¶6 We were alluding just now to the traditional current coming from the western regions; the accounts of the ancients, relating to Atlantis,1 indicate its origin; after the disappearance of this continent, which is the last of the great cataclysms that occurred in the past,2 it does not seem doubtful that remnants of its tradition were carried to various regions, where they mixed with other pre-existing traditions, principally with branches of the great Hyperborean tradition;3 and it is quite possible that the doctrines of the Celts, in particular, were one of the products of this fusion.4 We are far from contesting these things; but let this be well considered: the properly ‘Atlantean’ form disappeared thousands of years ago, along with the civilisation to which it belonged, whose destruction could only have occurred as a result of a deviation that was perhaps comparable, in certain respects, to that which we observe today, although with a notable difference arising from the fact that humanity had not yet entered the Kali-Yuga;5 also that this tradition corresponded only to a secondary period of our cycle, and that it would be a great error to claim to identify it with the primordial tradition6 from which all others have issued, and which alone endures from the beginning to the end. It would be out of place to set forth here all the data that justify these affirmations; we shall retain only the conclusion, which is the impossibility of reviving presently an ‘Atlantean’ tradition, or even of connecting oneself to it more or less directly; moreover, there is much fancy in attempts of this kind. It none the less remains true that it may be interesting to investigate the origin of the elements encountered in subsequent traditions, provided one does so with all the necessary precautions to guard against certain illusions; but such investigations can in no case lead to the resurrection of a tradition that would be adapted to none of the present conditions of our world.
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kali-yuga

Summary

Guénon refers to the traditional current coming from western regions, linked to Atlantis. After the disappearance of this continent, remnants of its tradition were carried to various regions and mixed with other traditions, particularly branches of the Hyperborean tradition. He does not contest these facts, but notes that the properly ‘Atlantean’ form disappeared thousands of years ago, following a deviation, and corresponded only to a secondary period of the cycle. Guénon concludes that it is impossible to revive this tradition today, or even to connect oneself to it directly. Attempts of this kind are fanciful. While it may be interesting to investigate the origin of elements found in subsequent traditions, such research cannot lead to the resurrection of a tradition that would be adapted to none of the present conditions of the world.

General notes

  1. l’Atlantide — Rendered as ‘Atlantis’. Plato mentions Atlantis in the Timaeus (24e-25d) and Critias (108e-121c) as an immense island located beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Strait of Gibraltar), which sank in a single day and night. Guénon sees in this account not a mere legend but an authentic testimony of a real cataclysm affecting a now-vanished continent. In The King of the World (1927), he connects Atlantis to the ‘Atlantean’ tradition, one of the secondary branches of the primordial Hyperborean tradition. ↩︎
  2. le dernier des grands cataclysmes arrivés dans le passé — Rendered as ‘the last of the great cataclysms that occurred in the past’. Guénon distinguishes several major cyclical catastrophes, the last of which would be precisely the engulfing of Atlantis. These cataclysms correspond to the boundaries between the ages (yugas) or between the sub-periods of terrestrial humanity. The biblical Flood (Genesis, chapters 6-9) is, according to Guénon, a symbolic echo of this same Atlantean catastrophe, adapted to the Hebrew framework. ↩︎
  3. la grande tradition hyperboréenne — Rendered as ‘the great Hyperborean tradition’. The primordial tradition or sophia perennis is of Hyperborean origin, that is, it goes back to the polar civilisation which occupied, in the most remote ages of the present cycle (manvantara), the now inhospitable region of the Arctic. In traditional symbolism, Hyperborea is the domain of Apollo, the land of the Blessed, and represents the supreme spiritual centre from which all subsequent traditional branches have issued (Hindu, Persian, Egyptian, Celtic, etc.). Guénon expounds this doctrine in The King of the World and in The Great Triad (1946). ↩︎
  4. les doctrines des Celtes — Rendered as ‘the doctrines of the Celts’. Guénon recognises an authentic traditional character in Celtic civilisation, especially in its druidic dimension. The fusion between Atlantean remnants and Hyperborean branches would have given birth to the Celtic doctrinal foundation, which would explain certain symbolic affinities between Nordic shamanism, Tantrism (through Scythian or Ural-Altaic influences) and the cult of standing stones (menhirs, dolmens). However, Guénon warns against any too-direct identification or any attempt at ‘restoration’ of a neo-druidic kind lacking regular transmission. ↩︎
  5. l’humanité n’était pas encore entrée alors dans le Kali-Yuga — Rendered as ‘humanity had not yet entered the Kali-Yuga’. The Hindu doctrine of the four ages (yugas) — Satya (gold), Tretā (silver), Dvāpara (copper), Kali (iron) — unfolds over a cycle of 4,320,000 solar years. The Kali-Yuga (the darkest age, that of discord and materialisation) began, according to traditional calculations, at midnight on 17/18 February 3102 BCE. The Atlantean catastrophe, prior to this date, therefore occurred during the Dvāpara-Yuga or at the juncture of Tretā and Dvāpara. The Atlantean ‘deviation’ was comparable to the modern deviation (substitution of the quantitative for the qualitative, of technique for intellection), but without the definitive fall into the Kali-Yuga, hence a ‘notable difference’ in the consequences and the possibilities of rectification. ↩︎
  6. la tradition primordiale — Rendered as ‘the primordial tradition’. The primordial tradition is the original deposit of metaphysical revelation, prior to any differentiation into historical religions. It is the exclusive possession of no people or epoch, but has been transmitted unaltered through the ‘golden chain’ of avatāra (divine descents) and pīṭha (initiatic seats). Unlike secondary traditions (Atlantean, Celtic, Egyptian, etc.), which are adaptations to local and temporal conditions, the primordial tradition remains identical to itself ‘from beginning to end’ of the human cycle. Guénon also calls it the ‘polar tradition’ or ‘Hyperborean tradition’ when referring to its geographical location in the antediluvian ages. ↩︎