Traditionalism: The Radical Project for Restoring
Sacred Order (Pelican Books) Hardcover – 1 Jun. 2023
by Mark Sedgwick (Author)
The definitive guide to Traditionalism: the world's
least-known major philosophy, but one that is essential for understanding our
past, present and future
Traditionalism is founded on ancient teachings that,
its followers argue, have been handed down from time immemorial, forming a
basis of the sacred order that must be defended from modernity and the disorder
it brings. It has been used to encourage respect for the environment, compose
great music and reduce hostility between followers of different religions.
But Traditionalism has applied to darker causes: from
the election of Donald Trump to fascist movements and even terrorism. How has
Traditionalism been so influential for so long, yet so little acknowledged and
understood? Its followers have never aimed to reach the masses and have sought
to affect the world quietly. In this book, the first of its kind for a wide
audience, Traditionalism's history, ideas and profound impact are laid out,
shining a light onto this shadowy world and the thought of its three founders,
René Guénon, Julius Evola and Frithjof Schuon.
Once you understand Traditionalism, you will see its
influence everywhere.
Books
Book
review: Traditionalism: The Radical Project for Restoring Sacred Order, by Mark
Sedgwick
By Stuart Kelly
Published 31st May 2023, 18:10 BST
This astute
exploration of traditionalist thought shows its proponents to be united in
their diagnosis of society’s problems but all over the place in terms of
treatments, writes Stuart Kelly
Here is a
peculiar question: what do King Charles III, the composer John Taverner, Steve
Bannon and Putin’s so-called court philosopher, Aleksandr Dugin have in common?
Yes, they are all men; but they have all also advocated and been influenced by
traditionalism. You might have heard about, even if you did not quite
understand, existentialism or utilitarianism or logical positivism – but
traditionalism is something apart. In many ways its defining feature is the
ability to stay below the radar, if not exactly in the shadows. This very fine
book is a forensic look at the movement and its influence, and has several
points where you both realise something and ponder “why did I never realise
that?”
Who were the
traditionalists? In some ways one answer is that there have always been
traditionalists. But as a philosophy it was articulated by three thinkers: René
Guénon, Julius Evola and Frithjof Schuon. They make for quite an eclectic
triumvirate. Guénon was born in 1886 and was the author of, among other books,
The Crisis Of The Modern World. Evola was born in 1898 and wrote Revolt Against
The Modern World. Schuon was born in 1907 and wrote The Transcendent Unity Of
Religions. None of them would claim to have invented or made up traditionalism;
rather, they discerned something fundamental that had always been known. So
what are its major features?
The first is
perennialism, the idea that all religions have a common basis. There is “one
single, timeless and esoteric sacred tradition”, a “golden chain” through the
ages. I find this somewhat problematic. The notion that there is a singular
message that goes through the Vedas, the Tao, the Buddha, the Torah,
Pythagoras, the Gospels, neo-Platonists and a heck of a lot more seems to me
quite unfair on cave-people. Did they not have a spark of the immutable wisdom?
(I have no doubt that some people will look at the cave paintings and rock
carvings and say they too are part of the perpetual tradition).
The second
string is that this knowledge is reserved, mostly, to elites. It is esoteric.
The exoteric has its role, but having your posterior on a pew or being on your
knees in the mosque is just a pabulum for those who can’t cope with the arcane,
hidden underpinning. The final part is the most conspicuous. For what was a
relatively modern phenomenon, albeit one which was contemporaneous with the
spiritualism of Blavatsky and Gurdjieff and the Satanism of Crowley, the
Traditionalists were all very anti-modern. Basically, everything had gone to
heck in a handcart in their view. Profoundly, they did not believe in progress;
the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution were all
rotten in their own degrees. The world had lost the sacred, the heroic and the
sublime, but they had winkled out the lost tradition that would restore us to
fullness.
But they
expressed this in very different ways. Guénon studied philosophy and Hinduism
at the Sorbonne, but his thesis was dismissed as being rather too out-there. He
eventually went to Egypt and became a Sufi. Schuon was perhaps the most
sympathetic to orthodox religion. He had a vision of the Virgin Mary, became
interested in North American shamanism, and also found Sufi traditions
attractive. Evola is an outlier among them. Giolio, who renamed himself Julius,
adding that he was a Baron and also having “Dadaist painter” on his CV, then
decided to support Mussolini and Hitler. Even after the end of the war, he was
inspirational to Italian neo-fascists. Of the three, Guénon is the most
quietist, Schuon the most traditional traditionalist, and Evola the most
contentious.
Traditionalism
is a very fractious movement. There are things of great virtue in its
adherents, particularly in terms of inter-faith dialogue and ecological
awareness. Yet it also has strains of hierarchical and aloof thinking. On one
hand, Guénon was fascinated with both secret societies such as Freemasons but
also with craft guilds, who passed on intergenerational knowledge. Schuon has
his own following and devotees. Evola was far keener on the idea of chivalric
knights and an almost conspiracist, cloak-and-dagger position. So it does seem
that it is not that much of a surprise that both the Poundbury of Charles III,
the mysticism of Taverner, the disruptive antagonism of Bannon and the
reactionary retrenching of Dugin can all be bundled under the same banner.
Sedgwick is
astute on how these different streams branch out from the same spring, and as
acute on the tides and swells that may be ahead. Is traditionalism actually a
philosophy, or a theology, or a cranky set of notions? The answer may well be
“all of the above”. But that sense that “the time is out of joint”, that we
have become too materialist and superficial, that there was once a better time,
that religions have more in common than that which separates them – all these
things chime true. As with Ruskin, Marx and Carlyle, traditionalism seems to be
united in the diagnosis of the problem but all over the place on the treatment.
Traditionalism:
The Radical Project for Restoring Sacred Order, by Mark Sedgwick, Pelican, £25
Book review: Traditionalism: The radical project
for restoring sacred order by Mark Sedgwick
28 July 2023
Mark Vernon considers the pros and cons of a
philosophical tendency
TRADITIONALISM, as Mark Sedgwick carefully explores it
in this book, is the perennial philosophy with a twist. So, what is the
perennial philosophy, and what is the twist?
The perennial philosophy is the discernment of a
common core within, underneath, and beyond all major religious systems. That
core is often described as falling into three parts. First, reality springs
from a transcendent source that is both more than and inherent within the
cosmos. Second, the human soul has an affinity and longing for this
ever-present origin. Third, the goal of human existence is participation in the
life of the divine wellspring.
Perennialism is, therefore, a theory about religions,
and perennialists, who advocate it, usually affirm adhering to a particular
religion as a comprehensive revelation from the divine, though with a sense
that there are many manifestations of God, who exceeds any particular path.
The idea of a perennial philosophy was popularised in
a book by Aldous Huxley of the same title. But its origins reach back much
further than the mid-20th century. The phrase itself, philosophia perennis, was
coined during the Renaissance by Agostino Steuco. This Augustinian monk was the
keeper of Islamic texts in the Vatican, and, as Sedgwick affirms, scholars
today suspect that he derived the idea from the Islamic tradition, which he was
studying.
Islam is a natural home for the perennial philosophy
because of its uncompromising emphasis on the unity of being, which tends to
the conviction that, in one way or another, all manifestations of life must be
one, too. This helps to explain why some of the most powerful advocates of
perennialism in recent decades have been scholars of Islam.
The twist that turns perennialism into traditionalism
is the deep distrust of the modern world which arose in the early decades of
the 20th century. To varying degrees, traditionalists contrast the sacred order
that underpins reality with the liberalism and, sometimes, the democracy that
shape the Western world. Traditionalism is, therefore, often political as well
as metaphysical. It is the ramifications of the political ideology that prompts
Sedgwick’s systematic exploration.
He is clear that there are benign forms of
traditionalism. The music of John Tavener, the art criticism of Ananda
Coomaraswamy, and the environmentalism of Seyyed Hossein Nasr are cases in
point discussed in the book. But there is a shadow on traditionalism. It has
been deployed to support the election of Donald Trump in the United States and
the policies of Vladimir Putin in Russia. “It would be good”, Sedgwick
explains, “if those who oppose fascism, racism, and terrorism could more easily
recognize Traditionalism when they see it.”
Sedgwick brings a steady eye and cool analysis to his
task, navigating terrain that many would fear or fail fairly to judge. In a
plural world, facing social breakdown and existential concerns, the sense that
underneath all differences lies an aboriginal unity could be a force for good,
whether named the perennial philosophy or not.
Dr Mark Vernon is a psychotherapist and writer. His
latest book is Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps (Iff Books) (Books, 26
May).
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