[Sonsowey]

Julius Evola - Revolt Against the Modern World

Let's just start with the beginning of the book

Quote:

Though modern men have come to perceive the West's bleak future only recently, there are causes that have been active for centuries that have contributed to spiritual and material degeneration. These causes have not only taken away from most people the possibility of revolt and the return to normalcy and health, but most of all, they have taken away the ability to understand what true normalcy and health really mean.

Thus, no matter how sincere the intention animating those who today attempt to
revolt and to sound the alarm may be, we should not cherish false hopes concerning
the outcome. It is not easy to realize how deep we must dig before we hit the only
root from which the contemporary, negative forms have sprung as natural and neces-
sary consequences. The same holds true for those forms that even the boldest spirits
do not cease to presuppose and to employ in their ways of thinking, feeling, and
acting. Some people "react"; others "protest." How could it be otherwise considering
the hopeless features of contemporary society, morality, politics, and culture? And
yet these are only "reactions" and not actions, or positive movements, that originate
from the inner dimension and testify to the possession of a foundation, a principle, or
a center. In the West, too many adaptations and "reactions" have taken place. Expe-
rience has shown that nothing that truly matters can be achieved in this way. What is
really needed is not to toss back and forth in a bed of agony, but to awaken and get
up.

Things have reached such a low point nowadays that I wonder who would be
capable of assessing the modern world as a whole, rather than just some of its particular aspects (such as "technocracy" or the "consumer society"), and of understanding its ultimate meaning. This would be the real starting point.

In order for this to happen, it is necessary to leave the deceptive and magical
"circle" and be able to conceive something else, to acquire new eyes and new ears in
order to perceive things that have become invisible and mute with the passing of
time. It is only by going back to the meanings and the visions that existed before
the establishment of the causes of the present civilization that it is possible to
achieve an absolute reference point — the key for the real understanding of all mod-
em deviations — and at the same time to find a strong defense and an unbreakable
line of resistance for those who, despite everything, will still be standing. The only
thing that matters today is the activity of those who can "ride the wave" and remain
firm in their principles, unmoved by any concessions and indifferent to the fevers,
the convulsions, the superstitions, and the prostitutions that characterize modern generations. The only thing that matters is the silent endurance of a few, whose
impassible presence as "stone guests" helps to create new relationships, new distances, new values, and helps to construct a pole that, although it will certainly not
prevent this world inhabited by the distracted and restless from being what it is, will
still help to transmit to someone the sensation of the truth — a sensation that could
become for them the principle of a liberating crisis.

Within the limits of my possibilities, this book hopes to be a contribution to such
a task. Its main thesis is the idea of the decadent nature of the modern world. Its
purpose is to present evidence supporting this idea through reference to the spirit of
universal civilization, on the ruins of which everything that is modern has arisen; this
will serve as the basis of every possibility and as the categorical legitimization of a
revolt, since only then will it become clear what one is reacting against, but also and
foremost, in what name.

By way of introduction I will argue that no idea is as absurd as the idea of
progress, which together with its corollary notion of the superiority of modern civilization, has created its own "positive" alibis by falsifying history, by insinuating harmful myths in people's minds, and by proclaiming itself sovereign at the crossroads of the plebeian ideology from which it originated.

I'm just starting this one, no idea how it will turn out, but file it under "Classics too evil to be taught"

For free:
https://archive.org/details/RevoltAgainstTheModernWorld

For $$$:
http://www.amazon.com/Revolt-Against-Mod...089281506X

[MajorStyles]

Nice. I'm in.