Tearing Down the Old

The old road is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times, they are a-changing
— Bob Dylan

A friend of ours is writing a book that includes a chapter on Bob Dylan. The song lyrics above from one of Bob’s prophetic ‘60s anthems applies even more to this era than they did to that troubled decade a half-century ago. We are straddling two epochs. The rules of the old era are gasping, wheezing… their death rattle is not only audible, it’s deafening.

The paradigm shift we are living through is at the level of a Copernican revolution—a moment when the center of the universe itself seems to shift and skid, and nobody knows what the new rules will be… because they have not been written yet. I believe the fate of the world depends on it. Yes, I believe that highly of you, dear reader. I expect much of you.

But here’s the problem. Our human evolutionary software and hardware is woefully equipped to handle the accelerating rate of change. Just when we need it most, many are growing less adept at dealing with our intellectual environment. People bow down to the machine while naively thinking they’re controlling it! “Alexa…”

Many folks have the attention span of a tsetse fly with ADHD and are so enamored of the ephemera of fake news and clickbait that they’ve lost all ability to think deeply… or at any length… about, well, anything at all. Many have relinquished the keys to their soul to the Matrix.

More than ever, the children of the word are counting on us to tear down the old paradigms and create a world more rooted in love and harmony. After all, in the words of George Manalis, the owner of Athens Bakery, in Teaneck, where I occasionally go to get the most delectable macaroons, “The children and grandchildren are the millions.” …and they are counting on us to make their journey through this world a wonderful one.