Chapter 95 Concluding Thoughts on Decline Without Exceptions

Start sorting out the feelings along the way. It is difficult to separate the historical feeling from the realistic feeling, because civilization itself has the adhesion of the upper and lower. There seems to be a fact that does not need to be avoided: the birthplaces of the major human civilizations we have seen this time have all declined, without exception. Greece, by contrast, is faring better.Although its national strength is currently in decline in the Western world and it is no longer an international cultural center, Greek civilization has not declined. Not only is it still spread and elucidated around the world, but it can also be understood and inherited as a direct descendant of this civilization. .Its decline is only manifested in its inability to maintain the momentum of prosperity at the beginning, but which civilization can maintain prosperity for thousands of years?

The tragedy of Greece is that while others can be revived by its distant glory, it has never been revived itself.As for the direct reasons for the decline of Greece at the beginning, I think there are two reasons. One is the protracted political internal friction between the Athenians and the Spartans, and the other is the need to face foreign enemies and continue expeditions, causing fatal strain.But these two reasons have little to do with the inherent character of Greek civilization. This kind of background makes today's Greeks idle in the cold, aloof from the world, and only fight for a little historical honor and relics, such as the Olympics and the Parthenon, but enough is enough, showing a kind of old health.

Egyptian civilization was different.From the beginning, he lacked clear reason and indulged in the mystery of conceit.When it cuts off the possibility of being fully understood by the outside world with its majestic majesty, it actually cuts off its continuing mission. The creators of the miracles in Thebes (now Luxor) only hoped that they would survive in the world or be resurrected again in the form of mummies, and did not make any practical arrangements for the continuation of their descendants. These pharaohs who occupied the dominance of civilization also liked to fight. They had already dominated West Asia as early as the fifteenth century BC, which was detrimental to their own mysterious civilization structure.When the center of trade in the Mediterranean Sea shifts from south to north, it will no longer be beautiful.However, its geographical location not far and near made it the target of attacks by Persians, Greeks, Romans, and even Arabs.

Its former glory made every occupant try to cut off its history. As a result, after several cuts, no one can understand the ancient characters, no one can understand the ancient documents, and the original civilization is almost annihilated, leaving only Luxor on the west bank of the Nile. The descendants of the purebred pharaohs are constantly repairing the ancestral tombs for outsiders to visit. The Mesopotamian civilization, which was fully matured more than 4,000 years ago, already had commerce as its backbone, and a high-level legal civilization such as the "Code of Hammurabi" extended from commercial civilization.However, this kind of civilization tends to be practical as a whole, lacks a profound humanistic foundation, is weak in spirit, out of control in morality, and supremacy of pleasure. Civilization is more manifested in the distribution and competition of property, which directly induces a large number of wars.

Agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization spare no room for the destruction of commercial civilization, and their revenge is even more cruel.For a long time, Babylon, Assyria and other places have no cultural conscience, and inhuman behavior is everywhere. This is really a great mockery of Hammurabi. The Mesopotamian civilization also left to the world the achievements of mathematics and astronomy driven by business in a tortuous way. But locally, as many historians pointed out when evaluating Assyria’s militarism, the war first destroyed the high-level culture of the other side, and then And depriving both sides of the bravest and healthiest life, the result is always a lot of weak bodies that have lost their culture to bear all kinds of absurdity.For this reason, standing in front of the newly restored ruins of Babylon, we feel an unspeakable desolation.

Hebrew civilization is sublime and full of melancholy, tough and spaceless.It has been in a restless wandering from the first, and has therefore made religion its territory. After all, this kind of civilization that lacks actual territory for a long time is difficult to establish a large structure that truly belongs to itself. It can penetrate far and wide but is restricted everywhere, and is always in the tension of self-defense. However, precisely because of the long-term lack of actual territory, it is not easy to fall apart like other civilizations, but always advances and retreats, endlessly, with unpredictable prospects.That's why, Jerusalem is always difficult to describe, and it has become a small thinking trap in our journey.

Persian civilization is another type, almost relying on the personal charm of the two great monarchs to stand tall.Without Cyrus and Darius, it might have been difficult to rank among the major ancient civilizations. I stayed the longest in the ruins of Posepolis, thinking about how these two ancient Asian giants included the world they knew into the list of tributes one by one, but I couldn't help but sigh among the sunset pillars: After all, these are just geniuses It is difficult to inherit and continue the private hegemony. Behind them, there is already a group of incompetent people full of makeup, not to mention that today there is already a world of foreign civilizations, and few people remember the magnificence of ancient Persia.

As for the decline of the Indus|Ganges civilization, I think at least half of it is related to religious misunderstanding.Belittle life, dislike the world, be irresponsible, and finally even tolerate decay, filth, and slavery, which greatly reduces the strength of civilization itself, so that good and bad cannot be distinguished. When Buddhism, the highest level of wisdom, was finally eroded, it naturally became a slave.The brutality of external forces has spread the mediocre ecology of the bottom society. Even if national self-esteem erupts from time to time, it has lost the dignity of civilization.

Each of the major civilizations two thousand years ago has a difficult scripture to recite.The decline is logical, but it is shocking after all.I sorted out these feelings at the southern foot of the Himalayas, and wanted to put it mildly, but finally failed. December 27, 1999, Kathmandu, overnight at Everest Hotel