An Intriguing Suspicion.

We’re always taught in the west that the development of today’s ‘superior’ civilisation stemmed largely from two great cultural awakenings – the rise of the classical tradition in ancient Greece, and the flowering of arts and sciences in the European Renaissance. Yes, I do realise that much of it came from earlier civilisations further east, but that isn’t the point. The point is this:

The older I get, the more I feel that the development of, and cultural reliance upon, such things as the arts, sciences, literature, philosophy and so on – those things we regard as the pillars of civilisation – actually took us away from the spirit of what humanity is and the potential we had for a more meaningful development. I don’t know why this is creeping steadily into my consciousness these days, and it certainly hasn’t gelled into a concrete opinion yet, but I’m interested to see where it goes from here.