In every epoch of history there has been what we could call "the collective fear" that in the Bible is summarized and expressed very well in the symbolism of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse hunger, plague, war, death.
At the time of Jesus there was a messianic collective hope and at the same time Roman violence and domination.
In the following centuries, equally, in one way or another, the four horsemen were always present.
About the thousand year A.D., Christian Europe was suffering from the terror of the imminent end of the world, I remember a lot this phrase of my maternal grandmother, when things were going very badly she would say this: My God, this is the end of the world." My grandmother died 30 years ago, she was not from this century but history is repetitive and applies according to the context.
The Black Death raged throughout the 14th century in all Indo-European territories, for the time and according to history, the general mortality was calculated in a population reduction of 50%.
To think that the rest of the world also knew and suffered from these terrible four horsemen, but there is much less information about it or at least I don't have it.
Definitely in every century and in every place it has been in time and space marked by the scourge of hunger, disease, war and death.
Prince Sidhartha himself, before becoming a Buddha, is shocked and transformed when from his palace he discovers with astonishment that misery, illness and death exist.
In our 20th century, the century of my birth, by the way, according to Emmanuel Mounier there were widespread collective fears.
The industrial era, the fear of "Machinism" that machines could replace us, is as it is (a little) similar to what is happening in our 21st century with AI, more collective fear.
The atomic and nuclear terror, that we have to these terrible apocalyptic weapons, that will wipe out all humanity, fear and terror that continues in our century and multiplied.
To which I must also add climate change and pandemics that we had forgotten about, but that Covid-19 in 2019 and 2020 was of great fear and collective panic in the world, they reminded us of the four horsemen again.
Mounier in the face of collective fear assumes the perspective of Christian hope. Not to deny the real risks and the real reality of hunger and misery, of diseases, epidemics and pandemics, much less of ominous violence and wars of all kinds, but to reiterate the necessary belief that all is not lost and that our struggle for freedom and justice are inalienable.
I believe in human civilizational progress, it is fundamental, and to avoid self-destructive nihilism. Believing is a more responsible attitude than a positive one.
Janitze 💐
Separator made with Canva by @janitzearratia
Any images in this post are taken with my iPhone 12, the Infinix pro-note 30 or with the camera eighties Rolleiflex 2.8 f, and edited by me with Canva
Translation with |DeepL