¶12 These few considerations may already make us understand all that is lacking in modern Western civilisation, not only as regards the possibility of an effective rapprochement with the Eastern civilisations, but also in itself, for it to be a normal and complete civilisation;1 moreover, in truth, the two questions are so closely linked that they are but one, and we have just given the reasons why this is so. We shall now have to show more completely what the anti‑traditional spirit consists in, which is properly the modern spirit,2 and what the consequences are that it bears within itself, consequences that we see unfolding with pitiless logic in present events; but before coming to that, one final reflection is still necessary. To be resolutely ‘anti‑modern’ is not to be ‘anti‑Western’, if one may use that word, since this is on the contrary to make the only valid effort to try to save the West from its own disorder;3 and, on the other hand, no Easterner faithful to his own tradition could envisage things otherwise than we do ourselves; there are certainly far fewer adversaries of the West as such (which, moreover, would hardly make sense) than of the West insofar as it identifies itself with modern civilisation. Some speak today of the ‘defence of the West’, which is truly singular, whereas, as we shall see later, it is the latter that threatens to overwhelm everything and drag all humanity into the whirlwind of its disordered activity;4 singular, we say, and quite unjustified, if they mean, as would seem to be the case despite some restrictions, that this defence must be directed against the East, for the true East dreams neither of attacking nor of dominating anyone; it asks for nothing more than its independence and tranquillity, which, it will be agreed, is quite legitimate. The truth, however, is that the West is indeed in great need of being defended, but only against itself, against its own tendencies which, if pushed to the end, will inevitably lead it to ruin and destruction; it is therefore ‘reform of the West’ that should be said, and this reform, if it were what it ought to be, that is, a true traditional restoration, would have as its natural consequence a rapprochement with the East.5 For our part, we ask only to contribute, to the extent of our means, both to this reform and to this rapprochement, if there is still time, and if such a result can be obtained before the final catastrophe towards which modern civilisation is advancing with great strides;6 but even if it were already too late to avert this catastrophe, the work accomplished with this intention would not be useless, for it would in any case serve to prepare, however distantly, that ‘discrimination’ of which we spoke at the beginning,7 and thereby to ensure the preservation of the elements that must escape the shipwreck of the present world to become the seeds of the future world.8
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intellectkali-yugaapauruṣeya

Summary

Guénon explains that these considerations show what is lacking in modern Western civilisation, both for a rapprochement with the East and in itself, the two questions being one. To be resolutely ‘anti-modern’ is not to be ‘anti-Western’; it is the only valid effort to save the West from its own disorder. No Easterner faithful to his tradition thinks otherwise. The West does not need to be defended against the East (which seeks neither to attack nor to dominate), but against itself, against its own tendencies that lead it to ruin. What is needed is ‘reform of the West’, that is, a true traditional restoration, whose natural consequence would be a rapprochement with the East. Guénon wishes to contribute to this reform and rapprochement, even if it may be too late to avoid the final catastrophe; the work accomplished would serve to prepare the future ‘discrimination’ and to preserve the elements that will become the seeds of the future world.

General notes

  1. une civilisation normale et complète — Rendered as ‘a normal and complete civilisation’. A ‘normal’ civilisation, for Guénon, is one that recognises a transcendent principle and subordinates all temporal orders (political, economic, social) to that principle. A ‘complete’ civilisation is one that possesses both an exotericism (religion for the masses) and an esotericism (initiation for the elite). Modern Western civilisation is both ‘abnormal’ (it has inverted the hierarchy by placing the human at the summit) and ‘incomplete’ (it has lost all initiation and reduced religion to social morality). Guénon here opposes the two terms in order to condemn modernity not only on the spiritual plane but also as regards its own organic coherence. ↩︎
  2. l’esprit antitraditionnel, qui est proprement l’esprit moderne — Rendered as ‘the anti‑traditional spirit, which is properly the modern spirit’. Guénon identifies the modern spirit (stemming from the Renaissance, Protestantism, the ‘Enlightenment’ and the Industrial Revolution) with the anti‑traditional spirit, that is, the systematic negation of any principle superior to human reason. This spirit is not limited to atheism or vulgar materialism; it also operates within religious forms emptied of their metaphysical content. For example, ‘liberal Christianity’ or ‘Reform Judaism’ are modern and anti‑traditional, because they have replaced revelation with social ethics and historical criticism. The modern spirit is therefore the exact reverse of the traditional spirit, not a mere error among others. ↩︎
  3. sauver l’Occident de son propre désordre — Rendered as ‘to save the West from its own disorder’. Guénon carefully distinguishes the ‘eternal’ West (that of the medieval Christian tradition, authentic Hermeticism, chivalry) from the ‘modern’ West (that of materialism, democracy, technique). To be ‘anti‑modern’ is to seek to restore the former by combating the latter; this does not make one ‘anti‑Western’. On the contrary, it is the attitude most faithful to what is best in the West. The true adversary is not the East (which has preserved tradition) nor the ‘traditional’ West, but the modern spirit, which is universal and threatens both East and West. To save the West is therefore to free it from this spirit, not to set it against the East. ↩︎
  4. dans le tourbillon de son activité désordonnée — Rendered as ‘into the whirlwind of its disordered activity’. Guénon here describes the forced globalisation by the modern West (colonialism, economic imperialism, the spread of techniques and individualistic ideologies). ‘Disordered activity’ is that of the Kali-Yuga: agitation without transcendent purpose, production for production’s sake, consumption for consumption’s sake, communication without content. This whirlwind threatens to engulf all traditional civilisations, which become either ‘folkloric reserves’ or ‘markets to be modernised’. The modern West is therefore not the victim but the aggressor; to speak of ‘defence of the West’ is to defend the aggressor against his own victims. Guénon here underlines the tragic irony of contemporary rhetoric. ↩︎
  5. un rapprochement avec l’Orient — Rendered as ‘a rapprochement with the East’. The ‘rapprochement’ is not here a syncretic fusion nor an absorption of the West by the East. It is a convergence in the intellectual order: the restored West will recognise in the Eastern doctrines the expression of the same truth as its own Christian tradition (cleansed of modern dross). There will then be complementarity without confusion: each tradition retains its own forms, but the intellectual elite (beyond forms) can communicate and collaborate. Guénon dreams of a West that is neither ‘coloniser’ nor ‘colonised’, but an equal partner in the sophia perennis. ↩︎
  6. la catastrophe finale vers laquelle la civilisation moderne marche à grands pas — Rendered as ‘the final catastrophe towards which modern civilisation is advancing with great strides’. Guénon announces an imminent catastrophe, not in a moral or economic sense, but in a cosmic and cyclical sense: the end of the present Kali-Yuga (or rather the end of a sub‑cycle within the Kali-Yuga). This catastrophe may take the form of a world war, a revolution, an ecological collapse or a combination of these phenomena. It is ‘final’ relative to the present state of humanity, not absolute (for the cycle begins again after a period of partial dissolution). Guénon writes in the 1920s‑1930s, before the Second World War, which he presaged as inevitable. The issue is not to avoid the catastrophe (perhaps already unavoidable), but to preserve from it the spiritual seeds for the coming cycle. ↩︎
  7. cette « discrimination » dont nous parlions au début — Rendered as ‘that “discrimination” of which we spoke at the beginning’. Guénon refers to a notion expounded in the preceding pages (not translated here): the ‘discrimination’ between the essential and the accidental, between the permanent and the transitory, between the traditional spirit and the modern spirit. This discrimination is the work of pure intellect: separating the wheat from the chaff in the modern chaos, in order to preserve what can serve as a seed for a future restoration. It is analogous to the distinction between satya (truth) and māyā (illusion) in Vedānta. Even if the catastrophe is inevitable, the work of discrimination makes it possible to save the traditional ‘elements’ (doctrines, symbols, initiatic rites) that can be re‑sown after the deluge. ↩︎
  8. les germes du monde futur — Rendered as ‘the seeds of the future world’. Guénon uses here an image drawn from the Hindu doctrine of manvantaras (cycles of manifestation): at the end of each cycle, a ‘deluge’ (pralaya) dissolves manifestation, but ‘seeds’ (bīja) subsist in the interval to produce the following manifestation. On the historical plane, the ‘final catastrophe’ of the modern West will not entail the total disappearance of humanity, but the disappearance of current social, political and cultural forms. The ‘seeds’ are the traditional deposits (initiations, esoteric doctrines, intact symbols) that Guénon and others have preserved by their work. These seeds will be taken up by a surviving elite (in a preserved place, perhaps underground or isolated) to found a new civilisation, after the destruction of the old one. ↩︎