Title: The Crisis of Modern Man and the Path to Transcendence
Tags: #Evola #Tradition #InitiaticKnowledge #SelfTransformation #HigherConsciousness

1. The Existential Crisis: Modern individuals often face moments where their certainties crumble, revealing the void beneath their daily distractions. This crisis forces them to confront the fundamental question: What am I?
   
2. The Illusion of Purpose: Daily routines, moral codes, and even higher pursuits often serve as distractions, masking the inner darkness and the solitude of existence. These constructs allow individuals to avoid confronting the true nature of the Self.
   
3. The Evasion of Truth: Many attempt to escape this crisis by turning it into a mere philosophical problem, seeking new systems or truths to cling to. Others passively rely on traditional structures, avoiding the radical transformation required.
   
4. The Path of the Few: Some, however, hold their ground. They abandon all faiths and hopes, seeking self-knowledge and the knowledge of Being. For them, there is no turning back.
   
5. Initiatic Disciplines: This crisis often leads individuals to initiatic disciplines, which offer a path beyond the human condition. These disciplines require a radical transformation of one’s being and consciousness.
   
6. The Nature of Higher Knowledge: Higher knowledge transcends reason, beliefs, and modern science. It resolves the anguish of existence by transforming the individual’s state of being. This knowledge is not speculative but experiential.
   
7. The Necessity of Detachment: To achieve this knowledge, one must detach from all conditioned and extrinsic relationships. A radical upheaval is necessary to break free from the limitations of the human condition.
   
8. The Traditional Science: This path corresponds to a rigorous, methodical science transmitted through initiatic chains. It focuses on the deepest energies of human interiority, operating with objectivity and impersonality.
   
9. The Role of Crisis as Catharsis: For those who overcome the crisis, it becomes a purification, a shedding of the merely human. For others, it reawakens an ancient legacy, a connection to a higher race and its instincts.
   
10. The Ultimate Goal: The aim is to transform the entire body into an instrument of consciousness, penetrating the vital layers where the energies of the higher Self operate. This leads to the rediscovery of the path to the “closed palace of the King,” the ultimate realization of transcendent knowledge. This path is not for the many but for the few who possess the strength and calmness to transcend the human condition and awaken to the light of inner knowledge.

There are moments in certain individuals' lives when all their certainties waver, their inner lights dim, and the voices of their passions and affections fall silent, leaving them stripped of everything that animates and drives their being. In such moments, the individual is drawn back to their innermost center, confronting the ultimate question: What am I?

Often, they come to realize that everything they do—whether in their daily life or in the pursuit of higher values—serves as a distraction, creating the illusion of purpose and meaning, allowing them to avoid deep reflection and continue living. Daily routines, moral codes, faiths, philosophies, sensory indulgences, and even disciplines appear to have been devised or pursued as means to escape the inner void, to flee the anguish of fundamental solitude, and to evade the problem of the Self.

For some, this crisis may lead to a fatal outcome. Others manage to shake it off, driven by a primal, animal energy that refuses to succumb. They suppress the insights briefly glimpsed during such experiences, dismissing them as nightmares, mental weakness, or nervous imbalance. They readjust and return to “reality.”

Then there are those who evade the crisis entirely. Unable to grasp its profundity, they reduce the existential problem to a mere “philosophical question.” They seek new “truths” and “systems,” claiming to find light in the darkness, reigniting their will to persist. Alternatively, they passively rely on traditional structures, dogmas, and stereotypical forms of authority.

Yet, there are those who stand firm. For them, something irrevocable has occurred. They resolve to break free from the cycle that has entrapped them, abandoning all faiths and renouncing all hopes. They seek to dispel the fog and carve a new path. Their goal is self-knowledge and the understanding of Being within themselves. For these individuals, there is no turning back.

This is one way in which some, particularly in the modern age, may approach initiatic disciplines. Others arrive at this point through a natural sense of recollection and dignity, sensing that this world is not the true world, that there is something higher beyond sensory perception and human constructs. They yearn for a direct vision of reality, as if awakening fully.

In both cases, the individual realizes they are not alone. They feel a kinship with others who have reached this point, whether by a different path or through an innate understanding. Together, they come to know a higher truth:

Beyond the intellect, beyond beliefs, and beyond what is today called science and culture, there exists a higher knowledge. Here, the anguish of the individual ceases, the darkness and contingency of the human condition dissolve, and the problem of Being is resolved. This knowledge is transcendent, requiring a transformation of one's state of being. Just as one cannot expect the pain of holding a burning coal to cease without letting it go, one cannot transcend the fundamental darkness of existence without undergoing a profound change. To transform oneself is the necessary precondition for higher knowledge. Such knowledge does not deal with “problems” but with tasks and realizations.

These realizations are entirely positive, grounded in a concrete, direct relationship with oneself and the world. For modern man, this means confronting the conditioned, extrinsic, and contingent nature of physical existence. The so-called “spirit” and its values (good and evil, true and false, superior and inferior) are merely reflections of this physical state, offering no true transcendence. Thus, a radical crisis or upheaval is necessary. One must have the courage to set everything aside, detaching from all that is merely human. The transformation of one's deepest structure is essential for attaining higher knowledge—a knowledge that is both wisdom and power, fundamentally nonhuman, and achievable only by overcoming the human condition.

Modern man, trapped in a kind of magic circle, knows little of such horizons. As Joseph de Maistre observed, today's “scientists” have monopolized knowledge, ensuring that no one may know more or differently than they do. Yet, this does not negate the existence of higher knowledge. The teaching we speak of has a far stronger claim to universality than the predominant Western religions. It is rooted in a unitary tradition, expressed in various forms across cultures: as the wisdom of ancient elites, as sacred symbols and rituals, as allegories, mysteries, initiations, theurgy, Yoga, or high magic. In more recent times, it has surfaced in secret currents within Western history, from the Hermeticists to the Rosicrucians.

This path is also a rigorous, methodical science, transmitted through unbroken chains of initiates. It focuses not on external phenomena but on the deepest energies of human interiority, proceeding with the objectivity and impersonality of the exact sciences. It produces consistent results under the same conditions, independent of feelings, morality, or abstract speculation.

This “divine” technique offers real possibilities to those who, after the crisis described, find the strength and calm to overcome it positively, experiencing it as a catharsis and purification from all that is merely human. It also speaks to those rare individuals in whom an ancient legacy reawakens, as if the instinct of a long-lost race resurfaces.

The human brain has reached its limits. What is needed now is to transform the entire body into an instrument of consciousness, transcending individual limitations to access the vital layers where the energies of a higher Self operate. Only then can the path to the “closed palace of the King” be rediscovered.

This collection of essays aims to provide clues, suggestions, and techniques of this secret science. It is not a body of beliefs or concepts but an inner awakening, a light passed from spirit to spirit. We have sought to avoid unnecessary discussions, focusing instead on capturing the essence of these teachings. Where obscurities remain, they are inherent to the subject itself. Higher knowledge is, above all, experience—intelligible only to those who undergo analogous experiences. Written or printed communication can only go so far; the rest depends on the reader's ability to align with the teaching.

Metaphysical part:

In many traditions, the material representation of the divine is prohibited. The Buddha emphasized the avoidance of forming mental or immaterial images of the Absolute, rejecting any basis for asserting the existence of a personal creator God. When questioned on this matter, he responded with silence. Suffering arises from attachment, not only to material forms but also to mental constructs. The core aim of the Buddha's teaching is the cessation of suffering through the deliberate elimination of attachment and desire. As long as desire persists, one remains susceptible to judgment, duality, and the entanglements of conventional thought. Realization of the fundamental principle (dharma) brings about a state of certainty, where one embodies certainty itself.