Trust in reason and a belief in progress are the foundations of Western civilization.
If they are lost in times of crisis, irrationalism takes over, and the linear view of history is replaced by a cyclical view, the present becoming the final stage of a process of decay.
The prerequisite for a new beginning is then the reversal of the future-oriented view from west to east: Ex oriente lux.
The most determined criticism of the West came from a French philosopher and mystic: René Guénon (1886-1951).
In addition to Hinduism, Guénon was fascinated by all varieties of Eastern spiritualism, from Tibetan Buddhism to Taoism and Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam.
The contact with an Indian "guru", who introduced Guénon to Hinduism, was decisive for his further life.
For Guénon, mankind has long been in the fourth and final stage of the Hindu history cycle, in "Kali-Yuga", the dark age "from which one can almost only get out of a catastrophe".