The intellectual event which announced the opening of the modern era was Francis Bacon's publication of Novum Organum. The age of hearsay, guesswork, and fumbling ignorance was rung out in the search for facts and the sharp reasonings of science. The religious event which announced it was Martin Luther's proclamation of independence which he nailed on the church door at Wittenberg. The age of soul-crushing churchianity and sanctified superstitions was rung out in the recognition that the only representatives of Christ are those who do what he taught. The historical event which announced its arrival in the clearest possible words was the French Revolution. The age of feudalism and slavery was rung out in blood and tears. The industrial event which announced it was Watt's invention of steam engines. The age of hand power was rung out in factory whistles and whirring wheels. Thus this momentous epoch, which is beginning to witness a veritable reconstruction in human existence, struck down the human arrogance which barred its way and broke through the human ignorance which failed to perceive its inevitability.
The widespread character of the present world ferment proves that it is a historical necessity and that a new epoch is about to dawn. For the generation which grew up after World War I grew up also in search of a fresh ideal. What happened here yesterday and what is happening here today has surprised and stirred before. The human race is indeed at a fateful turning point of its history. The shape of its physical, mental, and moral life for at least the next thousand years has been and is being effectually decided by the meteoric decade in which we live. Every successive stage of the immense drama which has unfolded itself before our eyes has proved this.
-- Notebooks Category 13: Human Experience > Chapter 4 : World Crisis > # 1
