THE BEGINNING OF DESTRUCTION

Euripides was a renowned tragic playwright of ancient Athens. He was born in 484 BC and died young in 406 BC. One of his sayings has been translated as follows:

Whom God wishes to destroy, He first makes mad.

This statement is very true. In other words, when a person or nation is in decline, their ability to think and understand becomes impaired. When the ability to think deteriorates, their actions also become wrong. And once people start making wrong actions, nothing can save them from destruction.

What does it mean when someone’s thinking deteriorates? It means that instead of forming opinions based on reason, a person begins to rely on emotions. They no longer plan their life with regard to facts, but are instead driven by their desires. They become unaware of those around them and start living only within themselves. They ignore historical forces and material causes and try to build their castle in a world of fantasies.

This world is a world of realities and cause-and-effect. Here, individuals compete with one another, and communities compete with other communities. In this world, only those who prove superior in intelligence and ability earn the right to rise. The most successful people are those who use their minds to the fullest and make the greatest use of their intellect.

If a person lives in luxury and comfort for a long time, their intellect becomes paralyzed. If a nation remains in power for too long, its intellectual abilities become stagnant. This is the point when individuals and nations experience intellectual decline, which eventually leads to practical decline. It then becomes necessary to awaken their intellectual abilities again so that, in the light of reason, they can continue their journey.