People described as Traditionalists … only have a sort of tendency or aspiration towards tradition without really knowing anything at all about it; this is the measure of the distance dividing the “traditionalist” spirit from the truly traditional spirit, for the latter implies a real knowledge, and indeed in a sense it is the same as that knowledge. Continue reading
A common criticism of Christians by the pagans, is that the Christian folk religion incorporated elements of the earlier paganism. We have never denied it, to the contrary, we have called attention to it. Furthermore, we have insisted that it is not restricted to folk religion, but also to the greatest minds of the Middle Ages, including Dante and Boethius. This is hardly a reason to reject Christianity, but rather to reject paganism, since everything of value in it has been incorporated into the folk religion, not to mention the esoteric religion Continue reading
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
It is clearly important to know metaphysical truth in an active manner. This should require much contemplation of metaphysical teachings, and beyond that, a great deal of self-knowledge that is the fruit of self-observation. As long as a man remains passive in respect to metaphysical truths, he can only understand them as abstractions. Continue reading
Occasionally the question comes up, as it has again this week, as to why we focus so much on the spirituality, symbolism, social structures, and history of the Middle Ages. Although the answer can be pieced together from various posts, it may be good to summarize it in one place. … Continue reading
The problem of the possible and the real seems very simple and obvious to me, but, of course, under the condition of examining it from the metaphysical point of view. It is obvious that, from the philosophical point of view, one can always think anything whatsoever and discuss a problem endlessly without ever reaching a conclusion; it is even what characterizes profane speculation, and I have never been able to entertain any interest for those so-called “problems” that fundamentally have only a verbal existence. Continue reading
Beginning tonight, on on successive Mondays, we plan to make available selected correspondence between the various men of tradition. Our initial efforts will include letters from Rene Guenon to Guido de Giorgio (the letters in the opposite direction are missing) as well as the exchanges between Mircea Eliade and Julius … Continue reading
Evola is ignored by specialists because he goes beyond their mental schemes. He is inaccessible to dilettantes, because he has recourse to a truly prodigious erudition, and at the same time does not make any concession to the presentation of his ideas. Continue reading
Since we now have 50 people in the entire world interested in reading more of Evola, I am releasing another section. It may be of value to compare it to Mircea Eliade’s description of the Legionary movement, from which the following quote is taken. Being a profoundly Christian movement, justifying … Continue reading
The correspondence between Julius Evola and Mircea Eliade is now available in an Italian edition, edited by Claudio Mutti. These two writers created an extensive body of work on religious traditions, Eliade through the breadth and variety of his work, and Evola through his in-depth studies of traditions such as … Continue reading