In the twilight of the 18th century Francisco de Goya made a series of etchings which he called Los Caprichos (The Follies). One of the etchings; my favourite and perhaps the most famous, features a man slumped over his desk in deep sleep. Around him in the dark his unconsciousness is awake in the form of a swarm of threatening night creatures that emerge from the shadows. On the side of the desk facing the viewer is an explanatory inscription that reads: 'El sueno de la razon produce monstruos.' - 'The sleep of reason gives birth to monsters.'
It is almost a cliche that the world is ruled by unreason. It is easy to see the monsters that stalk us, created and fuelled by emotion, especially those of anger, resentment, intolerance, greed and fear. But reason has been with us throughout history too. Just marvel at the archaeologist's trove of flint axes from the dawn before memory. Admire the street planning of the ancient Pakistani city of Mohenjodaro, the irrigation canals, husbandry, the jewellery of dynastic Egypt. Look at modern life and wonder: consider our cities with their clean and safe water supply, sewage system, telephones, electricity, schools, roads, supermarkets - these are the forethought's of reason and planning. The fruits of applied science. Or, as it say's on my Zanussi washing machine: The Appliance, Of Science.
But reason has not always been benign either. It was reason that converted the spear into the guided missile. It was reason that gave us the gas chambers of Auschwitz, and the torture chambers in the fortress of Spilberk in Brno. It was reason that heralded the extermination of the Amazonian Indians. But from dentistry and central heating to human rights and the rule of law, for every backward step caused by malign use of reason, we take two steps forward. It is because of reason that the average life of today is better than the life of our ancestor's. But beware. Two thirds of the world still live under the pall of unreason - of superstition, ignorance and the associated malaise of negative emotions that fuel conflicts.
Goya's etchings teach us to be wary. We mustn't fall asleep - we mustn't. For the darkness still harbours demons. And our dominion is anything but assured.
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