Some Societies Don’t
Succeed And Die Out
Serbia, Albania,
Romania, Russia when
Collecting and
collectivized;
New York City –
glamorized;
Stocks and bribes;
EU; tribes and dialects
Countless sects,
Deserts, plateaus
domiciled;
The planet ‘round:
Cliques elusive,
Clubs exclusive;
Groups that charge;
Firms that merge.
Marginal or just corrupt;
Lavish, wasteful or inept.
-Isms,
Democratic or despotic;
Canon, custom, weather,
greed,
Curiosity and trade:
Qualities that steer and
lead
To vanishings.
Some societies do not
succeed.
But one man left -
That’s all you need:
Someone left alive and
well -
Someone left to
tell.
Capriccio with Roman Ruins and Figures -- Giovanni Paolo Panini
"Civilizations ... come to birth and proceed to grow by successfully responding to successive challenges. They break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them which they fail to meet." -- Arnold J. Toynbee
ReplyDeleteToynbee published his 12-volume "A Study of History" over a 1/4 century (1934-1961). He examined 19 major civilizations (Egyptian, Andean, Sinic, Minoan, Sumerian, Mayan, Indic, Hittite, Hellenic, Western, Far Eastern, Orthodox Christian, Orthodox Christian [Russia], Persian, Arabic, Hindu, Mexican, Yucatec, and Babylonic), 4 "abortive civilizations" (Abortive Far Western Christian, Abortive Far Eastern Christian, Abortive Scandinavian, and Abortive Syriac), and 5 "arrested civilizations" (Polynesian, Eskimo, Nomadic, Ottoman, Spartan). Civilizations all pass through 5 stages (genesis, growth, time of troubles, universal state, and disintegration). As civilizations decay a "schism" forms within the society, and people resort to archaism (idealization of the past), futurism (idealization of the future), detachment (removal of oneself from the realities of a decaying world), and transcendence (meeting the challenges of the decaying civilization with new insight, such as by following a new religion).