Imam Khomeini lived in an era which we are, more or less, acquainted with. It can briefly be described as the age of tribulation for spirituality and interdiction for 'idalah, ignorance of fitrat (man's primordial nature) and emergence of numerous veils and the ensuing crises.
He lived in a world in which materialism, whether in the frame of eastern socialism or western liberalism, stood out and religion, spirituality, truth and 'Idalah were exposed to threats of all sorts by ill-wishing Mammonists, with the distorted form of something devoid of truth and value lingered in human societies
Imam Khomeini described the pre-revolution situation as the transformation from sound fitrah and its deflection, also calling the victory of the revolution as a re-change of the second nature and restoration of man's primordial nature:
"As you observed, for many long years, all strata of the nation were under affliction and oppression. It was because they had abandoned their primordial nature (fitrahAllah) and supplanted it with another. When our nation awakened, thanks to Islam, the people underwent a change from the state of submission to rejection. What counts is that we no longer succumb to oppression."
Imam has the following to say about the situation of Iran in pre-revolution period:
"The Shah ruined our political, military, cultural and economic independence, making Iran dependent on the West or East in all dimensions, killing the people of Iran under torture and dungeons of prisons."
This situation is the result of worldliness and contumacy for the self and personal interests. As put by Imam Khomeini:
"Selfishness and abandonment of an uprising for God has led us to these dark times, making the world subdue us and overpowering the Islamic countries."
On this basis, Imam Khomeini sought to present a perfect society, also attempting to actualize it within the framework of a political system. He was, therefore, an architect of a political system while simultaneously giving it reality as well.
Imam Khomeini on several occasions defined that real politic is meant to guide the society.
"Politics is meant to guide the society and push it forward, brings into account all the interests of the society and all dimensions of man and the society and guides them towards what is to their interests."