PEOPLE AT THE CENTRE Clive James and Peter Porter today discussed 'books of the forties and fifties.' In that discussion they talked about music, classical and other, taking over from literature in the last half of the twentieth century in providing that sense of certitude, although irrational, that people felt a need for in their lives. They also talked about the decline of ideology after WW2 and into the 1950s. The role of Alexander Solzenitsyn's books in the fifties, sixties and seventies played an important part in this process, insofar as the Left was concerned, as fascism had done insofar as the Right was concerned in the two previous decades. A reservoire of skepticism in the west, and especially in England, returned the centre of poetry to the individual in those same years. -Ron Price with thanks to "Clive James and Peter Porter," Sunday Special, ABC Radio, 5:30-6:00 pm, 2 December, 2001. As ideology wound down in the fifties, the sixties and seventies, we began to grow and grow all over,1 slowly, unobtrusively. So it is that I've spent my adult life with people who have no ideology, plenty of convictions, all too many of them, but no ideological centre—home--liked reading novels, listening to music, watching TV, working in the garden, but absolutely no interest in going to meetings--except to learn macrame, lead lighting and the inevitable work-associated special planning session at 8 pm or 8 am or noon instead of lunch-- or a new course, or something at uni, or a movie, or a volunteer job where no ideology was desired, contemplated or required. For ideology did not grab anyone anymore and religious ideology became the no-no among no-nos--amidst endless subjectivity. Superficial and not-so-superficial pragmatism had made everyone into practical realists, enjoying as far as they were able the complex juxtapositions of pleasures and disenchantments thrown up on the shore of their life-worlds. And slowly, yes slowly, this new ideology, new dogma, grew until it came to manifest an attractive form, a gentle beauty all around the world with holy dust at the centre--and a slow greening of people from that desolate garden of arid and unholy disenchantment. 1 The Baha'i Faith spread around the world. Ron Price 2 December 2001
