Has humanity run amok?

Shukadeva Gosvami says:

Then, O King, religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, duration of life, physical strength and memory will all diminish day by day because of the powerful influence of the age of Kali. (SB 12.2.2)

In Kali-yuga, wealth alone will be considered the sign of a man's good birth, proper behavior and fine qualities. And law and justice will be applied only on the basis of one's power. (SB 12.2.3)

Men and women will live together merely because of superficial attraction, and success in business will depend on deceit. Womanliness and manliness will be judged according to one's expertise in sex, and a man will be known as a brahmana just by his wearing a thread. (SB 12.2.4)

A person's spiritual position will be ascertained merely according to external symbols, and on that same basis people will change from one spiritual order to the next. A person's propriety will be seriously questioned if he does not earn a good living. And one who is very clever at juggling words will be considered a learned scholar. (SB 12.2.5)

A person will be judged unholy if he does not have money, and hypocrisy will be accepted as virtue. Marriage will be arranged simply by verbal agreement, and a person will think he is fit to appear in public if he has merely taken a bath. (SB 12.2.6)

A sacred place will be taken to consist of no more than a reservoir of water located at a distance, and beauty will be thought to depend on one's hairstyle. Filling the belly will become the goal of life, and one who is audacious will be accepted as truthful. He who can maintain a family will be regarded as an expert man, and the principles of religion will be observed only for the sake of reputation. (SB 12.2.7)

As the earth thus becomes crowded with a corrupt population, whoever among any of the social classes shows himself to be the strongest will gain political power. (SB 12.2.8)

Losing their wives and properties to such avaricious and merciless rulers, who will behave no better than ordinary thieves, the citizens will flee to the mountains and forests. (SB 12.2.9)

Harassed by famine and excessive taxes, people will resort to eating leaves, roots, flesh, wild honey, fruits, flowers and seeds. Struck by drought, they will become completely ruined. (SB 12.2.10)

Materialists like to judge the original Vedic social system according to the values and prejudice, they have been taught in the Western culture, they grew up in. But the Vedic social system - varnashram dharma - is to be found all over the world. Why? Because it’s the social system ordained by God.

Krishna says:

According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable. (Bg. 4.13)

In all human societies one can observe four types of human beings - the worker-type (skilled or unskilled), the merchant and business-type, the warrior and statesman-type, and the intellectual, priest, and philosopher-type.

These four human types are to be found in all societies, and the varnashrama social system, or the caste-system as it has infamously devolved into, is merely a natural organization of these different human types in society.

It is noteworthy, Krishna says that the different human types are not to be determined by birth, but by one's ability and bodily tendency. Besides, before the Americans after WWII replaced the old traditions with their Coca-cola and Hollywood culture, people in Europe followed the varnashrama system.

The Church gave direction and defined moral and ethics. The king ruled and enforced. The merchants and farmers traded, grew food, and created economy, and the workers, artists, and musicians worked and entertained.

That the Church by time became corrupt and abused its power, is a different matter. The same thing happened in India, where the brahmins began to distort the social order.

In an ideal society, the state governs in accordance with the directions of the sages and priests. But modern society is being run by the economy. Merchants rule society and establish its direction.

Society can be likened to a body. The brahmins or the priests are the head. The kshatriyas are the arms. The vaishyas are the belly; and the shudras are the legs.

The body is meant to be directed by the head. The function of the arms is to protect the body. The stomack's function is to nourish the body and distribute energy, and the function of the legs is to move the body here and there.

The modern global society is a culture run by the belly. The merchants are in charge.

It ought to be the head, but modern society is head-less. Or the head is governed by money.

The present social body is bereft of a higher goal in life, and long term-vision. It just stumbles along according to the dictates of its senses.

Nature is quite capable of regulating herself. That's why, at the present moment, the modern western civilization is in the process of being demolished by nature. It is too harmful and destructive to nature and her inhabitants to be allowed to go on fr long.

Vishnu says:

When one is envious of the demigods, who represent the Supreme Personality of Godhead, of the Vedas, which give all knowledge, of the cows, brahmanas, Vaisnavas and religious principles, and ultimately of Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he and his civilization will be vanquished without delay. -- Srimad Bhagavatam 7.4.27