Noli foras ire, in te ipsum redi: in interiore hominis habitat veritas.
Don’t go outside yourself, turn back into yourself; the truth resides in the interior of man.
~ St. Augustine

The following passage is taken from Ultima Thule by Arthur Branwen, where he is describing the beginning of Evola’s interest in prehistory. [My translation.]

The central idea of this Evolian study, that along with other of his writing of that time shows the guiding influences of a new cultural perspective different from this earlier interests, was that in Germany of those years, there was emerging a type of culture intended to promote a spiritual and political rebirth that takes as its starting point the study of the most archaic roots of the German, and European, people. A culture that does not stop at pure erudition and tends instead to create a forma mentis, a reflection of a new state of mind tending to abandon the Spenglerian “Decline of the West”, not assimilable in any way to the various sciences of antiquity studied in an “antiseptic” manner in the universities which, on the other hand, in themselves do not demand any interior change and do not change in any way the relationship between man and the world.

In other words, one cannot hope to understand these ancient myths without oneself becoming spiritually like the people who created those myths. One has to know the way they thought and felt, that is, their forma mentis. Man cannot be studied from the outside as though he is nothing but a chemical reaction.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

Titus Burckhardt, in his essay “Because Dante Was Right,” argues that one of the main themes of the Commedia is “the reciprocal relationship between knowledge and will.”

Knowledge of the eternal truths is potentially present in the human spirit or intellect, but its unfolding is directly conditioned by the will, negatively when the soul falls into sin, and positively when this fall is overcome. The different punishments in Purgatory that Dante describes can be regarded, not only as posthumous states, but also as stages in ascesis, that lead to the integral and primordial condition, in which knowledge and will – or more precisely, knowledge of man’s eternal goal and his striving after pleasure – are no longer separated from one another.

Will is the motive force of the human being, and corresponds to the vita activa. Knowledge refers to the mind and awareness, and corresponds to the vita contemplativa. By using our will and directing our energies toward understanding and spiritual growth, we can bring about the “unfolding” of the eternal truths in ourselves. But conversely, it is our knowledge, or lack of knowledge, which determines how we apply our will. Thus, we may think we are on a spiritual path, but if we are being guided by faulty knowledge, we may only be chasing delusion.

All human beings desire happiness and pleasure, and exercise their will to varying degrees in pursuit of them. But in the ‘normal,’ unenlightened state in which will and knowledge are separated, man lacks knowledge of what will truly bring him happiness and pleasure, and so he exercises his will in vain, seeking fulfillment and stability where there is none to be found.

The sinner and saint alike both strive for happiness and pleasure. But the sinner’s pursuit is based on confusion, on ignorance of causality, and on mis-perception. Hence, he ‘misses the mark.’ He seeks his happiness in physical pleasure; in entertainment; in wealth and fame and power; in information, theories, and other such pseudo-knowledge; and then he reaps disappointment when these worldly pursuits not only do not satisfy his longing, but intensify his suffering. Dante provides many graphic examples of this in the Inferno.

The saint, or aspirant, sees the sinner’s life as the error and folly that it is, for no true happiness is to be won that way. So rather than wander aimlessly on the horizontal plane of existence, and risk descending to the depths of despair and suffering, he wills the vector of his life upwards towards the transcendent and Absolute. There are multiple ways of doing this, as was explained in the article on the Fedeli d’Amore. The relevant distinction here is between the ways of the vita activa, such as knightly service in the Crusades, and the vita contemplativa, such as was exemplified by Bernard of Clairvaux, who guides Dante through the highest heavenly spheres. Both ways are valid and complement one another. Bernard, after all, played a crucial role in the formation and structuring of the Templar Order.

The vita contemplativa emphasizes the development of knowledge, and the vita activa emphasizes the development of will. Regarding contemplation, Burckhardt tells us that “the human spirit, by penetrating more and more deeply into the Divine Wisdom, becomes gradually transformed into it.” Similarly, the human will, by submitting completely to the Divine Will, such as is exemplified in the total devotion of the Crusader Knight, gradually is transformed into it.

[T]he will of him who knows God springs from the source of freedom itself. Thus real freedom of the will depends on its relationship with the truth, which forms the content of essential knowledge. Conversely, the highest vision of God, of which Dante speaks in his work, is in accord with the spontaneous fulfillment of the divine will. Here knowledge has become one with the divine truth and will has become one with the divine love; both qualities reveal themselves as aspects of Divine Being, the one static and the other dynamic.

Or as the Buddhist tradition teaches, the compassionate activity of an enlightened being is in no way contrived, but rather is the spontaneous and natural activity of the Buddha nature when it is no longer hindered by dualistic fixation and delusion. The primordial non-duality of emptiness and form is reflected in the non-duality of the clear, luminous mind of enlightenment, in which “knowledge has become one with the divine truth,” and the pure, compassionate form and activity of a Buddha, whose “will has become one with the divine love.” This is the state described by Dante in the final Canto of Paradiso.

The path articulated so beautifully by Dante in the Commedia is a path that leads from sin, error, and suffering, to repentance, conversion, ascesis, and redemption, and ultimately to wisdom, beatitude, and realization of the Absolute. He makes clear that there are many pitfalls along the way, and that even those who have attained to great heights can still miss the mark in subtle ways, such that the summit still eludes them. But, from the depths and heights of his great love, Dante produced for us a guide to the path, and a portrait of its ultimate goal.

For those interested in studying Dante in the context of Tradition, I recommend the following works:

Henry Dwight Sedgwick’s Dante is an excellent introductory text.

Titus Burckhardt “Because Dante is Right” in Mirror of the Intellect

Christian Moevs The Metaphysics of Dante’s Comedy

I prefer Allen Mandelbaum’s English translation of the Divine Comedy to the others I have seen.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

If the primordial tradition is necessarily monotheistic, why does polytheism makes its appearance? Again, polytheism, properly understood, is compatible with monotheism provided the understanding of Principle is kept in mind. Furthermore, these periods of early history that seem to be polytheistic are still quite far from the prehistory of the primordial tradition and hence reflect a certain decadence.

Nevertheless, the elite have always known monotheism, and true polytheism can only be attributed to the vulgar. For example, we have the famous example of Akhnaton, written about by Savitri Devi, who tried unsuccessfully to re-introduce monotheism to the Egyptian people.

In the case of ancient Greece, the philosophers were aware of the truth of monotheism. The most famous of them, Socrates, was tried and executed for his beliefs. The charge was impiety against the established religion.

So we see that persecution for religious heresy starts with the pagans and predates popular monotheism and Christianity. Unfortunately, thought crimes have always been part of history and continue to our day, led by the non-Christian governments of Europe. And, today, just as in the case of Socrates, truth is no defense.

Plato learned a hard lesson from this, and suggested in the Republic that a man should follow the religion of his country, as least publicly. However, privately Plato held a different view. He felt it was improper to divulge knowledge of the true God to the vulgar, for fear of exposing such a great truth to ridicule. What was true in Plato’s era is just as true today.

Plato writes in his second letter:

Beware, however, lest these doctrines be ever divulged to uneducated people. For there are hardly any doctrines, I believe, which sound more absurd than these to the vulgar, or, on the other hand, more admirable and inspired to men of fine disposition.

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In Il mito del sangue, Julius Evola has an important chapter on the theories of Hermann Wirth. In particular, Evola is interested in Wirth’s thesis of the Polar, or Hyperborean, origin of the Nordic race, a theory that himself accepts. He begins the discussion with a quote from Oswald Menghin, the rector of the University of Vienna:

More than any other discipline, the science of prehistory has been brought, and even more, should be brought, to the center of the spiritual battle of our times. I don’t think I’m mistaken in asserting that general prehistory will be the science that guides the next generations.

Unfortunately, Prof. Menghin’s advice is little followed today. There are a few reasons for that. The primary reason is that few people are even aware that there is a spiritual battle in progress; moreover, even fewer, probably, even understand what a spiritual battle is.

Then there is the problem of methodology. The belief is prevalent that the only approach involves the scientific method. Perhaps this method can provide a little information, but it does not, and never could, offer any insight into the inner nature or spirit of prehistory. Obviously, that would prove useless in a spiritual battle.

Finally, there is the question of pragmatism. Because of the emphasis on the false doctrine of evolution, few see the purpose of even looking into the prehistorical past in order to gain insight into the present. In this view, it is the future that matters, and the past something to be overcome or forgotten.

Yet, at the time he wrote, Evola had reason to be optimistic. He continues:

In recent times there can be found in many circles a significant impulse to return to origins. The origins, here, appear under a special, spiritual light. He turns back to a presentiment that in primordial times he lived in a still pure state with meanings and symbols that were then lost, obfuscated or altered. Prehistoric research was brought from the level of lifeless scientific-archeological or anthropological positivism to a level of spiritual synthesis, guaranteed, thereby, to open new horizons for the true history of civilization.

This impulse apparently run out of gas. Instead of opening new horizons, we have three major theories of origins that limit what we know about ourselves.

The first is the biological view, that man is a genetic accident, made “in the image of animals”, or that the Nordic race evolved out of Africa. The individual is no longer a spiritual being with a Will, but rather the resultant of various electro-chemical processes in the brain.

Next is the return to polytheism. First of all, the purpose of the study of prehistory is not to return to the forms of the past; they are “the past” for a good reason. Secondly, as we learned from Guenon, polytheism is a sign of decadence and any genuine primordial tradition is necessarily monotheistic.

The worst, of course, is the negative, whiny, and ignorant rants of Alain de Benoist who sees nothing but decadence and disease, not only in the present state of Western man, but also in the past. Instead of recognizing a primordial unity, he proposes a plurality of unrelated peoples and ideas. Compare that with the grand and inspiring vision —The Flowering of European Civilization — of Donoso Cortes, that unifies the greatest civilization of the West and relates them to the present. No wonder Evola held such a high opinion of Cortes.

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As Cologero explained in recent post, the simple packaging of “paganism” as a replacement for the decayed Christianity we have in the West today represents no possible positive development. Where the Neopagan reacts to the ‘life-denying’ forms of Christianity with a crazed-Dionysianism differs little from the reaction that has come to bear the modern cult of Western suicide. It can hardly constitute some form of revival of the Asatru tradition. As Evola reminds us in Against the Neopagans, when “seeking to transcend certain aspects of Christianity,” we must ensure we are “rising upwards” and not falling further.
A common argument used by Neopagan advocates is that polytheism is more in accord with the Aryan spirit than Monotheism because, as history shows, Aryan religions in fact tended towards polytheism, as Asatru, Hinduism, the Ancient Egyptian religion, and Ancient Greek religion show us. A deeper look into the roots of these religions, and to the claims advanced by Hermann Wirth, perhaps contradict this view. As Evola wrote of Wirth:

Wirth claimed to reconstruct not only the history of the Nordic?Atlantic race, but moreover its religion. It would have been a superior, monotheistic religion, distinct from the animism and demonism of the African and Asiatic natives, without dogmas, of a great purity and potentially universal … The primordial religion of 15,000 BCE would have been solar and penetrated with the sense of a universal law of “eternal return”, of death and rebirth … So Wirth speaks of a primordial Nordic monotheism and of a “cosmic Nordic Christianity” that would therefore date back to thousands of years before Christ.

The sense of a primordial singular origin is not lost to the “Polytheistic” religions either. In Asatru, the universe is formed through the clash of fire and ice, which come from the higher land of Muspellheim and lower land of Nifelheim, respectively. The gods of Asatru were the result of this seeming chaos, and it must be emphasized that the gods were here united very much with the forces they represented, and were not yet divorced from their elements as would happen later on.

The Ancient Greek creation myth is similar. The coming together of the God of the heavens, Uranus with the earth goddess, Gaia, formed the Earth. Together with Nyx, the two came from an original chaos according to the mythology, representing, again, a common origin. The supremacy of Uranus in relation to Gaia must be stressed. The later ascension of Cronus and Zeus, all gods above the earth, shows this. Gods of the realms below the sky, such as Oceanus and Hades, always played a lesser role, despite being kings of their realm. Some genealogies, such as that of Hesiod, place Gaia before Uranus and Uranus as her son, but this must represent degeneration in the myths. Ironically, Hesiod recognized he lived in the inferior Iron Age and despaired of it, but he was not able to dissociate the misinterpretations of his age from higher forms of the mythology.

In these ‘polytheistic’ faiths, a clear original unity among the godly forces is demonstrated. It is only when this understanding is lost and the gods became made more earthly and human that the transcendent functions that these religions provided could be mistaken for material over-intoxication of the senses. Also, the fact that there is still a central unity towards these mythologies must be realized. The gods are not separate entities but closely interconnected forces and cannot be understood otherwise.

In the case of the Ancient Egyptians, whose history in the modern sense we are more aware of farther back in time, one must wonder if perhaps that the monotheistic period of Aten was not simply an aberration, but perhaps a revival of an older cult that we are no longer aware of. Or maybe a memory came over the Egyptians of the time to something more primordial, to a tradition stretching back that they only had a hazy understanding of.

With these points, we can come to a deeper understanding of the meaning behind the history of Western polytheism. While different forces were in fact given different names, these ‘gods’ were ultimately part of a common unity. They became more separate only after becoming more human. Similarly, the Western Christian God has evolved to become increasingly ‘personal,’ and abstract. He has been increasingly divorced from his creation, seen less in our world but rather more confined to the heavens. While the ultimate fall of the ‘paganisms’ lay in the gods becoming too human, Christianity has been made abstract to the point of becoming obsolete in the eyes of secular humanists for example, who claim to follow its values but call themselves atheists.

It is not a matter of trading one decayed form for another but a return to a primordial understanding of the world is necessary for Western man.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

There has been a movement of late to promote polytheism as the authentic tradition of the West. This is justified by three arguments:

• Etiology. Polytheism is allegedly associated with Europeans and monotheism with Semites.
• Instrumentalism. Polytheism leads the believer to a certain set of values judged to be superior to values of believers in monotheism.
• Tradition. Polytheism is the authentic Tradition of the West.

None of these arguments address the question of the truth of polytheism, nor do they define it properly. The proponents of the first two arguments can be said to be invincibly ignorant, since they are naïve about metaphysics and don’t fully grasp the significance of their position.

However, the proponents of Tradition are deliberately ignorant, since there is no support in Guenon, nor even in Evola, to justify their position. “Tradition” does not mean a return to the forms of the past, something that, in any case, is quite impossible.

In his essay Monotheism and Angelology (from which we quote below), Rene Guenon exposes the nature of the error that gives rise to polytheism. First of all, polytheism means the existence of a plurality of totally independent principles, whereas these are secondary aspects of the supreme principle. This lack of understanding is the result of a failure to understand those traditional truths that refer to the divine aspects or attributes.

While individuals may believe this error, in the general case, it reflects the degeneration of a traditional from about to disappear. No tradition whatsoever could ever be polytheist. In particular, any theory of the evolution from polytheism to monotheism (e.g., that of Comte), is the reversal of the normal order of things.
All genuine tradition is monotheistic, that is, it affirms the oneness of the Supreme Principle — or more strictly speaking, “non-duality” — from which everything is derived and on which it entirely depend. Let’s be clear that polytheism and monotheism apply to the religious plane, and Principle is the corresponding idea at the metaphysical level.

Nevertheless, monotheism is not incompatible with a multiplicity of divine attribute and even with angels, understood as representing or expressing certain divine attributes within the order of supra-formal manifestation.

Angels exist in all traditions, and the Devas of Hinduism correspond to the angels of the Semitic religions. Angels are supra-formal states of being, and they are actually higher states of Being. Understood in this sense, we could even regard the Norse, Greek and Roman gods and goddesses as angelic beings, provided we look beyond the sentimental portrayal of the angels in Christian art. But in no way are they independent principles; they are valid to the extent that they reflect the attributes of the One principle.

CONCLUSION: The re-emergence of polytheism is not a reflection of a revolt against the modern world, but rather of an acquiescence to it. It is a symptom of the degeneration of the modern world.

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Lacking nothing, contemplative, immortal, self-originated, sufficed with a quintessence: he who knows that constant, ageless, and ever-youthful Spirit, knows himself and does not fear death.
~ Shankara

In his important but little read essay, The Vedanta and Western Tradition, A. K. Coomaraswamy points the way for Europeans to come to an understanding of the metaphysics of the Vedanta. He begins with this advice:

The educated man of today is completely out of touch with those European modes of thought and those intellectual aspects of the Christian doctrine which are nearest those of the Vedic traditions. A knowledge of modern Christianity will be of little use because the fundamental sentimentality of our times has diminished what was once an intellectual doctrine to a mere morality that can hardly be distinguished from a pragmatic humanism. A European can hardly be said to be adequately prepared for the study of the Vedanta unless he has acquired some knowledge and understanding of at least

• Plato
• Philo
• Hermes Trismegistus
• Plotinus
• Gospel of John
• Dionysius the Areopagiite
• Meister Eckhart
• Dante

Eckhart, with the possible exception of Dante, can be regarded from an Indian point of view as the greatest of all Europeans.

Here are some of the major highlights:

• Metaphysics is not a system, but a consistent doctrine
• It is concerned not only with conditioned and quantitative experience, but also with universal possibility
• There are things which are beyond the reach of discursive thought and which cannot be understood except by denying things of them
• The immanent Spirit within you is teh only knower, agent, and transmigrant
• Ultimate reality is a Supreme Identity in which the opposition of all contraries, even of being and not-being, is resolved
• Its “worlds” and “gods” are levels of reference and symbolic entities which are neither places nor individuals but states of being realizable within you
• For the metaphysician, it suffices to show that a false doctrine involves a contradiction of first principles
• The quest is achieved only when he himself has become the object of his search
• The Vedanta can be known only to the extent that it has been lived
• Man is unaware of this hidden treasure within himself because he has inherited an ignorance that inheres in the very nature of the psycho-physical vehicle which he mistakenly identifies with himself
• What is called “creation” in religion, is called “manifestation” in metaphysics
• Only when we are convinced that nothing happens by chance that the idea of Providence becomes intelligible
• Each human life has run its course when all its possibilities have been exhausted
• Whatever has been an eternal reason or idea or name of an individual manifestation can never cease to be such; the content of eternity cannot be changed

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The Fedele d’Amore was an initiatic society of Italian poets, and Dante was the most prominent among them. For these poets, the image of the beloved revealed the Divine Sophia, thereby awakening higher stages of consciousness. For Dante, it was Beatrice who served as his guide.

A similar tradition existed among the Islamic poets. Ibn Arabi had his Nizam, the beautiful and intelligent daughter of a patron. For Hafiz, it was the vision of the beautiful daughter of a nobleman that led to his vocation as poet and mystic.

Some suspect a direct connection between the Sufis and Dante. However, Dante learned his craft from the Sicilian poets in the court of the Viking Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, in Palermo. Since Sicily had previously been ruled by the Arabs, it is not unreasonable to postulate an indirect connection through those Sicilian poets. However, a typological similarity does not necessarily involve an historical connection.

In an attempt to clarify and justify such a spiritual way, I will list the major ways.

The Way of the Fakir

The way of the Fakir involves the use of physical austerities to develop concentration and will. This is continued in certain practices of Christian monks who use painful tourniquets or among Orthodox Jews who wear abrasive underwear. Although certain powers and a strong will can follow from such practices, as the Buddha discovered, they are insufficient to lead to full awakening.

The Way of the Monk

The way of the Monk uses devotional practices and rituals to transcend ordinary life. In this way, the emotions can be purified and lower desires transcended. The study of theology can lead to sound doctrine and a steady mind. However, this type of knowing is still at the level of the rational mind or faith, and does not rise to the level of gnosis or Wisdom.

The Way of the Yogi

The way of the Yogi is what is most commonly recognized as the ultimate spiritual path. The Yogi transcends all the personal or individual states of being, and may become a jivan-mukti — that is, someone enlightened while still in the body. More commonly, such states are not permanent, and usually involve a series of epiphanies that leave an indelible mark on consciousness. The examples of Plotinus and Solovyov come to mind.

This way is what Guenon describes, and is characteristic of the Brahmin caste.

The Way of the Knight

This is the way of someone active in the world, and is characteristic of the Kshatriya , the way favored by Evola. It involves both the development of the intellect and the will. Since all material effects have their origin in spiritual causes, this path requires not only a deep understanding of the world of spirit, but also the power and courage to bring such ideas into manifestation. Furthermore, it is only through the power of the human will that the will of the angels (or gods) can manifest on the plane of human consciousness.

Although this path involves the whole being, and may be sufficient in itself, since it deals with the action of the world-soul or Sophia, there is often something lacking. That is why the knights of yore took up the practice of courtly love.

The Way of Tantrika

This is the most mysterious way, little known until recent times, and subject to many misconceptions. It is usually confused with pure sensuality, whereas its real aim is the development of power through the harnessing of sexual or attractive energies, particularly the power to bring cosmic ideation into material manifestation.

Often women are attracted to the sensual nature, particularly if they have been introduced to certain tantric practices prematurely. (It is not so important for men.)

The other manifestation of this way is Sex Magick. However, in practice this devolves to little more than a sexualized way of the Fakir. For example, Aleister Crowley’s descriptions of sex magick are hardly appealing and turn out to be little more than tedious sexual gymnastics. Certain powers appropriate to the Fakir may be developed in this way, but it is ultimately self-limiting.

The true way of Tantrika involves a Knight and a Lady, who participate on the path together. Indications of this are give by Miguel Serrano and Boris Mouravieff in Gnosis. Further elaboration of this topic must await future essays.

Copyright © 2009, 2010 Gornahoor Press

The General McChrystal affair has dominated the news media today. I have no intention of debating the merit or demerits of the war in Afghanistan, but rather about the coverage of the incident itself.

A bevy of commentators and government officials are trotted out to deal with the following two questions:

1. Were the General’s comments insubordination of not?
2. What should be the appropriate punishment for the General?

But none of these highly paid experts have asked the far more interesting questions.

Why is the military brass in near mutiny against their civilian leaders?
Is Joe Biden respectable (that is, worthy of respect) as a world leader?

I’m not in a position to answer such questions, but they should have been asked. The easy road is “gotcha” journalism, where the only issue is whether or not something said should have been. The actual content of the thought, whether it expresses truth or not, is simply irrelevant in today’s environment.

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The quality known as repose in the ancient Greek is a manifestation of that serenity which belongs to a people not yet disturbed by self-doubt, self-immolation and self-contempt. It is the extreme harmony of a mentality not yet shaken by the tortures of introspection or inner conflict, by what Goethe called ‘two souls throning within one bosom’. The beauty of the Greeks is the beauty of men who have never in their wildest dreams beheld the horrors of Dante’s Inferno.

Poorer than the moderns in this respect, they consequently have the bliss which is partly ignorance, and this bliss is revealed in their art. Everything that has appeared in western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire is certainly less serene, less blissful, more foolish, perhaps, in its wisdom, than was the partial ignorance of the Greeks; but it is more fretful, more nervous, more subterranean and subcutanesous, more full of insight and second sight, and consequently, therefore, more disturbing.

~ Anthony Ludovici, Perosnal Reminiscences of Auguste Rodin

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