In 1637 the French philosopher René Descartes proposed 'je pense, donc je suis'
(I think, therefore I am).
This proposition became a fundamental element of Western philosophy, as it purported to form a secure foundation for knowledge in the face of radical doubt.
Until this time in Europe, all aspects of life, religion, economics, society, culture, education, arts, family, military etc. etc. was completely dominated and controlled by the Church.
One can control the body and the resources but one cannot control the mind. Individuals like Rene Descartes provided many individuals and groups the trigger to unleash the power of the human mind to challenge and change material conditions of human existence.
Thus the birth of modern Western intellectualism occurred and came to dominate first Europe and then the whole world. Intellectualism and scientific enquiry created a world in which the thinking mind reigned supreme.
The result is tremendous advances in scientific discovery and invention, which produced economic and material prosperity across Europe. It also led to gigantic steps in creating advanced weapons for waging war. This empowered Europe to seek raw materials and markets for their produce and to ensure a steady supply of cheap raw materials and labour.
When Man becomes purely just the mind the heart is suppressed. As a consequence we now have had a sustained long overdose of intellectualism. We now have an arrogant, selfish, emotionless mankind thanks to colonialism of the minds of former colonies.
Traditional societies outside of Europe like Japan and India in Asia and Africa, the Middle East, and South America too have been afflicted by the same intellectualism in various degrees.
Intellectualism propagated by few brilliant minds tends to make the mainstream majority who blindly copy and obey believe they too are intelligent and wise. Thus they are easily manipulated into what the cunning want.
The war between tradition and modernity, of spirituality and religion, of the individual and family rages on. Greed has replaced commitment, fake has replaced truth.
Too much emphasis being placed on intellectualism rather than also intelligence, wisdom and spirituality has led to broken individuals and homes. Any society afflicted with such a conditions cannot survive long.
Now the great power of organised religion, colonialism, exploitation, slavery etc is on an irreversible and steady decline.
Unless humanity couples intelligence and wisdom from the past to many powerful aspects of human intellect, there can be no hope for humanity.
No doubt the individual is important but not more than humanity and our collective well being.
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