By Ted Sallis | 30 Comments | 
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The Overman High Culture: Future of the West
Oswald Spengler
Can the West and its peoples be saved? And what will this take–particularly if we are concerned with a long-term solution rather than a last ditch “stop gap?” Can a new High Culture of the West arise to secure the existence of the peoples of the West for an extended time frame? What characteristics should such a new culture have?
I will assume the reader is familiar with the civilizational model of Oswald Spengler, a model essentially adopted by Francis Parker Yockey in his various works on the West and its future possibilities. With a Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter of a High Culture, “Winter” is the phase of oncoming oblivion. It is clear, at least to me (and it seems that Michael O’Meara agrees with this assessment), that we are in the “Winter” of our current modern Western (i.e., “Faustian”) High Culture. And, immersed within this decay, bereft of an overriding organizing principle to provide a spiritual structure for its continued existence, the white race is dying, failing to reproduce, being displaced by aliens, and offering an inadequate level of resistance to the death of the West.
In actual physical weather/climate seasons, spring follows winter. Can the same hold true for particular peoples and their High Cultures? If civilizational (re)birth will lead to long-term racial survival, should we at least consider the possibilities? Of course, one cannot predict with full accuracy if a civilizational (re)birth will take place, much less the precise form such an event would take. Further, one cannot pre-plan and create a High Culture in the manner of a general formulating a strategy and then leading troops into battle. A High Culture must develop along its own lines, according to factors not entirely within (conscious) human control. However, one can, and should, examine the evidence, consider the possibilities, and to the extent it is possible, encourage those trends leading to a civilizational (re)birth. Further, these trends could, and should, be guided, to the extent possible, in directions that would be most fruitful and most consistent with the nature of our people.
A starting point is to consider our present High Culture, the dying remnants of which we see around us. The so-called “Western” or “Faustian” civilization has been described by Spengler and is summarized thus (emphasis added):
. . . the modern Westerners being Faustian. According to its theories, we are now living in the winter time of the Faustian civilization. His description of the Faustian civilization is one where the populace constantly strives for the unattainable—making Western Man a proud but tragic figure, for while he strives and creates he secretly knows the actual goal will never be reached.
Here we see two defining characteristics of the “Faustian” civilization of the modern (i.e., post-Classical) West: first, a focus on infinity and the unknown, and second, that the striving toward that focus will always be unsuccessful; the objectives of Western Man are always “unattainable.” The second point, and its implications, will be further discussed below. For now, let us accept the Spenglerian model and also accept that we are in the Winter of the Faustian culture. Now, the Spenglerian school, steeped in “stoic acceptance” (“pessimism”) will advise us to accept, and make the most of, our circumstances. The era in which we live in is what it is, and, like a Roman soldier on guard under erupting Vesuvius, we must stand at our post until the end, until all is enveloped in inescapable decay (civilizational entropy, if you will).
But if race and culture are linked, the dissipation of the culture means the destruction of the race. Or does it? The Faustian is not the first High Culture of Europe; it was preceded by the Classical. Spengler and his follower Yockey break with previous cultural interpretations to stress the sharp discontinuity between Classical and Faustian. These are perceived as being two distinct High Cultures, as different from each other as each is to, say, the Egyptian or the Magian.
Therefore, from the same article on Spengler’s work, we read (emphasis added):
Spengler borrows frequently from mathematical philosophy. He holds that the mathematics and art of a civilization reveal its world-view. He notes that in Greek classical mathematics that there are only integers and no real concepts of limits or infinity. Therefore, without a concept of the infinite, all events of the distant past were viewed as equally distant, thus Alexander the Great had no problem declaring himself a descendant of a god. On the other hand, the western world—which has concepts of the zero, the infinite, and the limit—has a historical world-view which places a high amount of importance on exact dates.
Similarly, Revilo Oliver writes (emphasis added):
Spengler identifies as two entirely separate and discrete civilizations the Classical (“Apollonian”), c. 1100 B.C.-A.D. 300, and the Western (“Faustian”), c. A.D. 900-2200. These are the two for which we have the fullest information, and between them Spengler establishes some of his most brilliant synchronisms (e.g., Alexander the Great corresponds to Napoleon). Even a century ago, this dichotomy would have seemed almost mad, for everyone knew and took for granted that whatever might be true of alien cultures, our own was a continuation, or, at least, revival of the Classical. Spengler’s denial of that continuity was the most radical and startling aspect of his historical synthesis, but so great has been his overshadowing influence that it has been accepted by a majority of the many subsequent writers on the philosophy of history, of whom we may mention here only Toynbee, Raven, Bagby, and Brown. (20) The Classical, we are told, was a civilization like the Egyptian, now dead and gone and with no organic connection with our own. . . . Spengler (whom Brown especially follows in this respect) supports his drastic dichotomy by impressively contrasting Graeco-Roman mathematics and technology with our own; from that contrast he deduces differences in the perception of space and time, exhibited particularly in music, and reaches the conclusion that the Classical Weltanschauung was essentially static, desiring and recognizing only a strictly delimited and familiar world, whereas ours is dynamic and exhibits a passionate yearning for the infinite and the unknown. One can advance various objections to the generalizations I have so curtly and inadequately summarized (e.g., is the difference in outlook really greater than that between the “classical” literature of Eighteenth-Century Europe and the Romanticism of the following era?), but the crucial point is whether the differences, which belong to the order that we must call spiritual for want of a better term, (21) are fundamental or epiphenomenal.
I have tended toward the “epiphenomenal” explanation – but in any case, one can agree with Oliver’s overarching conclusion in his various works: either the Classical and Faustian are different yet connected phases of the same Civilization, or, even if completely distinct, Western Man is capable of producing multiple High Cultures. Either way, one can conclude two things: (1) a successor to the Faustian High Culture is possible and has a precedent, and (2) this successor will be intimately connected in important ways to its predecessor (s) (even if Spengler and Yockey would deny this could be possible).
Therefore, either the Classical and Faustian are indeed linked (by a generalized common gene pool, “racial soul,” and Western outlook) or, if they are indeed distinct, they are not completely unconnected, as they derive from a common wellspring or foundation (again, the generalized gene pool, “racial soul,” and Western mindset of greater individualism and empiricism compared to other peoples and cultures). Not only are the Classical and the Faustian in some sense linked but, contrary to Spengler and Yockey–and, indeed, a blasphemy of the Spenglerian school that rejects a linear history–there is a sense of progression, in that the worldview of the Faustian is broader than that of the Classical; indeed, this greater breadth of vision is a defining characteristic of the Faustian. This breadth being manifested in such phenomena as high level technics, and a mass knowledge base of science, history, philosophy and morality-ethics, the foundation is therefore laid for a new High Culture of a vision even broader than that of the Faustian. A Spenglerian would argue that any new High Culture of the West, even if possible (and they may deny this possibility), would be completely disconnected to the “Faustian” aspects of the former, (i.e., present) Western Faustian High Culture. However, I argue that, having being awakened to the universe at large, it is unlikely that the white man would create a new High Culture that would be insular, rejecting the infinite. To the (albeit limited) extent we can predict, or even influence, the development of a new High Culture, a potential direction is one that is not purely “Faustian”–in the sense of striving for the unattainable. Instead, one can project a future High Culture that is based upon the ultimate and successful (eventual) achievement of what was previously considered to be “unattainable.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
I would argue that the Christian foundation of the Faustian High Culture is responsible for the fact that the ultimate goals that Western man strives toward end up being “unattainable” – and secretly known by him to be “unattainable.” The Christian mindset places inherent limits within the mind of Western man, so he is doomed to ultimately fail even if full success is theoretically possible (eventually). After all, the focus of Christianity is God and not Man, it is “salvation” and not overcoming, and it is a focus on “the next world” and not this, our real world. For man to achieve godhood–or to even have that as a goal–is a form of “blasphemy,” it is something that cannot be countenanced. Therefore, ultimate failure must occur, for attainment of the “Faustian” goal (attainment itself would then make the event no longer be truly “Faustian”) is simply not possible in a High Culture based upon Christianity. The full development of Western man has been restrained by an alien religion that has placed shackles on his mind and his soul. Nietzsche well recognized the constraints imposed by (Judeo-) Christianity; in his The Antichrist we find (emphasis added):
Has any one ever clearly understood the celebrated story at the beginning of the Bible–of God’s mortal terror of science? . . . No one, in fact, has understood it. This priest-book par excellence opens, as is fitting, with the great inner difficulty of the priest: he faces only one great danger; ergo, ”God” faces only one great danger.–
The old God, wholly “spirit,” wholly the high-priest, wholly perfect, is promenading his garden: he is bored and trying to kill time. Against boredom even gods struggle in vain. What does he do? He creates man–man is entertaining. . . But then he notices that man is also bored. God’s pity for the only form of distress that invades all paradises knows no bounds: so he forthwith creates other animals. God’s first mistake: to man these other animals were not entertaining–he sought dominion over them; he did not want to be an “animal” himself.–So God created woman. In the act he brought boredom to an end–and also many other things! Woman was the second mistake of God.–”Woman, at bottom, is a serpent, Heva”–every priest knows that; “from woman comes every evil in the world”–every priest knows that, too. Ergo, she is also to blame for science. . . It was through woman that man learned to taste of the tree of knowledge.–What happened? The old God was seized by mortal terror. Man himself had been his greatest blunder; he had created a rival to himself; science makes men godlike–it is all up with priests and gods when man becomes scientific!–Moral: science is the forbidden per se; it alone is forbidden. Science is the first of sins, the germ of all sins, the original sin. This is all there is of morality.–”Thou shalt not know”–the rest follows from that.–God’s mortal terror, however, did not hinder him from being shrewd. How is one to protect one’s self against science? For a long while this was the capital problem. Answer: Out of paradise with man! Happiness, leisure, foster thought–and all thoughts are bad thoughts!–Man must not think.–And so the priest invents distress, death, the mortal dangers of childbirth, all sorts of misery, old age, decrepitude, above all, sickness–nothing but devices for making war on science! The troubles of man don’t allow him to think. . . Nevertheless–how terrible!–, the edifice of knowledge begins to tower aloft, invading heaven, shadowing the gods–what is to be done?--The old God invents war; he separates the peoples; he makes men destroy one another (–the priests have always had need of war….). War–among other things, a great disturber of science !–Incredible! Knowledge, deliverance from the priests, prospers in spite of war.–So the old God comes to his final resolution: “Man has become scientific–there is no help for it: he must be drowned!”
Indeed. If “the meek shall inherit the Earth” there is no place for any human striving for the infinite that is successful, and which places Man on the same plane as God. If meekness, humility, the “humble lamb of God” is the foundational archetype of a culture, then of course infinity and the unknown will always be unattainable. “Thou shalt not know”: it is amazing how much we have achieved despite that, and these remarkable Western achievements coming have occurred–not by coincidence–primarily during the Autumn and Winter periods of the Faustian High Culture. Only when the constraints imposed by the Christian-defined culture have to a large extent dissipated has the a priori acceptance of failure been weakened. The problem is that with a decaying, dying High Culture, this (partial) emancipation from the cult of humility will go for naught. Only a new High Culture built upon the fundamental concept of human transcendence, and on the attainment of infinity/the unknown, will allow Western Man to fulfill his density. The crumbling ruins of the previous High Culture can serve as building blocks for the future, certainly, they can provide inspiration, certainly, and be a source of pride, certainly. But we need to look toward the Future, and not stand guard over a dying, or dead, Past, analogous to Spengler’s Roman soldier.
While I mean no disrespect to anyone’s beliefs, be they Christian or Pagan, I do not see a revival of ancient pagan gods as a forward-thinking improvement over the decay of Faustianism. Replacing Jesus with Thor, in my mind, simply replaces one fantasy-crutch with another. White men should no longer require any exogenous gods, whether new or old; we instead should strive toward godhood for our race. It is time for the white man to grow up and put away the fantasies of childhood, fantasies of gods and external intelligent forces controlling a destiny that should be ours, and ours alone, to mold. The motto of the Classical World was “Know Thyself,” while that of the Faustian Age was a combination of “Thou Shalt Not Know” with “Thou Shalt Try to Know and Thou Shalt Fail.” I propose that the new High Culture of the West have the motto: “Thou Shalt Know and Thou Shalt Overcome.” This will usher in an era in which Western Man unlocks his potential by unlocking the shackles imposed by an assumed inferiority to imaginary gods.
Francis Parker Yockey
The following quote from Yockey’s The Enemy of Europe summarizes the palingenetic objective that we could, if we so wished, strive for:
Our European Mission is to create the Culture-State-Nation-Imperium of the West, and thereby we shall perform such deeds, accomplish such works, and so transform our world that our distant posterity, when they behold the remains of our buildings and ramparts, will tell their grandchildren that on the soil of Europe once dwelt a tribe of gods.
In other words, no imaginary gods. It is Man that will become “God.” In the book The Portable Nietzsche, editor Walter Kaufmann interprets Nietzsche’s “overman” thus:
what is called for is not a super-brute but a human being who has created for himself that unique position in the cosmos that the Bible considered his birthright.
That was going well until that last part – “The Bible.” No, Mr. Kaufman, the Bible does not consider the Overman to be the ultimate birthright of humanity but instead the “last man” as the “prize” instead. It is we who must choose what our “birthright” is, not the wild fantasies of “the Bible.” However, that being so, the rest of the description is sound, if we consider that it is to be applied to the race as a whole and not only to selected individuals within the race. No more “proud, tragic” failure in “striving for the unattainable” in the “Faustian” culture – instead the Overman Culture will be characterized by the proud successful attainment of the infinite. That is what a hopeful individual can project as the new High Culture of the West, with links to the Classical and the Faustian, but surpassing both in the aim and objective of the human spirit. That is what Western Destiny can and should be.
What can we do to get things on the right track?
Although the Jewish author Isaac Asimov may not be popular among many white gentile racial nationalists, his Foundation series can provide a useful analogy here. “The Foundation” was meant to jumpstart a new civilization after the collapse of the “Galactic Empire,” so that the post-collapse “era of barbarism” would be a mere thousand years, instead of 30,000. Facing as we do the collapse of the West through the Winter of the Faustian age, it may be prudent to lay the seeds of a new emergent white, Western civilization for the long term, as we also fight the more short-term and medium-term battles to preserve the white race and save as much of Western Faustian civilization as possible. Without these shorter range objectives, the long term civilizational (re)birth will not be possible. Conversely, without a civilizational (re)birth, long-term white preservationism would be questionable.
So, there are two things that need to be going on here. First is the ongoing struggle for white racial preservationism and to save as much of the Faustian culture as possible, to serve as a knowledge base and building blocks for the new High Culture of the West. Second, an effort must be initiated to begin the process of laying the groundwork for this new High Culture. As indicated above, of course a High Culture is an organic phenomenon that cannot be created in a pre-planned form and artificially imposed on a people. However, it is possible to plant the seeds and to have some choice as to which seeds are planted. And then, we can nurture the seedling as it grows, and as it develops according to its own inherent character. This we can do and this we must do.
This is a serious matter requiring forward-thinking strategy of an extreme visionary character, not something that can be productively “discussed” on “blog threads” or other (typically inane) public forums. It is not something that can occur overnight. This is a long-term, multi-generational project that needs to be undertaken by dedicated individuals who wish to lay the foundation of something great and noble for posterity. This will not be not any “quick fix” whose results may be seen in a decade or two; instead, this is a project that has the potential to influence the course of human history and it must be conducted on that higher level.
Therefore, this essay is simply a call for action and an initial and cursory consideration of the possibilities. If such a project is ever initiated, it should not, and must not, devolve into the mundane “movement” minutiae that many obsess over, nor can it be linked to the more serious, yet short-term, necessary “stop-gap” activism required to save our people and culture today. This is another matter, on another level, entirely.
Many are called; few are chosen. The Future Awaits.
Ted Sallis
Ted Sallis is a strong proponent of Frank Salter's concepts of ethnic genetic interests and universal nationalism, as well as many of the ideas of Francis Parker Yockey and Norman Lowell. Mr. Sallis believes there is significant potential in merging Salterian biopolitics with Yockeyian culturalism.
Sallis’ article reminds me the longest post in my blog, of which I’ll quote only the first paragraphs:
As far as I understand blogger Conservative Swede, the current suicidal Zeitgeist in the West has roots in Christian and neo-Christian (i.e., post-Enlightenment) axiology.
While Con Swede gives us the big, meta-perspective picture, activists in the counter-jihad movement, whether Christians or neo-Christian secularists, are myopic. Con Swede’s point can best be summarized in his reply to my question, quoted way below: Why pick on Western Christian Civilization when all of this suicidal mess seemed to come just after the 1960s? Con Swede answers that an amalgamation of Christian and secular axiological standards produced the runaway demographics in the Third World. Today’s Muslim migration into Europe is but the epiphenomenal tip of the iceberg of the deranged altruism in Western morals that started in Christianity and which was washed out, but ironically strengthened by, secular humanists after the Enlightenment.
Therefore, after the world collapses because of our stupid axiology Con Swede predicts an Umwertung aller Werte, a term that R. J. Hollingdale, the Penguin Books translator of Nietzsche translates as “revaluation of all values”. Con Swede and other GoV-ers see the forthcoming “end of the world as we know it” as catastrophic as the fall of Rome. Nonetheless, Con Swede in particular is very optimistic. Badly hurt but phoenix-like, later in this century Westerners will not only revert to the ethical values before the 1960s, but in other aspects to the values cherished by us before World War I and even before the French Revolution and Christendom (both Con Swede and I admire the hard ethos of the ancient Romans).
After the current paradigm collapses, people in the Third World should be left to die—as they were left to die due to natural causes (epidemics, hygienics, infant mortality, etc.) before the deranged altruism took hold of the Western psyche. Otherwise Westerners only worsen the suffering of the billions of people in the Third World. For the current meta-ethical standards, the mere thought of this proposal is monstrous. Con Swede argues that the real monstrosity is to allow these poor bastards to breed into runaway poverty and misery. To boot, this situation creates hordes of “orcs” that have invaded our Western soil, including Muslim jihadists.
Pivotal is Con Swede’s wishful hope, after the end of the world as we know it, of a revived pre-Christian Germanic spirit. America, on the other hand, caused much postmodern mischief. This was the first modern Western nation that introduced multiculturalism in the 19th century (and cultural relativism in the 20th). Once the paradigm of Western Christian Civilization is shattered, a strong revaluation of values not only implies rewriting the books on World War II, but of America’s blunder of granting citizenship to blacks after Lincoln instead of deporting them to Africa (or making some of them free men and free women, albeit non-citizen civilians).
Of course, I have colored this “preface” to Con Swede’s “book” with my own words and metaphors, and would like to end it with a thought I posted a couple of days ago: “I have stated that nations are born stoic and die epicurean. What we need in the following decades is the most austere form of Roman severitas. This painting of Roman swords represents pictorially what I have in mind musically.”
I would like to clarify two aspects of this essay.
First, I do say that in the short to medium-term, we must defend the Faustian Culture and preserve as much of that as possible, including traditional Christianity, if for no other reason so as to juxtapose a traditional Europe against today’s growing Eurabia. Note that this doesn’t mean promoting Christian beliefs per se (I myself am not Christian in this sense) but, rather, defending the West, for now, as a historically Christian cultural entity.
Second, and more importantly, this specific essay does not blame Christian belief for the current death of the West (which may or may not actually be the case and is properly the subject of a separate analysis); rather, I would argue that the collapse of (traditional) Christian belief (Nietzsche’s “God is dead”) is at least partially responsible for the racial-civilizational crisis. What has happened is that the collapse of belief, which has been a key foundation of the Faustian High Culture, has left a spiritual vacuum. This vacuum, not being filled with anything new of value, has instead been filled by the destructive cult of anti-racist multiculturalism, which is in essence a radically totalitarian form of messianic secularized liberal Christianity.
To answer this, the traditionalists in our ranks promote a return to traditional Christian belief, which seems to me unlikely. Recognizing the role that science and knowledge has played in “killing God” (remember: “Thou Shalt Not Know”) they attack Darwinism (more properly: they attack a strawman misrepresentation of real evolutionary biology), all the while pretending the attack is merely disinterested truth telling.
On the other hand, paganists look toward Odin or Thor for their spiritual center. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that for individuals, or for groups of individuals who hold similar beliefs. However, I cannot see any of this forming the basis of mass modern society, any more than a return to genuine traditional Christian belief is possible. We have all seen too much, know too much, and have experienced too much. At some point, we all need to face the intellectual rigor of civilizational adulthood.
‘Without these shorter range objectives, the long term civilizational (re)birth will not be possible. Conversely, without a civilizational (re)birth, long-term white preservationism would be questionable.’
The white genotypes need more babies.
Don’t worry about preserving the white knowledge base. Every yellow-skinned literate person values the white knowledge base, although of course an electrical engineer in Beijing values calculus more than Beethoven and Plato. The knowledge base is the least of our worries.
Without white babies, raised by white parents, there is no white future.
There are plenty of over-educated greybeards – I will count myself in that group – who can preserve culture. There are plenty of spinster Latin teachers who can explain the nuances of da Vinci’s paintings. However, of roughly seven billion humans on Planet Earth, very few are white.
Do whatever must be done to secure white children. Given the children, everything else will fall into place.
I agree we need more white babies, but the purpose of the essay was to consider the possibilities of a new Western High Culture to provide the setting for long term white survival, not to promote the preservation of the past (which is important as well, but not the issue here).
‘… traditionalists in our ranks … attack a strawman misrepresentation of real evolutionary biology’
‘paganists look toward Odin or Thor for their spiritual center….I cannot see any of this forming the basis of mass modern society…’
‘the purpose of the essay was to consider the possibilities of a new Western High Culture ‘
Indeed, my initial comment rather missed the point of the original essay – namely Western High Culture. I apologize for my obtuseness, but I am not versed in Spengler’s notion of what is “faustian” and what is not.
Now, having gone back and read all of the links, I note Wiki says: “The world feeling of Faustian civilisation is inspired by the concept of infinitely wide and profound space, the yearning towards distance and infinity.” Further it quotes Spengler as saying: “Plato and Goethe stand for the philosophy of Becoming, Aristotle and Kant the philosophy of Being. [This saying of Goethe] must be regarded as the expression of a perfectly definite metaphysical doctrine. I would not have a single word changed of this: “The Godhead is effective in the living and not in the dead, in the becoming and the changing, not in the become and the set-fast; and therefore, similarly, the reason is concerned only to strive towards the divine through the becoming and the living, and the understanding only to make use of the become and the set-fast.” This sentence comprises my entire philosophy.”
Therefore I have some notion of my divergence from Spengler.
Spengler was not, in my opinion, a Neo-Platonist, nor a non-dualist of the Advaita Vedanta school. For my part, I see little difference between Neo-Platonism and Advaita Vedanta – I regard them as different two-dimensional facets of the same three-dimensional gemstone of what Steuco or Leibniz might call Perennial Philosophy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agostino_Steuco
Such a philosophy can be sought from various starting points; modern whites might begin with Guenon, Evola, or with some other thinker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Guénon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Evola
Being and Becoming are valid philosophical topics, and they deserve to be expounded to pro-white audiences, but I will not attempt that task here.
Rather, I would say that if there is to be a new Western High Culture, it might be Neo-Platonism, or it might be some other facet of the same gemstone. Plato, Isaac Newton, Nicholas of Cusa, Guenon, Evola – all these thinkers were participants in a Perennial Philosophy. For my part, I hope that modern whites will discover some form of that Perennial Philosophy – but it’s a second priority, and viable, healthy white babies are the top priority.
The signposts to a revival, and Faustian extension of Western Civilization have already been planted by Gene Wolfe, in his Book of the New Sun tetrology: I/The Shadow of the Torturer; II/The Claw of the Conciliator; III/The Sword of the Lictor; and IV/The Citadel of the Autarch.
Mr. Walters, thank you for those comments, which provide food for thought.
Mr. Fascist, I will check out those books. I do find science fiction to be, at times, a good mine of ideas, either positive or negative.
Voyage of the Space Beagle used some Spenglerian memes, but, unfortunately, ended with the main character disparaging the importance of “blood.”
From a racial standpoint, Childhood’s End was disgusting and atrocious.
“For my part, I hope that modern whites will discover some form of that Perennial Philosophy – but it’s a second priority, and viable, healthy white babies are the top priority.”
I disagree with that notion; not saying reproducing is not important in any sense but that Perennial Philosophy, Traditionalism, Neo-platonism (which I consider myself a part of), Advaita Vedana, and early Buddhism should be delved into, contemplated on, and manifested in a new high culture as a very high prerogative. A white baby that’s born in a decayed and desolate world will fall prey to those influences and will never advance his race or his culture because both concepts are alien to him. Informing that baby from the start with a superior wisdom and doctrine that he can carry with him in the temporal realm will insure the success of the European races, the cultures of Europe, and real manifold transcendence in the world. So I say Wisdom should be given more emphasis than reproduction, but reproduction is a natural prerogative anyway.
“The full development of Western man has been restrained by an alien religion”
I find it ironic that many White Nationalists who reject Christianity because it is “alien to the West” (since the early Christians were mostly Semites), proceed to adopt esoteric spiritualism from the Hindus.
To me, Hindu civilization seems even more alien than Semitic or even East Asian civilization – alien not only to Christian civilization, but also alien to the relatively egalitarian societies of ancient pagan Europe such as democratic Athens, early/middle republican Rome, or the Germans as described in Tacitus and the Sagas.
Hinduism is the only religion that preserves in an unbroken tradition elements of the primordial Indo-European religion that also gave rise to the pre-Christian religions of Europe. So paradoxically, elements of Hinduism are less alien to westerners than Biblical religion.
Egalitarian is not the proper word to use when describing those societies. The classics would consider equal rights for all to be unjust. They saw that by nature some men are superior to others, and accordingly should be the rulers of others.
Valerian: A white baby that’s born in a decayed and desolate world will fall prey to those influences and will never advance his race or his culture because both concepts are alien to him. Informing that baby from the start with a superior wisdom and doctrine that he can carry with him in the temporal realm will insure the success of the European races, the cultures of Europe, and real manifold transcendence in the world.
Indeed, well said – what I mean is that white civilization has a plethora of rapidly aging male spinsters, of which I am one, who can impart wisdom, or at least doctrine. If the white population does not undergo demographic collapse, the propagation of tradition to whites will be my highest social duty.
Whites Unite: To me, Hindu civilization seems even more alien than Semitic or even East Asian civilization – alien not only to Christian civilization, but also alien to the relatively egalitarian societies of ancient pagan Europe
The original Aryan culture was quite different from the combination of Aryan and Dravidic cultures. You may also find great interest in the cultures of Babylon (which may have been partially or totally populated by blue-eyed whites) and Egypt (which was probably admixed with Negro stock). The ancient academic teachers such as Pythagoras were often very cross-cultural; non-academic teachers, such as Buddha (who probably had blue eyes) often had less interest in multi-cultural information swapping.
Morgan: Egalitarian is not the proper word to use when describing those societies. The classics would consider equal rights for all to be unjust. They saw that by nature some men are superior to others, and accordingly should be the rulers of others.
I think it may have been on this very website that I read an interesting interpretation of the maxim: Gnothi Seauton. It is normally translated “Know Thyself,” but allegedly it can be translated as “Know Who You Are,” or “Know Your Place.” If that is so, that might imply that one born with talent for fighting ought to be a fighter, and one born with talent for serving ought to be a servant.
Greg,
Hinduism has an unbroken tradition of transforming itself into the exact opposite of ancient Aryan culture. A small example is cattle: in the Vedas, cattle are sacrificed to the gods, in modern Hinduism the life of cattle is sacred. More significantly: among the ancient Ayans, the elite greatly valued the common warriors who constituted the bulk of the adult male population. The modern yogis of transcendental meditation seem to value the sacred temple monkeys more than they value Hindu commoners.
Morgan,
That is why I was careful to use the word “relatively” – compared to Hindu civilization.
There are similarities and there are differences. If you want to focus on the differences, you will never see the similarities. Attitudes toward cattle vary from place to place and from religious cult to religious cult. There are different ways of making something sacred. One way is to make it sacrosanct and untouchable. Another is to kill it as a sacrifice to the god. The common element is that something is made sacred by removing it from the profane world of mere use. Bulls are sacrificed, sometimes on a massive scale, in some Indian religious cults.
Ted,
This is a breakthrough article.
After years of seeing the same old racialist and anti-Semitic arguments recycled in a thousand different variations and never a word about the great cultural-civilizational challenge facing us, I thought Americans would never “get it.”
Thank you for reviving my dimming hopes.
I’m presently offline and won’t be able to participate in the discussion. But I’m hoping your brilliant piece inspires others.
Michael,
Thank you for those positive comments. I have a great respect for your work, so it is gratifying to me that you think highly of this essay.
I am hoping that these ideas can be followed through on in some appropriate forum. The “movement” in general likely will not be interested in this type of analysis, but the right people may well be so interested.
I don’t like the analogy of seasons or some other inevitable decay in civilizations. Things like this do happen, and Spengler and Yockey are insightful, but they do not see the teeming personality types in civilizations that move about in cycles creating new civilizations or religions, and then the corruption and ossification of these as the laid-bare power structures are infiltrated by those with lower money or power motives — or like in our civilization with Jews. Jews are the perennial and epitomized civilization-destroyers.
To me, civilizations capture a divine spirit, they are striving for something greater, some great destiny. When the genetic forces and types rise ebb and flow in civilizations, those civilizations are led upward and downward. If we let the corrupt and untruthful rise to become the epitome of their pattern, we get Jews. If we let the violent, corrupt and impulsive rise to the epitome of their pattern, we get blacks. If we let simple complexity, social patterning, peer-pressures, and solidarity and pleasure rise to it’s epitome, we get the Asian races. It is always an internal war of different characters and personalities. Our civilizations have these elements and hurdles within them, but we have been able to hold it together on the right path anyway because our higher aspirations and work ethic and love of truth was stronger. Witness the Jewish mindset compared to the European. We ARE being destroyed by the Jewish mindset in concert with our worst, most selfish and corrupt minds. Left alone by Jews, this would not be happening. Since we have complete morons and stage actors instead of real leaders in office today, and Jews behind the scenes creating their playing field, we find ourselves on a downward path. These are easily discernible problems which we can detect and eventually solve.
Civilization will keep going upward as long as the see the spirit of a great destiny in their midst. That is the fuel that powers civilizations. The death of civilizations is not inevitable, and we need not lose our motivations and ascribe and inevitable death to them. What really matters DOES live forever in us. The soul that truly powers a civilization is eternal.
However, we need to get power and save ourselves QUICKLY from these teeming elements– not slow and ploddingly. We don’t have time right now because we are overrun and going extinct rapidly. Once we save ourselves, once we regain power, we can begin the relatively slower and multi-generational project of properly building and maintaining our human cathedral again. We have all the tools to do so now, so we will not fail and fall again like so many other civilizations before us. They were all experiments, launching first test rockets, then small animals, then monkeys, then US into space. It is the experiment that goes somewhere, not yockeyesque pointless seasons of life and death for no greater purpose. Human civilization IS our purpose.
We have been the ones to finally be worthy, we have been the ones to have what it takes to both see and do the right things. We have invented and discovered how everything works that is important for the future of civilization and mankind. We have science, evolution, sociobiology, economics, medicine, eugenics, genetics, and we are ready to launch. Problem is, Jewish saboteurs are at it again — as in previous civilizations. We have gathered everything we need–including all the memories and information for future generations to learn from. This is it. This is the final war and the final launch that will make all the massive use of resources and the suffering of all life through time worthwhile. Of course our current consumption levels cannot be sustained, this is actually a massive collective effort which we have been lately trained by the Jewish world-view to think is just pointless materialism and consumerism for its own sake. To other races with materialistic, pleasure-seeking, and power-hungry mindsets, that’s all it is!
We have a greater purpose. You don’t get any of that from Yockey or Spengler — and that is a pretty big omission. I talk about this too in my book: The Textbook of the Universe: The Genetic Ascent to God. There is a greater pattern to all life and to civilization itself that is an internal echo of the evolutionary process –capturing and reflecting the pattern of the life force itself. With civilization there is purpose, pure purpose towards something greater. Jews want us to ignore all that and see civilization like they do — as purely power and material-resource based. This is how they can destroy and loot whole countries like the oligarchs in Russia, or the wall-street corporate raiders destroying companies to line their pockets with the value in them — like murder and organ-theft on a grand scale. They are stealing and selling the organs of this great being, this living cathedral of culture. They are blind intellectually and emotionally to the larger purposes of civilizations. They would kill the bell-ringer of the Salvation Army and take his can of money–except that they are smart enough not to have to. They want the world, and they can get that from behind the scenes manipulations. Only their purposes in gaining wealth and power and world dominion count to them. The higher mind has somewhere along the line gone missing in them.
I think Spengler and Yockey completely miss the point in civilizations. They progress exactly like experiments with a grand theme in mind. Early civilizations were alchemy of THIS civilization — like foreshadowing in an epic novel. They lacked the ability, information, and drive to do what we have done today, but pointed the way through time. If you look back in time for an information-gathering pattern rather than a resource-gathering pattern, every organism on Earth was a foreshadowing of US. Now here we sit on the launch pad — beset on all sides by the hordes who do not want to be left behind now, who made bad decisions in the past-bad decisions which scarred and shaped them into our adversaries now. Races are all about DECISIONS people have made in the past and are making NOW. We need to understand these things to save ourselves.
Romer’s comments – much of which I agree with – is more in line with Oliver’s thoughts about the continuity, rather than absolute distinction, of European High Cultures – that the Classical and the Faustian were different incarnations of the same High Culture of the West.
In other words, High Cultures do not necessarily inevitably die, but can be reformed if the genetic potential of the population allows it. I agree with Romer as well that the Spengler-Yockey view of history as non-linear and non-progressive, was wrong. There are objective standards whereby we today are ahead of the past, and have built upon it. Not only in the obvious realms of science and technics, but also in our self-understanding. I cannot believe that a citizen of Rome, circa 360 AD, was sitting around pondering the end of their civilization and plans to build/rebuild a new one. The sheer knowledge base of modern Western civilization, coupled to our “Faustian” aspects, gives us a qualitatively different perspective of the possibilities than ever existed before.
However, this doesn’t materially change the point of the essay. Whether Classical-Faustian-Overman are three completely distinct High Cultures, or whether they are (or, will be, for the third) different incarnations of the same Western paradigm doesn’t alter the fact that the Faustian is exhausted and needs to be replaced. And, that, it needs to be replaced by something that doesn’t a priori limit the aspirations and accomplishments of Western Man through the imposition of an alien mindset.
Of course, as I make clear, the short-term and medium-term priorities now are that of racial preservation, and to conserve as much of the positive, and unabashedly “Western” aspects of the Faustian culture, as is possible.
And, yes, that means excluding known destroyers from the rebuilding of the West.
I just find it odd that it’s always assumed that we’re dying, and that they are thriving.
They being non-Whites, with Jews on the top of this cultural pyramid.
I think this is to seriously misread the actual state of affairs.
Yes, in one sense an argument could be made that we’re not doing too well.
But they are hardly thriving.
Many Whites have actively enabled non-Whites, and out of some sense of moral superiority. Whites have enabled non-Whites with money, attention, praise, deserved or not, and usually not. At least nothing that measures up to so much of the hyperbole that came with the praise.
But if these claims that we’re dying are true then even our passing is a kind of enabling.
Meaning, they are not thriving, we are dying.
They are not doing well, we’re doing badly.
They are not growing, we’re degenerating.
etc, etc.
It’s true that with many of them they are simply too stupid to even know they are stupid, and too indifferent to care.
But boy are they united against us.
That, however, is nothing to base an organization upon, and these people are poised to inherit an entire civlization. It will be like passing a heavy, solid gold baton to an ill-mannered and overly-confident four year old.
They are going to grab it from us impatiently and run in all kinds of directions, run into a wall and blame us.
I don’t know if we’ll still be around when that happens and for that reason I am willing to at least take their threat to us seriously – which, naturally, we’re not allowed to do – but I will never take them seriously, at all. I’m simply too commited to reality, and they despise it.
They have a kind of adolescent, superstitious arrogance. Meaning, as a result of their addiction to themselves they actually think that if they don’t like something then that’s because it’s really no good. Not simply something that is “no good” because they don’t like it.
In short, they are children and, like children, can only see the world in relation to themselves.
When you ask a child to show you their right and left hand they can do it.
But when you hold out yours and ask them to show you your right and left hand they get it backwards, because they still see things in relation to themselves.
This is an accurate description of a lot of what passes for non-White thought today.
Their colletive hatred of reality is the key. This is the thought I would like to see burn in the hearts and minds of all White advocates with a gem-like flame.
They don’t just hate us, they hate reality.
So they are not going to manage themselves in it for long.
We should work tirelessly on an intellectual and spiritual level to point this out chapter and verse to anyone and everyone who will listen.
Maybe it will get a few of us to stop awfulizing to the point of discouraging those who might be popping in from time to time to see if we’re the real thing.
They deserve that we treat them with respect, that we serve as powers of example, and that we greet them like ladies and gentlemen.
If you want to call people over to your side you’ve got to make them want your life.
We shouldn’t just be concerned about our enemies, we should be concerned about praciting the virtues and demonstrating good manners.
It’s with a certain degree of cautious enthusiasm that I compose this brief reply to your thought-provoking Overman High Culture article. And although I have yet to see my personal ideas reflected in any response posted thus far, it’s difficult to imagine that what I’m moved to share is unique. Who knows. So I’ll just write as I will.
As Michael O’Meara stated on April, 7th, this is a breakthrough article. How could I say it any better? No need to try. And yet I want more. I have questions. I have ideas. I have a need to read more about what an Overman High Culture would look like beyond the zeitgeist. Additional articles on this theme would be welcomed, but that’s not really what I have in mind.
What has quietly consumed my private musings for the past couple of weeks, or so, is the creation of an online forum dedicated to the ideas and ideals you’ve raised. I’m not talking abut establishing the foundation for some new “movement” or the likes. Rather, I’m interested in seeing a (cyber) space where people who are ready to move beyond a movement might come together to envision (in detail) what an Overman High Culture will look like.
Where would such a culture take root and grow? In the Pacific Northwest? In Eastern Europe? In small local communities networked through a federation? On an island purchased by wealthy benefactors? How would such a culture manage its practical affairs? Would it be a republic? A republic based on Plato’s model? Or a democratic republic? A kingdom? A dictatorship? What rights would be guaranteed in a constitution? What about conducting foreign affairs? What about (limited) immigration policies (if any)? What about recognition by sympathetic nations? What about defense from enemies? What about generating and maintaining vibrant agriculture and markets? What about trade? What about currencies? And (limited) taxes (if any)? What about educational curriculum(s)? What about addressing the needs (of some, or many) for mystical expression (not based on alien concepts)? What sort of name would suit the land and culture termed Overman?
These are topics that could be addressed at the end of this or any posted article. But I feel like an entire site devoted to such would be more productive. Again, I’m not calling for a new movement or a new party or a new cult anything remotely resembling anything of the sort. I’m interested in the Becoming aspect of the Overman High Culture (as in getting from Point A to Point B, that sort of thing).
Sooner or later (probably the former rather than the latter) the world as we know it will implode into the kind of chaos that engulfed Europe seventy years ago. The point of no return appears to have been passed. How the slow motion train wreck unfolds remains to be seen, but the writing is on the wall. That being said, your article is absolutely the brightest light I have seen in… honestly, I can’t recall. If anything, it inspires me, one man (a devoted husband and proud father of three) to imagine brighter days for my family, and for my people.
Even so, I have a sincere desire to see (possible) details of how an Overman High Culture will come into being. Yes, it’s the creative concept of Becoming that moves me to suggest (somebody) creating a format in which a greater Becoming might draw inspiration (I say might).
My email was submitted with this response. I welcome any positive replies from you and others who would like to discuss this matter further. Initial subjects might include whether or not to make the forum public, and/or how to prevent trolls and infiltrators from infecting the quality of content generated, and so forth.
Hmm… William Patrick Kinsella wrote a novel back in the 80’s called Shoeless Joe (which later became a film called Field of Dreams). There’s a famous line that just popped into my mind: BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME. At the risk of appearing to invoke some (unsolicited) mystical principle, there’s something about (metaphorically) cultivating the soil and planting seeds that lead to transforming possibilities into probabilities in regard to future growth and harvest. I’ve seen it in my own life. I trust most reading this have too. And I’m suggesting that by building a site for creative discourse, we can help to increase the probability of a future Overman High Culture becoming a reality (sooner, rather than later). Only one way to find out.
http://www.blogaminute.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/field-of-dreams.jpg
There are many good questions in the last comment post, and, of course, they cannot be answered by any person here; in fact they cannot be truly answered by anyone but ultimately will be observed through the organic development of a new High Culture, if such comes to pass.
However, agreed, such things need to be discussed, if the seed planting and guidance aspects of that development are to occur. This cannot be a public forum “blog” discussion, with its attendant semi-retarded comments threads, but a long term project birthed in niches that can allow seeds to sprout without being trampled underfoot by the usual “movement” stupidity and (typically obvious) trolling.
One major objective of the essay was to put forth the Idea, so as to get the proper individuals motivated to start the process.
One major objective of the essay was to put forth the Idea, so as to get the proper individuals motivated to start the process.
+++++++
Then let’s hope there are a few Overmen (and women) ready and willing. Otherwise… well, as mentioned, the writing is on the wall.