Crisis Brings Inspiration

...He sits by the river, surrounded by his friends and students, as they discuss the events of their home state.   The greed and power of the three aristocratic families had laid the great ducal house low.  Their avarice was repaid in turn by a rebellion from a nefarious retainer, which plunged his country into war.

And when the dust settled, here he now was in self-imposed exile away from the land of his birth.   Despite his wisdom, he had wandered through all the great states with little to show for it.

The world was collapsing as the drumbeat of war could be heard in every land.   

Although nurtured by his convictions, the Great Teacher could not help but wonder - What indeed was the Way?  And who would restore All Under Heaven?

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Concentrate...concentrate... the ritual was everything.

The formulas must be recited properly, the chants must be sung, the mantras must be uttered.

With the correct performance of the sacrifice, as flesh and flowers burnt within the sacred fire, the universe would conform to the will of the sacrificer.  

At least that was people used to believe.   Now, a new set of wise men had arisen, ones who disdained the worldly benefit the priestly caste offered through their sacrifices.  

These men, who intimately knew the procedures and the formulas, spoke of another reality.   The hidden meanings and connections of ritual actions to the universe and to the life of a man were laid bared to them.

No amount of wealth, women, and sons would ever free a man from the endless cycle of death and rebirth.   Only wisdom can bring deliverance.....

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The old man now stood before the assembled jurors of his polis, his home city, who had the power of life and death in their hands.

Those who condemned him spoke of the man's corruption of the youth, his relationship with the hated Thirty Tyrants who had been an enemy of democracy, and the introduction of foreign gods that would undermine the social fabric of his cty.

He was a gadfly of the marketplace, the incessant interrogator whose constant questioning revealed the ignorance of all.

As the Oracle had foretold, the old stonecutter was the wisest of all men - for he understood his lack of wisdom as well as others' pretensions to knowledge.   

And for this unwanted revelation....he would have to die.

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Crisis is a Wellspring for new Ideas.   Or to put it another way, Crisis creates a situation where old behaviors and thoughts must be re-examined to overcome a problem.

The three scenarios above speak of periods of Crisis, not just for an individual, but for a society as a whole.

The established Order of the world in each situation is falling apart.  Traditional methods and deeply held assumptions are unable to resolve the growing discontent.

And here, in these moments of Crisis, do we see the birth of Philosophy and all her children - from political organization, the natural sciences, art, and literature.

Yet, there is one thing that must be recognized - All of these Crises that afflicted the 3 societies are not the same.

China, India, and the ancient Greeks all faced different Challenges......  

1.) In Ancient China, the accelerating decay of the Zhou Dynasty brought about a political crisis.  Relationships that seemed natural and ordained by Heaven itself were now thrown into chaos.

This provoked the Question:  Where is the Way?   

Where is the Way by which the Empire and All Under Heaven might be restored?  How might this be accomplished?



2.) The later Vedic era of India saw a growing discontent amongst the lower castes over the emphasis placed by the brahmins, the priestly class, on their traditional rituals.   Geared toward "this-worldly" benefits such as the acquisition of wealth, sons, and the destruction of enemies, the Vedic rituals gave little answer or comfort to those who sought a deeper meaning to life.

This religious crisis provoked the Question: What is the Self?

Who or what is this Self which thinks, loves, hates, and dies?  And what is this Self's relationship to the Universe?  What is our Final Destination?

3.)  As the youngest of the Mediterranean civilizations, the ancient Greeks found themselves exposed to a variety of different explanations for the creation of the world.  The Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, and many others all had their religious beliefs - which often conflicted.

Undaunted by these circumstances, the denizens of Greece began to examine their world directly, seeking to understand the fundamental substance that was the basis for all reality.

However, it was the unjust death of a simple stonecutter from Athens that sparked the expansion of this inquiry to all activities of life.

This moral crisis provoked the question of: What is Being?

 What is the arche, the source or root of all things that exist?   How do our Ideas exist?  Do they have an independent reality of their own?

These Questions would fundamentally shape the approach and modus operandi of each civilization in their examination of the human, natural, and spiritual worlds for centuries to come.