“Hegel thought he was defending the Spirit, but caught himself in the most infinite errors ever seen, and incalculably harmed the cause of the Spirit” …
– Giuseppe Capograssi
“The death of the spirit is the price of progress”…
― Eric Voegelin
“The world that is being created by the accumulation of technical means is an artificial world and hence radically different from the natural world. It destroys, eliminates, or subordinates the natural world, and does not allow this world to restore itself or even to enter into a symbiotic relation with it. The two worlds obey different imperatives, different directives, and different laws which have nothing in common. Just as hydroelectric installations take waterfalls and lead them into conduits, so the technical milieu absorbs the natural. We are rapidly approaching the time when there will be no longer any natural environment at all. When we succeed in producing artificial aurorae boreales, night will disappear and perpetual day will reign over the planet”…
― Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society
“Tragedy occurs when man, through pride (or even through stupidity as in the case of Ajax) enters into conflict with the divine order, personified by a God or incarnated in Society. And the more justified his revolt and the more necessary this order, the greater the tragedy that stems from the conflict” …
– Excerpt from Albert Camus, On the Future of Tragedy
[ LINK ]
In a June 2018 article titled Eric Voegelin’s Gnosticism, the author briefly explores one of Voegelin’s three most important ideas: his critique of Gnosticism that Voegelin believed had become endemic in Modernity.
Gnosticism is the perversion of epistemology and distorts our understanding of the nature of Reality and the natural order of things.
“No one is obliged to take part in the spiritual crisis of a society; on the contrary, everyone is obliged to avoid this folly and live his life in order”…
― Eric Voegelin, Science, Politics and Gnosticism: Two Essays
The Gnostic sees himself as alien to this World and through attaining a Consciousness — Knowledge — Gnosis — he escapes his entrapment.
A worldview where Man seeks salvation through human effort alone.
Marxism, Communism, Fascism, Trans Humanism, New Totalitarianism and Scientism are all modern-day examples of Gnosticism to bring about the transformation of physical Reality and a utopian society on earth.
“Science is neutral with respect to values and ideals; the same cannot be said about scientism, which suppresses metaphysics and claims to make science the exhaustive knowledge of reality” …
– Augusto Del Noce
Gnosticism is the suppression of high-order spiritual truth.
“Ancient Gnosticism atheises the World ( by denying its creation by God) on behalf of a Divine Transcendence, the post-Christian sort atheises it on behalf of radical immanentism”…
— Augusto del Noce
A power directed system of thought where reality is constructed by the consciousness of Man and enforced through control and imposed through material force.
“Scientism, … according to which the only true knowledge is scientific knowledge, is not linked to the spirit of freedom but rather to that of oppression” …
– Augusto Del Noce
A new totalitarianism — the monopolisation of power through the politicisation of rationality.
A negation of the universality of reason, so that any form of opposition to established power no longer expresses rational concerns but conceals interests of class, race etc.
“It is not the truth of Marxism that explains the willingness of intellectuals to believe it, but the power that it confers on intellectuals, in their attempts to control the World. And since, as Swift says, it is futile to reason someone out of a thing that he was not reasoned into, we can conclude that Marxism owes its remarkable power to survive every criticism to the fact that it is not a truth-directed but a power-directed system of thought”…
— Roger Scruton
A human-centred orientation that combines idealism and materialism and the rejection of the transcendent.
A will to power and ultimate knowing (i.e. a pathological certainty) that transcends the limitations of flesh, desire and the inherent nature of the human condition to repair the World & himself.
Gnosticism, the Negation of the Universality of Reason and its contrast with Christianity
“Today’s historical situation should be described as the full revelation of the opposition between Christianity and Gnosticism”…
— Augusto del Noce
“Totalitarianisms are founded on the negation of the universality of reason, so that any form of opposition to established Power, be it cultural or political, supposedly does not express rational concerns but concels interests, regardless of the awareness of those that criticise”…
— Augusto del Noce
“In all its forms, the new Gnosticism must reject the universality of reason and its foundation in the theory of the λόγος”…
— Augusto del Noce
Note: λόγος refer to Logos — a concept word in the Bible symbolic of the nature and function of Jesus Christ and the revelation of God in the World
Gnosticism contradicts many of the core tenets of Christian Theology and the idea of the Universality of Reason — the fundamental and shared capacity of all human beings irrespective of background whether through cultural, historical or individual differences to embrace rational thought, logic and the pursuit of truth in understanding the World.
Christianity teaches that the material world is the goodness of God’s Creation.
The material world is seen as God’s work, intended for his glory and humanity’s stewardship.
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day” …
– Genesis 1:31
While the world is marred by sin due to the fall of man, the inherent goodness of creation remains central to Christianity.
The material world is not abandoned in Christian eschatology, but redeemed and renewed, as seen in the promise of a “new heaven and a new earth” (refer to Revelation 21:1–4).
“God is not a demiurge [demigod] or a magician, but the Creator who gives being to all entities”…
– Pope Francis
In contrast, Gnosticism is a refutation of that goodness. Many Gnostic systems believe the material world was created by a lesser, ignorant, or malevolent deity (the Demiurge — a subordinate God) rather than the true, supreme God.
Salvation in Gnosticism often involves escaping the material world and returning to the spiritual realm, emphasising the rejection of physical being.
It believes in a divided world — a cosmological dualism — the spiritual and material world.
Differences exist between these two realms. The spiritual realm is considered pure, good, and the domain of the true God, while the material realm is often seen as corrupt, evil, or illusory.
This dualism underpins Gnostic soteriology, where salvation involves liberating the spiritual self (a piece of God, the highest good or a divine spark) from the confines of the material body.
“Philosophy springs from the love of being; it is man’s loving endeavor to perceive the order of being and attune himself to it. Gnosis desires dominion over being; in order to seize control of being the Gnostic constructs his system. The building of systems is a gnostic form of reasoning, not a philosophical one”…
― Eric Voegelin
Christianity emphasises salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and the pathway shown through his death and resurrection. The notion of incarnation where God took human form in the body of Christ. It is an invitation to form a relational and spiritual union with God through the Being of Jesus Christ. It involves sharing in the divine life through grace, faith, and the Holy Spirit.
“20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – 23 I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” …
– John 17: 20 – 23
In contrast, Gnosticism focuses on attaining secret knowledge ( Gnosis) to achieve spiritual liberation.
It’s anti-incarnation and believes the physical world is corrupt with the Gnostic’s primary objective being the salvation of the soul from the physical world. A salvation through Gnosis (Knowledge) that ultimately enables the Soul to escape the material realm and return to its divine fullness.
“The essence of Gnosticism can be expressed in three beliefs. These are (1) that it is not you or your theories that are wrong, but the world itself; (2) that we have been flung into this miserable and intolerable condition against our wants; but (3) are able to attain a consciousness, a knowledge – a Gnosis – that will allow us to repair the world and ourselves. In this regard, Gnosticism is a perverted impulse toward progress, which describes the circumstance in which we have improved our ability to live in the world through a better understanding of it and ourselves in it. That is, progress means better according our lives with reality as it is and thus doing better in reality. Gnosticism turns progress upside-down – inverts it – by reframing it away from the effort to prosper in the world as it is and toward remaking it into a world that is not and, because this non-reality is essential to the Gnostic project, cannot be” …
– James Lindsay , The Calamity of Scientific Gnosticism
Nietzsche’s Gnostic Materialism and his critique of Christianity’s Metaphysical Soul and Spirit
“What is good? All that enhances the feeling of power, the Will to Power, and power itself in man. What is bad? – All that proceeds from weakness. What is happiness? – The feeling that power is increasing – that resistance has been overcome” …
– Friedrich Nietzsche
“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently”…
-Friedrich Nietzsche
“Christianity is Platonism for the people”…
— Friedrich Nietzsche
Throughout Nietzsche’s writings, there is a radical critique of the most fundamental aspects of Western Philisophical tradition including Ancient Greek Philosophy ( e.g. Platonism) and Christian Theology.
The critique extends to the notions of metaphysics, morality, the nature of Reason, the nature of human consciousness, the pursuit of truth and in his 1888 work The Antichrist the ideas of the Soul and Spirit.
Nietzsche’s world view and orientation towards materialism and naturalism provides the perspective from which he attempts to dismantle the metaphysical Christian and Platonic ideas of the Soul and the Spirit.
His ideas are grounded in the physical nature of the body, its instincts, and primal life forces over abstract metaphysical concepts.
Nietzsche is also a critique of oversimplified dualistic idealist and mechanistic materialist perspectives and his perspectives are more akin to dynamic complex anti-essentialist naturalism.
A physiological, psychological, and power-oriented understanding of human life, rejecting the idea of a spiritual essence separate from bodily existence.
Human understanding of reality and meaning is shaped by complex interactions of competing forces, instincts, and interpretations rather than mechanistic abstract cartesian laws or material substances.
For example, Nietzsche reinterprets the Soul as more dynamic, complex, multi faceted conception that reflects human thought and action being shaped by a collection of primal drivers, instinctual, and unconscious operations.
In doing so, it contrasts with the Christian view where the:
- Spirit is an external divine presence dwelling within individuals and empowering wider communities (akin to wind — external, distributed and communal — shared with God). It is often associated with inspiration, transformation, and moral guidance, influencing desires, impulses, and emotions, but it is still viewed as divine and distinct from human nature. An active divine force that comforts, and guides believers toward God’s Will;
- Human Reason and Self-Consciousness is part of the soul, individual, rational and distinct to the self ( an Augustinian and Thomistic perspective). The soul is often understood as the seat of intellect, reason, and will (e.g. Augustine’s De Trinitate ( On the Trinity ) that describes the soul as having memory, understanding, and will) ; and
- The Biblical interpretation emphasises the unity of the Body and Soul into a single substance that reflects both physical and spiritual Beings. Note this is a key distinction to the dualism of Platonism.
Rather than the Universality of Reason being a guiding force & divine gift from God ( rationally necessary & universal) and the Soul being a stable rational essence of human identity, Nietzsche views our moral values, beliefs and reasoning ( human thought & action) as the subordinate rationalisations of deeper unconscious complex interactions — primal instincts, operational drivers, and forces ( e.g. a Will to Power).
“The reduction of man himself to capital marks the maximum expansion of the capitalist spirit” …
– Augusto del Noce
Nietzsche believed the real existential fundamental foundation of the individual is in the dynamic complex interactions between the unconscious primal operations of the physical body, human interpretations of an external reality and a will to power that is an active, dynamic process of overcoming, interpreting, and transforming one’s instincts and interpretations of reality.
Nietzsche also views Human Consciousness as an externally orientated pragmatic adaption of abstraction and interpretation shaped by social & linguistic necessity (simplifying subjectivity & complexity) rather than a deeper internal self awareness.
A shallow surface and sign world of reductionism, superficiality, generalisations, vulgarisation, and abstractions that flattens the complexity and dynamic nature of reality .
A mechanism to facilitate the necessity of communication and coordination of semiotic signs such as language between humans.
“Formerly it was thought that man’s consciousness, his “spirit,” offered evidence of his high origin, his divinity. That he might be perfected, he was advised, tortoise-like, to draw his senses in, to have no traffic with earthly things, to shuffle off his mortal coil — then only the important part of him, the “pure spirit,” would remain. Here again we have thought out the thing better: to us consciousness, or “the spirit,” appears as a symptom of a relative imperfection of the organism, as an experiment, a groping, a misunderstanding, as an affliction which uses up nervous force unnecessarily — we deny that anything can be done perfectly so long as it is done consciously. The “pure spirit” is a piece of pure stupidity: take away the nervous system and the senses, the so-called “mortal shell,” and the rest is miscalculation — that is all!”…
— Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche’s 20th Century Prophecy — The Implications of Endemic Modern Gnosticism and Materialism
“Gnostic politics is self-defeating in so far as its disregard for the structure of reality leads to continuous warfare” …
― Eric Voegelin
According to the June 2018 article, Voegelin saw Friedrich Nietzsche as the most important Gnostic prophet.
However, rather than attributing to Nietzsche the cause of the crisis of modernity and the endemic gnosticism, Voegelin believed that Nietzsche was prescient in foreseeing the turmoil and tragedy of the 20th Century from the death of god and inversion of Christianity via the embracement of endemic Gnosticism.
The emergence of the Spirit Wars that upended the 20th Century and continues to tear the social fabric of our Modern Society apart until this day.
A Man made world where the Universality of Reason is increasingly disregarded – the inherent capacity of each of us through open inquiry and epistemological humility to align our conscious beliefs and actions with an independent objective Reality.
Instead, it was increasingly being replaced by a political power directed system of thought where Reality was anchored in the subjective Nietzschean Human Consciousness orientated to towards the pragmatic adaption of abstraction and interpretation (e.g. Theory of Reflexivity) rather than a deeper eternal understanding.
“Everywhere one seeks to produce meaning, to make the world signify, to render it visible. We are not, however, in danger of lacking meaning; quite the contrary, we are gorged with meaning and it is killing us” …
– Jean Baudrillard
A shallow surface and semiotic sign world ( e.g. Saussure European Structuralist Semiotics ) to facilitate the necessity of communication and coordination of semiotic signs such as language between humans.
The creeping shadow of an emerging dark age that Friedrich Nietzsche foresaw in 1886:
“The greatest event of recent times–that “God is Dead”, that the belief in the Christian God is no longer tenable–is beginning to cast its first shadows over Europe.” Thus de-spiritualised, “our whole European civilization is moving with a torture of tension, which increases from decade to decade, toward a catastrophe” …
[ LINK ]
Aleksandr Solzenhitsyn’s 1983 Templeton Prize Address
“The technological civilisation can only be defined in terms of the suppression of the religious dimension, the eternal and unchangeable order of truths and values, which we can come into contact with through intellectual intuition”…
– Augusto del Noce
In 1983 Russian author and Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Templeton Prize.
A Prize established in 1972 by Investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton to recognise discoveries that yielded new insights across all major faiths and religions.
Solzenhitsyn’s prize acceptance address returned to the same Nietzschean prophecy from almost a century earlier.
The implications of the Death of God and the key question of what would fill the spiritual yearning of humanity left by this void?
It was once again highlighting key aspects of the human condition that both Nietzsche and Voegelin had foreseen.
Particularly, Voegelin’s belief that Gnosticism was now endemic in Modern man.
“Our five continents are caught in a whirlwind. But it is during such trials that the highest gifts of the human spirit are manifested. If we perish and lose this world, the fault will be ours alone”…
— Aleksandr Solzenhitsyn
Solzhenitsyn’s speech was a call for a renaissance in religion across increasingly globalist atheist nations and a plea to urgently address the flaws in Modern Consciousness [LINK] [ LINK].
“What is more, the events of the Russian revolution can only be understood now, at the end of the century, against the background of what has since occurred in the rest of the world. What emerges here is a process of universal significance. And if I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too, I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: ‘Men have forgotten God.’ The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century. The first of these was World War I, and much of our present predicament can be traced back to it. It was a war (the memory of which seems to be fading) when Europe, bursting with health and abundance, fell into a rage of self-mutilation which could not but sap its strength for a century or more, and perhaps forever. The only possible explanation for this war is a mental eclipse among the leaders of Europe due to their lost awareness of a Supreme Power above them. Only a godless embitterment could have moved ostensibly Christian states to employ poison gas, a weapon so obviously beyond the limits of humanity”…
— Aleksandr Solzenhitsyn
Modernity and the Marxification of the West
“The spirit is never at rest, but always engaged in progressive motion, giving itself new form”…
— Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”…
— Karl Marx
“a Society become totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud”…
— George Orwell
What was this modern form of Gnosticism?
“ Man confuses himself with God, is identical with the demiurge and begins to usurp cosmic powers of destruction, i.e. to arrange a second Deluge”…
– Carl Jung, Letters Volume . II
Why had an increasingly globalist secular liberal progressive orthodoxy emerged?
To understand Modern Gnosticism it is important to recognise the impact of the emergence of a new form of horizontal metaphysics that combined Idealism with Materialism that gave birth to Modernity and the Scientific and Technological Revolutions that would follow.
It is also important to understand how the Progressivism movement emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a legitimate response to addressing the rapid industrialisation, urbanisation, and social inequalities of the Gilded Age.
The movements desire to address the negative externalities of industrial capitalism, political corruption, and growing gap between the wealthy and the working class.
Finally, it is important to understand how Modern and Post-Modern Western philosophical thought anchored in Nominalism, Idealism and Materialism represented a profound hard-fork and decoupling from the accumulated wisdom and refined intellectual thought of Western Civilisation.
Its culmination in the Scholastics attempts to integrate Christian Theology and Ancient Greek Philosophy which had led to the Thomism Triadic structures as to the nature of reality.
The relationship between Man & God and Man & Natural World that combined the metaphysical & physical and the eternal & temporal.
A Rosmini Triadic of Being.
Modernity and its philosophical hard fork represented a reorientation towards the Primacy of Man, Human Consciousness and Man’s Actions.
Hegel’s Absolute Idealism had been inverted and transformed through a process of alchemy into a Theology of Marxism .
A combination of Idealism and Materialism where Human progress occurs through the process of Dialectical Materialism and Praxis.
Man’s will to power in shaping his own destiny ( Historical Materialism) and a New World Order.
“Remould It Nearer to the Heart’s Desire”…
[ LINK ]
A phrase that reflects the Fabian Society’s commitment to reshaping the World to align with its progressive vision .
“Hammering out a New World”…
[ LINK ]
But had these modern philosophical ideas anchored in the Theology of Marxism become the secular neo-gnostic surrogate for Christianity post the French Revolution for the European Educated Class (refer Roger Scruton)?
Was Marxisms remarkable power to survive every criticism including its tragic role in the 20th Century attributable to the fact that it is a power directed system of thought rather than truth directed system of thought (refer Roger Scruton)?
“Socialism of any type leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death”…
– Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Was attempting to understand an objective independent Reality still important despite the endemic embracement of Marxism and was this leading to a Legitimation Crisis and the Obfuscation of Intelligence?
Had Academia and our Intellectual Class betrayed Western Civilisation?
[Also refer to — America’s Post-Truth Universities [ LINK ] — and — Why Universities Must Choose One Telos: Truth or Social Justice [ LINK ] ]
“The strength of a person’s spirit would then be measured by how much ‘truth’ he could tolerate, or more precisely, to what extent he needs to have it diluted, disguised, sweetened, muted, falsified”…
– Friedrich Nietzsche
Was this Modern Gnosticism and the Theology of Marxism at the core of the Self-Destruction of the West and the ongoing Spirit Wars?
“We must defend the truth at all costs, even if we are reduced to just twelve again”…
— St. Pope John Paul II
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