Theos-Talk Archives (October 2004 Message tt00355)

Hi Paul,

It seems like maybe my bad habit of not reading every post from 
beginning to end has caught up with me, as I don't know what your 
last paragraphs relate to, but....

This new book addresses something I find hard not to obsess
> about-- the possibility that we face the coming of a new Dark Age for
> Western civilization and humanity as a whole. 

This got my attention. Just observing "life" day to day, I find 
myself wondering sometimes what in the world could be happening.

As recently as the
> mid-90s, progress seemed to be an unquestionable reality; now 
> pessimistic notions like the Kali Yuga seem all too plausible. 

In Theosophical terms, Kali Yuga is already about 6000 years old. Are 
you suggesting some new version coming down the pike, or might this 
maybe be the last gasp, the dark before the dawn, so to speak, 
preparing the way for what comes next (illumination, dare one hope?)

Paul, I know you are not a theosophist, but you have such an 
interesting way of looking at things, and you are, as you say, 
current with publishing/new offerings on the mental plane. Your POV 
is often stimulating. Oh dear, does that sound fundy?....

Less
> than two weeks away is an event that will have a huge impact on the
> direction of the planet for decades to come. Here is no place to
> argue about that, but I will share some of Jacobs's ideas, which apply
> to the decline of the Theosophical movement as well as to the possible
> decline of the USA and Western civilization:
> 
> Cultural xenophobia is a frequent sequel to a society's decline from
> cultural vigor. Someone has aptly called self-imposed isolation a
> fortress mentality. Armstrong describes it as a shift from faith in
> logos, reason, with its future-oriented spirit, "always... seeking to
> know more and to extend...areas of competence and control of the
> environment," to mythos, meaning conservatism that looks backward to
> fundamentalist beliefs for guidance and a worldview."(p. 17)

I'm not the first or the only to think that maybe what is happening 
is that the high and mighty USA is getting ready to knock itself off 
its privilidged pinnacle and become a bit (or a lot) more like the 
rest of the world. Of course, we presume there will be a habitat left 
to live in when the dust settles. After all, if we think Karma is a 
real thing (do you?) we must realize that the USA, and Western Civ 
generally, have some real old-fashioned hell to pay (Inquisitioin, 
Native Americans, Colonialization in general, slavery, to name a 
recent few.)
> 
> Jacobs, author of the acclaimed The Death and Life of Great American
> Cities, evaluates serious signs of decay in five pillars of our
> society: community and family, higher education, science and
> technology, governmental representation, and self-regulation of the
> learned professions.

Thanks for offering to keep us abreast...It's always good to know as 
much as possible about what others are thinking/writing, IMHO.

All the best,
Adelasie