IDEAS TO SHAPE THE FUTURE

The past is catchy, like a song, or as historians put it more formally, history repeats itself. The universal rule applies to major occurrences and small incidents alike.

The question of the past coming back – the myth of the eternal return, of palingenesis – has been raised in every latitude. In the West, the Stoics created a theoretical formula for the repetition of the world, an idea that was already circulating in Egypt: the world is extinguished through a great conflagration that in turn restores everything to its origin. In this way, events and happenings happen anew.

Meanwhile, in the East, life is well understood as cyclical. There is the representation of life in yīn and yáng (阴阳) and in Chinese cosmology, events and happenings repeat eternally, but with an added nuance. Repetition polishes events to perfection. The eternal return does not simply mean repetition but a moving towards perfection.

The snake that eats itself has also been represented, with slight variations (a serpent or a dragon, for example), in all cultures. The Ouroboros symbolizes our eternal yet futile struggle against the repetition of things. The word comes from the Greek βόρος, which means to eat, and from οὐρά, meaning tail. It was the concept of Ouroboros that led Nietzsche to the realization that it is not only events and incidents that repeat themselves, but also thoughts and ideas. Faced with the prospect of doing the same things over and again, Nietzsche’s superman (the Übermensch) can only be free by abandoning his fear of repetition.

Now, at present, there is a recurrent idea, one that has continually surfaced since the invention of the modern state (provoking any number of headaches), and that is nationalism. No matter where in the world you look, there it is, the great snake of nationalism biting its own tail. Every country has its measure but, as in all things, the degree of danger varies according to size. These days, there is no more pernicious nationalism than that flourishing within the two world superpowers, the United States and China. It would be naive to see the danger solely as one of military escalation. Ideas shoot first. It is the ideological escalation that sets military escalation in motion. Ideas are the trigger of conflicts.

American nationalism was relatively contained until President Trump let it off its lead – and it’s important to note that a characteristic of nationalism is that once its growth gland is activated, it never stops, resulting in what we might call nationalist acromegaly, or gigantism. Chinese nationalism, also relatively contained until recently, is showing signs of exponential growth in the Xi era, producing that pernicious escalation of ideas. It is a prelude to the worst portents.

What looms ahead for China, the United States, for the world? There may indeed be a tense decade before us, marked by national security, a decade in which an atmosphere of extreme suspicion and distrust reigns and, as the Chinese adage goes, even every blade of grass and every tree will be seen as an enemy soldier (草木皆兵 cǎo mù jiē bīng). Perhaps the decade will be shattered by an actual war confrontation, caused by a simple mistake or war hawks on either side.

Still, from this, there might be a path into the future that after a decade (or more) of fierce competition constitutes renewed cooperation. After the wildfire, there is new growth. Will it lead us to repeat the same thing or allow us to get a little closer to perfection? This thinking seems reserved only for those ultra-optimistic hopers, awaiting a World Government, as proposed by Einstein, or an Earth Constitution, as proposed by the Italian jurist Luigi Ferrajoli. Unity might only come from a more imminent danger directed at Earth, like a giant meteorite!

In any case, the future will come for us, so let’s be on the watch, as Charles Bukowski advised:

there are ways out.

there is light somewhere.

it might not be much light but

it beats the darkness.

be on the watch…

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