The End of The Western World

THE END OF THE WESTERN WORLD

 

THE PROBLEMS

 

The 17th Century scientific model of reality, which assumes the independence of objective reality from subjective observation, and which has been shown to be seriously flawed, is still being taught without question in the institutions of mass education.

 

In Western Europe and the USA a post-industrial revolution took place during the second half of the 20th Century. By the end of the century globalisation of the world economy, which now included giants like China, India and Brazil, drastically reduced national sovereignty and economies based on debt-based consumption began to spin out of control. In addition environmental degradation and the increasing cost of extracting the fuel that provided the energy driving all industrial activity were fast becoming major problems.

 

The nuclear families in Europe and America are disintegrating as a result of women being educated to value themselves as workers and consumers rather than mothers and wives.

 

These massive problems indicate that there will be a complete loss of faith in the values and institutions that first developed in Europe 300 years ago with the decline of fertility based religion and the birth of scientific materialism. Whether or not there is a complete collapse or a revival based on what we have learned depends as usual on human ingenuity and talented leaders.

 

                                 HOPEFUL SIGNS OF RADICAL CHANGE

 

A NEW COSMOLOGY

There are some hopeful signs. There is in existence an alternative “post-scientific” model of reality or cosmology first proposed by the philosopher-mathematician A.N.Whitehead almost a hundred years ago. This is what is known as “process theory” which resolves the separation of subject from object by regarding ‘events’ as a most important component in cosmology and avoids mistaking abstractions like “location” and “time” for real phenomena.

 

POPULATION DECLINE

Rapid urbanisation in Asia and South America and the shift from the rural fertility-based extended family to the economically-based nuclear family is rapidly reducing the birth rate. World population is beginning to decline after the initial explosion that followed the medical and engineering advances of the Industrial Revolution.

 

FEMINISM

Although feminism has weakened the nuclear family it has given women the opportunity to relate to men on the basis of romantic love rather than on the economic need for a provider. With the weakening of the ideology of patriarchy, fertility and immortality though offspring, many women could choose fulfilment by remaining childless and taking over many of the social institutions currently run my men. This would reduce the catastrophically large world population and free many men and women to undertake the massive task of coping with the numerous approaching disasters.

 

LEARNING FROM HUNTER GATHERERS

Since the earth’s resources are limited, a civilisation that puts consumption above all other priorities is going to hit the wall. Agricultural civilisations prioritise fertility and some form of salvation. Hunter-gatherers have little interest in fertility and make simple leisure activities like music, dancing, story-telling and playing games their priority. We could learn a lot from them, such as reducing the world population by accelerating the present weakening of the importance of patriarchy and making reproduction much less fulfilling than romantic love. Raising young boys away from their mothers in male groups would have benficial consequences for male maturity.

 

CREATIVE PLAYFULNESS

Stress levels are rising everywhere. People who are paralysed by stress and anxiety resort to neurotic behaviour. Such behaviour is mechanical and inflexible and yet it is actively rewarded in our fear-based society. Animal studies, anthropology and psychology show us that playfulness leads to creative innovation and flexibility. This is exactly what we need at the present moment. Unfortunately neurotic people see playfulness as insincere and shallow and greatly dislike playful people.  No-one is more serious than a religious or political fanatic. Such people even regard rituals and robes of office as foolish snobbery. The behaviour of “serious” people in high political, economic or educational office has been appalling over the past few decades.

 

EXAMPLES

Since the 1960s I have been preaching and practising my own synthesis of “logic, love and levity” which I had developed as a radical social science academic at the University of NSW. Any one of these without the others is disastrously rigid and inflexible. Two combined is a little better. With all three in balance marvels can be achieved. The best major example of this is what happened in the 1990s when Antanas Mockus resigned as Chancellor of the chaotic University of Columbia and stood for Mayor of Bogota. He had no business support nor anti-capitalist agenda. His regime as Mayor was truly radical and immensely successful. He had combined logic, love and levity.