Society And its Purpose
Book 4 - Psychological Laws and the End of Civil Societies
CHAPTER 21
The system of movement as it effects Christian societies
708. I intend to speak later about social progress and to indicate the
legitimate, certain direction it must follow if it is to avoid losing its way
and fulfilling its purpose. The system of resistance will collapse of itself in
the face of our observations, but I cannot defend progress and guarantee its
good outcome without first exposing all the disastrous consequences that
accompany the system of movement, the greatest danger to progress. What harm
therefore do nations suffer when incited by imprudent people to restless,
uncontrolled movement along tortuous paths, people
`Whose overhaste delayed them’?
In the previous chapter I indicated the material, economic harm. Here, we
consider the harm to morality.
709. The words, `artificial needs’, themselves imply something immoral. `Need’ implies necessity. Thus, those with unnatural, artificial needs are subject to a kind of slavery, and do not have the time and calm necessary for calculating the effects of their actions. It should come as no surprise therefore that the virtue of prudence in human beings, so necessary for procuring a state of satisfied existence for themselves and their dependants, diminishes in the measure that imaginary needs grow.
710. But let us consider the moral consequences more widely. We saw the final condition of nations before the coming of Christ: the spirit of sense prevailed over the spirit of intelligence (310) and snuffed it out. Civilisation also was blotted out, together with the light of the understanding. Isaiah had said that the nations would perish in darkness, but he had also predicted a rising star in the midst of the universal night: `By the light of this star, the pagans and their leaders will set out on the way again and go forward.’(311) The state of Christian nations is in fact very special: a stream of light will ceaselessly shine out from Christianity into human societies, its rays reaching even the nations furthest from the Christian faith. Sensual corruption, however great its increase today, cannot extinguish the intellective light. This light continuously renews itself, shining on the earth from a source which cannot be extinguished by the most brazen efforts, just as a handful of dust thrown into the air cannot obliterate the light of the sun and stars.
711. Nevertheless human wickedness continues. Indeed it spreads further afield, exhausting all its forces as it increases; moreover these forces, when exhausted, incessantly renew and consume themselves. In ancient nations, nature limited human wickedness. Although finally the intellective light lost its power and became useless to human beings, as if it no longer existed, at the same time wickedness gradually self-destructed together with human beings who, deprived of all practical use of intelligence, were no longer susceptible of great immorality.
712. The case is different in a world become Christian. The amount of active light continually diminished by human wickedness is constantly compensated by new light, a light of maximum activity. The wickedness of the human heart, no longer confined to its ancient limitations, is granted unlimited space; but so is virtue and merit.
713. Only these considerations can explain the terrible, ceaseless and immense struggle taking place in the Christian world between the principle of darkness and the principle of light. Strange as it may be, the former draws its sustenance from the life of the latter, so that even when extinct in the struggle of battle it seems to be reborn . The same considerations explain all the progress of modern industry and trade. Nations now become fearlessly proud because of their progress; ancient nations greatly suspected such increase, and their more perspicacious politicians railed against it. The sense of courage (I exclude rash pride) of modern nations is as reasonable as the sense of fear proper to ancient nations. Modern nations feel powerful and capable of combating material corruption without perishing. The pagans were very much aware that their existence could not last when assailed by the softness which accompanies luxury.
We must not think, however, that luxury causes no harm in modern nations, and that corruption does not have the same consequences as in ancient nations. The difference is that the harm done by luxury to modern nations is compensated by the great healing action of Christianity. Desperate sickness finds a prodigious remedy in Christian belief, which, acting hiddenly in the nations themselves, prevents the sickness from causing death. Today, industry, trade and the delights of luxurious living partially harm nations, and can cause unrest and agitation; but they can no longer destroy nations. Hence continual progress has become possible in these things, accompanied by all the material benefits human society draws from this progress. Indeed, nations have become proud, and see themselves as superior to the ancient nations who they consider primitive, poor and despicable. With the passing of the centuries, pride increases. This century, for example, has lost its balance simply because it has been proclaimed the century of steam and the railway. But ultimately the vain are consumed by vanity, and good people enjoy every good from whatever source it comes.
714. It will be helpful if we investigate the nature of the corruption and unhappiness proper to Christian societies. We have already outlined this corruption, and will now compare it more accurately with that of the nations preceding the Christian epoch.
Notes
(310) The word `spirit', in the sense in which I use it here and elsewhere, is proper to oriental languages. In philosophy, it is a special word for which I would not be able to find a substitute. `Habit' or `practice' has a very different meaning from `spirit'. Habit is simply a power which with use acquires ease of and inclination towards movement, whereas `spirit' expresses movement itself. It does not, however, indicate a particular act but a frequency of acts; it indicates the characteristic which is common to all acts and determined by the words used to qualify `spirit', for example, `spirit of intelligence', `spirit of sense', along with `spirit of life', `of fortitude', etc. Such phrases, therefore, characterise 1. the quality and nature of a collection of acts normally done by a person, 2. the principle from which these acts originate, and 3. their tendency. Sometimes the collections of acts grouped and characterised by these phrases refer only to animality. For example, we speak of the spirit of life, spirit of sense, etc. At other times, they pertain to the order of intellective things: the spirit of intelligence, spirit of wisdom, etc. Finally, they indicate the moral principle of action: spirit of fortitude, spirit of piety, etc.
(311) `For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising' (Is 60: [2–3]).