Franz Ruedele

Raising Consciousness Franz Ruedele

From the time that Christianity displaced Paganism in the latter part of the Roman Empire until about the 16th century, it seems that a sort of group-think was prevalent in western society. Then the Reformation, along with the philosophy of Montaigne and the literature of Shakespeare, seemingly ushered in a new age of individual consciousness. Ultimately, during the latter part of the 18th century, with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment yielded to an era of Romanticism. With the advent of the novel, the continuing output of the dramatic arts, and musical composition, consciousness kept pace with the advance of technology. However, since the industrial age transformed into the information age -- with the likes of gene mapping, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, the mystery of the brain and its relationship to the mind - individual values and the stress of the modern pace of change have not been matched by a lifting of conscious compatibility or serenity. Using Jean-Jaques Rousseau as an example of some of the thinking taking place during the latter part of the Age of Enlightenment (circa 1750), and Germaine de Staël as a representative of the onset of the Age of Romanticism (circa 1800), this book, by using a dozen dualities (e, g, good versus evil) as constructs for their examination, seeks to investigate how consciousness advanced during these stages. This then is contrasted with a fabricated dialog between my son, Franz, and myself, in which we seek to display a corresponding modern dilemma. Ultimately it is the hope that out of this modern-day mad rush, a consciousness embracing humane values can displace the Gross Domestic Product of business as a measure of human well-being. This book is my own quixotic effort at addressing this dilemma.