To whom it may concern.
Someone suggested there needs to be some “dialog”, presumably between Gornahoor and some unidentified dialogist. That presumes there is something to discuss, necessitating some common ground, and resulting in a common goal. The ground is Tradition. The goal is the recovery of Tradition in the West. We have not deviated from that in over five years.
In January, 2008, we set the stage in one of the first posts here on the Prophecies of Rene Guenon, Part 1 and Part 2. Some commenters seem to believe we are trying to be persuasive although we have been clear that we are only interested in facts, their consequences, and the various possibilities in give situation. These are the two relevant facts.
- The West had a valid Tradition up until the Medieval Era
- The Tradition was eventually lost, after the destruction of the Templars according to Guenon, and perhaps a little later in Evola’s view
The following corollary immediately follows from those two observations:
- In order to fully understand Tradition, it is sufficient to look to medieval Europe, its spiritual tradition, and its social structure
In other words, it is not necessary to look to alien traditions, but rather to Europe’s intellectual and spiritual past. This was brought to our attention by an essay by Ananda Coomaraswamy, in which he made clear that a European could not understand the Vedanta unless he was able to understand the great traditional writers of the West. There is a corollary to that observation:
- Anyone who scoffs at the spiritual tradition of medieval Europe is unlikely to recognize or understand the traditional elements in the Vedanta.
A project immediately presents itself, one which Gornahoor has endeavored to fulfill:
- Investigate the medieval spiritual tradition and demonstrate its teachings on metaphysics, psychology, anthropology, history, sociology, politics, and so on.
Now, all this is more than a mental exercise. The ultimate purpose is to point out a possible way for the recovery of Tradition in the West. Moreover, that purpose is not the result of a merely arbitrary and subjective preference. As the modern world cannot continue to sustain itself on its present path, Tradition will necessarily return. However, that return can be relatively peaceful or quite painful. As noted in the links to Guenon’s predictions, there are three possibilities:
- Degeneration. If no effort is made to restore Tradition, the West will degenerate into barbarity. Carl Jung noticed that in the psychology of his patients. Concerning the abandonment of the Western spiritual tradition by modern men, he had this to say:
At a time when a large part of mankind is beginning to discard Christianity, it may be worth our while to try to understand why it was accepted in the first place. It was accepted as a means of escape from the brutality and unconsciousness of the ancient world. As soon as we discard it, the old brutality returns in force … This is not a step forwards, but a long step backwards into the past.
- Assimilation. Outsiders from the East will bring Tradition back to Europe, whether by consent or by force. In the former case, Europeans would adopt the Traditions of the newcomers. In the latter, the Tradition would come by force marked by painful ethnic or racial conflicts.
- Transformation. In this scenario, the West returns to Tradition spontaneously and voluntarily. This would be initiated by a group of men that Guenon calls the “elite”, in the sense that they understand tradition and “true intellectuality”. They would be the initial leavening that would eventually spread.
Since we are not interested in promoting the cause of degeneration, and since we are not “outsiders”, Gornahoor’s real project is almost too obvious to mention.
- To promote the spontaneous and voluntary transformation of the West.
There are several preparatory steps required. Here are some we are engaged in:
- Make clear what the elite must know, both intellectually and morally. That is why we have provided so many translations into English of rare works and have brought to light many ancient texts. Obviously, we read them in the light of Tradition and not as moderns who have little conception of their real meaning.
- Encourage readers to engage with writings that are known to be initiatory, such as Dante, The Romance of the Rose, Boccaccio, etc.
- Investigate spiritual and intellectual currents that still retain real and recoverable traces of tradition.
There are other initiatives in motion, but it is too early to discuss them.
There is absolutely nothing new or novel in all this, it all derives from Guenon and other writers on Tradition. Hence, there is really nothing to dialog about; you either accept the premise or you don’t. We are interested only in the former. It is not dialogists that are required, but rather those who want to develop such ideas further, based on their own abilities and interests.
Leave a Reply