{"id":4255,"date":"2012-05-22T23:41:18","date_gmt":"2012-05-23T03:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=4255"},"modified":"2022-05-22T10:06:14","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T14:06:14","slug":"action-and-contemplation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=4255","title":{"rendered":"Action and Contemplation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1950s, several of Julius Evola<\/strong>\u2019s essays were published in the English language journal, East and West<\/cite>, by the Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente<\/strong>. In January 1954, Evola\u2019s review of Rene Guenon<\/strong>\u2019s Crisis of the Modern World<\/cite> appeared. The particular topic that interests now is the notion of the elite. Guenon refers to them as the intellectual elite, although, of course, he does not mean \u201cintellectual\u201d as referring to any sort of academic discipline, and still less to the intelligentsia of writers, journalists, artists, professors, and so on. For Guenon, the intellect refers to a spiritual gnosis, a form of knowing superior to the rational or scientific mind. Evola describes it:<\/p>\n

\nGuenon does not use the expression \u201cintellectuality\u201d in its generally accepted meaning: those to whom he refers are not \u201cintellectuals\u201d, but men of superior character whose formation has been on traditional lines and who possess a knowledge of metaphysics.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We won\u2019t be surprised that Evola brings up the topic of action at this point. Rather than an intellectual order, per se, Evola would prefer to see an Order, along the lines of the Templars<\/a>, Ismaelites<\/a>, or the Teutonic Knights<\/a>. He explains:<\/p>\n

\nAn Order represents a superior form of life within the framework of a life of action, which may have a metaphysical and traditional \u201cdimension\u201d while at the same time remaining in a more direct touch with the world of reality and with historic facts.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So far, so good. Yet, once again, Evola muddles things a little by misunderstanding the proper relationship between contemplation and action. This bane goes on to affect his understanding of castes, the roles of priests, kings, etc. In order to be true to tradition, Evola often resorts to equivocal formulations. So while we are sympathetic to the idea of an Order acting in history, it is time to clear things up. According to Evola:<\/p>\n

\n[Guenon] believes that one of the causes of the crisis of the modern world is to be found in the theoretical and practical denial of the priority that should be given to knowledge, contemplation, and pure intellectuality over action.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First of all, we can agree with Evola that by \u201caction\u201d, he does not mean:<\/p>\n

\nDisorderly, unenlightened, and purposeless activity, dominated exclusively by contingent and material considerations, aiming only at worldly achievements, which is now the only form of action modern civilization recognizes and admires.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, Evola is still not ready to conceive the priority of the intellect over action. Contemplation is the symbol of the priestly caste while action is that of the warrior caste and the king. It is true that Guenon claimed that there is a higher principle that unites the two, and this is manifested by the Priest-King of the Ancient City who embodied both principles. Evola concludes from this that neither of the two principles can claim priority over the other. This is clearly an erroneous conclusion, since the two principles need be related in some way, and is especially puzzling coming from someone who rejects any form of egalitarianism. To understand why, it is necessary to identify the underlying unifying principle, something neither Guenon nor Evola bothered to do. Let\u2019s start with this schema:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Principle<\/th>\nMental Faculty<\/th>\nTranscendental<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Contemplation<\/td>\nThinking<\/td>\nTruth<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Action<\/td>\nWilling<\/td>\nGoodness<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

From this chart, we can immediately infer that the unifying principle is the One, in Neoplatonic terms, or God (Being), in medieval terms. By the metaphysical doctrine of divine simplicity, God, or the One, cannot be divided; it is nondual, hence Truth and Goodness are the same. However, as they manifest, they separate; it is there that we see their relationship. Let\u2019s go back to Evola\u2019s rejection of action as understood by the world.<\/p>\n

\n
Disorderly Activity<\/dt>\n
The opposite of this is orderly activity, i.e., activity in harmony with the Logos, or the Cosmic Law. It is the intellect that knows the Logos.<\/dd>\n
Unenlightened<\/dt>\n
The enlightened mind is the mind that \u201cknows\u201d<\/dd>\n
Purposeless<\/dt>\n
Action cannot determine its own purpose; it is the intellect that chooses it.<\/dd>\n
Worldly achievements<\/dt>\n
Of course, true action aims at supernatural achievements.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Clearly, the intellectual principle, in relationship to action, is the ordering principle, guiding enlightened action, providing it with a purpose and a superior aim. Another way to see this, is to use the doctrine of the symbolism of the cross, as described by Guenon. Action, in \u201cthe world of reality\u201d \u201chistoric facts\u201d represents the horizontal direction and the intellect represents the vertical direction.<\/p>\n

Whatever Evola may have meant, Tradition does not accept the independence of the will in respect to the intellect. This is the false doctrine: Sic volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas<\/em> [“thus I wish, thus I command, my will stands in place of reason” (Juvenal)] . Since Evola has defended Reason, as long as its first principles are metaphysical doctrines, he cannot possibly mean that.<\/p>\n

If he means that the active life in the world, if engaged in consciously, can lead to higher states of awareness, then we are in agreement. For there is a second way to understand action. Action, in the sense of bringing the potential into act, can be understood vertically. As Guenon states, it is a goal for some to actualize all their possibilities, i.e., to make real what exists only in potential. In that struggle against instinctive and inferior forces, both within and without, I simultaneously reveal myself, create myself, and know myself<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

H\/T Avery<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Order represents a superior form of life within the framework of a life of action, which may have a metaphysical and traditional \u201cdimension\u201d while at the same time remaining in a more direct touch with the world of reality and with historic facts. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evola","category-guenon","category-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4255"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16176,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4255\/revisions\/16176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}