The age of Enlightenment gave birth to the scientific revolution as a new system to “enlighten” and save the world. It did much good. It gave us systems like formal education, a penal system, a tax system and a centralized healthcare system to save lives. It was also the foundation for democracy (and our Declaration of Independence)
But like any system – it came at a cost.
The enlightenment created institutions and boundaries. We replaced cultural differences with economic and political infrastructure to justify, protect and defend our man made borders. Creativity, beauty and faith became sources of skepticism, cynicism and oppression rather than essential groundings of sacred inspiration. Institutions sought to isolate anyone whose views could not be scientifically proven thus marginalizing the artists and the religious. Ultimately, all traditions and traditional cultures became suspect.
The enlightenment of science gave us scoring systems to measure and compare human value based on a physical output.
This was the birth of secular and the removal of the sacred.
We evolved from human beings to human doings. As Human beings we are worthless and as Human Doings we are worthy.
The age of enlightenment has scientifically proven to prolong and even save many physical lives…… But at what cost to the soul of humanity? The loss of this magnificent part of a human being is that we may never know the inner peace of our beautiful essence and authenticity.