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How easy it is for man to turn to the path of existentialism in a modernist society!

The orders: live, produce, consume, die. The warcry: God is dead! All knowledge we can ever have, or hope to have, we have been informed, comes from our senses. What is real? That which we observe in material form, and nothing more! Existence precedes essence. Science is the only path we can pursue if we hope to comprehend our world. Gone are the fairy tales (lies) of the past: there's no invisible man in the sky; and, certainly, there are no demons to be held responsible for unexplained problems. There is no good and there is no evil outside of one society's or another's vague definitions: all is equally and ultimately meaningless in our world!

So assert the modernists. A simple dogma, but certainly not pleasant, is it?

If we live believing what they assert, and we're led to believe that the individual's life is hopelessly absurd, fully devoid of meaning, and that all which is around him is equally meaningless, and that all the pains and suffering of the world fall upon his shoulders, if we believe that he lives in a world where everything is permitted and nothing is denied (save his hopes!), can we truly live in this life, and thrive? Can we live life with passion, and can we live happily? Can we live meaningfully? I believe not!

On one level, it is quite easy to shrug off premodern thought, especially myth. We know that there are no fairies or goblins playing tricks, we know there's no man in the sky smiting evildoers, and we know that there's no objective moral law which declares actions "good" or "evil" in our world. Why, then, should we turn our heads to it? There's no way, certainly, that truth can be found in lies. This line of thinking which attacks premodernity, like that in support of modern thought, is also very easy to follow: but again, its conclusion is unsatisfactory! I will attempt to form an argument composed of several points defending what I consider to be premodern thought, defining what I believe it to be and underlying its strengths. I feel that my arguments will lead you to the conclusion that premodernity is ultimately beneficial for man.

1: What does premodernity mean?

The term "premodern" simply refers to the period of time, as well as a certain kind of thinking, which predates our own. Premodernity is said to have its roots in prehistoric times and to have fallen out of favor in the 1700s with the birth of the scientific revolution. But that's not to mean the way of thinking is outdated and, therefore, wrong; you can be a premodernist as easily in the present as well as you can be a postmodernist! (I save discussion of postmodernity for a later date). This essay will continue on to further definition of this term, but it can be summed up as "religious thought" as opposed to "scientific thought." Myth and faith play heavy roles in determining "religious truths" as opposed to science's skepticism and doubt; in addiction, I believe that the modern is inclined towards materialistic thought, while the premodern favors the ideal.

2: What is a premodern truth?

As stated previously, in "modern" though, the scientific method dominates the individual's understanding of reality. If we're to have any "higher truths" at all, or wisdom, that which lies beyond science's scope, they are to be manufactured by the individual or his society. Any form of wisdom we have will change and adapt to fit the demands of a given community, in the same way hypotheses and theorems will change to meet the demands of the scientific community. But what is this higher truth: what is our wisdom?

I feel the best way we can define wisdom is by saying calling it "that which transcends, or rises above, our sensory information." Modernity asserts that all things rot and waste away in time as we "progress;" after all, that's how our material world is, and we can't have knowledge beyond that! Wisdom is no different, they will argue.  But again, I feel that wisdom exists beyond our physical world and sensory data. Truths are eternal and timeless. Things we perceive in our material world can only be physical manifestations of supernatural forms. If we want to have meaning in our lives, we need something which lies beneath the surface of things, giving them weight. If we intend to live a life with purpose, we need good and evil, we need right and wrong. For this, we must turn ourselves back to premodern thought. Modernity asserts all is equally meaningless. Premodernity asserts that some things are greater than others, and thus, meaning is created.

Wisdom in premodernity comes not from our awareness of the material world but awareness of that which lies beyond it. Rather than being materialistic -- believing that our physical world is all there is, and nothing else exists -- premodern thought tends towards idealism, saying that the most real a thing can be to us is in the form of an idea.

A prominent style of idealism states that an object's "true nature" is that of a perfect form which rises above our world, existing solely in our minds; we know only these higher forms exist because we find them occasionally revealing themselves in shadowed forms, blinking in and out of existence in the sea of chaos that is life, although never completely disappearing. Both premodern and modern thought will agree that material objects will appear to come and go. However, the premodernist believes that an object's true form, or its essence, exists independently of its physical state, thereby "transcending" the physical world. An example: a river's waters will flow into the sea before evaporating and returning to the mountains;  but while the river appears to constantly be changing, the same stream continues to exist, representing itself in different forms! Although the form and shape of an object changes, some underlying principle remains.

(continue here with Berkeley's idealism)

3. What is myth, and how does it relate to premodern truth?

(discuss myth as symbol for higher truths)

4. How do myths help us live meaningfully?

(discuss myth as giving weight and value)

5. What legitimizes premodernity?

(discuss weight, value, and higher truths as creating meaning for the individual)