A lot of discussion about relationships, monogamy, polygamy, etc. recently. Here’s Evola’s take:
Man is the spiritual, supernatural force; Woman, the material, natural. She is seen as a danger and temptation to the spiritual, the cause of the “fall”, or the matter out of which Man creates.
There need not be opposition between these two principles: Man in his stability becomes like an axis around which Woman gathers herself, becoming his bride and a source of strength.
Birth is not accidental; being born as a man or woman reflects a spiritual difference superior to the body, and a vocation: Man must realize himself as Man; Woman, as Woman.
Man has two paths: the warrior (action), and the ascetic (contemplation). Parallel to these are Woman’s two paths: mother (action), and lover (contemplation). Man affirms himself through pure action and detachment, Woman, through giving herself wholly to another and selflessness.
The task of Tradition is to create solid riverbeds, so that the chaotic currents of life may flow in the right direction. Free are those who do not experience it as a burden, but as recognize and develop themselves in it so that they may realize the highest of their nature.
Withdrawing from life to a nunnery is one path. The harem is another: withdrawing herself from life, she dedicated herself to one man only, who was loved so unselfishly as to allow other women to share in it, united in the same feeling and fides: a love without conditions.
The same would be absurd for Man, who realizes himself through inner self-sufficiency and as an axis. This is what motivates Woman to give herself to him. The spirit of the harem is the overcoming of jealousy, selfishness, and the desire to possess – an ascetic path.
Evola writes that woman’s emancipation is more the result of man’s abdication than their liberation: the man she set out to defeat was the shadow of real Man. No woman who is sexually fulfilled ever feels the need to imitate and envy man.
The pretension that men should belong to women in marriage is a farce. Woman realizes herself through giving herself completely to a stable virile pole, while man realizes himself through stability and self-assertion – resisting temptation.
The more radical the polarity between Man and Woman, the greater the magnetism between them. Evola wrote that relationships would become vague, confused, and ambiguous; men unable to interest women, who would lead practical and superficial lives dedicated to themselves. /THREAD
worth reading Evola's take because Montessori has become the dominant way of thinking about education & learning - this is in part what led to and justifies all the 'open learning', 'flipped classroom' nonsense on one side, and 'we don't need no education' on the other
in the thread i mention Steiner schools, which, although nowadays falling victim to the same Montessorian way of thinking, are quite comfortable with things like rote learning, and see their role as impressing values, culture on the children, e.g.
it would probably be worth comparing something like the neo-classical approach, which is also gaining popularity. a lot of people here are interested in homeschooling - even and especially then, it is worth thinking about what education is.
Most people know Evola from his books, but he also wrote dozens if not hundreds of articles for a range of publications. Here he discusses Montessori education - he was actually at their conference in Fascist Italy, presided over by Mdm. Montessori herself.
As one of the two big 'alternative education' systems, Montessori is often lumped in with Steiner schools. But they are very different. See below on Steiner:
Montessori's background was psychology and medicine - she worked especially with children with learning difficulties. A true 'trailblazer', she left her illegitimate son in the care of a wetnurse to pursue her career.
The Seven Towers of Satan corresponding to Ursa Major
This is from a book (Les Sept Tours du Diable) by Jean-Marc Allemand where he takes up and develops something mentioned by Guenon in his review of W. S. Seabrook's 'Adventures in Arabia' and elsewhere.
Seabrook relates a legend from the Middle East about the Seven Towers of Satan, which control and direct the forces of evil in the world. Guenon describes one tower amongst the Yazidi as perhaps being the "tangible and localized base for a centre of counter-initiation."
*** Do we live in a gynaecocracy? ***
Evola introduction to Bachofen's 'Das Mutterrecht' (1949).
Bachofen describes an opposition in the classic & ancient Mediterranean world between civilizations w/ heroic, solar, virile spirituality and cthonic, lunar, feminine spirituality.
Evola describes such civilizations as 'telluric' (tellus = cthonos = earth). They consider the law of the earth the highest law; the Divine Woman embodies what is eternal and unchanging; all it produces has a birth and decline, a purely individual and fleeting life.
Wherever the supreme principle is understood as a Great Mother, the earthly woman, who appears as the closest incarnation thereof, comes to assume a religious dignity and the highest authority. She is the *giver of life*; man is only her instrument.
Everyone has heard of siestas - usually thought to be taken only due to the heat of the day - and nanna-naps, which are seen as a quirk of old age. Soldiers are also famous for kipping whenever they can. These are seen as deviations -- but...
In pre-industrial societies it was normal to have two sleeps - so normal, that people would casually refer to a 'first sleep' and a 'second sleep':