The Age Of Enlightenment – See It Now

There was a time when everyone believed in something. Most people accepted some form of worship, and only a few weren't convinced of the reality of religion.

The Age of Enlightenment changed that. In the view of many it was a change for the better. The exposure to new ideas, and the discrediting of many of the views and beliefs of the past, however, left some confused. To a degree, the same process had already occurred both during the Renaissance and the Reformation, but an entirely new dimension was lent to scholarship during the period of “enlightenment.”

Earlier explosions of learning had helped people understand the past; it had increased their knowledge of the ages that had preceded them – that had helped to form them. Or, when it came to the Reformation, it had rationalized their belief system by providing a group of new theologies more acceptable to a disenchanted populace than what they had been practicing. And in doing so it left them with ideas and faith that were stronger and more palatable than the ones which they had been taught, and under which they had lived.

But the Age of Enlightenment was one that tore down rather than built up. Certainly there was an increase in the appreciation of the natural sciences and of philosophy, however the new knowledge that was being developed had the effect of teaching everyone that what had been experienced in the past was erroneous. Old rules were abandoned, and old governments overthrown.

The American and the French Revolutions provided liberty to people who had been oppressed for as long as they could remember, and the exhilaration of self-rule and of freedom from the control of the unjust system that had enslaved them marked the beginning of a new era of Good.

Good, but not G-d. Nothing couldn't be explained rationally. There was no need for the mythology of the past. And that's all religion was. There was a scientific justification for everything. There was no need for any extra-rational system of thought. Religion was “the opiate of the masses,” and its only value was to keep everyone quiet and subservient. It was debunked. Stephen Hawking has taught us that “because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.” That finished off whatever was left of faith. There was no need for an extra-rational explanation.

While Hawking's “explanation” simply pushes creation back, and doesn't really explain anything, it, and the societal changes and dogmas – Hawking's and those that came before it – that have accompanied “rationality” and the Age of Reason – another term for the period of “Enlightenment” – left many with a spiritual vacuum. Unfortunately it is a vacuum that too many were eager to fill.

For many the path to fulfillment involved a return to the religion of their past and of their family, but others had nothing in which they could believe and they sought both a new set of truths that would make sense of the world around them and a teacher or a guru who would lead them. They were a mass ready to follow a prophet who promised them the foundation they lacked. And they were ready to follow the teachings of their new leader without any thought about their validity. The invalidation of religion was the opiate of these not really liberated masses.

Sadly nothing has changed. We've had Jonestown and Heaven's Gate but people continue to seek the answer to the emptiness they face. And too often the prophets of our day have single item agendas – political, religious, or scientific – and they are impervious to reality; submissive followers are unable to deal with any views but those of their leaders, for those views have been accepted as their own. They are unable to compromise on political or social issues. Or, when it comes to religion, they are unwilling to allow others the choice of accepting another set of beliefs.

An example of such religious intolerance, and of the terror to which it may lead, is the San Bernadino massacre. Tashfeen Malik's allegiance to the Islamic State and its leaders, and Syed Farook's loyalty to a cause, are sad reminders of the power of an idea and the weakness of hollow individual wills. All it takes is a single-minded Svengali and people desperate to believe in something. It is the blindered leading the blind. Unfortunately we have too many of both. And we have too many examples of the violence that accompanies the intolerance of some.

There is no returning to the past. The jinii is out of the bottle. And we see what horror it can create. The Age of Enlightenment solved some problems but caused others. There are many paths to political, social, and religious truth – not a single one that everyone must follow. Until that idea becomes our path to enlightenment, intolerance and the refusal to accept other views will continue to cause societal dysfunction. A new Age of Reason in the future, one that has the dimensions of spirituality and tolerance, will be needed for that.