What Happens When Progress Stops? | Arnold Toynbee

Arnold Toynbee's theory of history posits that civilizations rise through the creative capacity of a gifted elite (creative minority) to meet challenges, with true progress being spiritual rather than material; civilizations decline when this creative minority loses its spark and resorts to coercion, leading to internal revolt and external conquest, while the universal church may carry forward spiritual achievements beyond the civilization's physical end.