In an age of neo-Liberal decadence and rootlessness, men will search for wisdom in traditional sources of masculine conservativism to gain a better understanding of our times. Traditionalism, or reactionary thinking , is only so because the world is actually moving towards one wrong direction. When brought up, it generally meets a great number of critics on every forum, who tend to attack it from different sides.
This article does not seek to refute the lies and fake charges of neo-liberals, feminists and white knights: many articles of counterattack have been written for that cause, and I’m sure that many more shall be published on Return of Kings.
An Intelligent Critique
In an age of crumbling values and desecrated traditions, faith remains one of the last strongholds of conservativism.
This piece is aimed at a more intellectual and insightful critique, which therefore deserves more attention and should not be disregarded. Among all the screeching rape-cries of feminists and sobbing wails of self-sacrifice omitted by white knights, one rational voice of true conservativism rings clear.
Oftentimes it will be stated that no scholar of intellectual merit should mix up the divine ideals of various world religions, or else one might end up with a bizarre concoction of castrated convictions, chosen by inexpertly hands (read: neo-liberal mixture of spiritual New Age rubbish).
Religions have a carefully constructed and delicately fashioned set of beliefs which have developed over hundreds or – more likely – thousands of years. The very tradition of age-long scholarly debates, theological dismantlement, and intellectual evolution which, together, make religious ideals a good subject to study in the first place, cannot be ignored or put aside. This is especially true today, when all principles and ethics are gleefully shit upon by shallow free-thinkers and fakers of intelligence worldwide.
How dare we compare the credos of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, without coming up with superficial conclusions that have little to no more worth than neo-liberal free-thinking? How dare we dabble in affairs of the divine without having gone through the difficult and exhausting processes of theological training that rabbis, priests, preachers and imams all pass?
How do we differ then from the self-titled experts on gender, ideologies and morals who seem to grow in numbers as fast as some sort of musty blight under a damp rock?
An Answer Based On Historical Tradition
Examining religious texts for masculine growth is no sacrilege.
The answer is, as it could be expected, multifaceted.
First of all, the belief that religions, out of some heavenly inspiration, had come to this word in one intact form and have remained the same for the past thousands of years – as noble and naïve as it is – is utterly mistaken. Take the Judeo-Christian culture which – to a certain extent – still serves as the foundation of Western civilization.
The very belief that the Eucharist actually does become the body and blood of Christ is an outcome of hundreds of years of theological debate. The passages of Scripture that seemingly leave no doubt about Jesus’ intentions regarding the Holy Communion have actually been altered in later translations to look that way. The earliest Greek versions could be interpreted in another way.
Then think of Arianism, a nontrinitarian movement which denied Jesus’ being of one substance with the Lord: the very concept of the Holy Trinity had sprung from the debate with, and fight against this sect.
Or let us take a look at Judaism: rabbinical Judaism was a 2nd century invention, aimed at maintaining Jewish religious ideals after Hadrian crushed the Bar Kochba revolt and the Roman military camp of Aelia Capitolina had been erected upon the ruins of the once magnificent city of Jerusalem.
Contemporary religious thinkers, whom we now consider to be thinkers of great scholarly capacity, had also been charged with mingling diverse religious standards. Saint Augustine and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, two great Christian thinkers who had much influence over the development of Catholic tradition were originally considered dangerous reformers who could bring ruin upon the Church by mixing secular thoughts with their faith.
Baruch Spinoza and Moses Mendelssohn were frowned upon by the Jewish community for introducing a seemingly secular approach towards Jewish faith.
The Right Reasons
Historical preachers and writers have also been accused of undermining tradition.
An intermingling of worldly and divine, or one religion and another for the right reasons does not necessarily lead to the deterioration of tradition and heavenly concepts. Seeking pick up advice from Paul the Apostle, martial arts tips from ha’Ba’al Shem Tov, or guidance on political organization from the Sufi Mystic Yunus Emre is no sacrilege.
In fact, the faithful have been doing it for hundreds and thousands of years: religions had the dual purpose of granting a glimpse into the glorious galleries of God and providing practical advice on the daily grind. Analyzing various religious traditions for the sake of a masculine growth of character constitutes no profanity.
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