Saturday Afternoon: Julius Evola and the Myth of Spiritual Race
July 12,2014
Carolyn discusses Racial Nationalism in the context of “Blood and Soil” vs the confused ideas coming from Julius Evola that spirit, rather than ethnic substance, determines culture, and that there is such a thing as a “race of the spirit.” Some highlights from this program:
- Evola was a homosexual, a traditionalist and an elitist who never joined the Italian National Fascist Party;
- In his youth, he was attracted to avant-gard art, literature, philosophy and he became a prominent representative of the anti-art "Dada" movement in Italy;
- His later thinking was more in line with with Fascism than National-Socialism, but he was critical of both;
- Evola wrote a great deal on "the metaphysics of sex" in which he held neither romantic love or procreation to be a worthwhile or "noble" purpose;
- Evola believed our world and societies were "devolving" from a high state rather than "evolving" toward a higher state;
- Evola saw rationalism, the Enlightment and science as inferior to ancient "heroic" myths which he recommended as the best role models;
- Carolyn thinks Evola is way over-rated and causes more harm than good - that he should be dropped from the WN curriculum.
Image: This hideous painting by Julius Evola, "La Genetrice dell'universo" (the birth mother of the universe), 1968, reveals his lack of empathy for women - the face is a blank mask. Enlarge
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evolUtion
I don't know if he was homo, he never married, but even the Fuhrer didn't. I think Evola's thought was good in a hypothetical White only world, as he even teached his theories to the SS men. His studies about the Aryan/Hyperborean Tradition are the most complete and advanced still today, altought they sound a bit "old". I recognize that in the racial crisis we face today, it wouldn't be our strenght to rely upon his whole vision, but some points are indeed to be considered for us.
Some good things
Hi Vido,
I am glad you wrote with some defense of Julius Evola.
It's not only that he never married, but he was never seen with a woman and he lived in his mother's apartment all his life. And then there were his writings, and that painting. The Führer did marry, did have a mistress, did "date" women before he took up solely with Eva Braun, and probably would have married if he had not devoted himself to leading Germany. He actually explained why he didn't marry as it being unfair to his wife and children who would be neglected. He is so often criticized for treating Eva Braun so badly and that is the reason. His attention was fully absorbed elsewhere.
Yes, Evola became an invalid, but at his own fault. He never really showed much sense ... very unlike the Führer.
Evola was quite cognizant that he didn't live in a White-only world and would never be living in one. Yet his racism was never 100%. Evola was really only interested in his imaqinative output of an imaginary world.
That he taught or gave some talks to the SS Ahnenerbe doesn't mean much since it was a research institute. In the end, the SS rejected his work and even him as not fitting in with "N-S."
The Hyperborean Tradition, as it's called, is pure myth - there is no physical location. "H. P. Blavatsky, René Guénon and Julius Evola all shared the belief in the Hyperborean, polar origins of Mankind." Oh boy, what a recommendation! This is all non-scientific and leads us into foolishness and pointlessness - gets us nowhere.
"some points are indeed to be considered for us." What points? We hear all the time that there are "some good things" in an otherwise bad worldview (or person), and therefore we should study (or tolerate) it for "those good things." What good things can be found only in Evola, that can't be found in more sensible worldviews?
I hope you take my comments in a friendly fashion. I'd like to see people back-up their opinions better than they usually do.
Charles Kraft writes ...
to bawl me out, saying Gabriele d'Annunzio was not a homosexual, but a great woman's man. Charles is right and I apologize I got my signals crossed there; however Gabe was a decadent symbolist writer.
But I don't apologize for calling Evola a homosexual ... tantric yoga notwithstanding.
evolUtion
I refer to his Hyperborean theory, because unlike Blavatsky (new age) and Guenon's (freemason) ones, it is the only "pure" theory which, integrated with modern scientific evolutionary studies, can finally prove we Whites do not descend from negroes. I personally do not believe in his total racial decadence from a superior being into modern humans (and Whites as well), but I neither believe into the universally recognized "one humanity" which can change IQ, skin color, attitudes just for living in another continent. A middle-way, between the two, is the right way to destroy "scientific" egalitarianism and build-up a moral, White, Aryan self-consciousness for our people. I reached this opinion with Evola's contribution, that's why I don't feel to throw him entirely away. But on the political point of view I totally agree with you, he never was a NS, nor a complete Fascist. His "Traditional" spiritual homeland was Austro-Ungaric Empire, something the Fuhrer deeply detested! For the sake of humour, I would have put Evola in a cage surrounded by ancient books and ordered him to study, but never let him leave his golden prison!
Greetings and congrats for your work!
The word Hyperborea in Greek
The word Hyperborea in Greek means land beyond the north-wind. In other words, these are people of the far north.
I read about the Hyperboreans in one of Pindar's odes (early 5th century BC). They were said to live near the Danube River. They were supposed to be highly virtuous people.
The Hyperborean legend happens to resemble the observation of racial science, which is still quite credible, that virtues like self-control develop in the far north and are characteristic of people who have ancestors from there. In principle it is at least vaguely correct (if exaggerated).
Maybe at one time there was a specific population (maybe the Dorians before they descended into Greece) to which the Hyperboran legend originally referred, the specific reference later being forgotten. The problem for us is that we want to deal with real things that can be defined, not some nebulous myth. The Greeks in the classical period did too: Plato idealized the Spartans instead.
Tomislav
Carolyn,
You have said at least once before that Tom Sunic is not a father, and that's not true. I have heard him mention his son-who I guess must be of college age by now-more than one time in his interviews and on his VOR program.
-MacDuff
Tom Sunic's son
Thanks MacDuff. It makes more sense that he should be. I'll try to remember that from now on!
The trend today on Wiki pages is not to mention family members. There is no mention of Tom's wife or child here or here.
2014 FIFA
I know, Carolyn hates commenting off topic. Screw it.
Deutschland VOR. Götzentor.
Germany is world champion!!!! The world honors the German soccer team and German nation.
Enlightenment
I have never read Evola. The first time I ever heard of Evola was back around 2002 because Bill White was talking about Evola as a supposed national-socialist (which he was not). (I think Bill White liked the non-physical notion of race, perhaps for personal reasons.)
You have to distinguish between Big-E Enlightenment and small-e enlightenment. Most likely Evola has in mind the Big-E Enlightenment, meaning the philosophy of Enlightenment that culminates in Marxism. This so-called Enlightenment does not recognize that what is right for one man or one race may not be right for another. This is the Enlightenment that says that every country must have a constitutional republic as its form of government because to do otherwise is immoral. Enlightenment claims to have all the ultimate answer for everybody. The Marxists thought they had the answer. So did Francis Fukuyama. "The End of History" (meaning the age when the ultimate form of government and society has been permanently established) is an Enlightenment idea.
The Germans at least since Martin Luther have been skeptics about the capacity of reason to solve all man's problems. Skepticism about Enlightenment therefore became especially a focus of German thinking in the 19th century. Schopenhauer wrote that the world was not inevitably progressing in accord with reason but was controlled by an irrational Will: that is as thorough a rejection of Enlightenment as there can be.
In England, Matthew Arnold complained that under industrialization men were becoming like cultureless cogs in a machine. You can see this idea also in Hitler's favorite film, Metropolis. This was all done in the name of reason and science.
The National-Socialist attitude toward reason, science, and technology is that they must be slaves rather than masters. They must not be allowed to determine patterns of life that are unhealthy for the nation (even if somewhat less production is the result).
I suppose that this was Evola's view also.
Devola
Good podcast Carolyn.
I spent over two hours listening to you only confirm what I thought in the first place. That people like Devola only hinder our cause with their high sounding spiritual mumbo jumbo.
It's also not surprising that he was a homosexual, as homosexuals like using such 'spiritual talk' as a way of confusing young males in order to ultimately seduce them. Talk of higher things while plotting lower things. So homo's will promote such ideas and authors for a sexual purpose. It doesn't really have to make much sense as long as it wows impressionable young males into their beds.
Re your belief in reincarnation, I think that just wishful thinking.
A long time ago when I finally stopped looking at religions, etc., seeing them all as very bad jokes, I did settle on a belief of sorts. That is, there isn't any such thing as death, personally. When one is hit by a bus and ceases to exist you are of course no longer around to appreciate that fact. All we can ever know is being in a state of existence perhaps as a human, perhaps as a cat, or whatever.
As for all the misfits and so on in our movement I would see that as quite natural. Our world view is outside the pale and such people will also be attracted. The other thing is that our world view is so at odds with the accepted world view of the jewish media that it is very stressful until you normalize it in your own life. That can take its toll, resulting in addictions, etc. We are in a war after all and there will be casualties.
Back to Devola, sorry Evola. His whole outlook is a devolving back to some mystical priesthood of the past. As you so 'eloquently indicate', it's rubbish.
I don't care for this
I don't care for this painting as well; many artists have a tendency to paint likenesses of themselves; it looks as if Julius Evola painted his face on a female form. Michelangelo had the same problem; basically placing a female head and breasts on the male form although his execution and skill was a thousand times better than Evola.
When Evola tries to spiritualize his sexual impotence it appears as though he is trying to compensate for his feelings of inadequecy.
Sibilla Aleramo
Dear Carolyn and all,
Sorry for being quite late here but I checked back as I remembered reading Introduciton to Magic by Evola and the UR Group years ago and, as I remembered, it states on page xiv in the preface that Julius Evola and Sibilla Aleramo had a brief love affair which she used in her novel "Amo dunque Sono". I am no expert and have not read much by Evola but I thought I would add this here with the discussion about his alleged homosexuality. I think Aleramo's comments on Evola's personality in her novel are revealing and certainly make sense.
http://www.cakravartin.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/Julius-E...
From what I have read that he wrote I do have some serious disagreements and I think he allowed his personal experiences to affect his work too much! However I think that the fay homosexuals who style themselves Traditionalists and/or New-Right or Alt-Right, post articles and write books, James J. O'meara being the most flagrant and disgusting one! featured at countercurrents and like sites misrepresent and abuse Evola's work. But they do the same thing when they pick at and abuse the works of Nietzsche, Wagner, Darre, and so many others!
His "Hermetic Tradition" is
His "Hermetic Tradition" is the best and most lucid introductory book on that subject. As for him being homosexual, I know for a fact that he had an affair with Sibilla Aleramo. He has stated in an interview that he did not practice monogamy. I don't know anything about his race theories. However, I would say, don't throw the baby away with the bath water. Despite his association with National Socialism, Heidegger is considered one of the greatest philosophers. No matter what we think of his race theories, the ideas of the man should not be entirely discarded just because we might find distasteful the portion of them pertaining to race. How can you say that the art work shows contempt for woman? He is depicting "water", the feminine principle, as the generator of Earth.
Look at the face on that so
Look at the face on that so-called woman. It is grotesquely ugly. As an artist, I know whether or not paintings show any artistic feeling or sensitivity, and his don't. You also have none if you can accept this crude image.
It is precisely the spiritual
It is precisely the spiritual aspect of the white man that makes him superior. To arbitrarily claim superiority is a groundless waste of time. Architecture, science, math, ad infinitum have been created or perfected by whites, and Evola (along with his contemporaries) have added soul and spirit to that list, regardless of how difficult it is to "prove." Evola's marital and love occupations do make him non-Trad, however, he was an esoteric, a shaman or a holy man.