“It is said that what is called ‘the spirit of an age’ is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world’s coming to an end. For this reason, although one would like to change today’s world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation” — Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure.
The “spirit of the age” has been a significant point of discussion for the current election season in the United States. On the one hand, Donald Trump with his rhetoric of Making America Great Again, promises a return to a Golden Age of prosperity, abundance and a fertile middle class.
On the other hand, the Bernie Sanders campaign seeks to Immanentize the Eschaton by bringing out revolution, heralding an end of the old world and the summoning the beginning of a brave new one — which, in the end, is a return to a mythic collectivist Utopia.
It is a mark of Higher Spirituality to move carefully through this mine field of a fanatical zeitgeist. We must be the eye at the center of the storm, carefully observing the motion of the tempest while remaining impassive in our gaze, ultimately directing it beyond the chaos to the sunrise on the horizon. In order to make the best of current generation, we must make the best of ourselves. Continue reading “Daily Meditation: The Spirit of the Age”
If the general cannot overcome his anger and has his army swarm over the citadel, killing a third of his soldiers, and yet the citadel is not taken, this is a disastrous attack. 
“Great things are done when Men & Mountains meet / This is not Done by Jostling in the Street,” wrote William Blake.