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One of the most obvious correlates of the modern transition, and notably the
period of the divide, is the phenomenon of revolution, and its confusions. The
modern transition is clearly a revolutionary period, which is not the same as
saying that it is a revolution, as such. The point for us is to see that the
modern revolutions of freedom claim the mantle of innovation against the
retrograde action of traditionalist religions. The Protestant Reformation is a
partial exception to this, for the simple reason it was the first of the modern
revolutions! The point here is that we forget the proto-revolutionary character
of the religions of the Axial Age as these emerged in the wake of the Axial
character. They were not champions of tradition for their times!
In general, confusion arises over the question of revolution, in part,
because of the ambiguity of the American and French exemplars, and the
consequent equation of capitalist dynamics with historical dynamics in general.
The leftist surge seen in the far left of the nineteenth century is a secondary
stage of revolutionary realization that became frozen in its own ideology of
revolution, one that tended to misjudge the nature of the modern transition
itself. Whatever the case, the point for us is that we cannot easily mimic the
modern transition with an artificially induced 'revolution'. This illusory hope
is fully in evidence in the late Russian revolution, which was plagued by a
false estimate of nothing less than the eonic effect itself, which was not
understood by its agents, to say the least. We see nonetheless that there is
nothing final about the outcome of the modern transition, and that the trend
toward equalization so characteristic of the period of the Great Divide will
endure, and rise to challenge the first fruits of secularism itself. This can
easily produce a calamity of confusion since simple revolutions are simply
inadequate to produce the desired imitation of the immense scale of the
transition. In any case, the point to see is that much of the thrust of religion
was wrested by the left for a new disposition toward equality, a consideration
fully confirmed if we examine the real dynamics of, for example, Christianity,
in the wake of the Axial period. The trend toward equalization is a powerful
correlate of the eonic sequence, and this can help us to sort out the classic
dialectical confusion over religion, liberalism, and revolution that tends to
blur our understanding of the simple dynamics of the new epoch of secularism
issued forth by the modern transition.
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