Conclusion

Those who have been forced by the sheer evidence of the facts to acknowledge what they have called “the decline of the West,” usually make their considerations follow various appeals aimed at erecting some defenses or provoking reactions. I personally do not have any illusions nor do I want to delude others or abandon what I consider a sober and objective perception of reality for the consolation provided by an easy and cheap optimism.

The only ones who can still harbor some hope are those who have accepted conditioned perspectives, and who are suffering from the very “disease” they are attempting to defeat. Conversely, those who, having assumed as reference points the spirit and forms that characterize every authentic and traditional civilization, were able to travel upstream to the origins and see the phases of the unfolding of history, are also aware of the immense effort it would take not only to return, but even to approximate a normal (traditional) social order. These people are therefore bound to see the future differently from other people.

The reader will have to acknowledge that the transformations and the events the West has undergone so far are not arbitrary and contingent, but rather proceed from a very specific chain of causes. I am not espousing the perspective of determinism since I believe that in this chain there is no fate at work other than the one that men have created for themselves. The “river” of history flows along the riverbed it has carved for itself. It is not easy, however, to think it possible to reverse the flow when the current has become overwhelming and all too powerful. Those who deny that some kind of determinism was at work in the process of the “fall” must also admit that there is no determinism in the opposite sense, in other words, it still has to be established whether, after the end of a cycle, a new ascending phase will be continuous with the previous ones.

In any event, the West can be saved only by a return to the traditional spirit in the context of a new unitary European consciousness. What could possibly be the basis for such a return?

I said: “in the context of a unitary European consciousness.” This is the real dilemma. The West needs to return to tradition in a large, universal, unanimous way that encompasses every form of life and of light; in the sense, that is, of a unitary spirit and order that may rule supreme over every man, in every group and people in every sector of existence. I am not referring to tradition in an aristocratic and secret sense, as the deposit entrusted to a few or to an elite acting behind the scenes of history. Tradition has always existed in this subterranean sense and it still exists today; it will never get lost because of any contingency affecting the destinies of people. And yet the presence of Tradition in this sense has not prevented the decline of Western civilization. Somebody has correctly remarked that Tradition is a precious vein, but only a vein. There is a need for other veins; besides, all the veins must converge, although only the central and occult vein dominates by going underground.^[1] Unless the right environment is present, there is no resonance. If the inner and outer conditions that allow all human activities to acquire again a meaning are lacking; if the people do not ask everything of life and by elevating it to the dignity of a rite and an offering do not orient it around a nonhuman axis—then every effort is vain, there is no seed that will bear fruit, and the action of an elite remains paralyzed.

Today, these conditions do not exist. Man, like never before, has lost every possibility of contact with metaphysical reality and with everything that is before and behind him. It is not a matter of creeds, philosophies, or attitudes; all these things ultimately do not matter. As I said at the beginning, in modern man there is a materialism that, through a legacy of centuries, has become almost a structure and a basic trait of his being. This materialism, without modern man being aware of it, kills every possibility, deflects every intent, paralyzes every attempt, and damns every effort, even those oriented to a sterile, inorganic, artificial construction. The following factors contribute to strengthening this yoke: (a) the lifestyle and all the contingencies of daily life from which none of our contemporaries may remove themselves; (b) the type of education prevalent today; (c) everything that consciously or unconsciously is experienced as a conditioning and an influence originating from the environment and from the collective psyche; (d) the idols, prejudices, forms of judgment and feeling of the false conscience and the false action rooted in man’s spirit. What is really needed is a total catharsis and a radical “housecleaning” capable of liberating man from his false “self,” the things he takes pride in, his works, hopes, and fears. Indeed, the tide of “progress” has been very powerful if this, and nothing short of it, is what is needed for a transcendent reference point to be acknowledged again and for an absolute, traditional fides to appear again, bestow on everything (man included) a new meaning, and reabsorb and redeem in a new purity everything that has been profaned and degraded. But if such a work of inner liberation can hardly be achieved by single individuals, how could it be conceived for the masses? If it is beyond the reach of those who keep playing with the fetishes of science, art, history, faith and philosophy, how could it be within reach of the masses caught in the web of collectivism and swept away by the omnipotence of the economic and technological element, the frenzy of activism, political passions, and everything that converges in a demonic ideal of power or illusory and shallow prosperity?

Moreover, the West seems to be lacking a superior idea capable of becoming the basis for a realization of the traditional spirit, and even of an approach to it.

Among those who have denounced the crisis of the modern world in the most uncompromising way, there are some who have put their trust in the possibilities inherent in Catholicism. By acknowledging that if the West has ever had an order that conformed to tradition it was thanks to the Church, some have thought that Europe’s return to a Catholicism integrated with Tradition may be the way leading to a revival of the West. And yet, this too is an illusion.

First of all, how is it possible that Catholicism may have today that strength to operate a radical and universal conversion of which it has proved itself unable even when there existed material, moral, and intellectual conditions infinitely more advantageous? Would Catholicism be able to take again that body it lost so many centuries ago, a body that today has taken a life and spirit of its own and that science and lay culture have profaned in every fiber? Even when Catholicism formally professes the Christian faith, it no longer represents anything essential or decisive in the actual lives of both individuals and entire nations.

It is not a matter of adaptations and of compromises. The “game” of compromises and adaptations has lasted way too long and it did not prevent the decline of the West. Either religion becomes unanimous, absolute, and returns to manifest the live and operating power of transcendence, or it is nothing. Here too, it is not a matter of the possible marginal integrations in the person of this or that exceptional individual Catholic. It is only in the bloc of orthodoxy animated by a totally different spirit that Catholicism, despite its spurious nature, could theoretically provide a reference point to many divided and scattered forces; And yet, how could Catholicism possibly overcome the partisan and antitraditional exclusivism typical of its doctrine and elevate itself to a superior, metaphysical, and esoteric perspective, capable of freeing it from its own limitations? Is it not very obvious that Catholicism today is trying to reconcile itself in every way with modern thought and that the ascetical and contemplative element in it is increasingly neglected in favor of the moralistic and social dimension? Is it not obvious that in the political domain the Church lives day by day, dealing with this or that system, and avoids committing itself to any one and uncompromising direction, being obsessed with keeping up-to-date and staying on top of things, even to the point of engaging in a dialogue with Marxism?

Spiritually speaking, a tradition that merely amounts to a system of faith, scholarly theology, and symbols and rites that are no longer understood in their deepest meaning cannot act in a universal and vivifying fashion. Also, it is problematic to what degree the Catholic clergy still preserves some of the features of a body that is effectively invested with a power “from above.” Materially speaking, within the context of European Christianity it would first be necessary to remove the Protestant and Orthodox schisms, itself a utopian prerequisite for a rigorous return to the starting point. Moreover, an eventual defensive solidarity of the Christian churches against the onslaught of militant antireligious forces should not be mistaken for a reaffirmation of a universal idea.

Nor should the issue of power be neglected considering the general conditions of the last age: what is needed is the presence of a bloc of power (economic, military, and industrial) capable of confronting the Eastern and Western forces fighting for world domination and capable of creating a dam and a united front.

Moreover, the idea that the West owes to Catholicism all the elements of Tradition it ever knew cannot be accepted without specific reservations. The composite character of Catholicism should not be forgotten. I have previously remarked that wherever this character manifested itself as a force promoting order and hierarchy, thus providing a support for European society; this was mainly thanks to the influences of the Roman-Germanic world. Conversely, whenever the specifically Christian component triumphed, Catholicism acted in the West in an antitraditional, rather than traditional way. The lunar, priestly spirit, its peculiar dualism, the various views of Jewish origin that became an integral part of the Christian spirit, all these things represented in Catholicism an obstacle that prevented the possibility of its infusing into Europe a spirituality in conformity with and proper to what I have called the Northern Light. Moreover Catholicism has caused the more real forces, after they found the way leading upwards obstructed, to flow into the material domain and realize in it the characteristic values of the Western soul. It is well-known that it was in the terms of a reaction against Catholicism that, beginning with the Renaissance, the reaffirmation of man and life took place. This represented an evident deviation and yet it was largely precipitated by the context I have just described.

Thus, overall, it must be said very clearly that those who think they are men of Tradition simply by virtue of being inspired by Catholicism do indeed stop halfway, and are utterly unable to recognize the first rings in the long chain of causes, and are thus blind to the world of the origins and absolute values. It is possible to see the two antagonistic yet complementary aspects of the same situation in a Western materialism oriented in a virile way and in the presence of a spirituality that cannot be separated from the non-Western, “Southern” elements, and that also lacks the superior, metaphysical, and esoteric dimension.

An analogous structural dualism impairs any attempt at traditional restoration before it starts by channeling it in the wrong direction.

In the actual civilization things are such that any evocation of the spirituality of the origins that could remove the impasse, overcome the scission, transport and elevate to the plane of light the powers of action locked in the dark and barbaric world of modern greatness would unavoidably have a problematic outcome, much more so than it did at the time of the Renaissance. In the modern world, the tendency to conceive virility, personality, action, and autonomy in merely material and human terms is way too strong. Thus, it is extremely unlikely that a doctrine inspired by “the original sense that all this had in the light of traditional and transcendent references could avoid being brought back to the .same terms, and thus not so much transform the profane into the sacred, but the other way around. In fact, today, when talking about the rights of a sovereign state before the Church, who could conceive anything besides the plebeian and lay claims of temporal power against spiritual authority? Or anything besides the usurping deeds of the new “superstates” and the new nationalist or collectivist mysticisms? When talking today about superindividuality, could the mind possibly go beyond the “superman” notion, which is Nietzsche at his worst? And again, when someone talks today about the “civilization of action” being a possibility as worthy as the “civilization of contemplation,” would not everybody recognize in this the triumph in our times of those forms that demonstrate their unquestionable superiority over any past era by virtue of the mechanical, technological, and military superiority that European society has achieved in less than a century precisely through its cult of action? And even the most recent revival of myths, such as the Roman and the Nordic-Germanic myths, and the myths of the race, the Aryan spirit, and so on, have they not taken very questionable directions in the context of the political upheavals that have accelerated the final collapses in Europe?

Therefore we must conclude that the way is doubly blocked. The prison in which Western man is confined is one of the worst ever to be devised because it does not have walls. It is not easy to get up again when there is nothing on which one can lean and push himself up. By increasingly undermining the effective influence of Christianity and Catholicism, the West is abandoning its last references to a spirituality that is not its own; and yet, in the forms that are proper to it, the West is not pure spirit and is also unable to create its own spirit.

Therefore it seems unavoidable that fate will run its course. I have said it before: it is likely that having reached the penultimate step, and being on the edge of the universal advent of the truth and the power of the fourth and last of the ancient castes, mankind is ready to enter the last stage and touch the bottom of the Dark Age or Iron Age (foretold in traditional teachings), the general features of which largely correspond to those of contemporary civilization.

Just like people, civilizations also undergo their own cycle, consisting of a beginning, a development, and an end; the more they are immersed in what is contingent, the more this law is inescapable. This obviously is not enough to frighten those who are rooted in what cannot be altered and what remains as a perennial presence by virtue of its being above time. Even though it may be destined to disappear, modern civilization is certainly not the first to become extinct, nor is it the one after which none will follow. In the life of what is conditioned by space and time, lights are continually being put out and kindled again, cycles end and new ones begin. As I have said, the doctrine of the cycles was known to traditional man and only the ignorance of modern man has induced him to believe that his civilization, which is characterized by the deepest roots in the temporal and contingent element, will enjoy a different and privileged fate.

To those who have a vision in conformity with reality, the problem is rather to what degree can there be a relationship of continuity between the dying world and the world to come; in other words, what elements of the old world will survive and be carried forth into the new one? The predominant view in the ancient traditional teaching is that some kind of gap separates one cycle from the next; the new cycle allegedly will be characterized not by a gradual getting up and reconstruction, but by a new beginning, a sudden mutation brought about by a divine and metaphysical event, just like an old tree does not flourish again, but dies and a new tree grows out of its seeds. This view clearly shows that the relationships of continuity between two cycles are only relative and, in any event, do not affect the masses and great structures of a civilization. These relationships only concern essential vital elements, much in the way the seed is related to the new plant.

Thus, one of the many illusions that needs to be rejected is the one nourished by those who try to see a superordained logic behind the processes of dissolution, and who think that somehow the old world had to die in order to bring forth the new world toward which mankind is heading. And yet, the only world toward which we are heading is simply that which picks up and reassumes in an extreme way that which has acted during the phase of destruction. Such a world cannot be the basis for anything meaningful, nor can it provide the material from which traditional values may be revived again, precisely because it is the organized and embodied negation of these values. There is no future, in the positive sense of the word, for modern civilization as a whole. Thus, it is a mere fancy harbored by those who dream about a goal and a future that somehow may justify what man has destroyed both inside and outside himself.

The possibilities still available in the last times concern only a minority and may be distinguished as follows. Beside the great “currents” of the world there are still individuals who are rooted in terra firma. Generally speaking, they are unknown people who shun the spotlight of modern popularity and culture. They live on spiritual heights; they do not belong to this world. Though they are scattered over the earth and often ignorant of each other’s existence, they are united by an invisible bond and form an unbreakable chain in the traditional spirit. This nucleus does not act: it only exercises the function to which the symbolism of the “perennial fire” corresponded. By virtue of these people, Tradition is present despite all; the flame burns invisibly and something still connects the world to the superworld. They are those who are awake, whom in Greek are called the εγρήγοροτ.

There are an increasing number of individuals who experience a confused and yet real need for liberation, though they do not know in the name of what. To orient these people, and shield them from the spiritual dangers of the actual world, to lead them to see the truth and sharpen their will to join the ranks of the first type of people is what can still be done. And yet this too affects only a minority, and we should not delude ourselves that in this way there will be sizeable changes in the overall destinies of the multitudes. In any event, this is the only justification for tangible action that can be carried out by men of Tradition living in the modern world, in a milieu with which they have no connection. In order for the abovementioned guiding action to be successful it is necessary to have “watchers” at hand who will bear witness to the values of Tradition in ever more uncompromising and firm ways, as the antitraditional forces grow in strength. Even though these values today cannot be achieved, it does not mean that they amount to mere “ideas.” They are measures. And when even the elemental capability to measure was totally lost, then the last night would surely fall. Let people of our time talk about these things with condescension as if they were anachronistic and antihistorical; we know that this is an alibi for their defeat. Let us leave modern men to their “truths” and let us only be concerned about one thing: to keep standing amid a world of ruins. Even though today an efficacious, general, and realizing action stands almost no chance at all, the ranks that I mentioned before can still set up inner defenses. In an ancient ascetical text it is said that while in the beginning the law from above could be implemented, those who came afterward were only capable of half of what had been previously done; in the last times very few works will be done, but for people living in these times the great temptation will arise again; those who will endure during this time will be greater than the people of old who were very rich in works.^[2] To make the values of truth, reality, and Tradition highly visible to those who do not want “this” but who confusedly seek something “else,” means to offer some reference points so that the great temptation may not prevail in everybody in those situations in which matter seems to have become stronger than the spirit.

Finally, we must consider a third possibility. To some the path of acceleration may be the most suitable approach to a solution, considering that given certain conditions, many reactions are the equivalent of those cramps that only prolong agony and by delaying the end also delay the advent of the new principle. Thus, it would be expedient to take on, together with a special inner attitude, the most destructive processes of the modern era in order to use them for liberation; this would be like turning a poison against oneself or like “riding a tiger.”^[3]

When regarding the process of decadence in Western society, I identified unrealism as its most typical feature. The individual at a given historical moment finds himself to be totally ignorant of spirituality as a reality. He even experiences the sense of self in terms of thought and reflection; this amounts to psychologism. Eventually his thought and reflection create a o d of mirages, phantasms, and idols that replace spiritual reality; this is the humanistic myth of culture, which is nothing but a cave filled with shadows. Together with the abstract world of thought, there arises the romantic world of the “soul.” What emerges are the various creatures of sentimentalism and faith, of individualistic and humanitarian pathos, of sensualism and superfluous heroism, of humility and revolt. And yet we have already seen that this unrealistic world is heading to its downfall and that deeper, elemental forces have almost swept away the myths of romantic and individualist man in a world where “realism” prevails over any idealism or sentimentalism and the “humanistic cult of the soul” is definitely overcome. I have indicated currents that see the presuppositions for a new universal civilization in the destruction of the “I” and the liberation of man from the “spirit.”

Regarding the way that has been mentioned, it is necessary to establish up to what point it is possible to benefit from such destructive upheavals; up to what point, thanks to an inner determination and orientation toward transcendence, may the nonhuman element of the modern “realistic” and activist world, instead of being a path to the subhuman dimension (as is the case of the majority of the most recent forms), foster experiences of a higher life and a higher freedom?

This is all we can say about a certain category of men in view of the fulfillment of the times, a category that by virtue of its own nature must be that of a minority. This dangerous path may be trodden. It is a real test In order for it to be complete in its resolve it is necessary to meet the following conditions: all the bridges are to be cut, no support found, and no returns possible; also, the only way out must be forward.

It is typical of a heroic vocation to face the greatest wave knowing that two destinies lie ahead: that of those who will die with the dissolution of the modern world, and that of those who will find themselves in the main and regal stream of the new current.

Before the vision of the Iron Age, Hesiod exclaimed: “May I have not been born in it!” But Hesiod, after all, was a Pelasgic spirit, unaware of a higher vocation. For other natures there is a different truth; to them applies the teaching that was also known in the East:^[4] although the Kali Yuga is an age of great destructions, those who live during it and manage to remain standing may achieve fruits that were not easily achieved by men living in other ages.

Footnotes

1. Guido De Giorgio, “Ascesi e Anti-Europa,” Introduzione alla magia, 2.194.

2. A. Stolz, L’ascesi cristiana (Brescia, 1944), 2.

3. In my book Cavalcare la tigre I have attempted to outline the existential orientations that may serve this purpose during an age of dissolution.

4. See the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, 6.2.