① "We need a future worth believing in, and a future within our grasp, if only we will make the effort to seize it."
Worlding is always futured, belief is not required. Yes, effort. Effort is hope, an dhope springs eternal.
② "There is much that could be said to unpack in this final observation. Here Bury is comparing the modern belief in progress to pre-modern belief in providence: this is a pregnant comparison, suggesting that pre-modern providential philosophies of history served a function not unlike modern progressive philosophies of history: in other words, Condorcet is to Enlightenment thought as Augustine is to medieval thought. This apparently superficial analogy is not necessarily misleading. The future is hidden from us, to be sure, but it was equally hidden from all who lived and died within the comforting bounds of a providential philosophy of history."
Both examples are outcomes of the worlding urge with a positive spin that hope springs on us.
My basic thesis is: if we can name the worlding urge better, or more directly, without interference from more derivative products (like religion, morality and the mudslinging of ideology & polity-paranoia), then such discussions might be more clearly engaged and lead to more fruitful outcomes, including the future, regardless of providence or progress or paranoia about disaster relief.
① "We need a future worth believing in, and a future within our grasp, if only we will make the effort to seize it."
Worlding is always futured, belief is not required. Yes, effort. Effort is hope, an dhope springs eternal.
② "There is much that could be said to unpack in this final observation. Here Bury is comparing the modern belief in progress to pre-modern belief in providence: this is a pregnant comparison, suggesting that pre-modern providential philosophies of history served a function not unlike modern progressive philosophies of history: in other words, Condorcet is to Enlightenment thought as Augustine is to medieval thought. This apparently superficial analogy is not necessarily misleading. The future is hidden from us, to be sure, but it was equally hidden from all who lived and died within the comforting bounds of a providential philosophy of history."
Both examples are outcomes of the worlding urge with a positive spin that hope springs on us.
My basic thesis is: if we can name the worlding urge better, or more directly, without interference from more derivative products (like religion, morality and the mudslinging of ideology & polity-paranoia), then such discussions might be more clearly engaged and lead to more fruitful outcomes, including the future, regardless of providence or progress or paranoia about disaster relief.
That's a big "if."
big history's big if
restated at https://whyweshould.substack.com/p/my-basic-position-for-worlding