The following three quotes are taken from Requiem for Modern Politics by William Ophuls.
"The major advances in civilization are processes which all but wrecked the societies in which they occur."--Alfred North Whitehead (xv)
Of course, all political paradigms contain inherent contradictions and therefore generate problems that must be solved.The job of the statesman, as opposed to the mere politician, is to preserve the paradigm by dealing effectively with these problems. However, if political wisdom and skill are lacking or if the contradictions are very deep, small problems eventually coalesce into a large problemmatique that challenges the old paradigm. At this point, more reform, however well conceived, no longer suffices and may even make matters worse, so pressure builds up for a fundamental change in regime. (26)
The challenge is to find a way of going beyond a moral individualism without losing the individual along the way. (27)
"Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hinderances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.… None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty. " [Thoreau]
In short, “a man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” [Thoreau]
Natural science as it exists to-day, and has existed for the best part of a century, does not include the idea of purpose among its working categories.
