Tag Archives: Collin Cleary

Mr. Gurdjieff

7,589 words

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was born on this day in 1866, 1872, or 1877 — depending on whom you ask. [1] Much else about his biography is equally uncertain. We do know that his father was Greek, his mother Armenian, and that he was born in Alexandropol which was then part of the Russian Empire (it is now in Armenia and is called Gyumri). Read more …

Published: January 13, 2021 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged anti-modernism, articles, being, Bodhidharma, Buddhism, David Hume, epistemology, esotericism, George Gurdjieff, knowing, mechanicality, metaphysics, modernity, North American New Right, originals, phenomenology, philosophy, René Descartes, subjectivity, technology, the ego, the Self, wakefulness | 13 Responses

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Heidegger’s History of Metaphysics:
Platonism

Collin Cleary

Plato and Aristotle, detail from Raphael’s The School of Athens, 1510-1511.

8,701 words

1. Introduction

In my essay “Heidegger Against the Traditionalists,” I sketched a critique of Guénon and Evola from a Heideggerian perspective. Although I raised several objections to Traditionalism, the crucial one was this: Guénon and Evola are thoroughly (and uncritically) invested in the Western metaphysical tradition. According to Heidegger, however, it is precisely the Western metaphysical tradition that is responsible for all the modern ills decried by the Traditionalists. Read more …

Published: December 24, 2020 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged alētheia, ancient Greeks, anti-modernism, Aristotle, articles, being, concealment, Dasein, Edmund Husserl, knowing, Martin Heidegger, meaning, metaphysics, modernism, myth, North American New Right, originals, phenomenology, philosophy, phusis, Plato, Platonism, presence, primordial metaphysics, Socrates, the Forms, tradition, Traditionalism, truth, Western philosophy | 13 Responses

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Some Thoughts on Yule

Collin Cleary

3,427 words

Yule is the midwinter festival celebrated by my ancestors and by Germanic neo-pagans today. Midwinter is a time when much of nature seems to die or to depart. The trees are stripped of their leaves. The birds abandon us, flying off to warmer climes. Bears, badgers, chipmunks, and squirrels hibernate. Water freezes over. The earth is covered in ice and snow, so that nothing can grow. The air is so chilled that when we are out in it for too long, death becomes something tangible, and we rush inside. Read more …

Published: December 23, 2020 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, Christmas, finitude, holidays, Martin Heidegger, metaphysics, North American New Right, originals, philosophy, religion, Yule | 8 Responses

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Heidegger Against the Traditionalists

Collin Cleary

6,918 words

1. Introduction

Those on the New Right are bound together partly by shared intellectual interests. Ranking very high indeed on any list of those interests would be the works of Martin Heidegger and those of the Traditionalist [1] school, especially René Guénon and Julius Evola. My own work has been heavily influenced by both Heidegger and Traditionalism. Read more …

Published: December 11, 2020 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged anti-modernism, articles, being, Dasein, die Lichtung, empiricism, Julius Evola, knowing, Martin Heidegger, meaning, metaphysics, modernism, North American New Right, originals, phenomenology, philosophy, Platonism, primordial metaphysics, Rene Guénon, the clearing, tradition, Traditionalism, Western philosophy | 28 Responses

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What is a Rune? & Other Essays

Collin Cleary

Collin Cleary
What is a Rune? & Other Essays
Edited by Greg Johnson
San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2015
256 pages

There are three formats for What is a Rune?

Hardcover: $35 (add $5 for postage, $12 for postage to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, & the Far East)
Paperback: $20 (add $5 for postage, $12 for postage to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, & the Far East)
E-book: $5

Published: October 29, 2020 | Posted in Legacy Book Product | Also tagged Cleary book | 1 Response

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Summoning the Gods: Essays on Paganism in a God-Forsaken World

Collin Cleary

Collin Cleary
Summoning the Gods: Essays on Paganism in a God-Forsaken World
Edited with an Introduction by Greg Johnson
San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2011
220 pages

French description here.

There are three formats for Summoning the Gods: Read more …

Published: October 29, 2020 | Posted in Legacy Book Product | Also tagged Cleary book | Leave a comment

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Julius Evola:
The Philosopher & Magician in War: 1943-1945

Collin Cleary

3,484 words

Gianfranco de Turris
Julius Evola: The Philosopher and Magician in War: 1943–1945
Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2020

This English translation of Gianfranco de Turris’s Julius Evola: Un filosofo in guerra 1943–1945 has come along at just the right time, for it shows us how a great man coped both with societal collapse and with personal tragedy. Read more …

Published: August 4, 2020 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged Adolf Hitler, adversity, articles, Benito Mussolini, biographies, book reviews, fascism, Germany, Gianfranco de Turris, Julius Evola, National Socialism, North American New Right, originals, philosophy, post-occupational network, post-war Europe, Third Reich, Vienna, World War II | 9 Responses

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Christmas at Counter-Currents
Some Thoughts on Yule

Collin Cleary

3,342 words

Published: December 25, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, Christmas, Martin Heidegger, North American New Right, originals, paganism, philosophy, Yule | 2 Responses

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An Esoteric Commentary on the Volsung Saga, Part XII:
Sigurd’s First Initiation into Runelore

Collin Cleary

Sigurd and the dwarf Regin forge a sword, from the portal of the stave church of Hylestad, Setesdal, Norway c. 1200.

3,469 words

Part I here, Part XI here

In our last installment, we saw how Queen Hjordis, pregnant with Sigurd, is taken in by King Alf, son of King Hjalprek of Denmark. Before his death, Sigmund had prophesied that his son “will become the greatest and most famous of our family.” Sigmund also entrusts to Hjordis the fragments of his sword, broken by Odin. “Take good care also of my sword’s fragments,” Sigmund tells her. “A good sword can be made from them, which will be called Gram, and our son will carry that sword and do many great things with it which will never be forgotten. Read more …

Published: November 18, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, class, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Germanic paganism, Germanic tradition, Norse sagas, North American New Right, originals, Poetic Edda, Richard Wagner, runes, Volsung Saga, Volsunga Saga | 1 Response

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An Esoteric Commentary on the Volsung Saga, Part XI:
Concerning Queen Hjordis and King Alf

Collin Cleary

Johannes Gehrts, Sigmund’s Sword (1889)

2,334 words

Part I here, Part X here, Part XII here

After many twists and turns in the story of the Volsungs, Sigurd, the greatest of them all, is about to burst onto the scene.

In our last installment, we saw Sigmund taking a second wife, the beautiful Hjordis, daughter of King Eylimi. But another man desires her, and is enraged when her marriage to Sigmund takes place. Read more …

Published: October 25, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, Germanic paganism, Germanic tradition, Norse sagas, North American New Right, originals, Volsung Saga, Volsunga Saga | 1 Response

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Nineteen Eighty-Four Revisited, Part III:
What Orwell Can Still Teach Us

Collin Cleary

Soviet propaganda poster from 1931 telling the workers that the 5-year plan can be completed in 4 years with enough enthusiasm.

3,175 words

Part 1 here, Part 2 here

4. Doublethink

Among the many useful concepts bequeathed to us by Orwell, “doublethink” tops the list. It is a priceless tool for understanding how “normies” function within the repressive, PC societies of the West. The novel offers us two separate discussions of doublethink, which complement each other. The first occurs early in the story, and is the most famous passage dealing with the term:

Published: October 8, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged 1984, articles, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, North American New Right, originals, the Leftist mind, totalitarianism | 10 Responses

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Nineteen Eighty-Four Revisited, Part II:
What Orwell Can Still Teach Us

Collin Cleary

2,995 words

Part 2 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)

3. The Denial of Reality and the Control of Language

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Nineteen Eighty-Four Revisited, Part II:
What Orwell Can Still Teach Us

Collin Cleary

6,674 words

Part 1 (Part 2 here)

1. Introduction

Everyone thinks he knows what’s in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Is there really anything left to say? It’s as if George Orwell’s masterpiece has been sucked dry. At least, that’s what I thought until I recently reread it, for the first time in over thirty years. Read more …

Published: August 16, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged 1984, articles, book reviews, Communism, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, North American New Right, originals, thoughtcrime, totalitarianism | 36 Responses

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An Esoteric Commentary on the Volsung Saga, Part X:
The Deaths of Sinfjotli & Sigmund

Collin Cleary

2,519 words

Part I here, Part IX here, Part XI here

Chapter 10. The Death of Sinfjotli

In our last two installments, we explored the fascinating digression – the “saga within the saga” – that is the story of Helgi. Read more …

Published: July 25, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged death, fylgja, Germanic paganism, Germanic tradition, Helgi, Hunding, Norse mythology, Norse sagas, North American New Right, Odin, originals, paganism, Sigmund, Sinfjotli, Volsung Saga, Volsunga Saga, werewolves, Wotan | Leave a comment

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Reality: Ain’t It a BITCH-100

Quintilian

Probably the chairman of a university department somewhere.

1,798 words

The past four months have been a rather hectic round of presentations at scholarly conferences for your favorite ancient Roman rhetorician. This is my main contribution to the movement. I attend scholarly conferences so that the rest of you don’t have to. Also, it’s the best way of doing reconnaissance of the enemy. And even though I’m fairly inured to the nonsense that passes for “humanistic scholarship” these days, sometimes it’s just more than one can stand.

Published: July 2, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged academia, articles, Blacks, Blacks in America, intelligence testing, Leftists in academia, North American New Right, originals, progressivism, Quintilian | 8 Responses

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What is the Metaphysics of the Right?

Collin Cleary

5,486 words

In my essay “What is the Metaphysics of the Left?” I identified the fundamental presuppositions underlying the Leftist worldview. In the present essay, I intend to build on that analysis by showing how it can enable us, with relative ease, to identify our own metaphysics, the metaphysics of the Right. In short, my approach is indirect: I intend to arrive at our own most fundamental presuppositions by, in essence, negating the metaphysics we reject and revile. Read more …

Published: June 27, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, metaphysics, nature, North American New Right, originals, reality, the left, the Right | 9 Responses

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What is the Metaphysics of the Left? Part Two

Collin Cleary

The face of today’s Left

4,645 words

Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)

2. A Will to Nothingness: The Essence of Leftist Metaphysics

We are now in a position to step back from these observations and draw some general conclusions about the metaphysics of Leftist ideology. I trust the reader understands, however, that I am identifying the metaphysics that underlies Leftist ideology. Read more …

Published: June 25, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, Friedrich Nietzsche, gender politics, metaphysics, morality, North American New Right, originals, race, reality, the left, the Leftist mind, transgenderism, truth | 24 Responses

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What is the Metaphysics of the Left? Part One

Collin Cleary

3,629 words

Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)

Metaphysics is the science of what is real. It is the most fundamental branch of philosophy; other philosophical ideas are derived from or based upon metaphysical convictions. For example, the Epicurean principle that pleasure is the highest good follows from its materialism and rejection of belief in an afterlife. However, it is also possible to speak of metaphysics outside of the context of philosophical systems. Read more …

Published: June 24, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, gender politics, metaphysics, morality, North American New Right, originals, race, reality, social constructivism, subjectivism, the left, the Leftist mind, transgenderism, truth | 19 Responses

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And Then They Came for Ricardo Duchesne

Collin Cleary

3,102 words

Several years ago, I published a mammoth review essay on Ricardo Duchesne’s The Uniqueness of Western Civilization. I regard it as one of the most interesting and important books I have ever read. Duchesne is a valiant defender of Western civilization against the madness of politically correct academics – and now, it seems, he may be paying the price. Read more …

Published: May 29, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged academia, articles, censorship, Leftists in academia, North American New Right, originals, political correctness, Ricardo Duchesne, the left | 7 Responses

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Helgi: The Return of the Dead
An Esoteric Commentary on the Volsung Saga, Part IX

Collin Cleary

Ernest Wallcousins, Helgi Returns to Valhalla

5,344 words

Part I here, Part VIII here, Part X here

In our last installment, we explored the career of the legendary Norse hero Helgi. Chapter Nine of the Volsung Saga is devoted to Helgi, and it constitutes a rich and entertaining digression from the main story. At one time, Helgi must have been a very important hero. The anonymous author of the Volsung Saga draws on two poems concerning Helgi compiled in the Poetic Edda: Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I (The First Poem of Helgi, Killer of Hunding; henceforth HH I), and Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II (or HH II). Read more …

Published: May 27, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, Beowulf, death, Germanic paganism, Germanic tradition, Helgi, Hunding, Norse sagas, North American New Right, Odin, originals, paganism, Poetic Edda, reincarnation, Sigmund, Volsung Saga, Volsunga Saga, werewolves, Wotan | Leave a comment

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Helgi: The Saga Within the Saga
An Esoteric Commentary on the Volsung Saga, Part VIII

Collin Cleary

Arthur Rackham, The Valkyrie

3,502 words

Part I here, Part VII here, Part IX here

In our last installment, we saw Sigmund and Sinfjotli (the product of Sigmund’s incestuous union with his sister, Signy) return to the ancestral lands of the Volsungs. Many years have passed since the entire clan left there, and, in the meantime, a pretender has claimed the Volsung kingdom. But Sigmund and Sinfjotli drive him out, and Sigmund becomes a great and powerful king, “both wise and well-advised.”[1] He decides to marry a woman named Borghild, and they have two sons together, Helgi and Hamund.

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Edred Thorsson’s History of the Rune-Gild

Collin Cleary

2,835 words

Edred Thorsson
History of the Rune-Gild: The Reawakening of the Gild 1980-2018
North Augusta, S.C.: Arcana Europa, 2019

Edred Thorsson is one of a small handful of serious characters I am proud to know. To many, he appears to be an odd combination of “contradictions” (though these are only apparent, as I will explain at the tail end of this essay). First, he is a goði and Runemaster who speaks Old Norse with a Texas twang. Read more …

Published: April 8, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, book reviews, Edred Thorsson, Germanic paganism, North American New Right, occultism, Odinism, originals | 4 Responses

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What Does It Mean to be True to the Aesir?

Collin Cleary

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, “Aesir Gathered Around the Body of Baldr” (1817)

3,153 words

“Ásatrú” is a modern coinage meaning “true to the Aesir.” In Old Norse, Aesir is the plural of áss, which is usually translated “god.” In order to understand what it means to be “true to the Aesir,” we must put into question this translation into “god” and “gods.” Indeed, ultimately we must liberate ourselves from the idea of “god” in order to understand who the Aesir are, and our relationship to them. Read more …

Published: March 15, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, Asatru, Germanic paganism, Germanic tradition, heroism, North American New Right, originals | 5 Responses

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Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind, Part Two

Collin Cleary

Jonathan Haidt

4,946 words

Part 2 of 2; part 1 here

Jonathan Haidt
The Righteous Mind: How Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
New York: Pantheon Books, 2012

In Part One of this review I discussed Jonathan Haidt’s argument that morality has evolved in response to a number of “adaptive challenges.” Read more …

Published: March 5, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, book reviews, conservatives, ethics, ethnocentrism, human nature, individualism, Jonathan Haidt, liberals, morality, North American New Right, originals, the liberal mind | 3 Responses

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Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind, Part One

Collin Cleary

4,101 words

Part 1 of 2

Jonathan Haidt
The Righteous Mind: How Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
New York: Pantheon Books, 2012

Jonathan Haidt is a former liberal who is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Read more …

Published: February 27, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, book reviews, collectivism, communitarianism, conservatives, ethics, human nature, individualism, Jonathan Haidt, liberals, morality, North American New Right, originals, the liberal mind | 6 Responses

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An Esoteric Commentary on the Volsung Saga, Part VII

Collin Cleary

2,900 words

Part I here, Part VIII here

Chapter 8. The Vengeance of the Volsungs, Continued

In the last installment of this series, we learned of the life Sigmund leads in the forest with his son Sinfjotli – the product of Sigmund’s incestuous union with his sister, Signy. Read more …

Published: February 8, 2019 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, Beowulf, Germanic paganism, Germanic tradition, incest, Norse sagas, North American New Right, Odin, originals, paganism, shapeshifting, Sigmund, Signy, Sinfjotli, Volsung Saga, Volsunga Saga, werewolves, Wotan | 5 Responses

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Christmas at Counter-Currents
Some Thoughts on Yule

Collin Cleary

3,342 words

Published: December 24, 2018 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, Christmas, finitude, holidays, Martin Heidegger, metaphysics, North American New Right, originals, philosophy, religion, Yule | 3 Responses

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The Problem of Eckhart Tolle

Collin Cleary

Eckhart Tolle

4,752 words

It would be no exaggeration to say that Eckhart Tolle is now the most popular “spiritual teacher” in the United States – and possibly the world. The New York Times and The Watkins Review have declared as such. And he has been heavily promoted by Oprah Winfrey. The actor Jim Carrey is also a big fan. Normally, this would be enough for me to completely dismiss someone, but in this case I cannot. Read more …

Published: December 17, 2018 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, mysticism, New Age, North American New Right, originals, self-actualization | 17 Responses

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An Esoteric Commentary on the Volsung Saga, Part VI

Collin Cleary

2,829 words

Part I here, Part II here, Part III here, Part IV here, Part V here, Part VII here

Chapter 8. The Vengeance of the Volsungs

In the last installment of this series, we told of the birth of the hero Sinfjotli, product of the incest of the twins Sigmund and Signy. Read more …

Published: December 10, 2018 | Posted in North American New Right | Also tagged articles, Germanic paganism, Germanic tradition, Norse sagas, North American New Right, Odin, originals, paganism, shapeshifting, Sigmund, Signy, Sinfjotli, Volsung Saga, Volsunga Saga, werewolves, Wotan | 3 Responses

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An Esoteric Commentary on the Volsung Saga, Part V

Collin Cleary

Sigmund & the wolf.

2,559 words

Part I here, Part II here, Part III here, Part IV here, Part VI here

In our last installment, we saw that after Sigmund pulls the sword from the tree Barnstokk, Siggeir (who has just married Sigmund’s sister, Signy) offers to buy it from him. When Sigmund refuses, Siggeir immediately begins plotting revenge. On a pretext, he takes Signy and leaves the wedding feast early, inviting Volsung and his ten sons to visit him in Götaland. Read more …