We live in heroic times. If we accept Spengler’s cyclical view of history, it would mean that after the decadence and eventual downfall of the ruling civilization, the birth of a new world paradigm follows. We are witnessing the end of the old and the rise of the new world. What is fundamentally new, about past historical cycles, is our awareness of it – a reflection that allows us not to be mere executors of the vague plan of the world spirit, but creators of reality.

.

This might sound like an old, worn-out Marxist phrase, but unlike past revolutions – collective dramas – this one cannot be played out on the level of the ego. And here we encounter the crisis of man. The definitions of past epochs, or cycles if you will, no longer apply. The very concept of applicability is questionable, directing us toward an overly general definition that might hold for a while for a class or a group of individuals, where the individual is always and only defined through the prevailing formula of the given class/collective (homo faber, homo ludens, homo sapiens, consumer...).

.

he essence of the crisis of man, and the birthplace of the new world paradigm, is that new values, new mythology, and new heroic feats are now taking place on the level of the ego, in the existential horizon, almost as if I was going to say the individual (because the individual implies a collective state of spirit, of which they are then a part). The "I" (ego) is not some abstract "I" that is a mere derivative of many "I"s, a commonplace. The "I" that is born out of the crisis of man is the personal "I," which I create as a concrete, personal reality, testing myself in crisis. The "I" that is liberated in this way is not the collective "I" born out of a class-based "We," like a peasant’s revolt or a workers' strike, for example. It is a personal effort, personal liberation, a personal feat. Otherwise, it is nothing. Just another historical/political fantasy.

.

.

This event is part of the "Together for an Active Civil Society – ACT" project, supported by the Government of Switzerland and implemented by Helvetas Serbia and Civic Initiatives. ACT aims to build an active civil society where citizens play a greater role in decision-making processes, especially at the local level. Zajedno za aktivno građansko društvo – ACT