Why Civilizations Fail 1

There is a HUGE book called “A Study of History” in twelve volumes and written by Sir Arnold Toynbee in 1987. In the fifth volume subtitled “The Disintegrations of Civilizations” he gives us six different reasons why civilizations throughout history have collapsed. Edmund Burke said “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” And so let us take a look at the six reasons civilization fails.

Reason Number 1: Cultural Suicide

According to Toynbee, societies in disintegration are seldom simply overrun by another invading civilization. Rather, they commit a kind of cultural suicide, suffering what he calls a “schism of the soul” in which the “soul” of the society turns upon itself and brings on self-destruction.

The Roman Coliseum stands as one of the most sobering examples of this schism of the soul. In this great arena, gladiatorial contests, mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions and re-enactments of famous battles took place. Here, for the sake of entertainment the leisure hours of the Roman citizens were twittered away. They not only watched but cheered on the slaughter and death of man and animal. Violence became entertainment.

Pompeii is famous for its erotic frescoes and it seemed the people of Pompeii worried for little in this resort community. They were engrossed in, and addicted to, sensual living and entertainment that they didn’t even head the warnings of doom heading their way in the form of an active volcano.

Will history repeat itself?

I can easily see, as I am sure can you, the parallels to the United States as we commit our own cultural suicide. There really is no military that can come close to overtaking us. We have been defeating ourselves from within, our greatest enemy is ourselves. We vote more for American Idol than we do for our Presidential elections. We are more concerned about the backside of a pseudo-famous woman than we are about the meaning of democracy. We spend more time staring at our smart phones and computer screens than we do actively serving, working, and building a better community. Major cities are becoming ghost towns and many more are going bankrupt physically and morally.

But I don’t think it is too late. I believe we can stop the momentum. I am just afraid that it is going to take an even BIGGER catastrophe than 9/11 to get us back in focus.

Think of what you do with your life. Are you helping our nation move on into cultural suicide or are you working hard to prevent it?