The State of the Self

Why is our culture so corrupted?

When we are compelled to think about the news, which is a parlous matter altogether, it is useful to consider what is not there. It is easy to be entrained, like the clock of Christian Huygens, to harmonise with the tumult of the news cycle. Have a look at the cycle path. What it omits is sometimes more telling than what it includes.

Why is it not news that our culture is degrading? Why is it not important that our society is debauched? There is no attempt to explain the darkness creeping over the West. This winter, that darkness may well be literalised. We are facing power cuts which may prove to be permanent, so long as we cannot change our course.

This post is an attempt to discuss the centripetal current of our social reality, which flings all things to the perimeter, to the extreme. It is an examination of the limits of desire, and of the price exacted by chasing its horizons. What does it mean to base your culture on this chase?

What caused the corruption which envenoms our lives?