u/optimisticnihilist__

If anyone here is familiar with State Senator James Talarico who is running for US Senate in Texas, he just made a surprisingly poignant speech in Paul Quinn College about what he calls America's "Three Corruptions of Today" and "Four Great Awakenings of Yesterday". The video is here for anyone who wants to refer to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEgjjBPFzNA

From (6:18 - 6:58), he mentions the 3 Corruptions in America. And from (7:45 - 8:26), he mentions the past 4 Great Awakenings in America.

In his speech, he points out that the 3 Corruptions of Today are political, economic, and social. It's political in that there are corporations and the wealthy legally buying out politicians through many loopholes of influence. It's economic in that the very rich are doing everything in their power with their army of lobbyists, accountants, and lawyers to avoid paying taxes that would improve everyday people's lives, and also the fact that wealthier homeowners are hoarding their assets to block building of more housing, 3rd places, and infrastructure for anyone else. It's social in that Big Tech are harnessing their algorithms to sow discord and distraction among the public so that they would be too divided and alienated from one another. Talarico had mentioned how urgent and important it is to solve these systemic issues. However, there was a twist in his speech that suggests he believes the root of our problems go even deeper in that it is actually both a "spiritual & communal" problem.

Let's face it. Who here ever felt superior for grandstanding their beliefs on the Internet? Who ever felt a sense of pride in their intellect for being the "right one" in online debates? I do..... many times actually. And, that's the point. We lost a sense of shared community in America. We went from a nation of "We" to a nation of "I". Everything is about the individual's economic status, talents , intelligence, fame, beauty, dreams, etc. This is bleeding into every aspect of life in America. The loneliness epidemic has been declared a state of national health emergency. Depression, anxiety, domestic mass murders, and suicide rates are at an all time high and on the rise, especially among the youth. Young adults, especially men, are going through great lengths in Looksmaxxing and Hustle culture to eventually feel like they are worthy as human beings of connection and of validation from others. Cost of living, especially in rent and home prices, are rising astronomically due to people preserving their own wealth in their homes, leading them to block any local and state efforts to build more homes and infrastructure. Honestly, my heart breaks for how a lot of us lonely and isolated we all feel. A lot of us believe that one's worth depends on society's version of success, yet we fail to realize that community, love, connection, hope, and even faith, whether it be in God, in some spiritual phenomenon, in your fellow man, or simply in the future are much more important to the soul than the material.

And, this goes back to what Talarico mentioned about America's 4 Great Awakenings. Basically, Great Awakenings are moments in a country's history when the people collectively decide that community, genuine connection with one another, love, hope, and faith are all important than what one alone achieves materially. The first one gave us America's independence. The second one gave us abolition of slavery. The third one paved a way out of the First Gilded Age and into the Progressive and New Deal era. The fourth one gave us Civil Rights and the Great Society.

According to not only Talarico's insights during his speech, there was a book I read not too long about "The Upswing" by Robert Putnam. He also had delved into something similar about America going through some kind of "awakening" in 60-70 year cycles. If he is right, then we are actually in the precipice in one or will be in the late 2020s and sometime in the 2030s.

I am really curious to know what you think about America needing a new updated "Great Awakening" that more suits our modern times, in order to get most of us in consensus about our societal problems. I'll be humble to admit that I might be wrong. Society nowadays might be too complex in its diversity for that kind of new collective conscience to manifest. As for how this new "Fifth Great Awakening" might manifest, perhaps it will be when more and more Americans decide to start organizations that encompass many hobbies, interests, and people from all walks of life? Maybe it could look something like a bunch of different YMCAs, except more updated with today's world and less rigid as to what interests it allows? What I am talking about is less like an exclusive club, but a sort of "Club of Clubs" or a "Guild of Guilds" that accepts people of all status, faiths, ages, and interests, unlike organizations like YMCA. Perhaps, slowly but surely over a generation or two, people will find it easier to set up these small grassroots communities as more local and states look to change their zoning and permitting laws to allow to more 3rd places and multipurpose buildings to be set up in a lot more neighborhoods?

If you want see an anime that's basically a strong counterargument to the points made in Orb, then I highly reccommend Wolf's Rain + OVAs + skip the 4 recap filler episode.

I just watched the Orb: On the Movements of the Earth last week and marathoned the manga today.

As someone who is a fan of the more spiritual philosophical anime, watching Orb was quite a whiplash in perspective. Wow, what a culture shock for me!

It's like analyzing Nietzche's works after reading Dostoevsky's greatest hits like the Brothers Karamazov, Crime & Punishment, and The Idiot. Wolf's Rain, Angel's Egg, and Haibane Renmei were profound anime that taught completely opposite lessons from Orb.

If any Orb fan here is also familiar with Wolf's Rain, it does what very few anime do, which is to put a positive spin on faith. It's very much a departure from other anime, which places emphasis on the Hero's Journey, man's potential and going against Gods.

I really find it interesting that Wolf's Rain is one of those few anime that don't alienate any person of a particular faith or religion. It seemingly blends multiple religions, and teaches the audience that life inherently comes with suffering and uncertainty. Suffering, by the basics, is when life's outcomes don't necessarily match with our expectations or desires, whether that relates to relationship needs, self esteem needs, dream fulfilment related to one's passions, personal health, social status, money, fame, power, whatever. This show also teaches us to transform the inevitable suffering of life into hope and compassion, instead of bitterness, resentment, and desire to dominate others and control every outcome of life. It is through faith in anything, be it your fellow man or any faith or higher power that we are better able to be humble in our life's journey even under immense uncertainty and suffering. It's very much a call for us to humble ourselves, and admit that us humans cannot understand everything in this universe; and that we should embrace some mystery.

I'd say Wolf's Rain falls quite nicely into a combination of Dostoevsky's and Herman Hesse's philosophies and the themes of their works.

On the other hand and on the completely opposite end of the spectrum of philosophical shows, I recently have been watching the more rationalist and humanist philosophical anime like Texhnolyze, Serial Experiments Lain, and this show Orb. All of them are very much in the vein of incorporating Frederich Nietzche's and Enlightenment philosophies rather than Dostoevsky's. Their themes very much argue that finding your own purpose, thinking for yourself, and striving to become the better version of you as an individual are the right way to respond to life's inherent suffering and uncertainties. Orb is definitely a cautionary tale on faith and blindly believing things, while Wolf's Rain tells a story just as profound about how taking a "leap of faith" and humbling oneself & surrendering to forces beyond one's countol in order to soften one's heart are just as good for humanity and is actually the source of true strength.

Regardless, I think that both Orb and Wolf's Rain come down to try to address the same dilemma of life: What is the best way to respond to life's inherent uncertainties and suffering?

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In Orb, the same faith that was supposed to give people hope no matter their circumstances in life and to be the foundation for morality ended up in the hands of people who decided to use it as a source oppression and stagnation of human progress.

In Wolf's Rain, worldly rulers and their researchers have taken upon themselves and their pride to become Gods themselves and try to control and dominate others.

It's ironic how the persecuted in Wolf's rain were literally spiritual pilgrims attempting to transcend beyond man-made systems, and the persecuted in Orb were researchers simply trying to find the truth.

One talks about the excesses of faith, especially when done blindly to the extent of stagnation and stifling human progress. The other talks about the excesses of human reason, especially when done arrogantly to the extent of those wanting to become Gods and to dominate others.

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I am really curious as to what Orb fans or Wolf's Rain fans think about what either show has to say about life's/universe's uncertainties?