Standing at the Threshold of a New Civilization
For centuries since the Industrial Revolution, human labor has been the backbone of the global economy. Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations laid the foundation, and Karl Marx’s Das Kapital elevated the value of labor while analyzing class conflict. From that point forward, economics has centered on labor and production as its core. But now, humanity stands at the entrance to a new reality—fundamentally different from the old paradigm.
Artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation are rapidly replacing human labor, and the future envisioned by Jeremy Rifkin in The End of Work is no longer distant—it is unfolding before us. The structures of production and consumption are collapsing. Traditional employment is disappearing. Human value is no longer defined by “what one produces,” but rather by “what one shares, what value one creates, and with whom one connects.”
So then, what becomes of the human being after the end of work?
We now stand at a great turning point—a civilizational crossroads where the very paradigm of life must be redefined.
In the Age of Technology, Humanity Must Rediscover Its Inner Light
Rifkin foresaw a post-work society reorganizing around what he called the “Third Sector”: the nonprofit sphere, community-based networks, and cooperative economies. In this new reality, people will no longer labor merely for economic survival, but will seek meaning through voluntary service, creative collaboration, and the realization of personal identity within a community.
This vision is no longer theoretical—it is happening now.
Platforms like social media and YouTube have evolved into spaces of creation and sharing. Personal stories, knowledge, and content are becoming new forms of influence and economic power, giving rise to an “influence-based economy.”
In this new flow, the most crucial asset is no longer labor—but relationship. And the currency is trust. “Relationship is the new asset, trust is the new currency.” This is not a metaphor—it is the very operating logic of a new civilization.
But this invites a deeper question: What forces are driving this great civilizational shift? Is it merely technological? Or is it a deeper movement—an unfolding of the laws of the universe, or a transformation of consciousness?
To answer this, we must turn to history and spirituality.
The essential memory of who we are, where we came from, and why we live—this is the true treasure we must now reclaim. The archetypal culture of humanity, the spiritual heritage shared across East and West, ancient and modern—this is the foundation upon which the future must be built.
We Are Not Lost Beings of Light—We Are Beings Who Must Recover the Light
The material civilization of capitalism, built on centuries of labor, is now dissolving. And the end of work is not simply the end of an economic system—it is the beginning of a new question: What does it mean to be human?
At this historic turning point, it is vital to restore the natural way of life—our archetypal culture, and to revive the original way of spiritual practices that once allowed us to live in harmony with the sacred. We must remember the lives once lived in unity with the divine, and reclaim the paths of practice that can bring that memory into daily life. Only then can we cross from this time of chaos into a new era of light.
This era is not merely a time of crisis.
It is a cosmic reset.
A “Gaebyeok”—a Great Opening—where the universe begins again, and a new civilization emerges.
In the world to come, the leading force will not be capital, technology, or military power. It will be those who remember their inner light—those who shine that light into the world. They will be the architects and centers of the new civilization.
Now is the time to choose:
Not consumption, but creation.
Not fear, but trust.
Not inertia, but illumination.
Not labor, but being.
Not the “I,” but the “We.”
We are entering an age when every soul must remember its light and shine it forth into the world.
And right now, we are standing at that very threshold.