Julius Evola Quotes

“Anyone with an adequate education will easily acknowledge that in the mythology of the Eddas itself the essential element does not correspond to the pathos of the emerging and unleashing of elementary forces and of the struggle against them. The essential, in the tradition in question, is to be found in what are ultimately ‘Olympian’ meanings.

These are implied, for instance, by the idea of Miðgarðr, which reflects the general idea of a supreme centre and fundamental order of the world, and which, in a way, may be considered the metaphysical basis of the idea of empire; by the symbolism of Valhalla as a mountain whose frozen and bright peak shines of an eternal light beyond all clouds; and, connected to this, the motif of the so called Light of the North in its many variants.

In relation to this, I should recall the symbolism of the golden realm of Glaðsheimr, ‘brighter than the sun’ and the image of the celestial place of Gimlé, ‘more magnificent than any other and brighter than the sun,’ which ‘will endure even when the heavens and the earth pass away.’

In this and many other motifs a trained eye is bound to detect a testimony to a higher dimension in ancient Nordic mythology. According to Völuspá and Gylfaginning, after Ragnarök a ‘new sun’ and ‘new race’ will arise, the ‘divine heroes’ will return to Iðavöllr and find gold, which symbolises the primordial tradition of luminous Asgard and the original state.”

“In an egalitarian and democraticised society (in the broader sense of the term); in a society in which there are no longer any casts, functional organic classes or Orders; in a society in which ‘culture’ is standardised, extrinsic, utilitarian, and tradition is no longer a living, forming force; in a society in which Pindar’s ‘be thyself’ has become but a meaningless phrase;19 in a society in which character amounts to a luxury that only fools can afford, whereas inner weakness is the norm; in a society, finally, in which whatever lies above racial, ethnic and national difference has been replaced by what effectively lies below all this and which, therefore, has a shapeless and hybrid character — in such a society, forces are at work that in the long run are bound to influence the very constitution of individuals, thus affecting everything typical and differentiated, even in the psycho-physical field.”

“Modern civilization should not be considered as an 'active' civilization, but as a civilization of restless and neuropathic people. As a compensation for the 'work' and the wear and tear of a life that becomes brutalized in vain agitation and production, modern man, in fact, does not know the classic otium, recollection, silence, state of calm and pause that allow you to come back to yourself and find yourself.

No: he only knows 'distraction' (in the literal sense, distraction means 'dispersion'); he seeks sensations, new tensions, new stimulants, like so many psychic narcotics. Everything, as long as he escapes from himself, everything, as long as he does not find himself alone with himself, isolated from the din of the outside world and from the promiscuity with his 'neighbour'.”

“We are in fact witnessing a strange reversal of perspective: ancient humanity was accused of being 'mythical', that is to say of having lived and acted under the pressure of imaginary and irrational complexes.

The truth, in fact, is that if there ever was a 'mythical' humanity in this negative sense of the term, it is contemporary humanity: all the great words written with a capital letter – beginning with People, Progress, Humanity, Society, Freedom and so many others which have provoked incredible mass movements, brought about in the individual a fundamental paralysis of all capacity for lucid judgment and criticism, and which have had the most disastrous consequences – all these words today resemble myths or, better, 'fables', since 'fable', from fari, etymologically signifies what corresponds to speaking alone, therefore to empty words. This is the level to which present, evolved and enlightened humanity has arrived.”