]Those who regard the decay of civilisation as something quite normal and natural console
themselves with the thought that it is not civilisation, but a civilisation, which is falling a prey to
dissolution, that there will be a new age and a new race in which there will blossom a new
civilisation. But that is a mistake. The earth no longer has in reverse, as it had once, gifted
peoples as yet unused, who can relieve us and take our place in some distant future as the leaders
of our spiritual life. We already know all those that the earth has to dispose of.
There is not one among them which is not already taking such a part in our civilisation that
its spiritual fate is determined by our own. All of them, the gifted and the un-gifted, the distant
and the near, have felt the influence of those forces of barbarism which are yet working among
us. All of them are, like ourselves, diseased, and only as we--recover can they recover.
It is not the civilisation of a race, but that of mankind, present and future alike, that we
must give up as lost, if belief in the rebirth of our civilisation is a vain thing. But it need not be so
given up. If the ethical is the essential element in civilisation, decadence changes into
renaissance as on as ethical activities are set to work again in our convictions and in the ideas
which we undertake to stamp upon reality. The attempt to bring this about is well worth making,
and it should be world wide. It is true that the difficulties that have to be reckoned with in this
undertaking are so great that only the strongest faith in the power of the ethical spirit will let us
venture on it.
Again the renewal of civilisation is hindered by the fact that it is so exclusively the
individual personality which must be looked to as the agent in the new movement.
The renewal of civilisation has nothing to do with movements which bear the character of the
experiences of the crowd, these are never anything but reactions to external happenings.
But civilisation can only revive when there shall come into being in a number of individuals
a new tone of mind independent of the one prevalent among the crowd and in opposition to it, a
tone of mind which gradually win influence over the collective one, and in the end determine its
character. It is only an ethical movement which can rescue us from the slough of barbarism, and
the ethical comes into existence only in individuals.
The final decision as to what the future of a society shall be depends not only how near its
organisation is to perfection, but on the degrees of worthiness in its individual members.
The most important, and yet the least easily determinable, element in history is the series of
unobtrusive general changes which take place in the individual dispositions, and that is why it is
so difficult to understand thoroughly the men and events of past times. The character and worth
of individuals among the mass and the way they work themselves into membership of the whole
body, receiving influences from its and giving others back, we can even today only partially and
uncertainly understand.
One thing, however, is clear. Were the collective body works more strongly on the individual
than the latter does upon it, the result is deterioration because the noble element on which
everything depends, namely the spiritual and moral worthiness of the individual is thereby
necessarily constricted and hampered. Decay of the spiritual and moral life then sets in which
renders society incapable of understanding and solving the problems which it has to face.
Therefore sooner or later, it is involved in catastrophe, and that is why it is the duty of
individuals to a higher conception of their capabilities and undertake the function which only the
individual can perform, that of producing new spiritual-ethical ideas. If this does not come about
many times over nothing can save us.[/INDENT][/LEFT] (20 marks)

Solution:

Title: Moral Uplift- An Essential Element for Revivification of a Civilization

Some people see societal collapse as a usual phenomenon and believe that fall of one civilization gives birth to another civilization. But, this notion of theirs stands null and void, at least today. Because, the world no longer possess the noble men who could raise the man from shadows of moral darkness to the heights of spiritual enlightenment. However, history testifies the fact that whenever a society starts to disintegrate, saint and savages alike strives to preserve it. As they know that the revival of lost glory depends upon them because it is the man who forms the basic structural ad functional unit of a society. If he is corrupt, whole society gets corrupt. Moreover, the term civilization does not refer to a particular ethnic group but to the whole mankind, which makes the concept of its revivification through moral upgradation a practical reality. Nevertheless, there are many obstacles in the way forward but, aspirations of individuals regarding good and evil poses a biggest challenge as people are the major players in outlining overall value and belief system of a society as far as ethical code of conduct is concerned. It means that not the society but the strength of character of members that constitute it, is the deciding factor in how successfully the process of renascence will take place. Although the contribution of all the members is required for successful integration, but it never means that the group thinking will guide the individual behaviors. If this begins to happen, civilization will reach to its lowest ebb and eventually vanish. Because, individuals will fail to realize their potentials so as to achieve moral heights- crucial to fight with evil forces for the survival of civilization.