Foreword
The Necessity of „New Radicalism“

We, the human family, are caught in a dilemma. The problems of the 21st century are now known to most people. A few centuries ago, hunger, war and poverty were the main causes of human suffering. Today these are mostly just symptoms of a deeper problem. There is more „money“ in circulation than ever before, yet many people live in poverty. We throw tons of edible food on the garbage, we talk about overproduction and still people die of hunger. We have the UNO and the human rights charter, which officially forbids wars and should provide security in the world, nevertheless bombs fall daily. How can that be?

After all, man has managed to work out the obvious causes of these problem areas. On the bloody foundation of a thousand years of human history we have today worked out all ways to enable prosperity, food and peace for all. Why then do we still have the same human problems as in all the millennia before? Not only that, but we have also created other problem areas ourselves. In attempting to eliminate the three fundamental problems of war, hunger and poverty, we have caused extensive collateral damage. Beginning with the pollution of the environment, the countless people killed in the course of „just“ wars, the creation of an economic system that has now become the greatest threat to humanity itself. Now the following three questions arise: Is humanity simply incapable of acting thoughtfully and fairly? Are the three basic problems in themselves insoluble? Is humanity doomed to eliminate itself sooner or later? Perhaps. All this is possible, yet I firmly believe that these questions can also be answered in the negative. The emphasis here is on „being able“. This implies that a personal contribution is necessary in order to get a „yes“ to these questions in case of an unsuccessful attempt and a „no“ in case of success. It is up to us, the human being, to take our fate into our own hands. I am convinced of this.

Yes, so far history has disappointed us. It consists of a series of failed attempts, which in between showed good tendencies. Even today we have positive trends, which I do not want to deny. Nevertheless, it still takes some effort until man has finally established his utopia or is destruction. This manifesto, the manifesto of the New Radicalism, does not want to draw an utopia, but wants to point out possibilities which mankind has in the present, but is obviously incapable of perceiving them.

This apparent inability is to be negotiated above all. My approach is the „New Radicalism“. Here I refer to the Latin origin of the term radix, which means nothing other than „root“. In its most basic definition, without the contamination of the term by history, „radical“ means nothing more than „from the bottom up“, „grasping things at their root“.

I am not saying that I always manage to do this, but in the course of many conversations and discussions, which I only listened to or in which I myself actively participated, I repeatedly noticed that the subject of the conversation is always conducted on a relatively superficial level. This is not to be equated with a bad discussion. Symptom analysis and treatment must inevitably take place on a superficial level, because this is where they finally manifest themselves. But a pure description of conditions, even a detailed analysis of them and an opinion discussion based on it is only a precursor of the actual problem treatment.

I am not saying that these processes would be absurd, they are an essential part, but nevertheless only a part. In order to really and actually illuminate the object, one must penetrate to its core, to its root. Only there is truth, only there is solution, only there is healing. To get to this root, unfortunately, many words are needed. This is not because the root is complex; it is even quite simple and humble in nature. But the human mind, the supposed knowledge, the ego and one’s own inclinations lie like a meter-thick layer of earth above the root and must be loosened up and removed with laborious, spoon-sized spade stitches.

Yes, the ego must be broken, one’s own inclinations and views must be questioned, the mind must be free and light-hearted to truly get to the root. This is why many discussions remain at a superficial level. Man has a natural defensive reflex when it comes to his „ego construct,“ when it comes to his views, experiences, and personal ideologies. This is understandable, because we have paid for these experiences with blood, sweat, tears, disappointment, enthusiasm, efforts and much more, how could one, in a simple conversation, easily throw these investments of one’s lifetime overboard? That is not easy, for most it costs an inhuman overcoming and for many it is simply impossible.

Those who count themselves among the latter may find the following pages incomprehensible. They require the complete fading out of one’s own experiences and opinions, but offer new insights in return. On the following pages psychology, philosophy, theology and sociology meet and mix to a new way of life, which is abstract because universal. Welcome to the New Radicalism.

This the english translation of the article:

„Der neue Radikalismus“ – Vorwort

Translated with:
www.deepl.com/translator

by Marco Lo Voi