Society Dancing the 3-Step

Morning Thoughts #197

There are three stages of a society: on the rise, at its height, and in decline.

Stage 1: The Rise
In the first stage, a society focuses on what to think. This is the era of patriotism, when origin stories and myths form a shared identity and belief in the people. Society is vibrant and filled with optimism. Its citizens are purposeful, united by a collective mission. Institutions of government and culture solidify around these beliefs, fueling the energy and expansion of the nation. The future feels bright, and the goals are clear: growth and unity.

Stage 2: The Height
At its height, society shifts from what to think to how to think. Confidence permeates both the people and the system. The culture and governing structures are secure enough to encourage independent, critical thought. The system believes in itself entirely, assuming that any independent inquiry will ultimately confirm its own conclusions. Free thinking is celebrated, not feared, because rationality and intellectual rigor are seen as reinforcing the system. The belief is that an informed, thoughtful population will naturally recognize the society’s inherent goodness and the rationality of its institutions. This stage encourages intellectual and cultural flourishing, where the best ideas can be freely explored without threatening the system.

Stage 3: The Decline
In the decline phase, the openness to thought changes drastically. Instead of fostering independent thinking, society becomes focused on what not to think. The ruling ideology, having lost confidence in itself, becomes defensive. The system can no longer tolerate critique or introspection, fearing that free thought will expose its flaws and contradictions. Speech and thought are increasingly controlled—not to guide growth, but to prevent dissent. Independent thinking, once a cultural strength, is now seen as a threat.

Ironically, this period of decline is often marked by attempts at consolidation. As society deteriorates, it becomes desperate to maintain control. During the rise, "true believers" emerged naturally, full of energy and patriotism. In this stage, periodic suppression of speech functioned to promote growth, preventing distractions that could divert society from its collective mission. However, in decline, such true-believing figures are manufactured, and belief is no longer organic; it becomes standardized and mass-produced, like an assembly line of loyalty. The fervor is artificial, designed to prop up a system that can no longer inspire genuine support. The suppression of speech in this phase is a last-ditch effort to hold onto the fruits of a cultural plant that has already been irrevocably uprooted. In this class, you will find today’s “Saviors of Democracy.”