The main doctrine of Evolutionism is of course that man ascended out of a primordial bowl of soup and slowly evolved into the intelligent being it is today. We started out as bacteria, evolved into fish, developed feet, walked on to land, and over millions of years we're now very clever and we've landed men on the moon, proof of our advanced condition. Thus its doctrine is essentially that of ascension out of becoming. This then is the counter-doctrine to Traditionalism which maintains man descended into his state from an original eternal Principle.
But if we are to consider that man evolved out of nothing then we must also accept that this same primordial chaos is still the basis for all life. It then follows that there must be beings everywhere in various degrees of evolution still today, either the most advanced such as man, advanced monkeys on the brink of being human, beings right on the edge of becoming monkeys, and so on. In essence, there should still be primtive cavemen about whom the evolutionists claim we came from and that are the basis for future humans.
But nowhere in nature do we see this. There are no proto-humans anywhere who as monkeys mutated and are now able to do primitive tasks like cavemen. Not one ape or monkey has been found that is even marginally human or that mutated and broke away from the other apes in its pack and ended up in a cave and managed to find and mate with other mutants. And nowhere else do we see the prototypes for any other being as well. Especially with modern scientists analyzing every inch of the earth, we would see evidence of human beings in an intermediate state of evolution between ape and human all over the place, but we don't.
In addition, there is abundant evidence from archaeology finds that our ancestors, rather than being the primitive cavemen fresh out of a pack of apes evolutionists portray them as, had highly sophisticated civilizations and practiced a superior form of sacred science and mathematics and had an understanding of the cosmos that most modernists, in their "advanced" state, are totally unable to now comprehend.
In truth the understanding, greatness of will and being, and knowledge of ancient man was exponentially greater and more profound than that of modern man in his tiny, reduced, decadent state. Not only is modern man not more advanced in knowledge and more evolved, but quite the opposite, he is devolved, our knowledge, being, understanding, and wisdom is now greatly reduced from that of our ancestors. As mystic Sufi poet Jalal-adin Rumi wrote, "This is how foolish we've become! A human being is a mountain range! Snakes are fascinated by us! Yet we sell ourselves to look at a dead snake."
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
On the Epithymetikon of Plato's Republic
The epithymetikon is that region in the base part of the soul and still further beneath which creates appetite due to the region's heterogeneous nature. Since it is without a spiritual center within that can depend on itself, it is in need of fulfilling itself through something without. Thus it is always in need and always a danger of placing the upper part of the soul, ie the logistikon, in service to it.
If the relentless needs of the epithymetikon are followed, lusting begins in the logistikon and it then becomes not a servant of itself but rather the appetites of the epithymetikon. This in turn leads to the logistikon forgetting itself. Anamnesis becomes difficult and the mind becomes forgetful and incoherent as it places its intention not on itself but on fulfilling the desires of the epithymetikon.
Thus, there is a war for control between the two, the epithymetikon trying to place the logistikon in service to its needs, and the logistikon doing battle to avoid subjection. This war for control the epithymetikon wages with the logistikon is the greater Jihad spoken of in the Islamic tradition. The Jihad is the Platonic logistikon's struggle for autonomy from the endless demands of the epithymetikon in order to achieve self-sovereignty and wisdom.
As Plato rightly remarked, the Guardians must be those who have won the war and subjected the lower part of the soul to the higher, for a Guardian led by desire and lacking anamnesis would inevitably lead the society to the disorder and ruin which naturally reflects his own disordered and incoherent mental state. The Philosopher King is he who has the perfected anamnesis that brings about ordered coherency of mind and who has realized the Monad. Such a perfected soul is deemed the only one capable of ruling over the entire society justly.
If the relentless needs of the epithymetikon are followed, lusting begins in the logistikon and it then becomes not a servant of itself but rather the appetites of the epithymetikon. This in turn leads to the logistikon forgetting itself. Anamnesis becomes difficult and the mind becomes forgetful and incoherent as it places its intention not on itself but on fulfilling the desires of the epithymetikon.
Thus, there is a war for control between the two, the epithymetikon trying to place the logistikon in service to its needs, and the logistikon doing battle to avoid subjection. This war for control the epithymetikon wages with the logistikon is the greater Jihad spoken of in the Islamic tradition. The Jihad is the Platonic logistikon's struggle for autonomy from the endless demands of the epithymetikon in order to achieve self-sovereignty and wisdom.
As Plato rightly remarked, the Guardians must be those who have won the war and subjected the lower part of the soul to the higher, for a Guardian led by desire and lacking anamnesis would inevitably lead the society to the disorder and ruin which naturally reflects his own disordered and incoherent mental state. The Philosopher King is he who has the perfected anamnesis that brings about ordered coherency of mind and who has realized the Monad. Such a perfected soul is deemed the only one capable of ruling over the entire society justly.
The Descent into the Maternal in the Modern Era
The Proto-Indo-European word "mater" is the root for both the English terms matter and Mother. The term implies something both "materialistic" and feminine, as in phrases like "Mother Gaia" or "Mother Earth." Mater then, as the principle of empty, pure bios, acts as the antipode of the Godhead which is, of course, always seen as the Pater, or the Father. Earth here as the feminine "principle" counters the Heavenly principle of the Father.
The modern age, with its empiricism, rationalism, scientism, egalitarianism, humanism, mechanism, materialism, Marxism, Darwinism, and perhaps most demonic of all, its Freudianism, is then indicative of a descent from the originating principle of Pater towards the bestial, dark forces of the chthonic Mater.
As modern man has slowly negated tradition and the intellectual principle over the recent centuries, these bestial forces have become more and more predominant, to the point where they now prevail completely. The intellectual purity of spiritual contemplation which in past ages was given its proper rank and place in society and honored accordingly, is now something condemned as either merely the fantasia of childish and irrational "magic-thinking" or "backwards thinking" that we've long since left behind for the so-called "wonders" of modern science. Scientists like Stephen Hawkings and other false prophets, instead of men like Plato or Buddha, or any number of lesser known sages, are now looked to as a sort of quasi-spiritual authority. In the most extreme cases, the Freudianism prevalent in our modern age is quick to pass off the modern sages (as there still are and always will be even today) as "pathological." Thus, as Schuon aptly noted, modern society stands as the counter-principle that sees "health in what is commonplace and vulgar, and neurosis in what is noble and profound" and that which acts as the inversion of the traditional order.
The chthonic forces thus unleashed, are what Julius Evola refers to as the "Tiger." The tiger represents the vulgar animal forces emanating out of the bottomless pits of the primal maternal world. These forces act to wreak havoc on the soul of modern man and he is more often than not driven by bestial urges that he is unconscious of and which modern society is more than willing to induce in him. Evola's cure then is to "Ride the Tiger", ie by simply going about one's business aloof from modern society, accepting that it is the Kali Yuga emptying out the bestial and impossible to change.
This naturally begs the question if whether there actually is something that can be done about it. That must ultimately depend on whether or not the forces in question in the realm of quantity emptying out now will be replaced by higher forces from the realm of quality soon, or if we are just moving further and further down into the dark. A new age could, at least temporarily, provide a mini-Golden age within the greater cycle of the Kali Yuga, but it appears likely that the satanic forces will again come to predominate and which will eventually come to be in even greater quantity and strength in the future. This is a dismal prospect for man, who by all accounts appears to be dying, having fallen far away from the Father and is now deeply involved with the Mother, and on the exoteric level losing all hold on tradition. The ritual mimesis' once practiced daily are now entirely gone.
There is, however, still hope on the esoteric level, where there is still to this day men of tradition, relaying the same timeless traditional principles, alone somewhere practicing recollection and unity with the Self. That principle, the Truth, is something that has not only survived this dark age of materialism, but has managed to survive throughout all history, a little corner of the eternal in a sage practicing recollection alone in his room somewhere on an isolated nook of the planet. That reality can never be negated completely, not by any Freud or Marx that might be born, and that the Light of wisdom can never die is the one treasure man can take from this bestial time or of any other.
Shine on forever. Shine on benevolent Sun. Peace be upon Me.
The modern age, with its empiricism, rationalism, scientism, egalitarianism, humanism, mechanism, materialism, Marxism, Darwinism, and perhaps most demonic of all, its Freudianism, is then indicative of a descent from the originating principle of Pater towards the bestial, dark forces of the chthonic Mater.
As modern man has slowly negated tradition and the intellectual principle over the recent centuries, these bestial forces have become more and more predominant, to the point where they now prevail completely. The intellectual purity of spiritual contemplation which in past ages was given its proper rank and place in society and honored accordingly, is now something condemned as either merely the fantasia of childish and irrational "magic-thinking" or "backwards thinking" that we've long since left behind for the so-called "wonders" of modern science. Scientists like Stephen Hawkings and other false prophets, instead of men like Plato or Buddha, or any number of lesser known sages, are now looked to as a sort of quasi-spiritual authority. In the most extreme cases, the Freudianism prevalent in our modern age is quick to pass off the modern sages (as there still are and always will be even today) as "pathological." Thus, as Schuon aptly noted, modern society stands as the counter-principle that sees "health in what is commonplace and vulgar, and neurosis in what is noble and profound" and that which acts as the inversion of the traditional order.
The chthonic forces thus unleashed, are what Julius Evola refers to as the "Tiger." The tiger represents the vulgar animal forces emanating out of the bottomless pits of the primal maternal world. These forces act to wreak havoc on the soul of modern man and he is more often than not driven by bestial urges that he is unconscious of and which modern society is more than willing to induce in him. Evola's cure then is to "Ride the Tiger", ie by simply going about one's business aloof from modern society, accepting that it is the Kali Yuga emptying out the bestial and impossible to change.
This naturally begs the question if whether there actually is something that can be done about it. That must ultimately depend on whether or not the forces in question in the realm of quantity emptying out now will be replaced by higher forces from the realm of quality soon, or if we are just moving further and further down into the dark. A new age could, at least temporarily, provide a mini-Golden age within the greater cycle of the Kali Yuga, but it appears likely that the satanic forces will again come to predominate and which will eventually come to be in even greater quantity and strength in the future. This is a dismal prospect for man, who by all accounts appears to be dying, having fallen far away from the Father and is now deeply involved with the Mother, and on the exoteric level losing all hold on tradition. The ritual mimesis' once practiced daily are now entirely gone.
There is, however, still hope on the esoteric level, where there is still to this day men of tradition, relaying the same timeless traditional principles, alone somewhere practicing recollection and unity with the Self. That principle, the Truth, is something that has not only survived this dark age of materialism, but has managed to survive throughout all history, a little corner of the eternal in a sage practicing recollection alone in his room somewhere on an isolated nook of the planet. That reality can never be negated completely, not by any Freud or Marx that might be born, and that the Light of wisdom can never die is the one treasure man can take from this bestial time or of any other.
Shine on forever. Shine on benevolent Sun. Peace be upon Me.
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