is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."
VOA: special.2010.06.06
There is no reason why x and y are nailed in absolute space.
This makes the international decline look slightly eerie: blackbirds drop from the sky, plagues slacken and end, and there seems no absolutereason that societies leap from one state to another over time.