It follows directly from what this author stated. Western civilization is based on rational thinking and certainty. "Trusting our feelings" has totally messed up the rule of law. ISIS offers certainty, but with brutality. Younger generations are so inundated with brutality in their culture that they accept the brutality. They're filling the void left in their way to vague world. It fills that desire to be part of something.
Man needs to be rational and logical to have a civilization as ours once was. To do that, there have to be constraints on the emotional side of our natures. We need discipline and a feeling of accomplishment and acceptance. It's pretty sad that US and European culture and the countries we destroyed by regime change have sunk to such lows that ISIS is filling the void.
The original TV Star Trek dealt with these philosophical questions. Keep in mind that without very logical and rational Mr Spock the emotions of the rest of the crew would not have allowed the Enterprise to function. The Enterprise is symbolically our civilization, wanting to do good, but needing rules and restraints in order to avoid disaster.
Pretty well said and a reasonable analogy.
My Son once said that if we didn’t have a Bible we would have to invent one.
You gotta have standards but you can’t enforce morals.
“Trusting our feelings” I suppose means anything goes? Funny, so many of my students are uncomfortable when the answer is not black or white. They have become almost like the computers they live by in the world of ZEROs and ONEs. Just a binary world. Anything in between that requires judgement or experience and is not an answer that yields a guaranteed positive outcome is difficult for them to accept. This is a dichotomy though with their personal and social comfort zones where there is a void of black or white standards. They do not have principles that they would die for or die with.