse as we have grown up with devices, gadgets and machines to do everything for us. We have never had to be 'truly' self sufficient, we are hardly comparable to the hunter-gatherer ancestors from whom we evolved.

Another factor in the collapse of civilisations that has been seen repeatedly throughout the past couple of millennia is the consumption of the people by signs of debauched decadence and degradation of acceptable societal norms. Today we have a whole new level of this need I mention more than rabid consumerism escalated massively by consumer credit and the lack of any kind of delayed gratification from an "I want it now and I don't wanna wait" mentality. Add to this the access of internet pornography, internet trolling and hate and people baiting as an International sport, you can see the glaringly obvious implications I'm sure.

All of these problems would be bad enough without the sinister creeping encroachment of Big Brother and the surveillance state, ever growing governments ready and eager to legislate for every tiny minutiae of life. People so eager to exercise their power over us that every facet of life is regulated and those who seek to use critical thought are mocked by their peers, fined by local authority and vilified for not towing the party line like the eager and obedient little serfs they are intended to be.

Big pharma tells us the only way to cure disease and any alternative viewpoint is crushed by the mergers and acquisitions department in a patent securing information blackout. Governments (happy to appease the wealthy lobbyists) back them to the hilt and silence those who wish harm to their fellow man with heretic talk of natural or dietary prevention or remedy. There is no prevention, only cure in a simple three times a day wonder-drug at the low, low price of just $5 a pill.

Something is terribly wrong, right?

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I could go on and on listing and detailing the myriad of factors that are weighed so heavily against us when it comes to living a free, happy, healthy, wealthy life free from involvement with the state and other do-gooders who exist for anything but good toward us. I am sure though that by now you completely get the "something's gotta give" vibe that permeates throughout every level of society today and agree that any one of these factors could tip the balance any day now.

Given the situation in which we find ourselves is complete and total societal collapse anything other than an absolute 100% inevitability?

Well I would love to believe so but I gotta tell ya, it is not easy to remain optimistic. I often think we are one more drone strike, one more manipulated recession one more terrorist attack away from full capitulation and very recently for the first time ever questioned whether it would be altogether a bad thing. Let me explain, a clean slate for humanity does sound tempting, right? Starting over having learned from everything that went before, a chance for 'true enlightenment this time'. The sobering thought however is that even this brand new civilisation would be doomed to failure the second it was conceived, after all every single civilisation that has gone before has been and gone, many of them are relegated to the academic textbooks today, when did you last hear a working theory about when the Mesopotamian's are coming back to finish what they started?

Now at this point I should state for those who do not know me, I am not nihilistic in the least, I do not have some fatalistic leanings buried beneath the surface and I have no great desire to see societal suicide to make way for another effort at getting this whole life and cohesive society thing right next time.

We could very easily continue the great modern civilisation experiment for another 200, 500, maybe even a thousand years. When I say easily I am nor suggesting for an instant that it would be easy, merely that the founding principles are glaringly obvious for all to see with but the most cursory glance.

  • Love thy neighbour.
  • Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
  • Treat everyone with basic respect and offer a hand of friendship to those you meet.
  • When you see injustice, speak it for all the world to hear.
  • Try and make the world a better place for you having lived in it.
  • Respect our habitat and natural environment and do nothing to spoil it for others.
  • Be the greatest version of yourself that you could ever be.
  • Parent and mentor with an aim to raise a next generation who embody these same ideals.
  • Realise that those alive today are just custodians for those to come after.
  • Value love for the transformative, nurturing, empowering and redeeming force that it is.

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These are just a few principles that I plucked from my mind to give an example of just how simple the desired traits we should aspire to are. Don't ya kinda get the feeling that there's an awful lot of 'common sense' in this stuff? I know what you are thinking though, common sense has become an uncommon commodity on the whole recently.

Many of us 'talk' at an individual level about what we could each do to make the world a better place, we also go on to describe what would happen in enough of us did this in order to reach a point of critical mass where a tsunami of great, positive choices are made each and every day.

But what if we stop talking and just do it???

Did you ever consider that? Maybe this isn't a hypothetical situation that 'could' perhaps be solved 'one day why not just start doing? I think many people quote the above whilst actually having a deep seated fear of what if it doesn't work? Maybe it really is too simple, huh?

As promised at the top of the post, this post will be concluded with part two in the next 24 hours. Part two will address what many people are doing to create true equality and reparation for the wrongs of the past. Will detail the reasoning behind this and then I will explain why I think this is a colossal and catastrophic mistake that could bring society down a whole lot sooner in my humble but concerned opinion.

Thank YOU so much for sticking with me and reading the set up for the points I really wanna make in part two. I believe wholeheartedly that we CAN be better, do better and prosper together. We are utterly incapable of getting to this magical destination alone, it is quite, quite impossible to do.

Together we are just better...

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