Forest Poetry

Some people reading traditionalist writers get finicky when they first see Truth with a capital T, because they doubt that any ultimate Truth can be attainable, or even worse, they fear a monopolization of opinion in the intention of establishing an “intolerant” version of Truth in society; both are typical misunderstandings of an individualistic modern era. We will explain what we refer to as Truth in Traditionalism.

From a metaphysical perspective, the whole of existence is present because of its participation in Reality, the Absolute. This is what Aristotle, Avicenna and St. Aquinas called in some way or other the First Cause, an uncaused cause, that which is by itself, but also causes the entire creation and its elements. Therefore, forms that emerge from that origin have specific characteristics that adjoin with the rest of the characteristics of other forms, under a series of natural laws. All forms partake of a single reality and irremediably act according to Nature.

The quest of natural sciences is to understand the physical laws that govern matter and to elaborate theories to explain their functioning. However, it is outside of its capacities to determine that what would be outside action and reaction , the Uncaused Cause,  as well as a source of the laws of matter, even if laws themselves are made of matter. To understand Truth, it is essential to realize that “Truth” is not an empirical “truth” that may be contained within a scientifically experimental system.

Truth in the sense used by Traditionalists relates purely to the metaphysical nature of Reality, of God.  The revelations which found religions are crystallisations of this Truth within the contingent sphere of forms.  Once the metaphysical experience has occurred for the individual, to call it Truth is a logical consequence of a comprehension of a state preceding phenomena, from whence the multiplicity of forms is derived. “The Way produces one. One produces two. Two produces three. Three produces everything.” Tao Te Ching, 42.

In a strict sense, Truth is the saving manifestation of the Absolute, and according to Schuon, it differs from the concept of reality: “Truth and reality must not be confused: the latter relates to “being” and signifies the aseity of things, and the former relates to “knowing” – to the image of reality reflected in the mirror of the intellect “. Truth is the certainty of the Absolute. Also, as a term the word Truth provokes inquisitiveness, giving a variety of correlations in regards to specific aspects of spiritual pursuit.

An example is Truth serving as an opposition to what’s false or unreal in our perception: this is, in Sanskrit, maya. It is not that maya forms a reality apart from Truth, but only that it is an illusion that occurs within the Absolute, in which we see our ego and its material circumstances as the ultimate reality of consciousness. This ignorance of Truth, or avidya, makes us believe that the entire creation is separated and dispersed, through circumstantial dualities of attachment and aversion, and so the discovery of Truth requires man to pierce the veil of maya, surpassing ignorance. Again, this ignorance is not of an empirical nature, but it is a supposition that the thirst for our mundane ends (trsna) is the only possibility and therefore the highest motivation of man.

Truth has social implications as a social reality, even when both objects are different. Social reality is built around the pursuit of Truth, and finds its manifestation in the cultural sphere, bringing a mutually shared aim that pushes individuals towards a transcendent spirit. This, of course, does not escape from the organic life of societies. The rise of the greatest cultures in History has been conditioned by such sight, and their downfall has been marked by the pluralisation of smaller and individualistic convictions. The degeneration of civilizations shows a correspondent dysfunction in all strata of society, a neglect of Truth for the emergence of self-interests, causing class conflict. In this downfall, it is possible that an imposition of ideology may claim “Truth”, acting in an overly-coercive way foreign to aristocracy, and closer to tyranny. So, this “truth” is a social construction and an imposition very far from Truth.

Now, how can we know the constitution of this Truth, beyond its social functionality? Through Revelation.

We will cite Schuon again: “Revelation is none other than the objective and symbolic manifestation of the Light which man carries in himself, in the depths of his being”. Symbolic, Revelation carries a set of signs, and behaviour codes for the communities which essentially are connivance rules that even humanists can appreciate, and of which violation constitutes the disgrace of every culture. This aspect serves an exoteric purpose. The symbols are dependent on the history of cultures, but if they emerge from the Absolute, they have an objective end. Being Absolute and objective, God can’t be reduced as a social phenomena, even when there exists a social organization around the idea of a God. The key here is to understand the symbols in order to achieve the knowing of the Truth, attainable through the methods of prayer, which constitute a quest for the individual in his last stance.

Satya, a Sanskrit term for Truth, is understood in Hinduism as the everlasting reality independent to time and events. This means that Truth is immanent in the discoveries of a growing and positive science that occurs in human history, and also the rise and eventual death of human societies. Truth brings conditions for human reorganization across history, over a human and relative conception, and the man that ventures in the methods of Religion, not only through empirical science, finds himself in certainty of such Truth, transcending his human circumstances.

With the collapse of tradition, two different worldviews have taken its place: scientific materialism, and religious superstition. Both of these positions are equally modern, although it is the adherents of the former that explicitly claim to be so, while those of the latter claim to uphold traditional ideas, although their ideas lack proper metaphysical understanding.

A good example of these two worldviews can be found in the reaction to the earthquake in Haiti, particularly the controversy surrounding the claim made by some adherents of the superstitious worldview that the earthquake was divine retribution for sinful conduct (Pat Robertson has been the most prominent to make this claim). The adherents of scientific materialism naturally reject this idea, although their explanation of the phenomenon is also unsatisfactory.

The situation in Haiti is worth examining because throughout history natural disasters and other environmental factors have often played a significant role in human events. The materialists seize on this fact and claim that environmental determinism is the key factor in the rise and fall of civilizations (Jared Diamond is one of the more prominent proponents of this view). This is a standard anti-traditional approach, an approach that assumes that the greater comes from the lesser, in this case, that the material world is responsible for human civilization, rather than divine creation. Leaving aside the metaphysical difficulties of this materialist approach, we would like to offer a more sophisticated way of looking at natural disaster and its effect on civilizations.

The important point is that the result of a natural disaster is dependent on two things: the direct effects of the disaster (in the case of an earthquake, these would be the actual shaking of the earth and the following destruction of buildings, etc), and the level of the health of the individuals and civilization. In other words, disasters of the same magnitude will have different results for civilizations that are at different levels of internal health, depending on how well the individuals in those civilizations can deal with the difficulties. The earthquake in Haiti resulted in much more chaos than in would have in another country (for example, in western Europe), because the people in Haiti were already more chaotic in their psychic existence. The people who turned to savage violence following the disaster did so because they lack spiritual and mental order. The poor infrastructure of the country is also a result of a poor inner state. When the disaster struck, some of the external factors that held back this inner chaos were removed, and the latent chaos manifested itself. Everything in the material world has its source in the Divine, and earthquakes sometimes strike Haiti, and sometimes strike elsewhere. They can be a factor in the success or failure of a civilization, but not the only factor, barring a disaster of extreme proportions that physically destroys every member of a civilization.

Turning now to the problem with the superstitious account, while its proponents are correct to claim that this destructive phenomenon has a divine origin, they do not properly illustrate that punishment for wrongdoing begins long before external manifestations of retribution, and even seem to think that sinful acts are disadvantageous only after the punishment itself. If the Haitians were indeed turning away from the Divine, their punishment was found in the very act of turning away, just as order and wisdom are more fundamentally their own reward than any material benefit that might result from them. When turning away, one loses the ability to instill the world with order and becomes an inevitable vehicle for destruction. When natural disasters occur, the outer and inner destructiveness work as allies.

Up to this point we have looked at the situation from a very narrow perspective. In examining the question of how different societies react to natural disasters, we have judged the health or sickness of a society by the level of technical infrastructure and cooperation among the societies members. But we want to make it clear that in so doing we are not holding up modern, western societies as paragons, for these societies, while technically proficient, are equally lacking in spiritual values. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that the spiritual life of western man is as destructive and chaotic as the current external situation in Haiti. Even if our technical infrastructure is perpetuated and perhaps improves, our inner life verges ever closer to annihilation, towards being enveloped in formlessness. Some westerners deride the Haitians for their inability to bring order to their external environment, but only because they see only outer appearances and are unaware of how they themselves have neglected the eternal part within us, the part that truly matters.

Mezclar modernidad y ecología produce un movimiento ambientalista que no desea sacrificar su “progreso” y confort modernos. Añadirle medios masivos de comunicación produce una ecología superficial que no tiene la intención de cuestionar nuestra visión del mundo, como lo hace la ecología profunda, sino que nos divierte dentro de nuestros marcos mentales consumistas explotando un aspecto puramente emocional.

Un ejemplo son las celebridades desnudándose por los derechos de los animales. “Preferible andar desnuda que utilizar pieles” dicen, aparentemente prestando su estatus, solo para incrementarlo. Estas estrellas y sus patrocinadores solo buscan fama y consumidores ingenuos, vendiendo un producto que parece crítico a la sociedad moderna, pero que solo produce chismorreo televisivo. Del otro lado de la pantalla, hay un grupo de espectadores distraídos y sentimentalistas que no pueden ver el problema ecológico en su entera dimensión.

Vanidad y sensiblería en un producto de comunicación masiva. ¿Qué resultado podemos esperar una vez que la moda se va?

“Las pieles jamás habían sido tan populares” dice el portavoz de Origin Assured, una iniciativa desarrollada por la International Fur Trade Federation que dice hacer un uso “ético” de las pieles. “De 1998 al 2008 hubo un incremento año con año en las ventas de pieles en todo el mundo. La gente se siente ahora más cómoda al mostrar su amor por las pieles”

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Debemos cuestionarnos a nosotros mismos para ser capaces de enfrentar la verdad, la responsabilidad y las acciones necesarias para corregir nuestros males. Debemos ser más inteligentes y menos sagaces, más compasivos y menos sentimentalistas. Un entendimiento más profundo de la espiritualidad puede provocar estos cambios.

Estar en contacto con la gracia divina nos hace compasivos, satisfechos, y voluntariosos a elegir el bienestar a largo plazo en vez del confort instantáneo y el entretenimiento. Este esplendor de gracia va a lo profundo de nuestra sensibilidad, logrando que la compasión por todos los seres vivos sea un sentimiento absolutamente honesto, disponiéndonos a hacer los necesario para preservar la diversidad ecológica. Una revaloración fundamental de nuestro rol en este planeta y una visión crítica de nuestro poder como especie, demanda una cantidad heroica de valor que no puede ser encontrada en la cultura pop, sino solo en las formas más elevadas de la Cultura. Una vez que este excelso amor se asienta en nosotros, estamos listos para actuar y suficientemente lúcidos para hacerlo de modo sensato; solo entonces estamos listos para abrazar a la ecología como una ciencia y enfrentar los verdaderos problemas: sobrepoblación y consumismo sin Cultura.

Como podemos ver, la ecología pop es una desviación de la compasión verdadera, manifestándose en una especie de amor que evade el juicio, deshabilitándose a sí misma para crecer y convertirse en una piedad enérgica.

La ecología pop, no tiene raíces para ser permanente y no tiene convicción para ser efectiva y trascendente.. Existe una fascinación intrínseca por la vanidad en estas campañas de desnudismo que de ningún modo son capaces de elevar nuestros pensamientos más nobles y heroicos con el fin de proteger la biodiversidad.

Organizaciones como PETA, ahora abandonan el oportunismo de la piel para montarse al oportunismo del cambio climático. Vemos ahora otra moda de la ecología pop, y podemos pronosticar otro fracaso por igual.

In English

Mixing modernism and ecology results in an environmental movement that does not wish to sacrifice its “progress” and modern comforts. Adding mass media to this combination produces a superficial ecology that has no intent of questioning our world-view as deep-ecology does, but instead entertains us within our consumerist mental frames exploiting a purely emotional approach. .

An example of this is celebrities getting naked for animals. “I’d rather go naked than wear fur”, they say, appearing to deliberately lessen their social status through humility, but ironically only to increase it. These stars and their endorsers seek only fame and naive consumers, selling a product that appears to be critical of modern society, but that only produces televised gossip. And on the other side of the screen, there exists a distracted and sentimentalist audience that cannot see the bigger picture of the ecological problem.

Vanity and mawkishness in a mass media product. What results can we expect after the trend is gone?

“Fur has never been more popular,” says a spokesman for Origin Assured, an initiative developed by the International Fur Trade Federation that states that it sources “ethical” fur. “From 1998 to 2008 there has been year-on-year growth in global sales for fur. People now are more comfortable showing their love of fur.”

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We must question ourselves in order to face the truth. We must also have the sense of responsibility to take the necessary actions to correct this wrongdoing. We must be smarter and less sly, more compassionate and less naively sentimental. A deep understanding of spirituality can provoke these changes.

To be in contact with holy grace turns us into compassionate, satisfied beings, willing to choose long term well being in lieu of instantaneous comfort and entertainment. This radiance of grace goes deep into our sensitivity, turning compassion in all living beings into an absolutely honest sentiment, making us eager to do what is necessary to preserve biological diversity. A fundamental revaluation of our role on this planet and a critical vision of our empowering as a species demands a heroic amount of love that can’t be found in pop culture, but only in the higher forms of Culture. Once this higher love is settled in ourselves, we are ready to act and aware enough to do it sensibly; only then are we ready to embrace ecology as a science and to face the real problems: overpopulation and culture-less consumerism.

As we can see, pop ecology is a misdirection of real compassion, which manifests itself in a fashion of love that bypasses judgment, handicapping itself so that it cannot grow up to become a strong piety. Pop ecology has no roots in order to become permanent and no conviction to be effective and transcendental. There’s an intrinsic fascination with vanity in these “naking” campaigns that in no way is able to raise our noblest and heroic thinking in order to protect biodiversity.

Organizations like PETA have now abandoned the bandwagon of fur to ride on the bandwagon of climatic change. We are now seeing another fashion of pop ecology, and we can foretell another failure as well.

En Español

“Proponents of modernity often relate with glee how science has shown traditional concepts of man and the cosmos to be materially and demonstrably false. In some cases they even claim that the latest scientific theory represents an improvement not only in physical understanding, but also in moral understanding.

Some seem to think that when Aristotle placed the earth in the center of his physical model he did so because his “primitive” conceptions could not allow him to imagine a universe where man was not of the utmost importance, and that the modern models, by making man’s abode just one of a countless multitude of peripheral specs driven about in various cycles, made him more humble. This idea is completely false, and is in fact an inversion of the truth.”

Read the full article here: Man’s Place in the Cosmos