In a
talk inspired by the 1959 post-apocalyptic science fiction
novel
A Canticle for Leibowitz,
Mark Stavish discusses the 'preservation of
knowledge' - in particular
occult and esoteric knowledge
- as the world plunges into an ever more uncertain and
unstable future.
From an over-reliance on technology, to a lack of
preparedness, and widespread general apathy, the potential
threats to the entire library of human knowledge are growing
in size and number.
Spellbound by the myth of "progress" - the belief that
progress is linear and ever upward - we are blind to the
harsh lessons of history:
the dark
ages,
wars, and catastrophes, man-made or natural,
...which
mark the downfall of peoples, nations, and entire
civilizations, and the heritage of their time.
Although
ancient knowledge has a way of surviving eons of trial and
tribulation, in this era of perhaps unprecedented danger, we
would do well to consider what is in peril and what can be
saved for our own sake and for the sake of those who come
after us.
'A Canticle for Leibowitz' is a social science fiction novel
by American writer Walter M. Miller Jr., first
published in 1959.
Set in a
Catholic monastery in the desert of the southwestern United
States after a devastating nuclear war, the book spans
thousands of years as civilization rebuilds itself.
The
monks of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz preserve the
surviving remnants of man's scientific knowledge until the
world is again ready for it.
