[Gocamino] London

[Grant Spangler]

There is a statement in physics, “Nature abhors a vacuum”.
It applies in the political, economic, religious and sociological arenas as 
well.

The Moors could make a quick entry into Spain and Europe because of the 
enthusiasm for their faith, and the lack of enthusiasm for the Christian 
faith. The Dark Ages were dark for a reason. There was a general malaise of 
faith, there was an all-encompassing temporal power exerted by Rome. The 
Muselman brought with them men of letters. Their sciences had not been 
oppressed by the church; the ‘Galileo versus the Pope’ syndrome was not a 
problem in Islamic culture. Western knowledge and culture and faith 
paradoxically survived in monasteries during these troubled times. Complete 
monastic communities picked up and moved from the Islamic south to the 
Christian north of Spain to continue their work. Everything is a complex 
mix. Nothing can be described in a single simplistic statement.

Christianity most certainly has had violence and destruction associated with 
it through the Middle Ages. Some of the crusades were motivated by religion, 
some by politics and greed. Most were a mix. The French and Spanish 
Inquisitions were more focused on Jews than Muslims, but still a brutal time 
to be alive. There were heavy political and economic subcurrents with these 
activities. Machiavelli was alive and well in the Middle Ages. Everything 
associated with mankind is fatally flawed. Human nature is fatally flawed. 
Everyone has erred. All peoples, all cultures, all governments, all 
religious organizations. It’s just the nature of the beast.

All history is just part of the bigger picture. We on the immediate 
receiving end of history often fail to see the interconnections. History is 
being made, major shifts are happening. The world we have known is changing 
rapidly. I am neither pro- this or anti- that. I am at the same time a 
participant and an observer. The immediate outcome I see is more control 
over the general public in our western societies. Welcome the new world. 
Not, perhaps, the one you were expecting.

Grant

Grant Spangler
GASpangler at hotmail.com
http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago
http://community.webshots.com/user/ElCaminoSantiago