In this segment, Evola speculates on how myths are created and then on the necessary steps to reverse the regression of the castes. The creators of myths must come from an elite, since the masses certainly cannot do so. Yet he points out the the ultimate source of myth must come from beyond the human, all too human, sphere, so these elite are really just the visible agents of these higher powers. Presumably, he includes both the modern myths, originating from demonic powers, as well as myths that lead to a true transcendence. This would seem to preclude the notion of myth as just a noble lie, created by visible leaders to keep the masses enthralled.
The way out, then, is to mentally discard all the myths of the modern world. Freed from these illusions, the path back to the re-emergence of a warrior caste mentality is laid out. This will require a cold resoluteness of spirit, no longer subjected to the lower impulses of instinct and the subconscious. But this is as far as the natural man can go. The final stage of a true spiritual authority, will require an “invisible action from above”. Evola avoids details, as he must, since the spirit blows where it wills. All these higher men can do is prepare and dispose themselves for its reception. However, Evola does believe it will be a revival of the spirit of ancient Rome, the first Romanity. However, since he claims the modern world is the result of the regression from the Medieval spirit, it is difficult to see why the spirit would not appear as the second Romanity of the Middle Ages. We have in Dante, inter alia, a complete initiatory path which would serve the purpose of preparation.
Since the final few paragraphs deal exclusively with the question of the “elite”, I decided to make it a separate entry.
All that that we have now said, nevertheless still leaves the problem of the true genesis of the myth unquestioned. It is certainly necessary that whoever, at a given moment, invented the myths, since we cannot admit that the masses are capable of the spontaneity necessary to shape and propose them and, moreover, in their origins, myths almost always introduce a rationalistic element, an ideological residue. In the second place, when we treat the type of social myths, it is always necessary for someone to directly or indirectly sustain and feed the collective fascination that makes the myth true and active, even if we must admit that, afterward, the myth often ends up assuming kind of its own life. Here, we can elaborate on such a complex and delicate problem since even evoking the image of the tamer, as someone did, leaves us on the exterior side of the process, does not enlighten us on the deepest conditions of its possibility. We will limit ourselves to say that, as we do not believe in a spontaneity of the crowds, so we do not even believe in a true autonomy of creators of myths and collectivistic directors, since these, in their turn, appear to us almost always conditioned by forces apparently directed by them and will seldom demonstrate the qualities of true spiritual leaders. Except for rare exceptions, those who press to the coming of the lowest social strata with their visions and their myths seem the initiators of the truth and of new currents, yet are only centers of crystallization and of diffuse collective states, to be considered, in their turn, less as determinate causes than as the results of more distant and less graspable influences.
To elaborate on the true genesis of modern myths and their power, it would therefore be necessary to ask oneself the general question of the true causes of modern decadence since its various elements are without doubt in agreement; it would be necessary to create a gaze capable of penetrating into what is hidden behind the apparent events; it would be necessary to have a foreboding of the secret, and not simply human, influences which, without taking them into account, the “creators” of myths obey and which constitute the true basis of irrational attractive forces of ideologies formulated by them. It is useless to say that an investigation of the type sharply transcends both the possibilities and the methods of any sociology and applied psychoanalysis whatsoever; nor would it be to advise those who in a clear vision of the reality prefer confused hopes and disordered attempts of reaction.
From the complex view of history we exposed, it turns out, in every way, that the new mythological age corresponds to the last of the four phases of the process of the involution of the castes. The myths accompany and animate essentially the era of the servile caste, i.e., of the masses, even if with some connections with the preceding era of rationalism. So that it can be said without hesitation that even when some myths today present an aristocratic content, their true substance and their dynamic do not cease for this reason to be plebian. We also pointed out that the involutive phenomenon is not manifested only in a leveling, but also in an overturning of polarity. With this overturning the inferior, i.e., the irrational, the vital, the collective, absorbs and directs the remaining superior elements of the human and social structure: forces of “merchants”, forces of “warriors”, forces of a new pseudo-aristocracy. Reaching the zone of the spirit, these currents from below project and exalt themselves precisely in the myth and so reach their highest potential. It is thus that our time appears to us all too saturated with mysticism, but this mysticism, let us repeat once again, has nothing of the supernatural, it is deprived of a true center, and the relative atmosphere is infinitely more dangerous, destructive, and paralyzing than that of a pure materialism or collectivism.
For this reason, if we should indicate the possible ways out of the present situation, we will say without hesitating that the first task is a purification of everything that today is called spirit, an absolute surpassing of all the contemporary forms of mythology and mysticism. Spirit today means fog, sensation, evasion, exaltation. Against that, it is necessary to battle for a new era of clarity, coldness, form. With all the means, it is necessary to lead man back to himself, block him from the insane need to believe and abandon himself, to reduce himself to an essential simplicity. It is necessary to reach a world in which there are only men and things and the pure, absolute connections between one and the other, without images, without feverishness, passionate leaps, words, ideologies, gestures. We will want to call this task the destruction of romanticism and idealism in the name of a new Doric and classical epoch, of a new and Roman dignity. As preliminary conditions for a rebirth, we do not see another way. In such a world, the weak will fall, but the strongest find themselves again. They will learn to remain upright without supports and make themselves active in the higher sense. Ceasing to be moved, they move themselves. This atmosphere of clarity will signify death for every myth. Resolute borders and hard discipline will block the paths of human interiority from the violence of the collective. Slowly, in a silent inner ascent, he will thus initiate the reintegration of the personality, and new forces, forces of an ascending new cycle, will then be able to guide knowledge and action. In fact at this point we will find ourselves already beyond the era of the masses and the era of the bourgeoisie, we should have a civilization and a style of life corresponding analogously to the visions and values of the second caste, i.e., of the caste of warriors and as such transcending also the plane of every humanistic and rationalistic scheme.
But in its turn, this world composed of virility and of form, this severely personalized, Doric, substantial world will become only a starting point. To bring this world back to a transcendent point of reference, to open it to metaphysical contacts in the sense not of an alteration, but of an integration and a transfiguration, is the ultimate task. However, the resolution of such a task remains problematic. In fact, the spirit does not let itself be constructed. There are no disciplines that lead to it and today it is not preset, as there was with the secret sacred content of the first, virile, Romanity. The action of every culture remains limited to a preparation and a disposition. But because the spirit is manifested as the absolutely organizing and animating power what, is needed is a type of invisible action from above.
well to my mind there was a very valid point to be made and as far as I can tell Tomberg DOES refute it quite clearly, perhaps Evola and Guenon are sometimes contradictory or have left loose threads? To me this seems very likely. Almost every occultist leaves loose threads and Tomberg is valued so highly because he has done such an awesome job of completion.
The work of Tomberg is the most complex – it reaches further in every direction – than any of the other authors being discussed. I assume part of the point of Gornahoor is to draw correspondences between him, Guenon and Evola, but he can’t be used to bolster everything they write, even if they do concur in places.
If nobody else sees the point I’m making about slavery then so be it – and I really do NOT agree that freedom is something that should be earned, I know it was granted by God to all human beings. The elite who made possible the mind set of French Revolution and Nazi movement were philosophers – certainly Hitler would not have been possible without the Thule. I completely and utterly refute the idea that the masses are atheistic, I think this is an appalling misrepresentation of people who over the years have been abused by overlords yet for the most part manage to display a truer sort of faith, based on love not mind. The heart is all in matters of God.
And yes, the ‘elect’ are chosen from above, but they do not necessarily occupy earthly bodies – this is another fact Tomberg at least hints at. Yes the masses chose Barabbas but it was the priestly caste of Jerusalem who incited them to do so and who ensured that Jesus did not have a ‘free run’, as it were. He came to overturn their money tables and to correct them, to rid them of their corruption, their worship of caesar and money. It was the decision of the Roman emperor to commit genocide against the Jews, not his foot soldiers, they simply followed orders.
You see the fish rots from the head down and there’s no denying it. The masses – the peasantry – are (or at least were) devoted to their superiors and piously in awe of the hierarchy that they truly DID believe was divinely ordained. Humble men and women, for all their roughness and shortcomings DID love their kings and queens with a passion and would die for them. Of course when the lords, ladies, kings and queens become so utterly corrupted that even the most simple-minded pig-herder can see it, then something has to be done. THe former cannot be relied upon to do the right thing, so what happens next? People get unhappy, they feel that the smoke of satan has entered the divine order and they feel compelled to uproot it.
Others with an agenda see that there is unrest – powerful enough for an uprising – and they use that energy to take the power for themselves. And so human history goes round and round – the will to power pollutes the entire pyramid scheme again and again and again. In the end, however, cream rises and it is at least possible that a ‘good king and queen’ might somehow reign again – but they’ll have to prove their worth and credentials. If they turn out to be legitimate then it will work. If not then people will have to keep on waiting.
As for conversations, well there are important points at stake and I’m not one to let false doctrines sail by unchallenged – I could do for my own popularity’s sake, I know how men prefer to be ‘managed’, but this isn’t the place for that. I’ve seen MANY heated debates on this website – between yourself and Exit for instance – so I don’t see myself as going overboard. One has a right to an opinion after all and we’re all out of the first school – maybe we can all learn something from each other…
We have already address this here, Charlotte: Ideas and Occult History:
So you can’t use Tomberg to refute what has already been expressed here. A fortiori, you can’t rely on Tomberg to make some point, while ignoring what directly contradicts you. If you have a beef, it is with Tomberg who claimed the “proletariat professes atheism”. You have also ignored what he wrote about the need for hierarchy. Please tell us how deluded he is.
I don’t care if you agree or disagree with anything Tomberg or Guenon wrote, but misunderstanding is not the same as disagreement. You persist in using the term “elite” in your own way, rather than as it has been defined; try to be fair in your discussions. The whole point, which you are apparently missing, is that the “elite” who led the French or Bolshevik revolutions were themselves from the masses. How can you possibly believe some spiritual elite would institute the Terror, the massacres at Vendee, the Gulags? If the masses are so naturally God loving, then how can they go along with this.
Being a “leader” is not the same thing as being an “elite”. First of all, the elite, or “elect”, are actually chosen from above. A “leader” is chosen by the people. Of course, the plebeians carried the acts under a leadership; that is the whole point of the occult war. The other point is that they did not resist. Did not the masses choose Barabbas over Jesus?
Charlotte, I don’t understand your perpetual need to quibble, oppose, and debate, when a conversation would be more pleasant and useful.
So, in the interim a senior tutor from my alma mater dropped by to pass on a message, which I dutifully convey to you now:
Christian Hermeticism itself can only be knowledge of the universal which is revealed in the particular. For Hermeticism there are no ‘principles’, ‘laws’ and ‘ideas’ which exist outside of individual beings, not as structural traits of their nature, but as entities separated and independent from it.
For Hermeticism there is neither a ‘law of gravitation’ nor a ‘law of reincarnation’, there is only the attraction and repulsion of beings (atoms are beings also) in so far as gravitation is concerned, and only the attraction of beings to earthly life, with its joys and sorrows, in so far as reincarnation is concerned.
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Laws are immanent in beings, as logic is immanent in thought, being part of the very nature of thought. And true progress, true evolution, is the advance of beings from life under one law to life under another law….it is thus that the law ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ is in the process of gradually being replaced by the law of forgiveness. It is thus again that the law ‘the weak serve the strong, the people serve the king, the disciple serves the master’ will one day give way to the law shown by the Master through the act of the Washing of the Feet.
According to this higher law, it is the strong who serve the weak, the king who serves the people, the master who serves the disciple – just as in heaven, where Angels serve human beings, Archangels serve Angels and men, Principalities serve Archangels, Angels and human beings, and so on. And God? He serves all beings without exception.
Thus the ‘law’ of the struggle for existence that Darwin observed in the domain of biology will one day cede its place to the law of cooperation for existence which exists already in the cooperation of flowering plants and bees, in the cooperation of different cells in an organism, and in cooperation in the human social organism. The end of the ‘law’ of the struggle for existence and the future triumph of the law of cooperation for life has been foretold by the prophet Isaiah:
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
And the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
And a little child shall lead them.
This will be, because the new ‘law’ – ie, a profound change in the psychic and physical structure of beings – will replace the old ‘law’, firstly in consciousness, then in desires and affections, then lastly in the organic structure of beings.
‘Law’ succeed one another and change. They are not immutable metaphysical entities. It is the same wiht respect to ‘principles’ and ‘ideas’. The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath (Mark ii, 27028) – here is the relationship between beings, on the one side, and laws, principles and ideas, on the other.
Meditations on the Tarot, Letter IX, The Hermit
So now we have reached the time of change and of the returning Spirit. I am called upon to point out that the ‘masses’ – the sheep, the children – are NOT naturally atheists, but have had their faith, hope and love assaulted by those in whom they placed their supreme trust. In much the same way as an abused child may become hardened in his or her heart, or a kicked dog might want to bite, have the ‘plebians’ revolted against tyrannical overlords. The tower falls.
Furthermore, those selfsame plebians could hardly have carried out their revolutionary acts without effective leadership from the ranks of the ‘elite’ – the Illuminati in the case of the French Revolution, or Thule society in the case of the Nazi party, for example. It might also be pointed out that the kingship of France was in itself held by usurpers at the time of the revolution, the Merovingians having been sold out to the Franks centuries before. At some stage the cycle of closed circles – the materialism of the mages – must be broken in order for those within to be free to follow the true Master.
Oh I can see it alright! And I have always thought that a ‘divine kingship’ is the ideal form of government. My protests centre on the fact that the hierarchy has succumbed to total corruption, those in charge either did not prove worthy, or have been usurped and power seized by the wrong people. Get to the top of the earthly pyramid – the manifestation of the hierarchy, and I can guarantee you wouldn’t like what’s there. The war in heaven has produced unimaginable horrors here on earth – who is watching the watchers, who can reach past their veils?
Apart from that, my issue all along has been one of solutions – it’s alright pointing out the problem but what is to be DONE? high ideals are fine, but when you’ve been witness to real horror and comprehended the real and present problems of the world, like starving children and millions of sex slaves, it sheds rather a different light on things, the rose-tinted glasses no longer cut it. The fact also remains that most countries have done away with their royalty and won’t ever go back to them. The question for ‘spiritual elites’ is one of how to alleviate the burden of suffering for people here on Earth – this is why we come down from the Holy mountain, in order to help others. This is why the Buddha, king of overcoming karma, preached compassion – united we stand and divided we fall, as we are ALL sparks from God, not just the few at the top,be they priests, artists or politicians.
At the very end of the spiritual exercises Tomberg warns us most stringently that the biggest test of all for the ‘mage’ is to go back down to Earth after reaching the pinnacle – it is the ultimate test of one’s Spirit over one’s ego, for surely it’s a better view from the top of the pile!! it’s SO MUCH NICER to be directing the world of formation and clairvoyantly determining the course of evolution than trying to implement change in the realm of creation. I don’t underestimate the trials of this, of course, having battled with them for decades, but I know it takes much greater courage to risk everything in order to see the way it looks from the lowly sheep pen. And in any case, who here is NOT part of ‘the masses’, I don’t imagine any of us are driving round in rolls royces or are free from the long arm of the law, even if we’re lucky enough to have divine protection in other spheres? Got to be realistic about our actual influence in this realm, although a more organised system would reap more tangible results.
I also seem to remember Tomberg speaking of how these hierarchies will, at some stage, necessarily have to move into the spiritual realm precisely because of the very problems I speak of. In particular the office of Pope. The Emperor is a spiritual fact, but where does he really reside? Not in the Roman region, I know that much, he isn’t the head of any earthly scheme.
As for freedom, you’re wrong about that one, it is our sovereign gift from God and a terrible sin for one human being to remove the freedoms of another. To say that some people do not deserve to be free but are born to be slaves of others is devilish – can you imagine the place where they kept the slaves on the coast of Africa? You know there is still a metre high tide mark inside the building where the excrement level stained the walls – so called human ‘elites’ kept other human beings standing in a metre of shit for days on end. Try telling me that the slave masters are somehow superior and I’ll fight you until one of us dies.
Freedom is not a given; it needs to be earned.
In the Arcana of the Emperor, Tomberg does indeed advocate the precise same hierarchy that Evola endorses. These are not in the least “matters of opinion”, these are the fruits of gnosis. Tomberg writes:
This has nothing to do with social class, an artificial construct, which has never been mentioned on this blog. What Evola and Tomberg are describing is the Divine Order, the reflection of the supernatural on earth. These castes are not arbitrary, the are due to the inherent differences in people, and their respective roles, duties, or dharma, in their incarnation. It is not a question of someone getting an extra privilege; how can that be conclusion be reached from anything written here?
Of course we are in different times; that is the entire point! Tomberg says the West is getting old, in other words, it is at the end of an age. A few retrograde movements you describe are no more than small eddies in the downward current, of little ultimate import. There is no right direction, since the direction now is towards dying of old age, rejecting legitimate hierarchy, being blind to the supernatural, and following any number of false movements because they make us “feel good”. The only direction is a radical reversal, a new beginning.
Power is not the problem; we have to look beyond our immediate experience. Those in power have the proletarian mindset, a mass mind, that wants to force entire populations into spiritual darkness by eliminating any and all distinctions, including the most fundamental one, that of male and female. But there is no point in my repeating what has already been written here over and over. Arguing opinions is futile; it is really a question of learning to “see”, to see in the depths, and not be misled by appearances. Some few will begin to “see”; the future will belong to them. Everyone else are floating flotsam and jetsam, carried along in the currents of the modern world, whatever illusions they privately hold to make that trip tolerable.
on the subject of the Virgin, I don’t think that people really are turning away, in fact I think that ordinary people are embracing her more than ever, just not necessarily in a way that fits with the Roman Catholic mold. I think this is something you may have to consider. Fair enough it may be manifesting (at the moment) as a more primitive form of ‘goddess worship’, but the basic principle of turning to the divine feminine is getting stronger by the day. I agree there can be a lack of understanding with respect to what ‘divine’ and ‘feminine’ – plus the two together – REALLY mean, but all the same I think we are going in the right direction.
Even Tomberg had to admit that the ‘true Church’ is a spiritual body – we know this; there has to be freedom.
well it’s a matter of opinion I guess, and I have only just started reading Evola so can’t pretend to be an expert. However it seems to me that he focuses far more on class and notions of elitism than I ever heard Tomberg openly express. But we live now in different times.
I agree with their assessment of the French revolution and I would be the last person to advocate blind anarchy – whenever I speak to revolutionaries, and believe me I know plenty, I urge them to consider carefully the consequences o their ideas and actions. Never mind the first step, I will say, it’s the step you have to take once power is assumed that ALWAYS causes the problems….
I think the difficulty with the attitude you (and Evola) advocate nowadays is that we’re in a situation where it’s very difficult to trust those in charge – who I suppose are the ‘elites’, the ones with money at any rate. We may or may not be past the stage of a ‘peasants’ revolt’, but I think it is perfectly justifiable for ordinary people nowadays to question the motives of their ‘superiors’ (especially political) and to wonder whether the people who’ve been appointed to govern are in fact up to the task. It seems to me that the ones who truly have the qualifications to rule – on the moral scale in particular – lack the desire to go into the governing machine, which in pretty much every country is corrupt at some level. And yes, since Tony Blair’s era – he is the classic example of someone who is apparently a member of the ‘elite’ but in fact is the antithesis of such a word in real terms – England went well on its way to the dogs. This is the whole point. Those with the moral fibre necessary to really good judgement – the true followers of the Virgin – want no part to play in the charade that is global politics.
Of course I understand that true ‘elites’ are not the politicians, they are the ones who possess the gifts of the Holy Spirit, healing, prophecy and so on. However, there is a world beyond that of formation, and sooner or later the ideas must be put into practice. How shall this be done, who shall ‘bite the bullet’, as it were? Universal salvation – something the virgin would certainly wish for us – entails saving one and all, not just the ‘better ones’. My concern nowadays is that practical solutions are required – we have all been thinking now for aeons and find ourselves irrevolcably on Earth for at least the duration of the present life. Correct ‘tactics’ at an occult level are indeed necessary to understand – and this is something I think both Evola and Guenon can help with, maybe even more than Tomberg in some ways, at a certain junction, but I still feel that the former’s understanding of ‘elite’ is outmoded. This is in part a problem of time – those who came before don’t have the advantage of our hindsight!
You seem to be missing his point, Charlotte. First of all, he lived a monkish life with few possessions. The attitude he described was that of Rome, not of Greece. The former was not always decadent and decayed. The very notion implies it had to start from a higher point. A more apt analogy would be the UK, which used to have the “stiff upper lip”, but is now decadent, atheistic, crime ridden, and hopeless for a large segment of the youth.
The Renassaince was the restoration of Greek culture, but Evola regarded it as an ersatz version.
In the Force arcana, Tomberg writes: It is terrestrial electricity that we make use of in the technical field of our civilisation but also in hypnosis, in demagogic propaganda, in movements of revolutionary masses … for electrical energy has its analogous forms on various planes — physical, psychic, and even mental.
You see, Evola and Tomberg has the same fundamental worldview, whatever the difference in details. Each of those elements mentioned by Tomberg are also found in Evola, as even a cursory reading of the most recent translation will reveal.
Tomberg also writes: The Reformation, rationalism, the French revolution, materialistic faith of the nineteenth century, and the Bolshevik revolution, show that everywhere mankind is turning away from the Virgin.
Once again, did not Evola make the identical list of those forces opposing spiritual renewal?
Tomberg writes: “Napoleon understood the direction which Europe had taken–the direction towards the complete destruction of hierarchy.” Tomberg also wrote that Napoleon should have ruled by the sceptre rather than the sword. Did not Evola say that the sceptre would be the sign of the return of the spiritual elite?
Tomberg describes the French revolution, the communist revolution, and nationalism as perverse collective intoxications. Did not Evola use similar language? Do you now understand that a stage of detoxification is the necessary first step?
Where did Evola say that you have to read more books? The “knowing” he is talking about is identical to the gnosis of Tomberg.
From the little I’ve read of Evola, his insight into using the Left Hand Path as a means of dealing with the constraints of the Kali Yuga is certainly intriguing – at least, it enables one to ‘swallow’ the humiliation that in some respects seems necessary. Perhaps this is what Tomberg also knew because otherwise I don’t see massive similarities between the two authors – I see far more between Guenon and Tomberg, but perhaps I do not know Evola well enough yet to notice any great depth of comradeship between them – certainly Tomberg is not stuck in time….
I also can’t help feeling that Evola is somewhat blinded by his own exalted situation in life – could he POSSIBLY be a Roman aristocrat!?!
For example, this statement here – ‘it is necessary to battle for a new era of clarity, coldness, form’ – whatever one’s opinion of its veracity, far more clearly points to classical Greece rather than Rome, the empire of which was notable for its extremes of decadence and decay. Fair enough Dante was Italian, perhaps with all the princely sentiment that entails, but the Renaissance was really one of the classical Greek era not the Roman – of course everyone knows this, but it still seems necessary to point it out in this context.
Personally I feel that a lot of his material has passed its time now, the Spirit is fresh and the ‘masses’ (how archaic!) who live on the land, wherever they’re allowed to tend to be more in touch with the natural elan than their self-professed superiors, who are hampered by inflated egos, the wrong sort of living and generally too much ‘knowing’ of the kind that comes from books.
Spiritual regeneration comes from the simple virtues of faith, hope and love, the triumph of the heart centre. This is something Dante knew well, as he would have accomplised nothing without Beatrice. Sure enough she enlivened his mind, but first she had to set his heart on fire.
It is interesting, although I would proceed with caution. I think part of the similarity may be due to their mutual background in Hermetism, certainly not from a direct connection. What Evola wrote sure does sound like grace, but I doubt he would approve of that word.
This really makes Tomberg’s connection with Evola crystal clear – thank you. It also bespeaks Evola’s “Catholic” sense of grace in a metaphysical context.