Live as Seasons in Spengler's words

One of the most beautiful, and also real metaphors that explain all living experiences, from the most basic unit which is the individual life, to the broadest bodies of civilizations, was given to us by the German philosopher Oswald Spengler. A man today forgotten by contemporary thinking and academics, and relegated to the field of history of philosophy as a tangent thinker. I think nothing could be more unfair. The metaphor consist in interpreting every living phenomena with the four calendar seasons. There is in everything that has to do with living things a spring, a summer, an autumn and a winter, that embodies all life since its birth till its death. This metaphor is explicitly in thought as old Goethe (as far as I know. I might be wrong), but the first, and apparently until now the only philosopher that has taken it seriously is Spengler.

The Spring signals everything that comes after birth. Even a human person, when it is born, its first three decades (more or less) are dedicated to learning. And the form and content of this learning determines the shape of the entire life. Whether a person dedicates to sciences, to arts, to business, to politics, to humanities, or whatever; these first years are the moment when all the creative production takes place. It also happens to cultures and civilizations, when a new principle of collective self-consciousness appears in a body of pre-cultured people (what is more commonly, and usually contemptibly called barbarians or savages). What I also called the heroic moment: the stage of culture where polities are still primitive, but a new ethic and aesthetic standard is raised, and a caste of warriors is actively pursuing honor, glory and adventure (the times of the War of Troy for ancient Greece and Rome, the time of Moses and King David for Jews and Semites, the time of the Martyrs for Greek Christianity, the times of Mohamed for Islam, the times of the Crusades for Western Europe, etc.). Spring is where the groundwork for individual and cultural life takes place, and honest religious piety.

The Summer is the moment of plenitude, the period where all the wealth grows, spiritually, intellectually and materially. As it is the warmest moment of the year, it is the period of life with more energy, with more heat. Where the individual develops his/her career to his fullest, and the respective culture gives birth to its greatest artists and thinkers, and usually a moment of religious dogma. Victory and defeat can be definitive in this stage, for, contrary to spring which is the moment of trial and error, a mistake can be devastating. But definitively is a moment of much activity and intensity. All the possibilities laid down at the spring are fully developed at the summer. This is so actual, that even in love relationships and marriages it takes place; the moment when passion is more present and sex is more common. Depending on how well the energies of the period are used, the reserve for autumn and winter will make life, creativity and love prevail. If they are depleted, autumn and winter might be a fast and certain death. If they are wasted, all those energies rotten, and autumn and winter are long, sad, cold and foul smelling.

The Autumn is a moment of soft decline. If all energies weren't depleted in summer, autumn might last. Otherwise winter will be longer. This is the period where a person is getting old, and is enjoying the fruits of his/her life, but with little creative energies to continue to grow. Some new things might be worked, but usually are repetitions or footnotes. Happiness might be more identifiable in autumn, for is the moment where all the efforts of youth are clearly visible. The success of a career, or of a political movement, or of a cultural endeavor, or of a marriage, is visible in autumn. But what seems the pinnacle of life is precisely the signal of the decline. The philosophy of Aristotle for Antiquity or of Kant for Modernity show the ultimate effort of a culture to grow, but it only leads to decay, for all creativity is gone, and only systematic and humdrum thinking is left (Stoicism, Marxism, Positivism, etc.). Not a Plato, but an Archimedes, not a Newton but an Einstein. Autumn, as it signals old age, it also means a lose of faith and hope.

The Winter is nothing more than cold and sour old age. If life was vastly productive, old age might be livable. But in itself, is a lack of life, for it is a lack for energy and productivity. Is nothing but a waiting time for death. Like waiting by the fireplace, not venturing outside, winter is nothing but wait. And it that process we feel lost, because we don't know what to do; because actually there is nothing else to do. Cultures that reach winter are stroke by skepticism. Religion and great ideas no longer convince nobody. And those that still believe do it with a glimpse of fear, not of God, but of the lack of God. Cynicism, crude realism or simply giving up are the typical behaviors of cultures in winter. Marriage or love relationships, when they reach winter, there is a taste of unpleasantness but conformity. Those famous couples that are to used to themselves and don't risk a break up, even though they don't love themselves anymore. That is winter. Those civilizations that indulge in nihilism, because pleasures or suicide are the only things left. That is winter. And for those that want to remain alive, nothing but power and money substitute vaguely the vacuum of the absence of faith, hope and love leave.

I find Spengler's philosophy absolutely compelling, and empirically demonstrable by actual historical and contemporary facts. The problem is that his philosophy is too strong to bear, and even though its exposition seems so reasonable, people usually are too afraid to face the facts. Westerns are too focused on making things work, when actually there is nothing less to work on. Spengler told them that, and they stand in negation. Naive ideas of progress and absolute happiness or freedom are nothing but a long for immortality. In the end life and history is but pure tragedy, and destiny is something that cannot be stopped.