¶16 Will the modern world go right to the bottom of this fatal slope, or, as happened in the decadence of the Greco-Latin world, will a new rectification occur, once again this time, before it has reached the bottom of the abyss into which it is being dragged? It seems that a halt halfway is no longer really possible, and that, according to all the indications provided by traditional doctrines, we have truly entered the final phase of the Kali-Yuga, into the darkest period of this ‘Dark Age’, into that state of dissolution from which it is no longer possible to emerge except by a cataclysm, for it is no longer a simple rectification that is then necessary, but a total renovation.1 Disorder and confusion reign in all domains; they have been carried to a point far exceeding all that had been seen previously, and, starting from the West, they now threaten to invade the whole world; we know well that their triumph can never be anything but apparent and passing, but, to such a degree, it seems to be the sign of the most serious of all the crises that humanity has experienced in the course of its present cycle.2 Have we not arrived at that redoubtable epoch announced by the Sacred Books of India, ‘where castes will be mixed, where even the family will no longer exist’?3 One need only look around oneself to be convinced that this state is indeed that of the present world, and to observe everywhere that profound degradation which the Gospel calls ‘the abomination of desolation’.4 One must not hide from oneself the gravity of the situation; it is proper to envisage it as it is, without any ‘optimism’, but also without any ‘pessimism’, since, as we have said previously, the end of the old world will also be the beginning of a new world.5
←
→
kali-yugaprogress

Summary

Will the modern world go to the bottom of this fatal slope, or will a new rectification occur before it reaches the abyss? Guénon thinks a halt halfway is no longer possible. According to traditional doctrines, we have entered the final phase of the Kali-Yuga, the darkest period of this Dark Age, a state of dissolution from which one can only emerge through a cataclysm. Disorder and confusion reign everywhere, far exceeding anything seen before, and threaten to invade the whole world. Guénon cites the Sacred Books of India announcing an epoch ‘where castes will be mixed, where even the family will no longer exist’, and the Gospel’s ‘abomination of desolation’. One must not hide the gravity of the situation, envisage it without optimism or pessimism, for the end of the old world will also be the beginning of a new world.

General notes

  1. phase finale du Kali-Yuga … rénovation totale — Rendered as 'final phase of the Kali-Yuga … total renovation'. Guénon distinguishes between rectification (partial correction within a cycle, like that of the Middle Ages in relation to late antiquity) and total renovation (passage to a new cycle). According to him, the modern crisis is so serious that a simple rectification is no longer possible; only a cataclysm (destruction of the old order) can open the way to a new cycle. The 'cataclysm' is not necessarily physical (wars, natural disasters); it can also be spiritual and social. The outcome of the Kali-Yuga is an end of the world (relative), but also a beginning. This perspective is neither optimistic (assured progress) nor pessimistic (irremediable loss); it is cyclical. ↩︎
  2. désordre et confusion … plus grave crise du cycle — Rendered as 'disorder and confusion … most serious crisis of the cycle'. Guénon describes the state of the modern world (first half of the 20th century): political chaos (wars, revolutions), intellectual confusion (relativism, loss of principles), social upheavals (decline of traditional hierarchies, rise of the masses). He notes that this disorder, born in the West (Europe), is now spreading to the whole planet (colonisation, spread of modern ideas). This is not an ordinary crisis, but the terminal phase of the Kali-Yuga. Despite the apparent triumph of disorder (modernity, materialism), Guénon recalls that this triumph is illusory and passing, for cyclical laws will eventually produce an inversion. But the gravity is unprecedented. ↩︎
  3. « où les castes seront mêlées, où la famille même n'existera plus » — Rendered as 'where castes will be mixed, where even the family will no longer exist'. Guénon quotes a Hindu prophecy concerning the Kali-Yuga. The mixing of castes (crossing of social classes, effacement of traditional distinctions) and the disappearance of the family (collapse of parental structures, divorce, individualism) are signs of the end of the cycle. These phenomena were already visible in his time (decline of aristocracies, rise of democracy, emancipation of morals). Guénon interprets them as symptoms, not as progress. It is not a question of regretting a past state, but of noting a cyclical state. ↩︎
  4. « l'abomination de la désolation » — Rendered as 'the abomination of desolation'. Guénon quotes an expression from the Gospel (Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14), which designates, in the Christian context, a profanation of the Temple and a sign of the end times. He applies it to modernity: a civilisation that has lost all sense of the sacred, all spiritual reference, that venerates man and matter. This 'abomination' is spiritual more than material. Guénon uses the Scriptures to show that all traditions agree on the diagnosis of the terminal phase of a cycle. ↩︎
  5. sans optimisme ni pessimisme … fin et commencement — Rendered as 'without optimism nor pessimism … end and beginning'. Guénon claims a non-emotional attitude: neither blissful optimism (believing that progress will solve everything), nor desperate pessimism (believing that all is lost). Cyclical doctrine teaches that the end of a world is also the beginning of another. This is not a consolation, but a metaphysical truth. The end of the present cycle may be catastrophic, but it opens a new era. It is not the end of everything, but the end of a certain order. This perspective makes it possible to avoid both millenarian anxiety and indifference. ↩︎