Return of Enlightenment?
It’s a wall known fact that history repeats itself. You don’t have to look far to see the evidence. Of course, no two times are identical but they do present a lot of similarities. They have deemed the start of the 21st-century as the Age of Anxiety and Despair but I beg to differ — or at least we’re changing out of it. It may have been the case decades ago but today, I feel that were living in a new version of the Age of Enlightenment.
These days you don’t have to look very far to see someone working on something that’s for the greater good. A few weeks ago the United States federal government pulled out of a global agreement known as the Paris Accord. The thing that struck me most about these events was that Canada’s government is essentially relying on state and local governments of the US to do the right thing and they are. States like California have double down on initiatives that make them greener and address, in their own ways, things like global warming. What interests me most about what states are doing are the ideas and commitment they have to making the world a better place. Even corporations these days have these grandiose visions for how to make the future in the world better and it’s become part of their mission to do so.
Get Ippy G.’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
That’s on the large scale. On a smaller scale, a thing you and I see I may not even be aware of, are the things that we do that resembles so much of the enlightenment period. For instance, it’s mainly seen in the tech industry, but have you ever heard of an incubator? Incubators are typically places that help the growth of companies much like a real incubator is there to help the growth of a newborn (premature) baby. In addition to that, we have think tanks. I’ve only heard of them but they remind me so much of the “think tanks” from the 1700s in France.
I did mention in the beginning that history repeats itself though it’s not exactly the same. As I look to where we are at today there is another area in history that reminds me of where we’ve been. During the time of Socrates, in Greece, a time we’re men spent debating ideas, I can’t help feel that we’re also living in a part of this time too. The technology advancements of farming and harvesting food back in Greece allowed man to do other things that didn’t require them to do hard labor. This extra time let man talk about ideas, create art, and create some of the most gorgeous architecture that inspires us to this day. The economy was good and that’s why they could’ve focused on other things. We can argue about the economy in today’s age but out what I would say is that our economy has allowed people to become entrepreneurs more than ever (arguably, the lack of jobs) and all forms of the art is booming in all areas. We also have digital artists and content creators whether it’s on YouTube or Behance — there is inspiration everywhere.
These are random thoughts, I know but I thought I’d share. What do you think? Have you considered this? Until next week.
Originally published at https://www.tumblr.com.
