On Perennialism And My Past Articles
Dissidents come from a mix of backgrounds. But almost all of us share one thing in common.
That unifying factor is that we all have something in our political past that is just… not quite up to our current standards.
We all have a background. We came from somewhere. Dissidents are refined in fire; We are rarely born this way from birth (unless we were raised by a dissident who followed this former path—How fortunate for such a child to avoid the numerous stumbling blocks along our traditional path).
For instance, maybe you were once a left-leaning college guy, or an Odin worshipper, or an invested PragerU kind of guy. A lot of our guys come from a libertarian/Austrian-economics background, so that’s always an option. Or maybe some other type of hardened capitalist. Soft republican activists that become jaded are equally common. The list is numerous and varied.
Dissidents come from many of these backgrounds, as they are slowly learning more before they eventually reach our true dissident stage. It’s just the dissident life cycle. The only ones who stay in the aforementioned groups are those who either stop learning or start denying the truth they uncover, also for various reasons.
What was my main background, you may ask? It was Perennialism.
I was never an avowed libertarian, leftist, centrist, or so on. I was always nationalist leaning. But I bought into perennialism, hard.
Luckily, if we all reach a later stage of development, we usually are able to let go of these chains. I did.
I let go of of my Perennialist past long ago. But I have not been public about it. It’s about time for a public disavowal. Including many of my old articles on here that point toward the perennial lie.
The Journey
Both personal politics and spirituality are a journey. As you learn more and grow, your pathway changes. What used to make a lot of sense no longer does. Meanwhile, what you used to discredit or ignore gains traction.
For both of these subjects, you do not start at the end destination. And if you are a continual learner, you never reach an end destination at all. But you grow and you refine. And as you grow in maturity—the closer you get to that true end result—the less drastic the changes become.
This is why new people to a philosophy are always the most dangerous. Because they could bounce anywhere. The old, refined persons may deviate, but nowhere near on a similar scale as a new person.
I had one of those beliefs back when I was a new person. That belief was perennialism. It presents itself as a spirituality, but true adherents become political, as well. It certainly affected my political philosophy for the longest time.
The principal argument of perennialism is that all religions and spirituality point toward a singular truth. But, according to the perennialist, we have become far distant from that primordial truth. Think of it like a tree: The different faiths have simply branched out from the same source. They believe that if we endure in some (any) faith, we will all reach the same truth in death as they all spring from the same root. It’s all about enduring in any creed.
This is a popular rightwing belief. Even for the “far right” (whatever that term means). It encompasses traditionalists, Evola types, and even many pagans.
I believed this for a long time. Naturally, it impacted my view of other cultures, faith, and race. It also encouraged a desire for a race to the past in me, making me blind to the (true) progress of tradition. (True tradition, the kind from Christendom; not the modern enlightenment lie of “progress”.) I desired some weird pagan and Greco-Roman society of ages past, instead of the learned knowledge of a millennium of Christendom. I explain this concept in more depth here: What Is Tradition?
But with diligent study of comparative religions, I realized that perennialism as a spirituality is false. The different faiths are simply not compatible. They did not all stem from the same tree. There are actually two trees: One of Lies, and one of Truth. Most religions do stem from the former singular tree, in that the perennialist is correct. They just don’t notice the other tree.
Acknowledging this error on my part then results in my political opinions that stemmed from that spirituality as being wrong as well.
Contrary to Evola, I do not think it is a good idea to go back to Egyptian God-Kings. Contrary to Guenon, I do not believe that perfection was found in a man-made era in the distant past. And contrary to Frithjof Schuon, I definitely do not think converting to Islam for the political benefits (since all spiritualities are fundamentally the same) is a good idea.
I am sure with a little thought you can see how these spiritual beliefs can rapidly alter a young person‘s political opinions. Even though perennialism masquerades as a spiritual belief, it is a spiritual belief that must be paired with politics. As all spiritualities do, in their own way.
I also learned through comparative religious study that perennialism is a belief wholly of the enlightenment. This is not an ancient belief as the perennialists claim. It is a materialist and rationalist belief of the modern era. Even though they seek to distance themselves from it, their entire foundation is one of it.
My point here is not debunk perennialism. I will write a future article for that. But the point of this one is to concede that my prior belief was wrong. Thus, my other beliefs and arguments that derived from it were equally wrong.
So consider this a disavowal of many of my past articles from years past that point toward perennialism.
Many of them I have already taken down in years past as my beliefs have refined. But some are still up and lingering and need a public disavowal.
This journey was not all bad. I spent many years studying all religions due to perennialism. I have read probably every mainstream religious book of every dominant faith, which helps in my outreach to others. It also led me to the true religion, Christianity. So my perennialist past was not a worthless endeavor. But I do not want to encourage others down that path, because they may not make it out in time as I did.
So, avoid those Enlightenment tales. Including any you may read from me through past works. Stick with the truth.
I disavow perennialism. You should, too.
And a sidenote: if you’re reading articles of mine, I encourage you to stick to those circa 2020 and forward. Not only do all of those hold my more refined beliefs, they are also far easier to read. They really aren’t lying when they say you have to get past your first million words before you are a halfway decent writer.
Those early articles of mine are rough, and even I can see and admit that now.
Kudos to those of you that stuck with me through the novice writing stage. You all are the true endurers.
Read Next: And I Became To Myself A Wasteland
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