Introduction

We are living in a paradoxical era. Never before has humanity possessed so much knowledge, technology, communication tools, and collective power. And yet, never has it appeared so vulnerable, divided, and uncertain about its future. As we crossed the threshold of the 21st century, our species seemed to abandon the "Age of Reason" that fueled the Enlightenment, only to plunge into an age of desire-where everything is subject to immediacy, performance, and the illusion of infinity.

Our civilization is not dying, but dissolving. Not with a violent crash, but through a slow erosion of meaning, a loss of reference points, and a surrender of wisdom. While our tools grow smarter, we sometimes become less lucid. As artificial intelligence learns, human consciousness falls asleep. As markets expand, social bonds unravel. The growth of technical capabilities is no longer accompanied by an ethical or spiritual awakening. There is progress without direction, movement without purpose, power without responsibility.

The danger is not only external-it is internal. It lies not just in climate change, ecosystem collapse, or the invisible wars of the digital world, but in the loss of meaning-of life, of justice, of the common good. A civilization is not sustained by infrastructure or algorithms alone, but by the values it upholds, the limits it accepts, the memory it honors, and the future it prepares for.

This book begins with a grave, yet not hopeless, observation: our collective survival now depends less on our technical intelligence than on our moral intelligence. We must urgently reflect on the conditions for a sustainable civilization-not as a fixed utopia, but as a living, demanding, and humble path-based on moderation, respect for natural balance, and shared responsibility among peoples, generations, and cultures.

Here, we will attempt:

• to diagnose the excesses that undermine modern civilization-be they economic, cultural, or spiritual;
• to identify the systems and ideologies that have pushed humanity to its limits, sometimes to the point of absurdity;
• and above all, to outline a path toward civilizational awakening, one that can unite beyond affiliations, toward a common project that is both humanly and ecologically viable.

This is not a nostalgic book, nor a technophobic manifesto. It is a call for lucidity and responsibility. For it is not too late to restore balance. But it is late. And every step now matters.