Power and possession have been central pursuits of modem civilization for a long time. They blocked out or distorted other features of the western renaissance (revival) which promised so much for humanity. What people have been and are still being taught to prize is money, success, and control over the lives of others, acquisition of more and more objects. Modern social, political, and economic systems, whether capitalist, fascist or communist, reject in their working the basic principle that the free and creative enfoldment of every man, woman and child is the true measure of the worth of any society. Such enfoldment requires understanding and imagination, integrity and compassion, cooperation among people and harmony between the human species and the rest of nature. Acquisitiveness and the pursuit of power have made the modern man an aggressor against everything that is non-human, an exploiter, and oppressor of those who are poor, meek, and unorganized, a pathological type which hates and distrusts the world and suffers from both acute loneliness and false pride. The need for a new renaissance is deeply felt by those sensitive and conscientious men and women who not only perceive the dimensions of the crisis of our age but who also realize that only through conscious and cooperative human effort may this crisis be met and probably even overcome.
Q:Which of the following is most opposite in meaning to the word 'central' as used in the passage?
