On Oswald Spenglers charts from 'Decline of the West'

The Oswald Spengler charts (this actually sounds like a movie title…oh well…) separate several different, important events throughout history. The tables place various different major events throughout history into four different categories named after the four seasons. The three tables are furthermore separated into subcategories. The first table for instant is about ‘contemporary spiritual epochs’.  The second table shows the ‘contemporary cultural epochs’ which are separated into three different groups, the ‘pre-cultural period’, ‘culture’ and ‘civilization’. The third and last of the tables deals with the Contemporary political epochs’ and is separated into the same three categories as table II.  He believed that culture is organic and therefore goes through different stages of rise and decline and that all of the past great cultures have passed through the same stages. An evolution in a way, evolved from one idea. This is where Faust comes back into play. A perpetual striving for something that cannot be achieved. The first chart is placing Feudal States as the government type into the spring section; it is the birth of the Culture’s principles of which religion evolves. It is characterized by a strong religious believe and ecclesiastical buildings such as cathedrals, Roman and Gothic design accrue. Just as all these principles work fine, reformation is on its way and people protest against the former principles. This is the age of Monarchies and Dynasties where a king holds absolute power. Religion starts to be looked at more critically and rationalistic. It is also a very productive time, with classical music, art and science at a totally different level. The next stage is the time of Napoleon where a non-noble becomes king for the first time, weakening his hitherto absolute power. We have arrived in the autumn section of the charts where the new form of government is democracy with only rational thought left. Materialism starts to control people’s lives and money becomes most important. The first big cities are build and there are many wars fought because of a voracity for money which basically is the same as power. People start questioning their traditions and atheism is spreading. Instead there is a strong believe and strive for rights, Human Rights, Women’s Rights etc. Cultures are starting to mix. In winter, finance-capitalism is abandoned and the new government type is called Caesarism. People now start to return to traditions, don’t care about politics anymore and leave the cities to live in the countryside. There is a natural hierarchy and an Imperium of ‘gradually-increasing crudity of despotism’. Architecture goes back to being massive and imperialistic.

According to this chart we are currently placed in autumn, awaiting a very brutal winter. Great outlook then. But I actually thought about this before. I think life is a circle and at some point we have made a 360 degree turn, catapulting us back to where we have come from. It does make sense, if you think about it. Cultures have for centuries risen and declined independently of each other. And if the (western) world is actually based on the Faustian story, to always strive for something that can’t be achieved, then we are in a loop, an infinite repetition of what has been, when we are thrown off the wheel of life like in Evelyn Waugh’s novel, where we always have to get back up and try it again, starting from where we have come from.