Category: Spirituality

I have a few objections: 1) I am against the use of the early Church’s dismissive, derogatory term “pagan” (and the translation “heathen”) in any self-designatory, positive sense – partly for the same reasons as the later Evola, who changed his mind about this; 2) I can’t hear what Latin term Dharma Pravartaka finds to be an equivalent of dharma; and 3) I find some of his description and rejection of Abrahamism a little too simple and sweeping, and hence unfair (I suggest Abrahamism be discussed rather, at least primarily, in the terms found elsewhere in my Spirituality category). But apart from this, a good interview with many important points.

Frank Morales (Dharma Pravartaka)

Dharma Pravartaka Acharya: The Dharma Manifesto

Rider, 1970 (1952)

Back Cover:

Dr Brunton, whose works are best-sellers in a dozen languages, was born in London in 1898.

During a successful career in journalism, he developed an interest in comparative religion, mysticism and philosophy. He has travelled extensively in the Orient, living among yogis, mystics and holy men. He is one of the few students of the East who have the ability to illuminate his understanding for the reader.

This book concentrates upon the plight of mankind today, and upon the possibilities of a solution to the problems that beset the world. Dr Brunton admits that the advances made in technology and science, the results of which now threaten our very existence, are inevitable and even necessary. But, as he explains, it is because these advances have been made regardless of the true needs of humanity that their goodness has turned to evil.

In his approach to these great issues Dr Brunton traces the concept of God from that of primitive superstition to the most elaborately philosophical, and then describes what his own mystical experience have taught him about the true nature of God and about man’s relationship to it. Now he believes it is a matter of the greatest urgency that we should transcend mere intellectualism by an awakening of our power of intuition, because this is the voice of the Soul or Overself, and the essential link between God and man. We must submit to this voice if we are to save ourselves from chaos and destruction.

The Metaphysics of Sex

Inner Traditions, 1991 (Metafisica del sesso, 1958)

Amazon.com

Back cover:

“[Evola] uses the bow, hitting his target with consummate accuracy and illuminating in a few words a whole are of thought hitherto unrecognized by most of us.”

Gnosis

“…the most comprehensive book concerning the metaphysical aspects of sexuality.”

Critique

What is the true nature of erotic love, and what is the power that animates it? Julius Evola presents an in-depth study of the possibilities of sexual energies on their highest level. He shows how religion, mysticism, folklore, and mythology all contain erotic forms in which the deeper potentialities of human b eings are recognized. Focusing on the metaphysics of erotic experience, we are able to transcend the boundaries of the ego and enter expanded states of consciousness.

The author explores the sexual rites of sacred traditions, reintroducing a world fo ritual invocations and initiatory experiences, including the Tantric and Taoist transmutation of sexual desire, the adulation of the female organ of Eleusis, Kabbalistic practices of sexual magic, and Islamic techniques of self-dissolution in the divinity. Evola also provides a unique perspective on the Courts of Love of the Middle Ages, Sacred Prostitution, evocation and fetishism, and the relationship between erotic ecstasy and suffering.

Scholar, philosopher, and social thinker, Julius Evola is one of the leading exponents of the Hermetic tradition. IN this work, he sheds new light on the vast fresco that is the mystical and spiritual expression of sexual love.

Norma, 1993

Baksida:

Den sekularisering, som fått ökad utbredning i Västerlandet, har efter andra världskrigets slut lett till stor oklarhet inte minst på moralens område. Vad är ont och vad är gott, var går gränsen för mänskligt ansvar?

Behovet av en moraldebatt, inte minst i Sverige, har ofta påtalats och det är därför angeläget när Tage Lindbom i sin nya bok Före solnedgången griper sig an denna fråga i ett längre kapitel.

Vår tids människor upplever på många sätt osäkerhet och otrygghet. När Gud förklaras vara god och samtidigt allsmäktig, så frågar sig många, varför tillåter Han då allt detta onda och lidande i världen? Det är en stor och svår fråga, som Tage Lindbom ägnar en inträngande granskning.

Föränderlighet och rastlöshet upplevs som plågsamma och det uppstår en längtan efter fasta hållpunkter. De vetenskapliga löftena från seklets början om slutgiltiga svar på tillvarons gåtor har inte infriats. Tvärtom upplevs världen av många som ett oavlåtligt flöde utan mål och utan mening.

Finns då inte en högre gudomlig ordning, som ger åt skapelsen en möjlighet till jämvikt och harmoni, till en djupare mening med vårt jordiska liv?

Tage Lindbom vill bejaka denna fråga: det finns en skapelsens inneboende ordning. Men vi blir delaktiga av denna ordning först när vi upphör med vår folksuveräna självtillbedjan.

The Feminization of Christianity

Spence Publishing Company, 1999 (Go to the publisher’s website or amazon and buy)

Book Description:

In the stale and overworked field of gender studies, The Church Impotent is the only book to confront the lopsidedly feminine cast of modern Christianity with a profound analysis of its historical and sociological roots. Dr. Podles identifies the masculine traits that once characterized the Christian life but are now commonly considered incompatible with it. In an original and challenging account, he traces three contemporaneous medieval sources: the writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the rise of scholasticism, and the expansion of female monasticism. He contends that though masculinity has been marginalized within Christianity, it cannot be expunged from human society. If detached from Christianity, it reappears as a substitute religion, with unwholesome and even horrific consequences. The church, too, is diminished by its emasculation. Its spirituality becomes individualistic and erotic, tending toward universalism and quietism. In his concluding assessment of the future of men in the church, Dr. Podles examines three aspects of Christianity – initiation, struggle, and fraternal love – through which its virility might be restored.

Reviews:

“This groundbreaking book should be read by everyone concerned about the future of Christianity.”  St. Anthony Messenger

“This volume will certainly invite an important discussion.”  National Catholic Reporter

About the Author:

Leon J. Podles, a native of Baltimore, earned his bachelor’s degree at Providence College and his Ph.D. in English at the University of Virginia. He later studied Old Icelandic at the University of Iceland. He has worked as a teacher and a federal investigator and is now the president of the Crossland Foundation. Among the numerous journals for which he has written are America, American Spectator, Crisis, and American Enterprise, and he is a contributing editor of Touchstone. Dr. Podles and his wife have six children and live in Naples, Florida, and Baltimore.

The Notebooks of Paul Brunton

Volume Nine

Human experience is our laboratory for higher experiment. The world is our school for spiritual discovery. The vicissitudes of personal circumstances are our field for ethical achievement.

When creative art is truly inspired, it comes close to being sacramental.

– Paul Brunton

Human Experience shows how to make everyday life into a process of spiritual discovery. It explores causes and purposes of suffering, problems of marriage and other relationships for spiritual seekers, needed reforms in education, special opportunities and problems of youth and old age, and the purpose of the modern world-crisis

The Arts in Culture reverently celebrates the role of the Beautiful in human culture. Its highlights are sections on the mission of inspired art, creativity, genius, and the relationship of art and mystical experience.