Since the Enlightenment, we knew what we had to do. Straight ahead. No more medieval winding paths, the time of fools was over. Railway tracks made the world small and set the clocks everywhere to the same time. Electric light dispelled the night.
Richard Wilhelm used Progress as the title of this chapter. Alfred Huang called it Proceeding Forward and in I Ching for Teens, Julie Tallard Johnson used Improvement. And indeed, railways and electric light have undoubtedly improved our lives incredibly. They made the efficiency of our society unparalleled.
The image is Fire over Earth: the sun of consciousness shining on everything. Nothing seems to be able to hide from its relentless curiosity. Could Prometheus have imagined at the time where his actions would lead?
Straight railway lines on the earth, contrails in the sky drawn with a ruler.
A single railway in Victorian England. The world an airport.
An oil lamp eased the fear of pitch-black nights and howling wolves. The first electric lamps were a sensation. Now, the Dark Sky Society advocates occasionally turning off a few lights.
After all, every extreme can just as easily flip into its opposite. Turn the hexagram of Straight Ahead upside down and the image of Chapter 36. The Darkening of the Light appears: Fire under Earth.
The term ‘Dark Ages’ was coined during the Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers made grateful use of it to measure progress and justify the drive for progress. After all, who would want to return to the Middle Ages?
To be continued …