Götterdämmerung - Twilight of the Gods
09. Apr 2026,
Götterdämmerung? (Which is Twilight of the Gods) Which gods are currently facing their twilight? And if any of these ladies or gentlemen are available for comment: what exactly does this twilight contain right now? I mean, at many corners of the globe - wait, why corners? - this very world is no longer in order. Not even at seven in the morning. Yet the bearers of hope in all countries - or at least most of them - refuse to stop carrying.
But let's be honest for a moment: what drove Richard Wagner to step into the Ring of the Nibelungs?
And what bolt of lightning about the destruction of the old world order struck him there?
Here was someone who devoted himself to the old human drives - things like the finitude of life, power over people and destinies, and the grand renewal of that very world order.
What Wagner catapulted into people's ears back in 1876 was a blistering critique of society.
Holy Smokes!
His views on this very society - our society - are not flattering.
He argued that fate cannot be escaped and that power must have limits.
The ideal heroes in society's imagination were just as corrupt as moral integrity is fragile.
And then there is the fundamental stupidity of the Homo sapiens group, who sacrifice their only home - nature, that is, the environment or shared world - out of greed and hunger for power.
Well now, Richard, you truly put something classic out into the world.
The music too, yes - but your indictment of society itself is still very much present in the minds and actions of 2026.
Congratulations, Mister Prophet.
And yet, the twilight itself is a wondrous thing and probably has nothing to do with any gods.
At most with those who fancy themselves gods and would prefer to see the twilight bathed in an orange light.
But in the minds and hearts of some contemporary companions, it is dawning - slowly - that their expectations of leading figures in the political circus arena have melted away or been switched off.
It took a while to recognise that, my dears.
Well, that is the nature of twilight: it always takes a little longer.
From that very twilight, however, personalities keep emerging who know their way around reflection and clarity.
For one, most of them are well-equipped with the capacity for clear-sightedness, and for another, they direct that clarity toward things like justice, universal human rights, and the profoundly worth-protecting idea of democracy.
And these awakened ones - these Gedämmerten - nourish the hope for positive change, which, with some help from millions of people in the streets in peaceful protest, can shake the old gods considerably.
I know, the world seems to be in tremendous disarray.
That impression is not wrong.
But the people are still here.
Those with and those still without their twilight moment.
And that makes me glad, active, and hopeful.
