If we open a discussion about civilization, we open ourselves to the possibility of particularly dull and wooden exclamations about the renunciation of instinct or the enshrinement of rights.
There's been the tendency to equate the progress of civilization with technological advance, but surely we see the incompleteness of this view in our polluted and violent modern world. Not to advocate returning to the land, which some suggest would solve our problems, but it must be clear to any thinking citizen that our modern world, while containing numerous labor-saving devices, is a far cry from civilized.
For true civilization goes much beyond democracy and freedom to consider goodness and truth in their universal definitions, and perhaps most importantly, must include beauty if it is to be a civilized world.
And herein lies the rub: we as a species have been particularly dismissive of reality. Let's address that today.
Arts and Beauty - the soul of society, today on Thinking with Somebody Else's Head.
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