The Ashes of Reason
Everyone demands the truth, but are satiated with lies.
Only they do not understand that there is only one way to find the truth – through reason. Reason is not a blessing, nor is it curse; it is the tool we carry to find knowledge and wisdom. It is the only tool we have. Emotion, intuition, and faith; all are conditions created by reason. They are more than animal instincts; they are products of man’s mental evolution beyond biology. We once valued the balance between reason and our animal instincts, but now reason is burning into ashes.
As the Age of Enlightenment dawned, human reason began to be appreciated by the masses for the first time in history. It is true that we have made many mistakes since then, but these are only due to when we abandon reason. This is the plague we face today. The loss of reason is not only bringing the world misery in the political and economic spheres. It is also the cause for the cultural degradation of society.
Around the world people are forgetting their cultural heritage, abandoning the arts and sciences, and are blindly following the voices of those who feed them lies. They are forgetting about philosophy, contemplation, and scientific pursuits. All that exists in the hearts of people today is the garbage that stimulates their savage desires. Today’s “music,” “cinema” and “art” are focused on either chaos, violence, stupidity or lust. Art and civilized culture are the result of man harnessing his reason to stimulate his emotions beyond the primordial desires of his biological structure.
The works of the great musicians, painters, sculptors, philosophers, and writers are formed by man realizing that we are more than primates; we crave things beyond our needs for survival. We crave higher understanding of the world around us and of our selves. Reason taught us that. Science, both natural and social, is now declining as well. Most of scientific advancements are simply small year-by-year improvements in technology.
We no longer have many visionaries, and they are not appreciated. We are no longer making great discoveries, only making more entertaining products using child labor in impoverished countries. The free-market and the “profit-motive” are powerful tools to advance science, but they are also being hindered by the loss of reason. Unfortunately, today’s society is devolving us into the animals we were. The people criticize those with wisdom and reason to be “heartless” and “uncompassionate” as neo-liberalism and other forms of rebellions against reason grow larger by the day.
This is the greatest fallacy to come from this problem. Reason is the path to better and more enriched lives. Those whose ideologies are formed by reason are the most compassionate of all. It is true that reason can be faulty, but without the attempt, there is no hope. Without reason, we throw away our only tool to find knowledge and wisdom. Without it, our future is only in the eye of the beholder.
