By Lida Prypchan
There are two images we have from the Middle Ages: Both, though internally opposed, form a truth because they address without fear the virtues and defects of an era distant from us. It would be a mistake to accept with passion and zealotry only one of them. Its real significance would be incomplete.
The rationalists speak of it as a time lacking personal freedom, a time of superstition and ignorance. On the other hand, those holding the opposing view, the reactionary philosophers, those who criticize the capitalism that later emerged, shed light upon its benefits, including the priority it gave to human necessities, economic needs being of secondary concern. There was solidarity and there were better relationships among men and, most importantly, due to the static social order of that time in history, one found meaning in one’s existence, in one’s life. The individual, thanks to possessing from birth a certain and immutable place within the social world to which he belonged, was rooted in a structured whole. It was therefore logical that all of this gave the individual a sense of security and relevance. And it is necessary to add that the time had not yet developed the consciousness of the individual self, the self separated from the world as a unique and separate entity. However, in the period after the Middle Ages – the Renaissance – the structure of society, the human personality, and his/her relationship with the social environment changed fully. That medieval world, hospitable, steeped in unity and fraternity, as well as those who have idealized it, saw it weakened and in its place came a growing importance placed on capital, individual economic initiative and competition. The life dedicated to a single purpose disappeared, and a terrible competition arose that produced the torment of looking for new sources because the existing ones could not achieve the tranquil labor environment that had existed previously. A new moneyed class developed. Italy was the first place where medieval society collapsed, the causes being economic and political factors. This era, the Renaissance, distinguished individuals as entities who were basically separate, individual and alone. Now there would be a new freedom, a freedom to take one’s own path without that feeling of solidarity among peers that existed in the Middle Ages. Yes, freedom, individuality intoxicated with the fear of the unknown, with the fear of being separated from the protective group of fellow workers, an individuality intoxicated by isolation, doubt, skepticism and anxiety. This is the consequence of Renaissance capitalism. From then on, their sense of life would be shaken. Individual freedom, despite being greater, did not fill the void that the new social structure itself left behind. Thus, they aspired to win fame, the desire for power in order to reject the idea of how insignificant they were to their environment. It was in this manner that the man of this era, and perhaps of the current one, silenced his disquieting doubts. They did so with a view to immortality. It became necessary to raise the individual life beyond its limitations and instability to the plane of the indestructible, thus justifying its time on Earth. Otherwise, by necessity, one stumbles over a question whose answer causes uncertainty and fear, confirming that the ostensible state of conformity innate to the purpose of this life is dubious.
Now if we compare the previous with the current one, we observe that in this century an extremely serious problem is that of suicides, which have been progressively increasing.
For the year 2000, the greatest number of medical emergencies are expected to be of a psychiatric nature. It could be said that there exists in our time a nostalgia for an ideology. In the life of modern man, there is a lack of a tacit agreement regarding what should be the social compact among men. We live as prepackaged souls, imprisoned in an space that prevents the expansion of thought, governed by steps that never stop inexorable time, driven by obligation rather than by the inspiration of the tasks we love. We are surrounded by fascinating devices that, like a drug, distract us from our fundamental objectives as human beings, devices that once switched on allow us to think that it is they that we love because, if we dedicate ourselves to them, we conclude that death alone is the one invariable, while everything else is subject to changing circumstances. In modern society where competition is so barbaric, we exhaust our nervous systems by devising mechanisms to support us economically without cultivating ourselves (nor does society encourage it), which is the minimum required for being able to have even a hint of serenity and inner peace.
The spiritual life of our time is developed thus: the weakening of established systems, the desperate search for new ways of life, the appearance of numerous prophets, false sects and societies, and the proliferation of the most absurd superstitions.
