Nations are not mere clusters of individuals sharing a common space, but living organisms composed of families, communities, and institutions — each with its own interests, preferences, and pursuits. Yet for such diversity to coexist in peace, there must be a unifying principle that binds the many into one coherent whole. Without it, the social fabric frays, and the parts lose their harmony with the purpose of the whole.
Historically, this unifying bond was found in two enduring forces: shared ancestry and shared faith. A common lineage fostered kinship and loyalty, while a common religion provided a moral and spiritual framework that gave meaning, order, and restraint to life together. These two pillars gave rise to a sense of we — a shared identity rooted in a common story.
Today, both of these foundations have been systematically dismantled. The shared ancestry that once produced national solidarity has been diluted in the name of diversity, and the common faith that once provided moral coherence has been replaced with an ideology of expressive individualism. The result is an atomised people who occupy the same territory but no longer share the same vision of the good, the true, or the beautiful.
Every successful nation depends upon a principle of coherence, a deep commonality that unites its citizens beyond mere convenience. Without such coherence, a nation becomes little more than a marketplace of competing interests, held together only by material incentives.
And that is precisely where we now find ourselves: our only remaining bond is a collective desire to enjoy the residual benefits of what our European forebears built, benefits that cannot endure long once their spiritual and cultural foundations have been abandoned.
If a nation is to endure, it must recover more than its prosperity; it must recover its soul. No amount of policy, technology, or wealth can substitute for the moral and spiritual unity that once gave a people purpose and direction.
The health and future of a nation depend on the harmony of its parts around a shared truth — a vision of the good that transcends individual appetites. Unless we recover such a unifying principle, the civilisation we have inherited will not simply decline; it will disappear.
