The Great Chastening

I had wondered: “What’s it like to live in Greece?”

You might remember that about five years ago Greece went through an economic crisis where the country was highly indebted, couldn’t meet obligations on sovereign bonds, threatened to default and/or exit the Euro system . . . etc.

Germany and France did some financial maneuvers to alleviate the crisis in return for Greece implementing austerity measures. Greek citizens got poorer. The country imports Chinese goods, American tech, and East European produce, but has little to sell that the rest of the world wants (i.e., few exports). So the standard of living had to decline.

What is that experience like for the citizens? Do they complain, protest, get discouraged, get depressed?

Maybe at first. But after a while I think they get chastened. They lose delusions about achieving affluence. They stop thinking in terms of progress. They settle in to the reality of the possible.

Hopefully, eventually, they relax into the reality of the possible.

Modernity was so about “the road to abundance.” Post-modernity will now increasingly be about the Great Chastening. It’s healthy because it corresponds to reality. One country, one region, one citizenry after another will let go of delusions about progress.

Acceptance of limits is a healthy kind of resignation.

Liberation via relaxation due to chastening; because there really is nowhere to go.