Transcending oneself: this is the great imperative of the human condition; and there is another that anticipates it and at the same time prolongs it: dominating oneself. The noble man is the one who dominates himself; the holy man is the one who transcends himself. ~ Frithjof Schuon In writing … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: December 2012
Nietzsche for Today
to see whether one finds in oneself that natural disgust for vulgarity and for every base interest, that will for a voluntary, clear discipline, that ability to freely establish “values” and to achieve them without giving up whatever the cost, those values that define the Overcomer, the man not broken among so many things that are broken today. Continue reading
Numbers According to Iamblichus
Plato said that no one could be a philosopher who had not studied mathematics. Undoubtedly, this is partially a reference to the Pythagoreans. Having been a mathematical dunce until college (although not innumerate entirely), this is part of my penance, to work through Iamblichus’ treatise. Luckily, this work supplies a … Continue reading
The Mystery of Sleep
Sleep is not the mystery because it is the normal state of nature. The real mystery is awakening. Continue reading
Spiritual Combat and the War on Christmas
With all the recent publicity about the so-called “war on Christmas”, as it has weirdly become the “holiday that dare not speak its name”, it is easy to forget that there has always been a war on Christmas, ever since Herod. Continue reading
Principle X: Tradition
From Chapter II, “Principles”, La Tradition, of Mes Idées Politique, by Charles Maurras. Maurras concludes his list of fundamental principles with Tradition. This will be a disappointment to those who want to reduce everything to the rational, since traditional is beyond that. It is tied, as he says, to “blood … Continue reading
The Poet and the Sacred
The most ancient Traditions are expressed in the form of poetry as, for example, in the Hindu Mahabharata, which includes the Bhagavad Gita, or the poems of Homer. These poems were originally sung, rather than read, by the priests or wandering cantors. As we have pointed out, poetry reaches a … Continue reading
Evil, Disorder, and Redemption
When reading the parable of the Good Samaritan, modern man, full of pride and vanity, puts himself in the place of the Samaritan. The Fathers, on the other hand, saw man as the stranger beset upon by thieves. Young men today are beaten down, robbed of their heritage, and left to spiritual death. Where is their Samaritan? Continue reading
Letters from Evola to Eliade (II)
The fact is striking that your works are so overly concerned to not mention any author who does not strictly belong to the official university literature; in your works, e.g., that lovable good man Pettazzoni [Italian professor of religion] is abundantly cited, while not a single word is found about Guenon, and not even other authors whose ideas are much closer to those that permit you to certainly orient yourself in the material that you write about. Continue reading