¶3 This is what it is essential to stress: the opposition between East and West had no reason to exist when there were also traditional civilisations in the West.1 Consequently, it only makes sense if it specially concerns the modern West,2 for this opposition is much more that of two minds3 than that of two geographical entities more or less clearly defined. At certain epochs, of which the closest to us is the Middle Ages,4 the Western mind strongly resembled, in its most important aspects, what the Eastern mind still is today, far more than what it has itself become in modern times;5 Western civilisation was then comparable to Eastern civilisations, in the same way as the latter are comparable among themselves. A considerable change has occurred over the course of recent centuries,6 much more serious than all the deviations that had previously manifested themselves in eras of decadence,7 since it even goes as far as a veritable reversal in the direction given to human activity;8 and it is exclusively in the Western world that this change originated. Therefore, when we say ‘Western mind’, referring to what presently exists, what must be understood by that is nothing other than the modern mind;9 and, since the other mind has been maintained only in the East, we can, still with respect to present conditions, call it the Eastern mind.10 These two terms, in short, express nothing other than a factual situation; and, if it appears very clearly that one of the two minds present is effectively Western, because its appearance belongs to recent history, we do not mean to prejudge anything as to the provenance of the other, which was once common to East and West, and whose origin, truth be told, must merge with that of humanity itself, since this is the mind that could be qualified as normal,11 if only because it has inspired all the civilisations that we know more or less completely, with a single exception, which is modern Western civilisation.
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apauruṣeya

Summary

Guénon stresses that the opposition between East and West had no reason to exist when the West also had traditional civilisations. It only makes sense in relation to the modern West, for this opposition is more a matter of two minds than of geographical entities. In the Middle Ages, the Western mind still resembled the Eastern mind of today. A considerable change has occurred exclusively in the West over recent centuries, a veritable reversal in the direction of human activity. Thus, the modern Western mind is nothing other than the modern mind, while the traditional mind has been maintained only in the East. This latter mind was once common to both East and West, and its origin merges with that of humanity itself, for it has inspired all known civilisations with the single exception of modern Western civilisation.

General notes

  1. civilisations traditionnelles — Rendered as ‘traditional civilisations’. Guénon uses this term to denote societies organised according to metaphysical and spiritual principles, where the social and individual order is subordinate to a transcendent authority, as opposed to modern civilisations founded on the profane and the rational. ↩︎
  2. Occident moderne — Rendered as ‘modern West’. Guénon means by this the ensemble of Western societies that emerged from the Renaissance and the modern era, characterised by the abandonment of traditional principles in favour of rationalism, individualism, and materialism. ↩︎
  3. esprits — Rendered as ‘minds’ (or ‘spirits’ in the sense of collective mentalities). In Guénon’s metaphysical usage, this does not refer to individual psychological faculties but to collective ‘directing principles’ or ‘spiritual orientations’ that shape a civilisation’s understanding of reality and action. ↩︎
  4. moyen âge — Rendered as ‘Middle Ages’. Guénon refers here to Western mediaeval civilisation (particularly the 12th and 13th centuries), which he considers still imbued with a traditional spirit comparable to that of Eastern civilisations, despite partial deviations. ↩︎
  5. temps modernes — Rendered as ‘modern times’. The period succeeding the Renaissance, which Guénon roughly dates from the 16th to the 19th century, marked by the emergence of profane science, capitalism, and critical thought. ↩︎
  6. changement considérable — Rendered as ‘considerable change’. Guénon designates here the radical break with traditional principles, which he analyses as a metaphysical ‘deviation’ rather than a mere historical evolution. ↩︎
  7. décadence — Rendered as ‘decadence’. In Guénonian language, decadence is not a moral judgment but an objective disorganisation: the loss of the hierarchy of principles, where the temporal and the spiritual become inverted. ↩︎
  8. renversement dans la direction donnée à l’activité humaine — Rendered as ‘reversal in the direction given to human activity’. This reversal consists of substituting a ‘descending’ orientation (toward the material and profane realm) for the ‘ascending’ orientation (toward metaphysical knowledge and spiritual interiority). Guénon sees this as the hallmark of the modern deviation. ↩︎
  9. esprit moderne — Rendered as ‘modern mind’. Guénon uses this expression as a synonym for the ensemble of intellectual, moral, and social tendencies that appeared in Europe since the Renaissance, characterised by agnosticism, individualism, and the cult of material progress. ↩︎
  10. esprit oriental — Rendered as ‘Eastern mind’. This is not a geographical phenomenon but the persistence in Asia (notably in India, China, and the Islamic world) of a mentality founded on metaphysics and tradition, once common to all humanity. Guénon cautions that its origin is not ‘Eastern’ in a geographic sense but primordial. ↩︎
  11. esprit normal — Rendered as ‘normal mind’. The adjective ‘normal’ is taken here in its etymological and metaphysical sense: conforming to the transcendent norm (the Divine Law or the Cosmic Order), as opposed to the ‘abnormal’ state of modernity. Guénon implies that tradition is not a cultural option but the very norm of human civilisation. ↩︎