The Bow and the Club by Julius Evola

Author:Julius Evola [Evola, Julius]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: The Path of Cinnabar, L’arco e la clava, sex, initiation, traditionalism, La Torre, Men Among the Ruins, irrationalism, nationalism, Germanicness, fascism, Recognitions, Ancient Rome, homosexuality, Revolt Against the Modern World, Romanness, metaphysics, Beats
ISBN: 9781912079070
Publisher: Arktos Media Ltd.
Published: 2018-03-09T06:00:00+00:00

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A qualified exponent of traditional thought, F. Schuon, has coined the expression ‘intelligent stupidity’ (though G. Bernanos had already used a similar expression, l’intelligence des sots, while another Frenchman had written: Le drame de notre temps, c’est que la bêtise se soit mise à penser).268 Schuon used this expression to describe the nature of the kind of intellectuality that has come to predominate in broad sectors of modern culture and which is widely represented in Italy. This kind of intellectuality thrives in particular in journalism — that calamity of our times — and essay writing. One of its main channels by which it spreads is the ‘cultural pages’ of leading newspapers, since it is chiefly practised in the field of so-called ‘criticism’.

The main feature of this kind of intellectuality is its lack of principles, higher interests, and any genuine commitment, and its concern with ‘brilliance’ and ‘originality’, along with an emphasis on professional ‘fine writing’, form rather than substance, and esprit in the frivolous and mundane meaning the French give to this term. For the representatives of this ‘intellectuality’, brilliant phrases and impressive dialectical and polemical positions are far more important than the truth. If ideas are drawn upon at all, it is only as a pretext: what matters is to stand out, to appear very intelligent — just as for the petty politicians of today a party ideology is simply a means for advancement. Thus the ‘vanity fair’, the worst kind of subjectivism, or indeed narcissism, is an essential aspect of this phenomenon. This aspect becomes particularly noticeable when these intellectual cliques take on a mundane veneer (as in the case of ‘salons’ and cultural associations). It is not far off the mark to say that, of all possible kinds of stupidity, the most annoying one is that of intelligent people. When, upon an in-depth analysis of a person, what emerges is a nonentity, it would be better for there not to be any intelligence. But the question cannot be reduced to the annoying nature of this sort of people: one must also take into account their harmfulness, insofar as ‘intelligent stupidity’ — particularly in contemporary Italy — is highly organised: it is a sort of freemasonry, variously structured, which holds all key positions in advertising, wherever these are not already presided over and controlled by leftists. Its representatives immediately sense and ostracise anyone who has a different nature. Let us take a trivial yet telling example from today. There is a group gravitating around a rather widespread and well-made magazine which purports to be nonconformist and readily criticises the current political regime and social mores. Yet this group has made sure not to establish any contact with those few authors who could provide a positive foundation for it today — if it were earnest in its task — as far as principles and the traditional view of the world are concerned.269 The group in question ignores, or indeed ostracises, these authors every bit as much as the press from the opposite side of the political spectrum, precisely because the group can sense that they are of a different ilk.

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