Oswald Spengler: The Individual Antidote
“We are born into this time and must bravely follow the path to the destined end. There is no other way. Our duty is to hold on to the lost position, without hope, without rescue, like that Roman soldier whose bones were found in front of a door in Pompeii, who, during the eruption of Vesuvius, died at his post because they forgot to relieve him. That is greatness. That is what it means to be a thoroughbred. The honorable end is the one thing that can not be taken from a man.” - Oswald Spengler
The subject of last week’s essay identified key caustic elements of our society that actively undermine our psychological well-being and, thereby, the psychological well-being of our community and culture. It seems we are bombarded with half-truths and disastrous messaging from mass and social media daily. In line with our political and philosophical inclinations, we are told whom to hate, what idea is abhorrent, and what social ideal is fashionable to champion. The messaging is polarizing and contentious. It occurs at a rate that would have been inconceivable for the pre-modern man with a more limited capacity to communicate outside of specifically established social circles at the more local levels. Instead of our village, town, and communities, we are engaged in regional, national, and global communities. Spengler identified this trend over a century ago, and we still face it today.
Where, then, should we look for our antidote? As any Jungian would appreciate, we must look within rather than without. If Spengler is to be believed, western culture is creeping along in its petty pace towards its inevitable twilight and dissolution. This is undoubtedly a tragic and nihilistic view of history, and it faces its critics; you are free to criticize this view as your judgment sees fit. Whether we believe this gloomy prediction or not, it rests upon our shoulders to stand as bulwarks against these caustic elements of our culture and society. The rational individual should seek to re-invigorate civil conversation, constantly striving to find common ground and to arrive at truth with a capital T. We should seek to cultivate understanding, compassion, and goodwill towards others and desire to re-elevate our individual and cultural characters. We should not attain this through strict moralistic judgments that denounce those caught up in the instinctual tribalism that mass media seeks to inspire in all of us, but merely through being what we wish to see come to fruition throughout our culture.
The old Latin phrase, Esse Quam Videri, comes poignantly to mind. We must be, rather than seem, and beyond that, we must be, rather than chastise those who are not. We must embody the virtues we wish to take root in our society. The cultural fulfillment of character must first happen on the individual level. We must individually embody the virtues that we want to see express ourselves in culture, and if enough of us can manifest these virtues in our own lives, we will see their expression and renewal in our society and culture at large. As the world seems to upend itself in some new, unexpected way, and old institutions are shaken to their foundations, it rests upon each of our shoulders to uphold these virtues. To wake courage and constancy in our hearts in the face of this upheaval and ensure that our characters and houses are in order before we seek to correct the seemingly innumerable woes around us. It does not matter whether you accomplish this with a large platform that touches hundreds and thousands of individuals across the globe or whether your reach is merely a tiny village that might seem strikingly mundane to you. Every act of civil debate and discourse, every small act of kindness, and every act of selflessness is a step toward a brighter and more enlightened future for our society.
We discovered the following quote by watching Terence Malick’s most recent film, A Hidden Life, and we believe it provides a beautiful context and powerful literary example of the power of hidden lives and unsung virtue. We thoroughly recommend the film.
“The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” – George Eliot, Middlemarch
We close this weeks essay with a question. What is the best way to determine how we should act? Is it the teleological approach of Socrates & Aristotle, the deontological and rational approach of Kant, the emotive and existential perspective of Nietzsche & Kierkegaard? We look forward to exploring these ideas in the coming weeks.