This is one of the greatest books I've ever read, it talks about all the problems and offers what in my opinion are real viable solutions.
The Great Rebellion (Published originally in 1975)
Can be purchased or read online here:
http://gnosticteachings.org/books-by-samael-aun-weor/the-great-rebellion.htmlA PDF can be found searching google as well.
Chapter 1:
As incredible as it may sound, it is certainly true that this so-called modern civilization is frightfully ugly. It does not even fulfill the transcendental characteristics of aesthetics and is devoid of inner beauty.
We greatly boast of those conventional, horrifying structures that resemble the nests of rats.
The world has become terribly monotonous; everywhere there exist unchanging streets and appalling housing.
All this has become tiresome throughout the world, in the north, the south, the east and the west.
The same uniformity exists everywhere, horribly nauseating and sterile. “Modernization,” exclaim the multitudes.
We resemble vain peacocks with our fine clothes and shiny shoes while here, there and everywhere are unhappy, undernourished, and wretched millions.
Simplicity and natural beauty, spontaneous and genuine with no need for vain accessories and cosmetics, has disappeared in the female sex. Nowadays we are modern; such is life.
People have grown dreadfully cruel. There is a chill on kindness. Nobody has compassion for anyone anymore.
The display windows of luxury stores glisten with extravagant merchandise, which the less fortunate definitely cannot afford.
In our society those who are outcast can only gaze upon silks and jewels, costly bottles of perfume and umbrellas for downpours. They can look but they cannot touch, a torment similar to that of Tantalus.
The modern human being has become grossly rude. The perfume of friendship and the fragrance of sincerity have, for the most part, disappeared.
The teeming masses complain of being overtaxed; everyone has problems; someone owes us or we owe them; we are sued and have nothing with which to pay; worries ravage our brains; nobody lives in peace.…
Bureaucrats sustain themselves psychologically upon their smugly curved paunches and fat cigars, while cunningly playing political mind games with absolutely no concern for people’s suffering.
Nowadays, no one is happy, least of all those of the middle class who find themselves with their backs to the wall facing the sword.
Rich and poor, believers and nonbelievers, merchants and beggars, shoemakers and tinsmiths only live because they must. They drown their torments with wine and even become drug addicts to escape themselves.
People have become malicious, suspicious, distrustful, astute and perverse; no one believes in anyone anymore. Every day they invent new conditions, certificates, all kinds of restrictions, documents, credentials, etc., none of which serves a real purpose anymore. The astute mock all this nonsense: they do not pay; they evade the law even though they risk being hauled off to jail.
No job provides happiness. The sense of true love has been lost, and people are married today, divorced tomorrow.
Lamentably, family unity has been lost. There is no longer an innate sense of modesty. Lesbianism and homosexuality have become as common as drinking a glass of water.
The purpose of this book is certainly to find out more about all this, to try to understand the causes of such moral breakdown, to investigate, to seek.
I am speaking in an everyday, practical language in hopes of finding out what is hidden behind this horrible masquerade of existence.
I am thinking aloud, and let the swindlers of the intellect say whatever they please.
Theories have already become humdrum. They are even sold and resold in the marketplace... then what?
Theories serve only to worry us and embitter our lives.
Goethe rightly said, “Every theory is grey and only the tree of the golden fruits of life is green.”
The wretched people are already weary of many theories. Nowadays they talk a great deal about being practical. We need to be practical and really come to know the causes of our sufferings.
