“Once Rome had lived on the East, as modern Europe lived on its conquests and colonies till the middle of the twentieth century; the legions had sucked the products and precious metals of a dozen provinces into the mansions and coffers of the victors. Now conquest was ended and retreat had begun. Italy was forced to depend upon its own human and material resources; and these had been dangerously reduced by family limitation, famine, epidemics, taxation, waste, and war.”—Will Durant, The Age of Faith

  The italics in the above quote are mine. The paragraph summarizing the Roman Empire’s centuries long subsidence could easily stand on its own without that not so subtle inclusion by the historian Will Durant. But with it layers of deeper meaning and prospects for us today are unearthed. 

  The Omphalos Cafe is never about nostalgia, nor a desire to ‘make the West great again.’ Nor is it a lament for a lost mastery, dominance or privilege. 

  And it isn’t apocalyptic doom and gloom either. 

  It’s about understanding who we are, where we’ve come from, and what sort of world lies out before us in the coming decades and centuries. 

  And it’s also about the coming generations. 

  Life is Flowing through us today towards the future, into and through our children to their children and their’s after that. 

  The Flow is continuous. 

  Unless we somehow bungle it and in our headstrong maniacal obsession with ideas and ideologies manage to sever it that is. Though the severance would only be limited to the majority of humanity and a great number of ‘collaterally damaged’ species. 

  Make no mistake though, even then Life would Flow on…

  With or without us…

  Because if you’ve been here for any length of time you should know…

  Life is ALL there is….!