This I swear by the Stars

This I swear by the Stars.

In the approach to Cultural Foresight, we analyze cultural connections in layers to utilize the insights within the framework of a reconstruction. The deepest layer is that of myths and metaphors. Let's combine that with the phrase: »Too busy to improve«.

This mythological dimension can be particularly impressively demonstrated with the example of Victor Hugo's story Les Miserables. The connection of stars, justice, and divine order manifests here in one of the most poignant scenes of the work. In this dramatic sequence, archetypal motives merge with personal conflict and institutional rigidity to form a timeless narrative about morality, change, and the limits of human beliefs. What happens when you can't align daily business operations with a successful future is something we learn from Inspector Javert.

→ Follow this link and experience stars from Les Miserables to better understand what this contribution might mean.

In the Face of Stars

Javert stands on the roof of Notre Dame. In Paris of the year 1832, there is probably no darker place to reflect on the hunt for Jean Valjean. He suspects him not far away, out there in the darkness. A fugitive criminal who has fallen from grace. He turns to God as his witness, never wanting to give up. Those who leave the path of the righteous experience their just punishment.

Then he turns his gaze to the firmament and discovers the stars in their unimaginably vast number. In them, he wants to recognize that order and fire that also drives him. An act of brotherhood finds expression in the ballad Stars in the musical of Victor Hugo's masterpiece Les Miserables. Just as stars hold their course, he swears loyalty to himself, unaware of how close to the abyss of inner conflict he already stands at this moment. He still firmly believes in the motto that those who doubt and those who fall have to pay the price.

Once again, he turns to God. This time with the plea to find the fugitive Jean Valjean. »Lord, let me find him«, he pleads into the night. So that the world is freed from evil. Javert swears. He swears in the face of the stars. He will imprison Jean Valjean.

Those who do not know the novel »Les Miserables« should know that Jean Valjean is a runaway convict who served 19 years on one of the prison ships at Toulon for stealing a loaf of bread. Until he was released on parole and went underground after the encounter with Bishop »Bienvenu« Myriel to escape further injustice. His life would continue to be determined by flight. Nevertheless, he succeeds in adhering to the mission of Mr. Myriel and becoming a good man. That, however, is not so easy in the constitutional monarchy under Bourbon rule. He becomes the mayor of a small town where he also founds a factory. As the largest employer, he encounters Javert again, who has now made a career. The position on the galleys is behind him. As a police inspector, he is subordinate to his former convict, which leads to some turmoil in the further course of the story.

Myth and Obsession

The book Les Miserables was published in 1862. For me, it is a timeless work and thoroughly imbued with humanism. It is a testimony to moral progress, not only because we look at the circumstances of France from a future that seemed far away at that time. During the period known as the Bourbon Restoration from 1816 to 1830, Javert is not only that figure who hunts the hero of the story but also that institution that fails to escape its own myths. The actions of Jean Valjean lead him ever closer to doubt. He experiences in numerous encounters how Jean Valjean manages, under massive pressure and within the numerous episodes of escape, to repeatedly adhere to the mission once entrusted to him by the Bishop.

The humanism of Jean Valjean surpasses the rules of the God-fearing Javert, driving his self-doubt to ever new heights.

Javert resolves these doubts on June 7, 1832, by throwing himself from a height into the Seine. Like Jean Valjean before him, Javert escapes his fate in the form of a flight that abruptly ends his existence.

While Jean Valjean performs this turnaround after the encounter with the bishop in an act of liberation, Javert becomes through his suicide, long since a prisoner of his own dichotomy, the victim of his own stubbornness.

Too Busy to Improve

Victor Hugo has left us with Les Miserables a work that vividly shows us what happens when we do not question our myths. Javert does not fail against Jean Valjean but against his own inability to perceive the world beyond his firmly held beliefs. His tragedy lies in his adherence to an order until the end, which leaves no room for change and development.

Too busy to improve: Being too busy to question our basic beliefs is like Javert's stubbornness – a dangerous luxury in a world that requires constant change.

We must confront our own myths. On a personal level and on the level of our organizations and institutions that we are entrusted with or that we help shape. Only if we are willing to question our fundamental assumptions and allow new perspectives can we grow and evolve. Unlike Javert, we must learn that change does not mean chaos, but the opportunity for improvement. The true order of the universe perhaps lies precisely in its ability to adapt – a lesson that Javert no longer learns but is more important for us today than ever, so that our institutions do not question themselves.

The idea for this vignette arose after the workshop discussion #38 with Hannes Kolbe from AOK Nordost. He mentioned the phrase »Too busy to improve« in reference to the catchy saying »Too big to fail«, which has been heard from the years following the 2008 financial crisis to today.