The Dark Night of the Soul of Modernity: A Call for Reclamation, By Peter West

Modernity promised liberation, but for many, it has delivered only a profound and unsettling spiritual sickness. As George Christensen compellingly argues, we find ourselves in a state of terminal decline, not due to a lack of technology, wealth, or education, of which we have more than ever, but because we've fundamentally lost our way. The signs are everywhere: soaring rates of suicide, widespread depression and loneliness among the young, collapsing birth rates, and a populace increasingly atomised and distracted by screens. This isn't surprising, Christensen contends, when we consider the fatal line we crossed the day we effectively "kicked God out of our lives."

We've filled the void left by this spiritual eviction with cheap dopamine hits, empty ideological narratives, and consumerism masquerading as purpose. Nihilism is celebrated, hedonism glorified, and the deeper truths of reflection, morals, and virtue are discarded in favour of materialistic pursuits and status-chasing. When we sneer at truth and mock tradition, is it any wonder we feel useless, adrift, and anxious? It's not merely a crisis of culture or identity; it's a crisis of the very soul.

Christensen points out that modernity's promise of freedom from tradition and faith has left us free to scroll mindlessly in lonely high-rises or medicate ourselves through meaningless routines. Even within some religious institutions, the Spirit has been replaced by materialistic or ideological talking points, leading to a deep spiritual numbness. We've sought a break from transcendence and, in doing so, created a society estranged from itself, forgetting what thinkers like Aristotle and Aquinas understood: that every person and nation has a telos, a natural purpose, and that truth is not subjective.

The problem is compounded, Christensen asserts, by an elite class that has become our "worst adversaries." They promote ideas like "de-growth," population replacement, and dissolving borders, not for the nation's good, but because they've lost faith in the nation itself. A worldview has been successfully implanted where patriotism is labelled as bigotry, and fundamental truths, man and woman, parent and child, God and creation, are reduced to mere "constructs." To challenge this, Christensen argues, is to be branded a "relic," a "radical," a "threat to the new regime." He starkly asks: who are the radicals really? The person who believes children need a mother and father, or the bureaucrat pushing gender theory in schools? The woman who values tradition and faith, or the academic who calls these concepts oppressive?

This isn't just an ideological battle; it's a rigged game. The "Marxist left," as Christensen describes, has reprogrammed our reality. Speak the truth, and you're "intolerant"; stay silent, and you're "complicit." This trap, designed to break us, cannot be won by playing the same game. The answer, Christensen powerfully concludes, is to "shatter the board entirely."

The path to renewal begins with reclaiming the spiritual core of life. Humans are not mere cogs, consumers, or interchangeable widgets. We are souls, unique and called, needing roots in family, nation, Church, and God. Every great civilisation in history was built on such a spiritual foundation; where that faith eroded, so too did the culture and its people. The West, Christensen contends, has forgotten this, replacing sacred art with soulless corporate garbage and fostering sterile, atomised cities and transactional relationships.

The spiritual PTSD of modern society is real. We've been told we control everything, our identities, outcomes, even biology, but this illusion of control only breeds anxiety, for life's deepest truths remain beyond our grasp. Spirituality once offered comfort in this, allowing us to leave what we couldn't govern to God. Now, people are hungry for truth again, feeling an ache for beauty, meaning, and purpose, their hearts whispering of the divine in a world insistent on atoms and algorithms.

So, what is the solution? Christensen urges us to turn back to the truths that built us, not to idealise the past, but to recover its spirit: faith in God, responsibility to family, loyalty to nation, honor, discipline, courage, and the noble pursuit of something higher than the individual self. This means building churches that speak of God's spirit, not just His symbolism; schools that teach truth, not ideology; and communities that prioritise character over conformity.

Crucially, we must teach the young that the world is alive, that meaning is discovered, not manufactured, and that they are not accidental, but called to serve a higher purpose. The "blank slate myth," that people are merely products of their environment, must be rejected, for it has historically led to totalitarian attempts to engineer the soul. History, Christensen reminds us, moves in cycles, and hard times produce strong men and women. The future isn't entirely bleak; embers of hope exist to reignite our civilisation's soul.

It may feel dark now, but by choosing to, we can shatter the illusion that has kept us in chains, and beyond it, lies the light that has always been there, waiting.

https://nationfirst.substack.com/p/this-is-why-everything-feels-empty

"Western society is at a crossroads. Not just of politics, or economics, or policy, but at a civilisational juncture. Rot has taken hold. It's driving us into nihilism, hedonism, and a lack of meaning. But this decline didn't just happen overnight. It was not random. It wasn't accidental. It is the consequence of a slow, deliberate dismantling of everything that once made life feel like it was worth living.

Modernity has led to a spiritual crisis marked by nihilism, hedonism, and a loss of meaning.

Society's collapse stems from rejecting faith and tradition, replacing them with consumerism and ideological confusion.

Truth, virtue, and moral purpose have been abandoned, leaving people anxious, isolated, and directionless.

Elites and institutions perpetuate this decay by labelling foundational beliefs as oppressive and trapping dissenters in a rigged system.

Renewal begins with rediscovering faith, family, and purpose — building a civilisation rooted in the transcendent, not the transient.

Now I'll speak plainly because I'm not here to play games with language or to dance around hard truths like politicians do. Our modern society is spiritually sick and in a state of terminal decline. Not because we are falling behind in technology, or money, or education. In fact, we have more of all three than ever before. And yet we've never felt more lost.

Look around you. Suicide is at record levels. Depression and loneliness plague our youth. Birth rates are collapsing. People are glued to screens, distracted, atomised, spiritually starved. And we act surprised at how empty life feels. But we shouldn't be.

We crossed a fatal line the day we kicked God out of our lives. We've replaced Him with cheap dopamine hits, ideological narratives, and consumerism masquerading as purpose. We celebrate nihilism. We glorify hedonism. Deeper truths of reflection, morals, and virtue are discarded over the celebration of materialistic pursuits, self-gratification, and status-chasing.

We sneer at truth. We mock tradition. And then we wonder why we feel useless, adrift, and anxious when it is obvious we don't know what it means to live a meaningful life anymore.

It's not just a crisis of culture or even identity. It's a crisis of the very soul.

Modernity promised us liberation. It told us if we broke free from tradition, from faith, from the moral compass passed down by our forefathers, we'd be free.

But free to do what? Scroll through mindless social media junk in a lonely high-rise flat? Medicate our minds to make it through another week of meaningless routine? Sit in church pews where even the pastors don't speak of the Spirit anymore — distorting Scripture and reducing it to materialistic or ideological talking points?

A spiritual numbness has set in deep.

Modernity sought a break from transcendence and, in the process, led to a society estranged from itself.

The thinkers of old – Aristotle, Aquinas, the prophets — they all understood something we've forgotten: that every person, every nation, has a telos — a natural purpose. That everything has a direction. That truth is not subjective — no matter how loud our leftist academics scream it.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Today, our elites have become our own worst adversaries. They speak of "de-growth," of population replacement, of dissolving borders — not because it's good for the nation, but because they've lost all belief in the nation itself. The left has successfully implanted a worldview where to love your country, your culture, or your history is somehow bigoted. Where the most fundamental truths — man and woman, parent and child, God and creation — are reduced to "constructs." And if you dare challenge this madness? You get labeled a relic. A radical. A threat to the new regime.

But I ask you: who are the radicals really?

Is it the man who believes children need a mother and a father? Or the bureaucrat pushing gender theory in schools?

Is it the woman who values tradition and faith? Or the academic who says those concepts are oppressive relics of the past?

You see, the Marxist left didn't just take over our institutions. They reprogrammed us — rewrote reality itself. At least as we view it. They structured the game so that we always lose. If you speak the truth, you're "intolerant." If you stay silent, you're "complicit." It is a trap — built to break you.

The answer, therefore, is not to play their game better. The answer is to shatter the board entirely.

It starts with reclaiming the spiritual core of life. Because the truth is this: humans are not just cogs in a system. We are not mere "consumers" or "resources". We are not interchangeable widgets to be moved around by bureaucrats. We are souls. Each unique. Each called. Each needing roots — family, nation, Church, God.

That's why every great civilisation in history was built on a spiritual foundation. Whether it was the cathedrals of Europe, temples of India, or mosques of the Middle East — faith was at the centre. And where that faith eroded, so too did the culture. So too did the people.

We in the West have forgotten this. We've replaced sacred art with soulless corporate garbage. Our buildings are sterile. Our cities are atomised. Our relationships are transactional. Our culture cannot even produce new stories — it only regurgitates old ones, stripped of meaning and filled with ideological biases no one asked for.

The spiritual PTSD of modern society is real. We've been told we're in control of everything – our identities, our outcomes, even our biology. But the more control we think we have, the more anxious we become because the reality is most of life's deepest truths are outside of our control.

Spirituality allowed us to be comfortable with this truth, for we left it to God to govern what we ourselves did not have power over.

That's why people are hungry for truth again. They may not know how to articulate it, but they feel it. That ache for beauty, for meaning, and purpose. Their hearts secretly whisper of the divine in a world that insists it's all just atoms and algorithms.

So what do we do?

We begin by turning back to the truths that built us. Not to copy an idealised version of the past, but to recover its spirit. Faith in God. Responsibility to family. Loyalty to nation. Honour, discipline, courage, and the noble pursuit of something higher than the individual self.

We must now build churches that talk about God's spirit, not just His "symbolism." We must now build schools that teach truth, not ideology. We must now create communities that prioritise character over conformity.

And most important of all, we must teach our young that the world is alive, not dead. That meaning is not manufactured, but can be discovered. That they are not here by accident, but can play a real role in serving a higher purpose.

It's time to reject the blank slate myth: that people are just products of their environment. That lie has led us into totalitarianism before, as governments tried to engineer the soul in some misguided experiment to create the "perfect man." Such tyranny can rise again if we don't stop it now.

History moves in cycles. Hard times produce strong men and women. And if you're reading this, perhaps you're meant to be one of them. The future isn't all bleak — embers of hope exist that will reignite the soul of our civilisation.

It may feel dark now, but if we so choose, we can shatter the illusion that has kept us in chains. Beyond it lies the light that has never left us but is only waiting.