gnostic handbook

The Gnostic Handbook Page 61
For Evola, history was a series of cycles that are degenerative rather than evolutionary, we are
then in the darkest age of all (the Kali Yuga), rather than entering an age of light, love and
peace. Our modern way of thinking is, (according to Evola) a wasteland, it is the final stage in
the decay of truth, rather than its pinnacle. History from this perspective is a series of "steps
down-ward" whereby new religious and esoteric systems are fragments of the truth rather than
being new innovations or developments. Evola’s magnum opus, "Revolt against the modern
world", slices through the false theosophies, new age visions and pseudo-intellectual systems so
prevalent today and offers insight into the real nature of man, his history and his goals. The approach
of Evola is elitist in the sense that it is intellectually and spiritually demanding, Evola
demands maximum concentration from his readers, however, in return he offers a worldview, a
Weltanschauug that challenges the foundations of currently held beliefs.
The nexus of Evola’s "Revolt against the modern world" is a exposition on the cycles of history
and a intense and insightful consideration of the role of esoteric spiritual values. Evola’s historial
outline takes the Yugas a step further, he discusses the cultural focus of each period and
the changes that take places within the ideological and spiritual traditions of each epoch. The
Golden age is that of the Polar tradition, it was based in the Arctic regions where days and
nights were long and the Axis Mundi was a steady focus within the night sky. At this time the
traditions of Sky and Earth worship were in balance, while the sky had ascendancy, the role of
earth (albeit in submission) was acknowledged and relevant. The classes as seen within the divine
caste system (which reflected the ages of history) were in balance and creativity and intelligence
were rewarded. As the Polar age ended and migrations from the Arctic were caused by
changes in weather patterns, Aryan man spread across the globe and mankind entered the Silver
age. During the Silver or Lunar epoch, earth cults took ascendancy, the feminine and fertility
became of paramount significance and this lead to an emphasis on pagan and Gaia oriented traditions.
The research of Marija Gimbutas and others gives a good outline of the worship that
occurred in this period. As the ages unfounded, in reaction against this earthly epoch, the Dionysian
or Copper age began. The worship of strength, violence, masculine virtues battle against
the feminine values and patriarchal civilisations were formed. While these civilisations were of
great historical importance, to achieve their balance they suppressed the lunar or silver cultures
and hence existed as a reaction rather than as a creative expression. This being so, it only took
so long before the clashes between the two forces dragged man into the current age, that of the
Kali Yuga. Now lunar and Dionysian, feminine and masculine, sky and earth are in conflict and
battle and will continue so until the age ends in bloodshed.
Evola decried the decadent nature of the modern world and its social and political isms and ologies
and demanded a return to old world values, which he felt were epitomised by the Teutonic
Knights, knights who could act as spiritual warriors waging war against the whole corrupt bourgeois
modern system. This concept of spiritual warriorship he elucidated most clearly in his
radically revisionist book on Buddhism – "The Doctrine of Awakening".
In the Doctrine of Awakening Evola offers a radical re-assessment of Buddhism and indeed of