This is Guardini’s most startling insight. In the Modern Age, power was visible (castles, armies, factories). In the coming age, power becomes abstract and bureaucratic . He argued that as human power over nature increases (nuclear energy, AI, global data networks), the individual’s personal power decreases . We become powerful as a species, but impotent as persons. We are surrounded by "screens" (he meant bureaucratic screens, but the metaphor applies to smartphones) that mediate reality.
For Guardini, true human experience requires "distance"—the space between the observer and the observed, between the worshipper and God. The Modern World collapsed distance through speed and media. In the coming age, everything is immediate. Everything is available now . Guardini argues that when you eliminate sacred distance, you eliminate awe. A world without awe is a world without worship. the end of the modern world romano guardini pdf
Guardini does not celebrate the end but warns of dangers and possibilities. The emerging age is characterized by: This is Guardini’s most startling insight
In the final section, "The Threshold of a New World," Guardini outlines a vision for a new world, one that is characterized by a renewed sense of meaning, community, and spirituality. He argues that the modern world must be reimagined in light of the Gospel values of love, compassion, and solidarity. He argued that as human power over nature