Philosophy! What is there not to love?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijrYNTaTnC8

The heroic soul in man has long been degraded and neglected. The decline of heroism in our present, Western culture is something that has been observed and commented on by some of the most brilliant minds in our human race. These include the likes of Nietzsche, Carlyle and Spengler. And then there is the controversial Italian philosopher, Julius Evola, whose book, "The Metaphysics of War", is quoted in the above, 10-minute-long video in an excerpt on this very topic. Evola too remarked upon the decline of heroism in our present culture. The decline of the old, aristocratic warrior values has culminated in the triumph of the ghastly bourgeois, liberal, democratic, materialist mass society that has forgotten the way of the upright, far-seeing and heroic men of old, who strove for spiritual perfection and the affirmation of human existence in suffering, struggle and risk.

The men of old knew struggle. They would have been much less materially comfortable than we, much less intellectually developed, and much less secure. They would have known great poverty, great ignorance, great danger. The only way to give meaning to their petty existence would have been to transcend their mere humanity and become determined warriors inured to hardship and the privations of a life that was primitive relative to ours.

In a world of material abundance, over-intellectualism and near-perfect security, the modern man of the Western world knows nothing like struggle or suffering, at least not the struggle and suffering of old. He is protected from almost everything which might threaten his comfortable and contented existence, free to take part in a never-ending pursuit after "happiness", which so often finds itself transformed into nothing more than a contemptible lust after meaningless possessions.

It follows that in a comfortable and contented state of utilitarian bliss, man does not need see the need for heroes to guide his path and make him great anymore. The bourgeois lie of equality extends and entrenches its ideological stranglehold over society in every institution of learning and art culture and civil society in general.

Yet there are heroes among us!

The hero lives within only a few human beings, many of whom may not yet be aware of the might they carry within their soul. They have a power that can shape societies and bring down empires, if only they knew how to activate it, and how to use it for their glory, and therefrom, mankind's.

All powers that have decreed the equality of men are to be regarded as false, deceitful and traitors to mankind. There are the great men, the supreme beings, the higher individuals, those whom Nietzsche calls "free spirits". And then there are the rest, to whom the hero owes nothing but contempt. It is the duty of the inferior persons to subject themselves to the domination of he who is so much greater than they, and to strive for unity with his soul so that they will imitate at least a tinge of his greatness.

The concept of the hero and heroism is not something that can be subjected to scientific scrutiny or made open to rational explanation. It is an irrational force of nature, demanding power and prostration from all sentient beings. It is a world-view that is accessible to those that will open their eyes, ears and hearts to the sagas of our highest men, and to the heartfelt songs sung in praise of these mighty men of valour.

The hero emerged very early on in human history, in primitive societies without learning or culture or much of an artistic sense. These societies were dominated, in general, by men. They were in constant danger - from the elements, from microorganisms, from wild animals and from other tribes. It was as if nature itself wanted to wipe the nascent human species out of existence. The survival of early man depended to a great extent on heroes. So often a human society, feeling demoralised from all the pressures of existence, would have a great man from among them step out to inspire them with the will to live once more, and not merely to subsist but to exist for higher things - in effect, to transcend mere existence. Such a man would have been the most eloquent of his community, at a time when language was only just being formed. He would have a way with words, this fellow, and he would stir the imaginations of his audience. In effect, he was a good story-teller. The charisma which emanated from his soul presented his listeners with a sense of awe at the bold and joyous way in which he showed them the way to a life of struggle, and the embrace of such a life. "Surely, this man must be our leader! Our king, even!" In such a fashion were born the very first leaders. The very word "king", if one studies its Germanic origins, gives us the concept of a "leader of the people", one of noble, if not divine, birth, one who is worthy to rule over his fellow men.

But let us not stop our imaginings there. Let us picture a tribe of old living in communal harmony in some parts somewhere on this primitive planet of ours. This tribe is constantly assailed by rival tribes who seize all of their harvest during the time when their flourishing is to occur. We are in fact provided with an example of this in none other than the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, in Judges, where we are presented with the character of Gideon, described as a "mighty man of valour":

6 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.

7 When the Israelites cried out to the Lord because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians. And I delivered you from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

In response to the pleas of the Israelites, God sends his angel to Gideon, a humble farmer, who transforms himself into a warrior overnight, sent by a divinity to deliver his people from a hateful oppression. He becomes a leader of men, defeating thousands of Israel's enemies with only a handful of men in a daring night raid. However mythical and implausible this event as recounted to us by those ancient Hebrew scribes may be, the literal truth is not the point. There is a strong element of truth at the core of this tale. How many peoples in ancient times were on the brink of destruction, only to have a hero from among them rush to their defence and secure the preservation of the whole community? Was Cincinnatus not raised to the supreme power, the office of dictator, his people recognising his courage, his worth, his superiority, his right to lead? Was it not the same with Coriolanus, or Hammurabi, or Pericles? (Albeit the latter was subjected to the constraints of a wretched and contemptible democratic system.) How many countless other cultures and civilisations have stood before the abyss, on the precipice of utter ruin and destruction, before a worthy man from among their number took it upon himself to lead them, to teach them how to fight, how to face death like true warriors, how to comport themselves in the mighty struggle for survival that is our human existence? In the 1970 film Waterloo starring Rod Steiger, Napoleon Bonaparte says, "He who saves a nation violates no law." How can we, in our bourgeois arrogance, judge them in accordance with our pacifistic liberal morality, they being higher men than we are?

Heroism is not something that can be measured by any scientific standard. It is an inner, spiritual concept, inaccessible to human reason. When one is confronted with a truly great and heroic being, then one who is attuned to things of that nature feels it instantly, and is drawn to the sheer charismatic presence of greatness in his midst. "No man is a hero to his valet." as Thomas Carlyle approvingly quotes Hegel. One does not get this profound feeling of awestruck admiration from going to hear the vapid, vacuous speeches of idiotic bourgeois politicians in a liberal democracy, whose words are attuned to the desires of the unthinking masses, whose horizons are so constrained, whose visions are so lacking and whose lives are so devoid of purpose as to be completely unworthy of the attention of anyone who truly seeks out great men. Truly original, heroic individuals are not those who go whoring after the praises of the mob or the joyous shouts and applause of mediocre individuals, but they seek out a few, loyal, devoted and purposeful individuals, and mould them, as a potter does clay, into their own image. One reads the story of the Hebrew hero Gideon in Judges 7, and how he sent back those men whom he divined were not up to the task of heroic struggle, weeding out the wheat from the chaff by means of tests. First, he told those who were too afraid to fight to return to their homes. Those of a bourgeois spirit, who wanted a comfortable and pacifistic existence, were represented by this group, who were removed from the battle so that they did not poison the fighting spirit of the Hebrews. Then he decided to see whether the remaining men lapped up or knelt down to drink up the water with which they were provided. Those who knelt down to drink were sent away, whilst those of a fighting spirit, determined to seize what they wanted with both hands, were kept. Three hundred men were left. With them, Gideon won a glorious victory.

It is impossible to be faced with a great man, or to read of his worthy and heroic deeds, without feeling the compulsion to worship him as a god, and to totally subject oneself to him. It is the god-like quality of heroes that is behind the world's major religions. Great men came, shook the foundations of established society, created new values, died and passed into eternity. Their tales were often retold by posterity centuries after they had passed on, handed down by word of mouth, and later, with the invention of written language, recorded on paper. These men were often posthumously deified - so it was with Julius Caesar, whom the Senate proclaimed the Divine Julius. All Roman emperors thereafter bore his name, and it was adopted by various rulers as a title. Such is the origin of the titles Kaiser and Tsar. One should quote the angel that appeared to Gideon to proclaim him leader of the Hebrews, "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valour." These were not ordinary men, though they may have had ordinary beginnings like Gideon. Their destinies became intertwined with the fates of entire nations and changed the course of world history in a way that has to be seen as one of the surest justifications for the existence of a divinity - the semi-divine manner in which extraordinary things are done through mere men. But assuming, like Nietzsche, that God does not exist, it must follow that man himself is a type of god, and that the higher men of mankind are its chief gods.

Such is heroism. Heroes perform glorious deeds so that they might justify their own existence, and even transcend it, and so become what Nietzsche referred to as the Overman, or the Superman. Heroes do not seek comfort and bourgeois "happiness", but struggle, danger and the creative destruction of war. They are not perfect men, but they are men who seek perfection, true, spiritual perfection, and the overcoming of the weaknesses and follies of man. Their heroic actions are an inspiration to others, raising the human race to yet higher standards of vibrant spirituality and civilisation. The key to restoring civilisation will be to restoring a heroic sense of life and a sense of purpose and heroic destiny.