Is material wealth more important than cognitive and spiritual wealth? Is it better to strive for the material comforts that come with possession or the peace and equilibrium that is the product of practising meaningful empathetic, compassionate, and non-judgemental behaviour? Is it inevitable that it is only possible to pursue one of these choices but not both? Is there a day or even just an hour that goes by during that day when a member of the human race manages not to round on another individual or group laying the finger of blame for some action, behaviour, or inaction?
These are the stark, invariably unpleasant traits of today's world societies. They are not all being practised everywhere at the same level or intensity, perhaps unsurprisingly the more wealthy and materially abundant a society has become, the more widespread the behaviour.
Does any of this matter? Are these references to spiritual behaviour simply archaic leftovers from a world once dominated by religion? Or are they the markers of a civilisation in serious and perhaps irreversible decline? And where does climate change fit amongst all this?
