Lost Wisdom

Each science has gone through a phase when there was resistance to its development. Hypatia of Alexandria, the last scholar to work in the great library, was murdered by members of the early Christian church because her interest in science and learning was associated with paganism. Learned contemporaries of Galileo refused to look into his new telescope because the existence of moons of Jupiter would have violated their philosophical and theological beliefs. For centuries, the understanding of human anatomy progressed only haltingly because of lay and ecclesiastical prohibitions against the dissection of dead human bodies. Darwin was denounced by the Bishop of Oxford and, of course, by countless others. Broca's Society of Anthropology was opposed in France because knowledge about human beings was thought to be subversive to the state.
- Keith Stanovich, How to Think Straight About Psychology

Lost Wisdom
(Greifi Grishnackh)

While we may believe
our world - our reality
to be that is - is but one
manifestation of the essence

Other planes lie beyond the reach
of normal sense and common roads
But they are no less real
than what we see or touch or feel

Denied by the blind church
'cause these are not the words of God
the same God that burnt the knowing

Mankind does not represent a development of the better of the stronger in the way that it is believed today. 'Progress' is merely a modern idea, that is to say a false idea. The European of today is of far less value than the European of the Renaissance; onward development is not by any means, by any necessity the same thing as elevation, advance, strengthening.

In another sense there are cases of individual success constantly appearing in the most various parts of the earth and fro the most various cultures in which a high type does manifest itself: something which in relation to collective mankind is a sort of superman. Such chance occurrences of great success have always been possible and perhaps always will be possible. And even entire races, tribes, nations can under certain circumstances represent such a lucky hit.
- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Anti-Christ

Cattle die, and kinsmen die,
And so one dies one's self;
But a noble name will never die,
If good renown one gets.

Cattle die, and kinsmen die,
And so one dies one's self;
One thing I know that never dies,
The fame of a dead man's deeds.
-Havamal (76-77)

Character is destiny
- Heraclitus

Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.
- G. W. F. Hegel

The essence of liberalism is individualism. The basis of its error is to mistake the notion of the person with that of the individual and to claim for the latter, unconditionally and according to egalitarian premises, some values that should rather be attributed solely to the former, and then only conditionally. Because of this transposition, these values are transformed into errors, or into something absurd and harmful.

Let us begin with the egalitarian premise. It is necessary to state from the outset that the "immortal principle" of equality is sheer nonsense. There is no need to comment on the inequality of human beings from a naturalistic point of view. And yet the champions of egalitarianism make equality a matter of principle, claiming that while human beings are not equal de facto, they are so de jure: they are unequal, and yet they should not be. Inequality is unfair; the merit and the superiority of the liberal idea allegedly consists of not taking it into account, overcoming it, and acknowledging the same dignity in every man. Democracy, too, shares the belief in the "fundamental equality of anything that appears to be human."

I believe these are mere empty words. This is not a "noble ideal" but something that, if taken absolutely, represents a logical absurdity; wherever this view becomes an established trend, it may usher in only regression and decadence.
- Julias Evola, Men Among the Ruins

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you'll know right away what you amount to.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Off-site articles:
What You Have Lost
- "You are not defined by what you own, nor by your position in society; these are attributes of your self, most specifically, your character. Great deeds and heroic acts are not considered to be those which save the most lives, but those which accomplish something great, or achieve something better for the society and nature as a whole."
Taken for Granted
- "Imagine a small town in this society, which would probably have more small towns and fewer large cities. The goal of a job is to be a contributing member of a community, and to get home as soon as possible. Consequently, people work harder and faster, and are often done in six hours or fewer and home with their families or out with friends."

Diogenes owned nothing and lived in a funerary pot outside the temple of Athene in Athens. He was once visited by Alexander the Great, who was so in awe of him that he offered to grant the great philosopher any request. Diogenes replied, "Please move yourself, you are blocking my sunlight." Alexander remarked, "If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes."