The End of the Modern World

In his book, "The End of the Modern World", Romano Guardini drives home his thesis that the "mass man" of the future will increasingly neglect all that has historically gone before. Every preceding age was built upon inherited wisdom of the past to some degree. The Middle Ages presented intellectual life as that which seeks intensely, through study of ancient (inspired) sources, to learn what had already been given, and to develop and synthesize it into a unity. The stages of intellectual pursuit which have emerged beyond the Middle Ages, that which might be framed "classical liberal currents", have pushed to unshackle humanity from the constraints of inherited wisdom, which includes serious esteem for Divine Revelation and the mode of living it proposes. So we have grown more and more dislocated from our historical roots, and, for Guardini, have lost our place...our identity. In the new world of fragmentation, experimentation, technological complexity, superficiality etc. man will struggle to find his way back to truth, and therein to return to the God of his true identity.

This book is a hard read for its terminology. If read through though, one easily comes away having been convinced of the veracity of its central thesis. This book helps to inspire the reader to embrace a more contemplative life, so as to rediscover himself and God...the Goal of Life.