Oswald Spengler receives his Ph.D.
in 1904, after failing his examinations the first time. In 1905 he suffered a nervous breakdown. His famous work, The Decline of the West (Der Untergang des Abendlandes), about the cyclical nature of the rise and fall of civilizations, was published in two volumes, 1918-1923.
Detail. Adolphe Braun, 1871, Ruins of the royal Chateau de Saint-Cloud, just west of Paris, destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.
Spengler's work exerted a profound influence on an interesting and varied group of thinkers and politicians, including another Oswald, Sir Oswald "Tom" Mosley, leader of the British Fascist party. Hence the segue from yesterday and Mosley's own influence (and allure), which among other things got him jailed during World War II.
Meanwhile, I've been noticing a phenomenon here in our fair city that I'm wondering if some of you have more experience with than I do.
In the old days, it wasn't uncommon to stumble across the occasional bum or drunk or strung-out heroin addict here and there on one's urban morning constitutional, part of the landscape, as it were. Whereas now it seems one encounters more naked people out and about, frenetically sorting their belongings. This morning in fact, a young man, stripped to his underwear, worked feverishly at a bus stop, completely absorbed in the task of arranging and rearranging small piles of objects and detritus (what you and I would call trash) with a level of concentration more appropriate to a forensic CSI investigation or a Florentine art scholar's restoration project than, you know, something to do while you wait for the bus.
My suspicion -- borne out by some of the more "avid" blogging and commenting I come across out there in hyperspace (the "Blogosphere" -- I even clawed at the air while I typed that -- don't try this at home!) -- my theory is there's more to meth-amphetamine-induced-psychosis than meets the eye.
Tweakers don't just think the helicopters are full of FBI SWAT teams, and I think we've all seen enough aluminum foil in windows to be able to say that paranoid schizophrenia is an unfortunate but not very surprising side-effect of crystal use, wouldn't you agree? We've all watched that nice neighbor, the lawyer with the BMW, crash and burn and turn into a scab-picking Auschwitz-looking scarecrow inside of a month.
But wait, there's more!
I think the obsession with the stuff they carry about with them, that shopping cart or battered Prada bag overflowing with bits of soiled clothing, torn envelopes, bulk-mail advertisement, the odd Beanie Baby, and assorted treasures from the Pleasure Chest and Seven-Eleven -- I think the obsession has a spiritual dimension. I think a further look at the matter from the perspective of Oswald Spengler's "Decline" -- of our civilization, of consciousness, might be in order. What do you think?
"Untergang" can mean "downfall" of course, but didn't Spengler mean it more like "Gotterdammerung" ? A Twilight?
Detail. Adolphe Braun, 1871, Ruins of the royal Chateau de Saint-Cloud, just west of Paris, destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.
Spengler's work exerted a profound influence on an interesting and varied group of thinkers and politicians, including another Oswald, Sir Oswald "Tom" Mosley, leader of the British Fascist party. Hence the segue from yesterday and Mosley's own influence (and allure), which among other things got him jailed during World War II.
Meanwhile, I've been noticing a phenomenon here in our fair city that I'm wondering if some of you have more experience with than I do.
In the old days, it wasn't uncommon to stumble across the occasional bum or drunk or strung-out heroin addict here and there on one's urban morning constitutional, part of the landscape, as it were. Whereas now it seems one encounters more naked people out and about, frenetically sorting their belongings. This morning in fact, a young man, stripped to his underwear, worked feverishly at a bus stop, completely absorbed in the task of arranging and rearranging small piles of objects and detritus (what you and I would call trash) with a level of concentration more appropriate to a forensic CSI investigation or a Florentine art scholar's restoration project than, you know, something to do while you wait for the bus.
My suspicion -- borne out by some of the more "avid" blogging and commenting I come across out there in hyperspace (the "Blogosphere" -- I even clawed at the air while I typed that -- don't try this at home!) -- my theory is there's more to meth-amphetamine-induced-psychosis than meets the eye.
Tweakers don't just think the helicopters are full of FBI SWAT teams, and I think we've all seen enough aluminum foil in windows to be able to say that paranoid schizophrenia is an unfortunate but not very surprising side-effect of crystal use, wouldn't you agree? We've all watched that nice neighbor, the lawyer with the BMW, crash and burn and turn into a scab-picking Auschwitz-looking scarecrow inside of a month.
But wait, there's more!
I think the obsession with the stuff they carry about with them, that shopping cart or battered Prada bag overflowing with bits of soiled clothing, torn envelopes, bulk-mail advertisement, the odd Beanie Baby, and assorted treasures from the Pleasure Chest and Seven-Eleven -- I think the obsession has a spiritual dimension. I think a further look at the matter from the perspective of Oswald Spengler's "Decline" -- of our civilization, of consciousness, might be in order. What do you think?
"Untergang" can mean "downfall" of course, but didn't Spengler mean it more like "Gotterdammerung" ? A Twilight?
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