Wirth adopted this hypothesis and constructed his own theory upon it, the “Hyperborean theory” [2] or theory of the “cultural circle of Thule” [3], which represents the Greek name for the mythical city lying in the country of the Hyperboreans. According to this theory, before the latest wave of global cooling, the circumpolar zone in the North Atlantic Ocean was home to inhabitable lands whose inhabitants were the creators of a primordial cultural code. This culture was formed under conditions when the natural environment of the Arctic was not yet so harsh, and when its climate was similar to the modern temperate Central European climate. There were present all the annual and atmospheric phenomena which can be observed in the Arctic today: the Arctic day and Arctic night. The yearly solar and lunar cycles of the Arctic are structured differently than their counterparts in middle-range latitudes. Thus, the symbolic fixations of the calendar, the trajectory of the sun, the moon, and the constellations of the zodiac necessarily had a different form and different patterns.
Wirth thus presented an altogether peculiar view on the relationship between matriarchy and patriarchy in the archaic culture of the Mediterranean region. In his point of view, the most ancient forms of culture in the Mediterranean were those established by bearers of the Hyperborean matriarchy, who in several stages descended from the circumpolar regions, from the North Atlantic, by sea (and that ships with shamrocks on the stern were characteristic of them). These were the people mentioned in ancient Near Eastern artifacts as the “sea-peoples”, or am-uru, hence the ethnic name of the Amorites. The name Mo-uru, according to Wirth, once belonged to the very main center of the Hyperboreans, but was transmitted along with the natives of the North in their migration waves to new sacred centers. It is to these waves that we owe the Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian (whose pre-dynastic writing was linear), Hittite-Hurrian, Minoan, Mycenaean, and Pelasgian cultures. All of these Hyperborean strata were structured around the figure of the White Priestess.
Secondly, Wirth’s positive appraisal of matriarchy is extremely interesting and adds weight to sympathy for Bachofen. Indeed, we are dealing with an interpretation of a conditionally reconstructed matriarchal civilization from the position of what is the, in the very least nominal, patriarchy to which our society has become accustomed. Wirth proposes an alternative interpretation of the female Logos, an attempt to view the Logos of the Great Mother through different eyes. This is also an extremely unconventional and fertile proposal.
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Aside from some of Julius Evola’s writings, there is a dearth of writing on worldly matters from a Traditionalist standpoint. As John Morgan mentioned in a recent review [2], most Traditionalist writers focus solely on spirituality while evading the implications that Tradition has on more practical matters. Considering this, it was refreshing when I first discovered Frithjof Schuon’s two expansive essays, “The Meaning of Race” and “The Meaning of Caste.”[1] [3]
In these two essays, Schuon describes the significance of castes and races in regard to human nature, or more aptly, human being. His view rejects the notion of these categories as being fundamentally socially conditioned, constructed, or accidental, and instead analyzes them as expressions of human nature.
Schuon’s two essays discussing race and caste were published together and are complementary, but here I will only discuss “The Meaning of Race.” However, a quick overview of what the terms “caste” and “race” mean for Schuon is first necessary.
Unlike Evola, who put forward the idea of the “race of the Spirit,” Schuon classifies race in a completely separate category from psychic or spiritual heredity. While Evola and Schuon both believe there is a metaphysical component of the human being, Schuon denotes the “spirit” of a person strictly by the term “caste.” For those unfamiliar, “caste” for Schuon refers primarily to the fundamental character types present throughout all of humanity. The Indo-Aryan caste system, according to Tradition, was merely founded upon these natural distinctions. However, like Evola and the rest of the Traditionalist school, Schuon holds the view that the metaphysical component of a human being is more “absolute,” or more “real,” than the physical. He writes:
Caste takes precedence over race because spirit has priority over form; race is a form while caste is a spirit. Even Hindu castes, which were in origin purely Indo-European, cannot be limited to a single race: there are Tamil, Balinese and Siamese brahmins.
It is not possible, however, to hold that race is something devoid of meaning apart from physical characteristics, for, if it is true that formal constraints have nothing absolute about them, forms must nevertheless have their own sufficient reason . . . (147)
For Schuon, race has no metaphysical component, but rather is a “formal constraint” upon the expression of spirit: race is essentially a “style” through which the formless spirit is expressed, defining the “being,” and by extension the activity, of a people. In the same way that artistic genius has different ways of expressing itself depending on the particular culture it is expressed within, so spirit, which is universal, expresses itself through various racial styles. It could be compared to a single light shining through different colors of glass, the light gaining a different appearance and character depending on the color through which it shines. For Schuon, race is the root of culture, for culture is the creative activity of a race in which its inherent qualities and predispositions are exteriorized and formalized.
Schuon considers “black,” “white,” and “yellow” to be the three principal races. Of course, these are extremely broad categories, but he believes that all peoples fit into these categories, or else fit somewhere between them. The logic behind these three categories lies partly in his understanding of race as correlating to the three gunas, or modes, of Hinduism (tamas [sleep, ignorance], sattva [goodness], and rajas [passion], respectively) and lies partly in his analysis of racial styles. For example, while the Chinese and Japanese have distinct languages and cultures, Schuon would claim that they both exemplify the yellow race because both races exhibit a non-dramatic, “intuitive delicacy” in the field of art, and other qualitative similarities, such as a disdain for eloquence and a penchant for sober, elliptical expression in language. These qualities can be observed in most Asian cultures.
In elaborating on the qualities of the races, Schuon waxes rather poetic, using a method of what I would call “cultural physiognomy.” His descriptions of the qualities of the races attempt to link the physiognomies commonly found in certain peoples with the culture of a people. For example:
The originality of each of the various races is especially apparent in the eyes: those of the white man, generally deep-set, are mobile, piercing and transparent; his soul “goes out” in his look and at the same time shines, in its passivity, through it. The eyes of yellow men are quite different: physically at skin level, they are generally indifferent and impenetrable; their look is dry and light like a brush stroke on silk. As for the black man, his eyes are slightly prominent and heavy, warm and moist . . . it is the deep and latent look of the earth. (149)
It should be noted that Schuon’s idea of “white” is much broader than is commonly understood by the term. Under the category “white,” Schuon does not only categorize Europeans, but also Semitic whites (Arabs and Jews) and (Aryan-descended) Indians. For Schuon, there is a great diversity of style within the white race: it exemplifies a greater “disequilibrium” than the yellow and black races, which is why it has given birth to such different cultures and civilizations. The mental diversity of white peoples can be evidenced by the diversity of religions (Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Greco-Roman, and Germanic paganism) that have gained predominance in white cultures. However, all the languages of these peoples produce “long, rich, incisive sentences,” and all the white cultures are marked by a dramatic opposition between man and nature, at least compared to black and yellow peoples. Likewise, a higher degree of mental proclivity is present in white peoples. Schuon writes that the element of the white race is “fire.” Fire can either be tame like a burning candle, or wild, consuming, and restless. The former is best represented by the contemplativeness of the Hindus, and the latter is represented by the strong inclination towards action and expansion in Westerners.
As stated earlier, Schuon correlates the three races with the three gunas of Hinduism. According to Schuon, the white race exemplifies sattva through the bright and ascending fire element, the yellow race exemplifies rajas through the mobile and clear water element, and the black race exemplifies tamas through the heavy and inert earth element. He writes:
The precarious nature of the ascending tendency explains both the Greco-Roman and modern deviations: that which is intellectual penetration and contemplativity among Hindus has become mental hypertrophy and inventiveness among Westerners . . . The conquests of the yellow peoples swept along like a tidal wave throwing down everything in their path but not transforming their victims as did the white man’s conquests; the yellow races conserve like water and do not transmute like fire . . . As for the black race, they are, as we have said, “existential” and this explains their passivity and inaptitude for radiating outwards, even within the fold of Islam. (164)
As evidenced by the Spanish rule of South America that completely reshaped the people of that continent, and the lasting British influence in India, as well as the Arab conquests, one can understand Schuon’s claim that the territorial expansion of whites completely changes the language and character of a people. English is the current lingua franca across the world. On the other hand, the imperialism of yellow peoples, such as Japan’s half-century rule over Taiwan, often leaves the subject people’s culture comparatively intact. Black peoples are mostly stagnant and self-contained, with no significant or reshaping influence on any non-black people of note in the present day.
According to Schuon, while the elements of the races are unique, they are all, in a way, contained in each other:
It could be said that the white and yellow races, insofar as they correspond to the elements “fire” and “water,” meet in the element “air.” Air has the two qualities of lightness (sattva) and mobility (rajas) . . . But there is also destructiveness (tamas) in fire and transparency (sattva) in water . . . (165-166)
While the predominant character of each race is dominated by different elements, the races are not in watertight compartments, and each race exemplifies the predominant element of another, to a greater or lesser degree, in its own predominant element. As stated above, the luminous, fiery, creative quality of Westerners (sattva) also has a certain destructiveness (tamas) about it. The earth element is heavy (tamas), but also fertile (rajas), and earth, by its nature, contains luminous crystals and minerals (sattva).
On the topic of race-mixing, Schuon has a nuanced view. Like Spengler, he believes that race-mixing can sometimes be positive for a racial stock, albeit the positivity is dependent upon the races being mixed. In his words, if the mix is compatible, race-mixing has the ability to “aerate” a stock that has become too “compact.” However, if the races are too distinct from each other, mixing will corrupt a race with unique qualities. In one of the footnotes, Schuon defends the phenomenon of black Africans mixing with Mediterranean whites in North Africa, claiming that both races have been inhabiting the same climate and environment for thousands of years, rendering a similarity of type. On the other hand, Schuon staunchly opposes race-mixing between blacks and whites in North America, where the whites are predominantly Germanic, going so far as to defend segregation between blacks and whites, if the segregation were truly “unilateral” and “conceived in the interest of both races.”
While Schuon takes a firm stance against the “anti-racists” of his day, he is quick to critique Eurocentrism with regard to the judgment of certain physical traits in other races that have historically been viewed as marks of inferiority. For Schuon, the prognathic jaw line, low forehead, and thick lips, historically referenced by Westerners to compare blacks with apes, are not marks of inferiority, but rather signify a racial type that is less predisposed to thinking, more vital, and more “centered on being” than races in which the orthogonal jawline is more common. These traits are not indicators of barbarism: he cites certain barbarous peoples that are predominantly orthogonal and civilized peoples that are predominantly prognathic. I found this particularly interesting, as it puts forth a fundamental reason for why black peoples typically have lower IQs than whites, since it is due to their consciousness being generally less mental. On the upside, blacks are usually more grounded or “down-to-earth” than whites, which is perhaps why they are underrepresented in fields that require abstract thinking, but otherwise seem less prone to the anxiety, overthinking, and unrest that engulfs many white minds.
Schuon is sure to emphasize that, for the individual of a particular race, the race to which he belongs is of secondary importance to the condition of his soul. He writes:
. . . for us the question is not: “What is our racial heritage?” but rather: “What are we making of that heritage?” To talk about racial value is, for the individual, quite meaningless, for the existence of Christ or of the Vedantic doctrine adds nothing to the value of a white man with a base nature any more than the barbarism of certain African tribes takes anything away from a black man of saintly soul; and as for the effective value, not of a race, but of an ethnic atavism, this is a question of “spiritual alchemy,” not of scientific or racist dogmatism. (168)
If Schuon can be said to be an ethnonationalist, his ethnonationalism is anti-egalitarian. As stated earlier, for Schuon and other Traditionalists, being part of the same race is no justification for disregarding the natural differences between individuals. In fact, since caste takes precedence over race, it logically follows for Schuon – and he explicitly states – that individuals of a different race, but of the same caste, are more fundamentally, or metaphysically, similar to each other than individuals who are of the same race, but of different caste. However, this view should not be confused with the view that sharing the same caste makes two people equal, regardless of race. Rather, Schuon means that they share the same type, and a “vertical” equality of caste is more real than a “horizontal” equality of race.
Schuon’s essay, like his other writings, is rather scattered and spontaneous, so this is just an attempt to lay out the essentials of Schuon’s thoughts on race. As a result, there are many remarks that were not covered here, so I would highly recommend reading the essay itself. Schuon offers an extremely balanced and fair view of the human races, and the love he has for human diversity is strongly apparent in his writing, to the extent that even an honest Leftist would be hesitant to label his views “racist.” I even think that this essay would offer a great entry point for people of a spiritual and intellectual bent to the concepts of ethnonationalism. Schuon offers a very positive view of a diverse, yet unified, humanity, in which all races are different, yet all uniquely aspire to the same divine reality.
Note
[1] [4] Language of the Self (Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom Books, 1999), pp. 147-175.
" Malgré les nombreuses études qui lui ont été consacrées, une période cruciale de la vie de Julius Evola restait encore dans l’ombre, d’autant plus que l’intéressé, discret jusqu’à la réticence au sujet de lui-même, en avait très peu parlé : les années 1943-1951, qui furent celles de l’attitude à adopter face à la grande crise du régime fasciste et à la fondation de la République sociale italienne (rsi), puis de l’accident survenu à Vienne début 1945 qui le laissa paralysé des membres inférieurs, du véritable « chemin de croix » médical qui suivit entre l’Autriche, la Hongrie et l’Italie, enfin du retour définitif à Rome au printemps de 1951.
It’s not difficult to understand why, however, given that for a long time, Traditionalists have been operating under the guise of being purely concerned with religion and mysticism, remaining silent about the fact that Traditionalism in its complete form is one of the most – if not the most – reactionary current of thought that exists in the postmodern world. This is of course a consequence of the fact that most Traditionalist thinkers today have opted for the safety of academic careers (something which Evola noted already in the 1950s and for which he expressed his contempt), and thus want to avoid being called fascists. Their cover has been somewhat blown, however, as a result of Steve Bannon’s claim that Guénon was a crucial influence on him, which has in turn led to some superficial and ill-informed propaganda from journalists using Traditionalism as a branding iron with which to mark both Bannon and Trump (by association) as fascists, by bringing attention to the connection between Evola and Guénon. (And Evola had the audacity to call himself a “superfascist,” so by the logic of the average half-witted journalist of today, that makes Bannon and Trump really fascist!) It remains to be seen what the long-term consequences of this will be in terms of Traditionalism’s reception in the mainstream, although I’ve noticed that it’s become harder to find Evola and Guénon’s books on bookstore shelves these days. It may have the beneficial effect of forcing Traditionalists out of the realm of pure scholasticism and into putting their beliefs into practice, if academia ultimately becomes a hostile environment for them – which it inevitably will, if present trends continue. Time will tell.
Pero, ¿en qué consiste semejante cosa? ¿Crecer? Tú ves que tus hijos crecen, física y mentalmente. Eso es lo normal, la lógica de la vida siempre incluye una dinámica del crecimiento. No confundas crecimiento con aumento del tamaño. Este aspecto físico y espacial tan solo es una manifestación externa de las cosas, que con toda lógica y bajo fines que se nos escaparán siempre, constituyen la vida y el universo. Pero en tus hijos, o si no los tienes, en los niños en general, se observa que desde su etapa de simples células, desde su estado embrionario, como bebés o como mozalbetes, en ellos acontece un sinfín de variaciones en su cuerpo y en su alma. Se transforman drásticamente antes de que tú, como observador externo, te llegues a dar cuenta de tales cambios continuos. La cantidad se transforma en cualidad. Crecer es cambiar en cualidad, regenerarse bajo la forma de un ser nuevo. Crecer es tomar el camino de la mutación, ser más amplio, mutación de uno mismo en nuevas especies y nuevos géneros. Mutación desde uno mismo, para uno mismo.
Après Guénon se défoule sur la classe moyenne apparue en France à la fin du Moyen Age et si visible déjà au temps de Molière (que ne le lisez-vous en ce sens celui-là !) :
La classe moyenne pense sur tout pareil, et c’est en fonction des médias. Elle a été d’abord terrifiante en Angleterre (lisez Fukuyama) puis en France et dans le monde. Balzac :
Ainsi, dans l’ancienne religion iranienne la contrée nordique et archétypique est l’Airyanem Vaejah (ou Erân-Vêj), le lieu d’origine des fameux Aryens (et plus généralement de l’humanité entière), aujourd’hui rayé des cartes suite à une terrible glaciation planétaire provoquée par les puissances ahrimaniennes. Selon le Vendidad (II, 21), le dieu céleste Ohrmazd demande à Yima, le premier homme, de construire le Var — sorte d’enclos paradisiaque incorruptible, éclairé de l’intérieur par une lumière supra-sensible — afin de se prémunir contre la catastrophe à venir et pour y rassembler les meilleurs de tous les êtres. Notons que ce territoire fortifié, situé idéalement dans les hautes régions polaires (assimilées au sommet du mont cosmique Alborj), doit être avant-tout conçu comme un domaine supra-terrestre en dehors de notre espace/temps et se présente donc comme un monde spirituel, tant génésiaque qu’eschatologique.
De même, de nombreux philosophes antiques (Pythagore, Homère, Plutarque, Diodore, Pindare, Strabon, Pline, Cicéron… etc.) ont fait mention d’un mystérieux continent perdu (ou d’une île inaccessible) situé tout au nord de la planète, près du pôle, et considéré, comme il se doit dans la perspective traditionnelle, tel un Élysée mirifique, un jardin des délices supra-terrestre et achronique, où héros et bienheureux vivent des jours heureux. La meilleure description de cette terre céleste nous est donnée par Hécatée d’Abdère (cité par Diodore de Sicile au Livre II de sa Bibliothèque historique) plusieurs siècles avant notre ère : « Vis-à-vis de la contrée des Celtes‚ dans les parties de l’Océan‚ il y a une île appelée Leuké‚ c’est-à-dire Blanche. Latone‚ mère d’Apollon‚ y naquit‚ et à cause de cela‚ Apollon y est vénéré plus que les autres dieux (Apollon était appelé Apollon Leukos‚ Leukios‚ Leukaios). Parce que les Hyperboréens de l’Île Blanche célèbrent ce dieu chaque jour et lui rendent les plus grands hommages‚ on dit que ces hommes sont les prêtres d’Apollon. (…) De cette île on peut voir la Lune‚ peu éloignée. Les souverains sont les Boréades‚ descendants de Borée. On appelait aussi cette île Helixea (Felicia) ou l’île des Bienheureux ».
L’identité entre modernisation et occidentalisation du Japon est un des lieux communs les plus véhiculés. Les écrivains, les cinéastes, mais également, ce qui est plus grave, les historiens décrivent souvent un archipel féodal qui aurait embrassé la modernité occidentale en découvrant la puissance nouvelle des empires européens en pleine expansion au milieu du XIXe siècle. Les canonnières britanniques auraient suscité chez ce peuple de tradition isolationniste un sentiment d’urgence et de faiblesse, l’obligeant à rattraper son retard technique, économique et politique. Cette approche considère donc que la modernité japonaise est le produit de l’Occident, que les causes profondes de la transformation de la société japonaise sont exogènes et que ce changement radical peut se comprendre sur le mode de la pure et simple imitation, notamment à travers des tendances nouvelles comme le nationalisme, l’impérialisme ou encore le capitalisme à la japonaise.
La modernité japonaise se caractérise également par l’émergence de nationalismes de nature différente. Si les premiers intellectuels de la période Meiji s’interrogèrent sur la possibilité d’un changement de régime pour permettre aux Japonais de disposer de plus de droits individuels (liberté de réunion, d’association, d’expression…) et de véritables libertés politiques, le débat s’est ensuite orienté sur la question de la définition de cette nouvelle identité japonaise. « À partir des années 1887-1888 […], les termes du débat évoluèrent et se cristallisèrent désormais sur la question des identités à l’intérieur de la nation, avec un balancement entre trois éléments, l’Occident et son influence toujours fascinante et menaçante, l’Orient (mais il s’agit surtout de la Chine) qui devint une sorte de terre d’utopie ou d’expansion, et le Japon enfin, dont il fallait sans cesse redéfinir l’essence entre les deux pôles précédents. » Ce qui est particulièrement intéressant dans le cas japonais, c’est que le nationalisme, qui est par excellence une doctrine politique moderne, ne s’est pas seulement constitué à partir du modèle occidental. 
Ici on va juste tenter d’élever le débat américain (en oubliant Trump, ses tweets et ses bombes) avec Frithjof Schuon, immense ésotériste suisse de culture alémanique et musulmane, qui a vécu en Amérique du Nord auprès de ses chers sioux lakotas…
Ici le grand esprit inspire notre sage alsacien :
La destruction des indiens a été mille fois plus dénoncée par Hollywood que l’esclavage. Ce n’est pas un hasard : le sujet était jugé plus noble notamment par Tocqueville.
« La situation privilégiée des Indiens - en marge de l’« Histoire » et des écrasantes civilisations citadines - devait finir par s’épuiser ; il n’y a rien d’étonnant à ce que cet épuisement d’un paradis en quelque sorte vieilli coïncidât avec les temps modernes. »
Nous avons écrit un livre sur le paganisme au cinéma. Schuon établit lui une comparaison entre les indiens et LES japonais des grands temps :
« Un élément qui a pu donner l’impression que l’Indien est un individualiste - par principe et non de facto seulement - c’est l’importance cruciale que revêt chez lui la valeur morale de l’homme, le caractère si l’on veut, d’où le culte de l’acte. L’acte héroïque et silencieux s’oppose à la parole vaine et prolixe du lâche ; l’amour du secret, la réticence de livrer le sacré par des discours faciles qui l’affaiblissent et le dilapident, s’expliquent par là. Tout le caractère indien se laisse en somme définir par ces deux mots, si de telles ellipses sont permises : acte et secret ; acte foudroyant, au besoin, et secret impassible. Tel un roc, l’Indien d’autrefois se reposait en lui-même, en sa personnalité, pour ensuite la traduire en acte avec l’impétuosité de l’éclair ; mais en même temps il restait humble devant le Grand Mystère dont la nature environnante était, pour lui, le message permanent. »
L’esposizione in ordine cronologico e il relativo apparato critico permettono di conoscere le riflessioni musicologiche e quelle correlate di costume di Evola, avendo come sfondo gli stravolgimenti storici, politici e di pensiero del primo Novecento. I fenomeni e le teorie musicali sono sempre analizzati in rapporto al clima culturale di cui sono espressione e l’autore non risparmia mai il suo punto di vista agendo con spirito costruttivo anche quando la critica si fa serrata. La mitologia wagneriana viene demistificata in quanto si nutre di fonti “spurie” mentre la fase aurorale del jazz viene esaltata come contributo positivo alla dissoluzione della musica ottocentesca sentimental-romantica. I ritmi dell’Europa centrale vengono contrapposti al dilagare dei balli sudamericani mentre una critica impietosa viene svolta ai danni della produzione canzonettistica di massa, che a parere di Evola annega nel luogo comune e nell’incultura. Testi specialistici si alternano a pezzi di costume e proprio in ciò consiste la gradevolezza della lettura, perché si apprezza come il filosofo romano si sappia confrontare col quotidiano ben al di là delle posizioni intellettualistiche. Il principale merito di Evola è quello di anticipare e descrivere perfettamente come dal dopoguerra in poi i paesi europei e soprattutto l’Italia si siano fatti colonizzare e travolgere da mode e arti d’oltreoceano, rinunciando in pochi anni alle loro peculiarità. Da questo punto di vista ci invita a riflettere su quanto sia prezioso e delicato compito difendere ciò che è nostro. Già nel 1952 (e figuriamoci oggi!) denuncia su La Rivolta Ideale come La stupidaggine trionfa alla Rai (pp. 109-112), con l’incipiente invasività della pubblicità (e quindi del denaro) nella televisione pubblica e, quindi, nell’inizialmente onnicomprensivo “sistema dei media”.
Sa créativité se manifesta dans sa jeunesse, et en parallèle de ses études de philosophie et d’histoire de l’art, dans la musique industrielle, courant singulier, transgressif et atonale que l’on nomme, sans aucune connotation péjorative, « bruitisme ». Précurseur en la matière, le sérieux de la démarche, ainsi que son talent, amenèrent Vivenza à se produire dans toute l’Europe.
