Whatever goes up, must come down.
There is a certain phenomenon remarked upon today, what we call ‘globalization,’ which is treated as a novel development in human history. In reality, there is nothing novel about it except the scale. All the trends, controversies, and social movements we associate with the tightening of economic relations between societies once took place over 3,000 years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean.[1] Between approximately the 15th and 12th centuries BC, an “unprecedented” golden age of commerce, trade, and cultural exchange developed in a way that could only be called “Mediterraneanization.” The great kingdoms of the time, the Egyptians, the Hittites, the Mycenae, and other minor kingdoms enjoyed an abundance of trade and capital development.[2] But it was not to last; if Plato is referring to any historical society or societies in his myth of Atlantis, the Bronze Age civilization is certainly that.
Between the beginning of the 12th and 11th centuries BC, all the great kingdoms were reduced to rubble or declined and would never regain the glory of former days. The cause was no singular thing; a famine here, some invading barbarians there, an unstable political elite, the collapse of complex financial instruments of accounting and debt[3], these coalesced together in a sequence of events that saw the end of these empires and a subsequent dark age. In the relative instability of the time, new peoples emerged from the mixture of previously distinct racial populations that found themselves living near each other. The Israelites likely established their kingdom during this time, and intermixed with the local Canaanites and other groups descended of the Hittites and other Semitic peoples.
Such a collapse of sophisticated social organization was likely not the first to take place, and it would not be the last. If we assume that this time is not different, what are the broad outlines of the future? That is, besides the gradual decline of the West?
Europe is, apart from a few bastions of light, being rapidly overrun by barbarians. The natives have lost the will to defend and perpetuate themselves. What there once was to be proud of the accomplishments of Europe is no longer present. I do not mean to be a pessimist, but it is worth considering what has occurred before, what others most likely tried in their attempts to stave off this future, and to set aside actions destined to futile ends. This is not a time to preserve an old race; rather, it would be better to start a new one.
The future is likely a little while off. There is time to carefully prepare, to observe, to plan. Haste is no virtue.
At the same time, there is the dangerous allure to think to oneself this time we’ll get it right. Let us instead seek to try what we know works. We can’t save everyone, but perhaps we can make a nice piece of civilization for some of us. The future belongs to the meek. Humility before history will allow to get further than to suppose one might take its reins.
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[1] This evidenced by standardization of interest payments cross-culturally. http://michael-hudson.com/2000/03/how-interest-rates-were-set-2500-bc-1000-ad/
[2] See Cline, Eric H. 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed for a more detailed account. http://www.amazon.com/1177-B-C-Civilization-Collapsed-Turning/dp/0691140898/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424102349&sr=8-1&keywords=1177
[3] Traditions such as Jubilee prescribed in the Mosaic law evidence complex debt structures, which these debt forgiveness programs appear designed to mitigate or eliminate. http://michael-hudson.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/HudsonLostTradition.pdf
9 responses to “Humility and History”
I can’t think of another (online) writer who captures the reality of our past collapses and projects them into the future than the gentleman who writes http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com .
I know Nick Land links to him on occasion (and often in disagreement), but everyone should read him. Deep context. Wise words. Etc.
Greer is pre-eminent in writing from a cyclical perspective. His work is extremely valuable, but one wishes he would see how cyclical history precludes his liberal fantasy of providing prosperity and civilization to the lower classes.
I’m not sure I’ve ever come across anything he’s written that could be described as a “liberal fantasy of providing prosperity & civ to the lower classes”. His writing emphasizes over and over again that we live in a collapse, prosperity is false and quickly fleeting, and civilization is wrecking itself. I can’t imagine how a liberal fantasy fits in with that general framework.
In fact, I’ve always found his writing to be more reactionary than most reactionaries — or perhaps it’s better to phrase it “more completely informed by the laws of Gnon”. I have to imagine that most young NRx writers now will write & sound like him when they pass middle age, grow out their beards, and move to the mountains.
2185 <- 1 billion+ Amish in North America, Pacifists control the world's largest military machine, Pennsylvania Dutch more commonly spoken than Spanish. Stern, white, Christian patriarchs rule the day.
Global economy largely based on homemade preserves and well-crafted gazebos?
Quilts and yokes.
I summarize this as ‘it is best to start a new race’. Very interesting thought. Perhaps this works better than starting a new religion?
Bryce, in case you haven’t read it, this article (a transcript of a talk, actually) by Prof. Ugo Bardi of University of Florence can provide a really useful start in understanding the mechanics of how collapse happens to civilizations:
http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/ugo-bardi/peak-civilization
Interesting graphic of population growth. When overpopulated societies collapse, what should be done with all the bodies? Some might feed them to the pigs.
An ideal religion might be a hybrid of Amish with polygamist Mormonism. Poly-Amish-Mormon has a ring to it, if you can say it 10 times very rapidly. (PAM)
Many of the PAMs might take up hog farming.