Recurring seasons..............................

This era could be summed up much as Charles Dickens wrote in 1859 in  A Tale of Two Cities:  "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair..."
     In this era of enormous, stunning intellectual progress and simultaneous fearsome calamities, the reprehensible paths take by mainstream leadership is not surprising, nor was their propensity to cling to rigid theologies and politics of "us and them."...

-James C. Harrington and Sidney G. Hall III,  Three Mystics Walk Into A Tavern

Not to disappoint anyone, but the "era" being discussed is the 13th and 14th centuries.  Ah, the winding staircase that is history.