THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS
The advantage of living is not measured by length, but by use; some men have lived long, and lived little; attend to it while you are in it. It lies in your will, not in the number of years, for you to have lived enough.
Michel de Montaigne
Introduction
This subject is very complex and vast. Indeed, man’s entire activity, since the beginning of time, can be described as one giant search for answers. The multiple paths along which this great search is conducted has only contributed to its complexity.
Therefore, the intricate nature of the subject also suggests that it is, perhaps, best if the material presented is broken into segments, so as to maintain a flow that will help keep the discussion focused.
In using this approach, the tiny slice of this giant topic that this article is attempting to explore is another perspective on the root cause of today’s major social crises, marked especially by the right to choose how one lives one’s life. This crisis, which has many facets, appears to have been growing almost exponentially over the last 100 years.
This is not to suggest that there were fewer social crises prior to this. However, up until the 19th century, crises tended to manifest as inter-country or inter-nation conflicts, with occasional flare-ups within national borders, which were soon brought under control by the powers in charge.
The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.
Louisa May Alcott
We imagine that when we are thrown out of our usual ruts all is lost, but it is only then that what is new and good begins. While there is life there is happiness. There is much, much before us.
Leo Tolstoy War and Peace
Then in the late 1800s to the early 1900s, more vigorous and violent internal crises erupted in many societies, which were not as easily suppressed as previously. Notable among these were the class struggles, which appeared as labour movements in Western Europe and North America, the Marxist revolutions in Russia and China, and the struggle for women’s voting and
