A Change of direction

The following quotes are from a survey of civilizations titled Prehistoric Germanic Europe.

"From the material evidence surveyed, culture appears to be a collective attempt at providing answers to the questions posed by man."

And what are these questions?

". . . a collective attempt to provide answers to the questions about his position in this life and the next life."

Then, what happens to our culture when the answers to these all important questions are no longer clear? Culture falters. Civilization falters.

"As long as a distinct set of answers was satisfactory, the distinctive aspects of the culture remained constant and offered that degree of continuity which made for stability."

"It appears on the other hand, that experiment, innovation, and change are a response to inadequacy in some sector of the culture's general view of the world."

When people lose their faith, when they have no particular plan (concerning the big questions), then they wander and stray off in all possible directions.

It's the answer to the questions of why we are here and where we are going after this life that keep us as a society functional. Otherwise there is only the seeking of power, gain, and influence, or whatever it is that we can get at the moment.

So what is the 'drug culture'? for example, or the culture of 'change'? Why in the last few decades have we collectively (not necessarily individually) begun to accept abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, secularism etc, etc.--abrupt changes from centuries of accepted and acceptable behavior.

I believe that as a culture there are many changes that could and should be made in our ways of thinking and acting. But these changes have to be based on a firm foundation if we are to survive as a viable, stable culture.

I guess what I am wondering is have we as a culture lost our foundation? Are we wondering off, traveling in a leaky boat? And is a change in direction necessarily a good thing if we don't know have any idea where we're headed.