Rise and fall of society.. are we falling!

My little view on society, and a bit of a ramble as I solidify my thoughts..

Now my view could have been shaped by reading something similar that someone else wrote or I dreamt that I read this in a book!

(anyone able to point to a book/theory that resembles my thoughts would be a great help.... as I would like to read it, otherwise I'll just have to dream part 2)

Anyway it's a premise that societies rise and fall in 4 distinct stages, and that each stage has a distinct personality.

The first stage and personalty we meet, is the creator..
These people set out to create a better world for themselves, their loved ones and decedents.. they lay the foundations of society, they have very little, work hard and seek more for their descendents.

The second stage and personalty we meet, is the builder..
These are people who build society from the foundations the creators have made. They have faith, pride and a belief in what they are building.. they are driven to build a better today for the future, they have enough to get by, but still want more for themselves and their descendents.

The third stage and personality we meet, is the liberal..
They've neither created or built anything, but still close enough to the builders and creators to respect what has gone before them, however they are driven to fine tune society to try to make it a better place. They have all they can wish for, yet still wish for more for their descendents.

The 4th stage and personality we meet, is the waster..
They've neither created or built anything, and are so distant from the foundations and what has been built that they have no respect for what has gone before them.. they have no pride, or belief in the world, nor care about the future.. they just want more, and they want it now.

Wasters are followed by a disaster that brings down society, or the wasters themselves create the disaster.. be it war, famine, disease etc.. which ends that version of society.. which loops back to stage 1.

Caveat: Each stage is made up of a mix of the above... but the stage is defined by the dominance of one personality, the length of each stage is defined by how long that personality type is dominant..

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So in my little world, I feel we in the West are at stage 4, or moving into stage 4.. we are wasters and consumers... Where as China and India are at Stage 1 or moving into state 2.. Some societies are false starts, like the Nazi's that never gets beyond stage 1..

If you apply the 4 stages to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.. ending in the Wasters.. who have no strength of purpose to hold society your find Nero fiddling while Rome Burnt.

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You can apply the same premise to medieval period where the Wasters desire for more goods allowed the plague to spread throughout the world, ending that society.

You can apply it to the Roaring '20s that preceded the crash of society and war.

After each crash, we start a new as it drives the creator in us to the surface..

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I keep wondering to myself, can we as humans ever find a way to leapfrog the Waster stage?

Or is the waster a built in fail-safe to ensures we move forward to better things and a better society?

Or are we being manipulated through these stages, so that as one society falls another rises?

Not sure, I'm still trying to solidfy and improve my thoughts.. so feel free to rip this theory apart.

Good solid post with some thought provoking concepts, thank you.

I've been saying for over 20 years that in all recorded history cultures rise and fall and that for some very strange reason people today think "our" culture is different.

The idea that there is always more is a false one that we have been living for far too long. So we must expect that things will begin to run out, starting with the naturally occuring food supplies. Think over-fishing as an example.

I see modern culture is on the downward slope. We reached our peak and are now approaching our "best by date". Not only do we rip materials from the earth we add toxic substances to them in the manufacturing processes with the result that we are poisoning all the people! Man are we dumb.

The demise for humanity will involve many things, increasing wars and possibly another world war scenario, the return of old diseases that are not treatable by the same things we used on them in the past, modern man made diseases, the slow and steady depletion of sufficient oxygen in our atmosphere, the poisoning of water supplies, the poisoning of food, the impossibility to grow untainted foods because of the looming GM scenario that we have been conveniently allowed to forget...please add your own idea to the list folks.

I do not see this as doom and gloom, I see it as a call to change. Serious change, not just the placebo offered by Industry and Governments.

And I see that if you want things to change so your great grand children can breathe free, walk free on the earth, eat healthy foods and live a viable lifetime then it is NOW up to each of you to stand up and make that change occur.

Or you can sit back and try to enjoy the ride to the bottom of the slope.

The choice ladies and gentlemen is Yours.

reply to post by Tayesin


Thank you for your kind words which in themselves where very thought provoking

Every where I look I see the waster in each of us and in society coming to the surface and dominating our thoughts, feelings, how we live each day, how we interact with each other and the demands we place on the planet..

Our thoughts and the way society is being driven contains little consideration of tomorrow, let alone thoughts of future generations, which I find extremely sad. I get especially sad when I realise I am guilty of the same things when I get caught up in the demands of society.

But I want off this ride.. Mankind has the capability to do so much good but after starting off with such wonderful intentions we end up our own worst enemy. My hope is that we'll find a way of changing for the best, but going by mankinds history, I expect us to be at our worst