¶4 But let us leave aside anticipations once again, and look only at current events: what is incontestable is that the West is invading everything;1 its action was first exercised in the material domain, that which was immediately within its reach, whether by violent conquest, or by commerce and the monopolisation of the resources of all peoples;2 but now things are going even further. Westerners, always animated by that need for proselytism which is so peculiar to them, have succeeded in making their anti-traditional and materialist spirit penetrate among others, to a certain extent;3 and, whereas the first form of invasion attacked only bodies, this one poisons intellects and kills spirituality;4 the one moreover prepared the other and made it possible, so that ultimately it is only by brute force that the West has succeeded in imposing itself everywhere, and it could not be otherwise, for in this resides the sole real superiority of its civilisation, which is inferior from every other point of view.5 Western encroachment is the encroachment of materialism in all its forms, and it can only be that; all the more or less hypocritical disguises, all the ‘moralist’ pretexts, all the ‘humanitarian’ declamations, all the cleverness of a propaganda which knows how, on occasion, to make itself insinuating in order better to attain its goal of destruction, can do nothing against this truth, which can only be contested by naïfs or by those who have some interest in this truly ‘satanic’ work, in the most rigorous sense of the word.6
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Summary

Guénon argues that the West is now invading everything, having first acted in the material domain through conquest and commerce, but now going further by spreading its anti-traditional and materialist spirit among other peoples. While the first form of invasion attacked only bodies, this new form poisons intellects and kills spirituality; the former prepared the way for the latter. He states that it is only by brute force that the West has succeeded in imposing itself everywhere, and this constitutes the sole real superiority of its civilisation, which is inferior from every other point of view. Western encroachment is the encroachment of materialism in all its forms, and all hypocritical disguises, moralist pretexts, humanitarian declamations, and insinuating propaganda cannot change this truth. This truth can only be contested by the naive or by those who have an interest in this truly ‘satanic’ work.

General notes

  1. l’Occident envahit tout — Rendered as ‘the West is invading everything’. Guénon observes the universal expansion of Western civilisation at the time he is writing (the 1920s-1930s). This expansion now touches not only material domains (economy, politics, military) but also minds and cultures. ↩︎
  2. première forme d’invasion : matérielle (conquête et commerce) — Rendered as ‘first form of invasion: material (conquest and commerce)’. Guénon distinguishes two phases of Western expansion. The first, historical (colonialism, imperialism), is material: military conquest, economic exploitation, plundering of resources. It attacks ‘bodies’ (political and economic domination). ↩︎
  3. besoin de prosélytisme des Occidentaux — Rendered as ‘need for proselytism of Westerners’. Guénon notes the Western tendency to want to convert others to its values (civilising mission, human rights, democracy, science). This proselytism is a manifestation of the modern spirit which cannot tolerate difference and wants to impose its model as universal. ↩︎
  4. seconde forme d’invasion : spirituelle et intellectuelle — Rendered as ‘second form of invasion: spiritual and intellectual’. The second phase is more insidious: it no longer conquers territories but minds. Through education, media, propaganda, the West imposes its materialist and anti-traditional mentality on Eastern elites, thus destroying the spiritual foundations of their civilisations. ↩︎
  5. la force brutale comme unique supériorité réelle de l’Occident — Rendered as ‘brute force as the sole real superiority of the West’. Guénon affirms that the only true superiority of Western civilisation over others is its material power (military, economic, technical). In all other respects (spiritual, intellectual, social, aesthetic), it is inferior. It therefore imposes itself only by violence, not by the intrinsic value of its culture. ↩︎
  6. œuvre « satanique » de l’Occident — Rendered as ‘“satanic” work of the West’. Guénon uses a very strong term here. ‘Satanic’ does not denote a vulgar insult, but a metaphysical reality: the spirit of revolt and negation of the divine and traditional order. The work of destroying spirituality and tradition by the modern West is, according to Guénon, deliberate and systematic. Those who serve it — even unconsciously — participate in a ‘satanic’ enterprise in the sense that it opposes every superior principle. ↩︎

Guénon’s footnotes

  • in the most rigorous sense of the word — Satan in Hebrew is the “adversary”, that is to say, he who overturns all things and, in a sense, reverses them; he is the spirit of negation and subversion, which identifies itself with the descending or “inferiorising” tendency — “infernal” in the etymological sense — the very tendency that beings follow in this process of materialisation in accordance with which the entire development of modern civilisation is effected.