“And men go abroad to admire the heights of mountains, the mighty waves of the sea, the broad tides of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars, yet pass over the mystery of themselves without a thought.”
― St. Augustine of Hippo, Confessions
Lamenting the loss of ancient mysteries and traditions has become popular in our modern age, but is man really lacking mystery in the twenty-first century? Or have many today simply failed to appreciate the mystery that is modern Western civilization? After all, what could be more mysterious and magical to an archaic man and ancient civilizations than the miracle that is the modern West? With its previously unimagined abundance, light-speed communication, wealth of scientific marvels and industrialized power, both the most ardent Atlanticists and archaic observers of the ancient world would be compelled to believe our civilization had fallen under the spell of the most powerful wizards the world had ever seen.
But whence did t…
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