{"id":62,"date":"2013-05-10T11:45:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=62"},"modified":"2015-06-26T19:46:24","modified_gmt":"2015-06-26T19:46:24","slug":"looking-for-meaning-in-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=62","title":{"rendered":"Looking for Meaning in Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Lida Prypchan<\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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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. \u00a0It would be a mistake to accept with passion and zealotry only one of them. \u00a0Its real significance would be incomplete.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The rationalists speak of it as a time lacking personal freedom, a time of superstition and ignorance. \u00a0On 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. \u00a0There 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\u2019s existence, in one\u2019s life. \u00a0The 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. \u00a0It was therefore logical that all of this gave the individual a sense of security and relevance. \u00a0And 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. \u00a0However, 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. \u00a0That 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. \u00a0The 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. \u00a0A new moneyed class developed. \u00a0Italy was the first place where medieval society collapsed, the causes being economic and political factors. \u00a0This era, the Renaissance, distinguished individuals as entities who were basically separate, individual and alone. \u00a0Now there would be a new freedom, a freedom to take one\u2019s own path without that feeling of solidarity among peers that existed in the Middle Ages. \u00a0Yes, 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. \u00a0This is the consequence of Renaissance capitalism. \u00a0From then on, their sense of life would be shaken. \u00a0Individual freedom, despite being greater, did not fill the void that the new social structure itself left behind. \u00a0Thus, they aspired to win fame, the desire for power in order to reject the idea of \u200b\u200bhow insignificant they were to their environment. \u00a0It was in this manner that the man of this era, and perhaps of the current one, silenced his disquieting doubts. \u00a0They 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. \u00a0Otherwise, 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.<\/span><\/div>\n
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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.<\/span><\/div>\n
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For the year 2000, the greatest number of medical emergencies are expected to be of a psychiatric nature. \u00a0It could be said that there exists in our time a nostalgia for an ideology. \u00a0In the life of modern man, there is a lack of a tacit agreement regarding what should be the social compact among men. \u00a0We 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. \u00a0We 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. \u00a0In 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.<\/span><\/div>\n
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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.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 By Lida Prypchan \u00a0 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. \u00a0It would be a mistake to accept with passion and zealotry only one of them. \u00a0Its real significance … <\/p>\n

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