Is the world getting more wicked?

 The Vedic perspective is that compassion, austerity, truthfulness, and cleanliness are four pillars of religious life. Meat-eating, intoxication, gambling, and illicit sex are what erode those pillars.

If those activities are increasing then the world is getting more wicked.

It is hard to argue that there has been a global decline in all four of these activities. At the same time, not indulging in them is becoming more socially acceptable. That indicates that the status quo no longer has the same monopoly on what is considered normal.

That may seem like a small change, but it creates social space for people to resist practices that were once treated as simply part of growing up or participating in society. A young person who says, “I don't eat meat,” “I don't drink,” or “I don't want casual sex” is increasingly less likely to be asked, “What's wrong with you?”

Once abstaining from these activities gains a social foothold, as it has in many countries, that is a positive sign. It means the cultural assumption that everyone should participate in them is weakening. The numbers may not yet show a global reversal, but the monopoly of the status quo has been broken. That creates room for a different way of living to become normal rather than weird.

Before a practice can spread, people have to be able to adopt it without feeling socially excluded for doing so. My own observation is that the cultural environment is less hostile to those who choose to abstain than it once was. To me it indicates the tide is slowly turning.

So while the ‘wickedness’ of the world is not in significant decline, the social body has acquired an antidote and has assimilated it. Once abstaining from sinful activity becomes socially legitimate, it can reproduce from within the culture rather than requiring people to live outside it. As it becomes more widespread, the symptoms will gradually decline and the social body can recover from those particular forms of sinful activity.

Obviously there is a long road ahead with many bumps to be expected, but if compassion, austerity, truthfulness, and cleanliness gain a foothold in society then with enough chanting of Hare Krishna, the world will be a better place than it has been for thousands of years.