The de Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was a movement of forward thinkers that had a goal to improve our lives. It took place during the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe and revolutioned humanity in three main ways.
Enlightened Thinking
- The social contract and expectations of the government
- Separation of the church from the state
- Skepticism and reason when receiving information
If you examine these ideas from a western perspective today, you may see them as common-sensical or even rudimentary. Depending on where you reside, you may believe that these are quintessential to humanity as a whole. But upon leaning in for a closer look, You will quickly find that these values are not as secure as we think, and are certainly not reflected in our recent actions as a society.
Today, not over the last century or 50 years or even 25, but solely in the last decade we as a society are regressing. America is the worst of all; “the democracy” of the world is being infiltrated by radical religious beliefs, and are becoming self-interested, greedy and corrupt. The very thing the the thinkers of the enlightenment sought to destroy. Heads of states who become more and more consumed with their power and greed and less about the people as a whole, are what Louis XVI was guillotined for. Beethoven didn’t scrap the Bonaparte title for his third for nothing!
And as we rely more and more on our technology our ability to think is exercised less and less. Technology is a good thing, it allows for so many wonderful things from accessibility to entertainment, but as we allow it to encroach on what we as humans do best, our critical thinking, we risk losing our idea of society as we know it.
In summary the enlightenment stemmed from the idea that humans had the potential to do better and should! But in our modern day and age many things that we have laid our heavy head upon come nightfall may need a re-stuffing of down feather. We have to remember that active work must be done to retain these beliefs. We may have written them down and gone through this process once before, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to continue to apply our knowledge to do better.