Hi Todd > > "The spirit of nationality is a sour ferment of the new wine of > > democracy in the old bottles of tribalism." > >From whence dost this quote come?
Sorry - Sir Arnold Toynbee, "A Study of History". Good read, with an awesome sweep to it. He doesn't fit into a nutshell, but... >British historian, known for his view of the past as a succession of >civilizations rather than political entities. From 1925 until his >retirement in 1955 he was director of studies in the Royal Institute >of International Affairs and research professor of international >history at the University of London. Of the many books written by >Toynbee, the 12-volume series "A Study of History" (1934-1961) has >had considerable influence on modern attitudes toward history, >religion, and international affairs. It is a comparative study of 26 >civilizations in world history, analyzing their genesis, growth, and >disintegration. According to Toynbee's hypothesis, the failure of a >civilization to survive was the result of its inability to respond >to moral and religious challenges, rather than to physical or >environmental challenges. For a real mindblast, read Toynbee and Jung all at once. The subterranean forces and patterns Toynbee found at work in the lives of civilizations are the same as those Jung found in the lives of individuals. I don't altogether agree with Toynbee though, he didn't understand soil, for one thing. Physical or environmental challenges might be more important than he thinks - civilizations definitely foundered because they failed to develop a sustainable agriculture and frittered away their topsoil, or, like Rome, started off with an excellent agriculture and then wrecked it - mainly a consequence of the Punic Wars, in Rome's case. But Toynbee could be right anyway and this is also a moral/spiritual issue - maybe a properly focused society fits in with its environment, as opposed to one that commits the hubris that brings about its own nemesis. Does all this sound slightly familiar? Best Keith Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
