A New Axial Age?

Has the modern era brought us to a new Axial Age?  Some say so, but what does it mean?  The German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers coined the term ‘Axial Age’ in 1949 when he noted that during the period between 800-200 BC there was a shift in how humanity viewed itself.  A turn as if on an axis—a change in consciousness that allowed civilization to develop.  Prior to the shift, tribalism was the dominant form of social organization.  The general characteristics were: small populations closely related, closed to outer influences, lacking individualized thinking, total submission to the group (ultra-conformity), with non-members of the tribe usually seen as ‘enemy’.

During the first Axial Age there was a revolution in human thought.  Independently in most clusters of humanity (China, India, Persia, Judaea, Greece and Rome) there was a change in consciousness that produced great advances in intellectual, philosophical and religious thinking.  Great men arose to define a ‘way of life’ (Confucius and La-Tzu, Gautama Buddha, Zoroaster, Moses and the Prophets, Socrates and Plato).  In each cluster there was some version of The Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others what you would have them do unto you’.  Humanity had moved from the isolation of tribalism to recognizing the necessity of cooperation for mutual benefit.  It was a huge leap, laying the groundwork for civilization to emerge.

How is this relevant to today?  The modern era has brought tremendous technological change.  From 1900 to 2018 we’ve leapt from horse and buggy transportation to rockets to the moon and back; in communications, then the telephone was new and cumbersome and today we carry it around in our pocket not only for conversations but also to navigate highways and instantly obtain limitless information . . . it isn’t the same world!   In the early 1900s we were just awakening to the terrifying destructive power we held, erupting in a World War with heretofore-unimagined armament—which escalated to nuclear arsenals capable of destroying all life on planet earth.

This new world requires a shift or change in how we see the world; another revolution in human thought is needed.  War has been the way to settle disputes since man first walked the earth.  It is no longer a viable option—viable means: capable of working successfully.  There is no ‘success’ with nuclear weapons.  Until we ventured into outer space and looked back on this tiny planet in the vast universe, we still believed (although science told us otherwise) we lived in a limitless static world where earth was the center of it all with sun and moon and stars revolving around us, as God sat on a cloud watching our every move. 

That isn’t the reality.  We are a dynamic evolving interacting singular unit, dependent upon each other for survival.  Early in the Bible (Deut. 30:19) God says:  “I have set before you life and death . . . choose life.”  God left it up to us. Whether or not you believe in the Bible or God, that clearly is a statement to us today.

The choosing of death is to continue to war, enlarge the nuclear arsenal, and deny reality.  The way to ‘choose life‘ is to embrace our interconnectedness, change our consciousness to find the way for humanity to work together in peace and build the world. . . thus bringing on a second Axial Age.

I once again quote Teilhard de Chardin:

 

                       “The Age of Nations is past,

     The task before us now, if we would not perish

                              Is to build the earth”

Of Human Progress

There is meaning to life.  Throughout time consciousness is expanding toward a goal and humanity is progressing.  Most human progress is so gradual it goes unnoticed in day-to-day affairs.   Some even argue there is no progress—but if we make it a point to look carefully at where we are now as compared to where we have been the picture changes.

Let’s begin with considering that in primitive man, the earliest signs of awareness and consciousness were directed toward nature and survival.  His identity was not personal but rather as part of a tribe or clan wherein all outsiders were considered ‘enemy’.  At what point was there a growing longing for ‘something more’?  We can’t see back that far but get hints from stories and myths carried forward in the oral tradition (such as Gilgamesh and various Creation stories). 

Then a phenomenon occurred during the first millennium BCE, roughly between 800-200 BC, there was a change in human consciousness throughout most of the inhabited world.  It was the period of time in which rigid and closed tribalism gave way to dynamic human interaction that became civilization as we know it.  That period is now called the Axial Age, so named by the philosopher Karl Jasper in 1870 as that period represents a pivotal change in human thought with the birth of philosophy and all major religions.  Jasper wrote: “The spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently in China, India, Persia, Judea and Greece.  And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today.”

That in itself seems curious . . . there was no intercommunication between these remote areas, yet it was almost as if it were ‘time for humanity to wake up’.  What caused the awakening? . . . the seed to break out of its shell, the butterfly to emerge from its chrysalis? . . . Clearly the time had arrived!  Was it the invisible hand of God guiding humanity to the next step needed for civilization to emerge?  Or was it simply what was required by the circumstances of having become more densely packed?  Or was it individual persons thinking more deeply about the ‘something’ of their longing?  Or was it all of that together?  Whatever the forces at work, it happened; there was a consciousness change that brought deep questions, a searching for meaning and the discovery of selfhood apart from ‘tribe’.

Now, lets look at what might be considered human progress.  It is easy to acknowledge technological advances—things that didn’t exist but once discovered changed humanity and the world:  the humble loom, printing press, steam engines, the sewing machine, electricity, telegraph & telephone, airplane, computer . . . all introduced by the human.

Those are things produced by human ingenuity and are readily accepted as examples of progress because of the direct benefit they give.  The human progress is less obvious, moves at a slower pace and is resisted because it comes at a cost and demands change.  But we can chart its progress:  Where there was once unrestrained use of brute force to overpower neighboring territories to rape and plunder and lay claim . . . that mitigated to a less obvious conquest mentality of explorers planting a national flag and ‘claiming’ a newly discovered ‘primitive lands’, pushing back or enslaving the natives . . . which changed again with developed nations ‘colonizing’ territories, treating the natives a bit more kindly and ‘civilizing’ them while harvesting whatever valuable resources the land had to offer (not exactly embracing humanitarian compassion but baby steps to ‘less cruel’) . . . and now, colonization is frowned upon and technically abandoned in the 20^th Century—the increasing respect for human rights shows advancement.

Social change is slow and hard fought but when evaluated through the eye of justice, and given time, we come to the right conclusion.  Slavery was an institution since the beginning of time, yet in the mid-1800, following a bloody war it was finally acknowledged by society that slavery was incompatible with civilization.  That view, however, did not extend to discrimination which took another 100 years to reach public awareness as unjust and was overthrown without violence by way of peace marches led by Martin Luther King Jr.  There is so much more yet to be done but this gives evidence to humanity’s progress.  In one of Dr. King’s inspiring speeches he spoke these words:  “The Arc of the Moral Universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”  That is the nature of human progress—humankind choosing to move toward Justice, Truth and Love is the expansion of consciousness.

Other examples:

            --endorsing education for all, not just the privileged

            -- realizing an obligation to care for the sick and wounded

            -- philanthropic concern for those in need

            --the UN formulating the Declaration of Human Rights

            -- using diplomacy and striving to end war

These give evidence to human progress—to become less cruel and more compassionate, to move toward positive values . . . it will never be complete and never absolute but progress is measured by humans collectively choosing for the good.