To cycle means what goes up must fall again, right?? Primitive superstitions rise and fall together in the social mind (when belief rises in supernatural good that determines the course of human events, belief also rises in supernatural evil?)

I think in every cycle, cultural abdication of Reason plays both sides of the ball, exacerbated by the human instinct to crave the illusion of certainty offered by limited options like fight-flight or sleep-wake, over the uncertainty of progress. Hence our persistent social cycle toward binary debate and decisions administered through adversarial government models. War that is won or lost rather than transcended. All of which is, I agree, terrifying when one stops to really think about it!

Very Jacques Barzun . . .

Although the picture Mr. Barzun paints is one of cultural desolation, he nevertheless manages to end on a note of cautious optimism. Even if present trends continue and society becomes more routinized and culturally sterile, human ingenuity can surely be counted upon to precipitate a rebellion against the spread of bureaucratized futility. Sooner or later, some few intrepid souls will turn with new curiosity to the neglected past and use it "to create a new present," discovering along the way "what a joy it is to be alive." The forces of decadence that Mr. Barzun describes are formidably potent. But decadence is no more inevitable than progress.

I'm tingling in anticipation of the imminent end to our current decay into incoherent primitivism and the mystical meme! Barring my being struck dead by some (Christian or Muslim) Sam Harris style evil in the guise of God's will, I might live to see the rise of our next Enlightenment.

Hi Lorraine, a pleasure as always to see your complex and nuanced writing -- JJ