It is a defining characteristic of contemporary Western civilization that an appreciation of the spiritual dimension of life does not constitute an essential part of the prevailing collective world view.2 While modern life confers upon most people in the developed world many advantages over earlier eras (measured in terms of material standard of living, longevity, health care, individual freedoms, opportunities, comforts, luxury goods, and so forth), one has only to consider the art, sculpture, and architecture of any of the earlier civilizations — Greek or Roman, Egyptian or Babylonian, Indian or Chinese — to recognize that, despite the great achievements of modernity, something immeasurably important has been lost. With the rise of our technological consumer society, collectively we have lost a sense of the sacred purpose and the encompassing spiritual context of life. We have lost the awareness that human lives are rooted in a deeper reality transcending concrete individuality, an insight that was fundamental to most civilizations, and that gives to human existence a more deeply sustaining sense of meaning and purpose. Although the material conditions of life have improved beyond measure, as a culture we have now come to believe that the universe in which we live is soulless, meaningless, and without purpose. And this disenchanted vision is seen not merely as one possible view of reality, but as an incontestable objective fact supported by science — as the true understanding of the way things really are.
© 2024 jon wilson
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