Many of us share the story that humanity is in decline. We have lost something essential. We are just a fragment of our former selves. Yet, despite the notion that we are changing for the worse, it seems that part of this story is also that nothing ever really changes.
Why vote? Nothing ever really changes.
Why protest? Nothing ever really changes.
Why care? Nothing ever really changes.
We are stuck. There is no real hope for change. This is more or less the warcry of cynics everywhere.
We all know that some things do change and progress. We enact new laws. We take on new views about what’s socially acceptable. At it’s heart, this story is that nothing significant ever changes. We never make substantial or sufficient change as a species or society. Our motivations never really change. Our ways of being never really change. We are bound by our nature to be self-interested and lazy-minded. Just listen to any time someone says “It’s just human nature to be….” What they are saying is that our minds are fixed. We may make some small steps of progress. But ultimately we are bound by our nature. In the famous words of Rust Cohle from the first season of True Detective, “Time is a flat circle.”
