When the World Comes Apart at the Seams
The pendulum of human history swings along a spectrum. On one end there is liberty and personal freedom; on the other, order and restraint of chaos.
We all want two things at once. We want the freedom to choose, to speak, to own, to worship—the freedom to pursue happiness. But we also want predictable rules, stable families, stable markets, social trust, and deterrence of wrongdoing and protection from violence.
The great challenge is that when the pendulum swings too far one way, it undermines the other ideal at the other pole. Too much concentrated power and an overly rigid sense of order can become tyranny and oppression—the crushing of freedom. Freedom without limits, without any moral discipline, can become chaos and disorder—unleashing selfishness and violence.
People, nations, and the world are always seeking to strike the proper balance. We are always moving along that pendulum line, always seeking that sweet spot at the center. Rarely have we found it.
Throughout history the pendulum has at times swung wildly—the collapse of the ancient Bronze Age world of the Mediterranean (c. 1200 BC), the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the American Civil War and the Reconstruction, and the 20th century transition of Europe from monarchy to more democratic forms of government. To borrow W. B. Yeats’ phrase, in times like that, “the centre cannot hold.” The world seems to come apart at the seams and people search frantically for stability and direction.
The Old Testament prophets, Jesus, and the apostles spoke of days like this in apocalyptic terms: the sun being darkened, the moon turning to blood, the stars falling or no longer giving their light, and mountains shaking or melting. Some people believe these are to be taken literally—and that is possible—but I’m inclined to believe that such imagery depicts things that have long been certain becoming uncertain. It’s not that the world ends but that “the world as we have known it ends.” Though one day there will be a final end—an end to the entire process of history—history has experienced many lesser ends that launched a new start and a new direction.
At the moment we seem to be living in such a time when “the centre cannot hold”—or we are at least approaching such a time. Everything seems to be topsy-turvy.
American politics is being radically re-aligned. The names of the old parties remain but neither party is what it was even 50 years ago.
Mass migration is reshaping the ethnic and cultural composition of Western nations. Islam is making powerful inroads into European nations and has a foothold in America.
The Arab Gulf states are more pro-Israel than much of the West is.
International institutions (e.g. UN, WHO, NATO) are growing less credible and old alliances are weakening.
COVID and international political tensions revealed the fragility of global supply chains.
Each step of communication technology—the internet, smart technologies, social media, and most recently AI—radically changes the way people and economies function.
Though the West is rapidly secularizing, there is also a simultaneous global explosion of religion and spirituality, especially Christianity and Islam.
These large issues (and many lesser ones) easily unsettle us—even we Christians. Some of us retreat fearfully into apocalyptic thinking (“the world is ending soon!”) and disengage from the present. Some of us, knowing that leaders and institutions have proved false in the past, look for order and certainty by recognizing patterns of hidden forces manipulating events behind the scenes, taking comfort in the thought that we understand what’s really going on.
I think there’s another option…but I’m out of space and it will have to wait till next week’s blog.
We all want two things at once. We want the freedom to choose, to speak, to own, to worship—the freedom to pursue happiness. But we also want predictable rules, stable families, stable markets, social trust, and deterrence of wrongdoing and protection from violence.
The great challenge is that when the pendulum swings too far one way, it undermines the other ideal at the other pole. Too much concentrated power and an overly rigid sense of order can become tyranny and oppression—the crushing of freedom. Freedom without limits, without any moral discipline, can become chaos and disorder—unleashing selfishness and violence.
People, nations, and the world are always seeking to strike the proper balance. We are always moving along that pendulum line, always seeking that sweet spot at the center. Rarely have we found it.
Throughout history the pendulum has at times swung wildly—the collapse of the ancient Bronze Age world of the Mediterranean (c. 1200 BC), the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the American Civil War and the Reconstruction, and the 20th century transition of Europe from monarchy to more democratic forms of government. To borrow W. B. Yeats’ phrase, in times like that, “the centre cannot hold.” The world seems to come apart at the seams and people search frantically for stability and direction.
The Old Testament prophets, Jesus, and the apostles spoke of days like this in apocalyptic terms: the sun being darkened, the moon turning to blood, the stars falling or no longer giving their light, and mountains shaking or melting. Some people believe these are to be taken literally—and that is possible—but I’m inclined to believe that such imagery depicts things that have long been certain becoming uncertain. It’s not that the world ends but that “the world as we have known it ends.” Though one day there will be a final end—an end to the entire process of history—history has experienced many lesser ends that launched a new start and a new direction.
At the moment we seem to be living in such a time when “the centre cannot hold”—or we are at least approaching such a time. Everything seems to be topsy-turvy.
American politics is being radically re-aligned. The names of the old parties remain but neither party is what it was even 50 years ago.
Mass migration is reshaping the ethnic and cultural composition of Western nations. Islam is making powerful inroads into European nations and has a foothold in America.
The Arab Gulf states are more pro-Israel than much of the West is.
International institutions (e.g. UN, WHO, NATO) are growing less credible and old alliances are weakening.
COVID and international political tensions revealed the fragility of global supply chains.
Each step of communication technology—the internet, smart technologies, social media, and most recently AI—radically changes the way people and economies function.
Though the West is rapidly secularizing, there is also a simultaneous global explosion of religion and spirituality, especially Christianity and Islam.
These large issues (and many lesser ones) easily unsettle us—even we Christians. Some of us retreat fearfully into apocalyptic thinking (“the world is ending soon!”) and disengage from the present. Some of us, knowing that leaders and institutions have proved false in the past, look for order and certainty by recognizing patterns of hidden forces manipulating events behind the scenes, taking comfort in the thought that we understand what’s really going on.
I think there’s another option…but I’m out of space and it will have to wait till next week’s blog.