1.3 The Modern Transition
Last modified 05/17/2008
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One of the surprising implications of our perception of the eonic series is the
new significance seen in the rise of modernity. The eonic model, once developed
in detail, suggests a basic distinction here of the 'early modern' and the
period that follows, with the concept of a transition leading to a divide period
at its conclusion when the 'modern age' period gets underway. This transition,
clearly visible in the rough three century interval from 1500 to 1800 is packed
with the seminal innovations we characteristically assign to the concept of the
'modern', and encompasses a full set of so-called 'eonic emergent' factors from
the Protestant Reformation to the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, and
much else. It is these emergent processes that make this period stand out
against the backdrop of world history, and whose suddenness and depth draw
comparison with the Axial Age. The depth of this transformation is seen in the
multitude of innovative effects across the spectrum of culture, from philosophy
to science, to religion and the arts. Seen rightly it is a spectacular
integrated transformation that gives expression to our intuitive sense of
modernity passing beyond the Middle Ages.
One key point for us to notice here is the phenomenon of the so-called 'Great Divide'. As we observe the eonic effect, and construct our model, we are availing ourselves of the idea of a 'discrete' series of transformations, the eonic sequence. This interplay of the continuous and discontinuous yields an implication: that the period of transition is a finite interval and comes to a close, even as it ignites the stable period of 'modernity' as such. What is remarkable is the way this model, with its simple derivation of a 'divide', is reflected remarkably in the facts, and we can see the reason why the period near the end of the 'modern transition', that is the period of the divide, is so massively packed with emergent beginnings of things, major innovations, revolutions, new cultural starts, such as to create a genuinely new age period, one starting first in a localized transition zone (characteristic of the eonic effect) and then proceeding rapidly to a stage of globalization. That the Enlightenment period should be the climax of the transition at the point of the divide orients our sense of this turning point inside a turning point and shows its significance in a broader context. The Enlightenment is a complex multidimensional spectrum, not just the reduced scientism with which it is later associated. There are really several Enlightenments, including various counter-enlightenments, like chords of descanting meaning playing theme and variations on the whole. And one of these is the phase, almost eerily timed to the Great Divide, of German Classical philosophy initiated by the philosopher Kant. There is something strange about this. We are zooming in on the philosophy of history, only to find its self-referential placement, and its sudden flowering, in the same periodization we have assigned to the eonic sequence itself. |
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