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Entry: The Gospel of Hope Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/the_gospel_of_hope#10644 Post contents: John Lukacs has been talking about the need to re-think the meaning of "progress" for some time. Lukacs says that traditional conservatives have considered stability more important than progress. This issue however has become more complicated by the fact that a certain kind of traditionalist, maybe especially a Catholic kind, views the path of "progress" we are on as one that will take us "back to the future." As Lukacs knows all too well, continuing on the current path of progress is taking us further away from the Modern Age, which was not a Catholic age but a Protestant one. The nation-state, the middle class and upper middle class, the bourgeoisie, the increase in privacy and the inner life are all passing from the scene in an accelerated fashion by the force of "progress." In this case, Lukacs views this current form of "progress" as retrogression, into a new barbaric age. But many don't view it that way, and wish to do away with the virtues of the Modern Age in order to purge us of its vices as well. However, the mass of the lower middle classes and the middle middle class don't appear to look forward to the post-modern age with such joy. The rise of a hyper individualism is really just a temporary station on the way to a new barbaric age. This "individualism" is really just a symptom of the break down of the nation-state and the local communities on which it was based. Robert Nisbest likened the social chaos underway to the scientific phenomenon known as a "Brownian movement" wherein molecules move about randomly. This again has been made worse by mass immigration as well as mass internal migration and economic dislocation, directed for the most part from the top downward. The most important step to take would be to realize that the heritage of the Modern Age, however imperfect, is the most tangible heritage we have. We must attempt to stop the tide away from that heritage and reverse it were possible while addressing the shortcomings that exist in the outlook of that era. Sent at: 2008 07 04