Alba Rosa

by Alexander Wolfheze

  The Nirvana Option

  Im Westen wirft die Sonne von sich die Purpurtracht

  und träumt im Flutenbette des nächsten Tages Pracht.

  [In the west the sun casts off her crimson dress

  and dreams in her bed of waves of next day’s splendour.]

  — Robert Arnold

  From a Traditionalist perspective, there are two reasons why the Cultural Nihilist self-annihilation scenario does not represent an authentically legitimate ‘Nirvana option’ — why it lacks the status of legitimate choice for Western civilization.

  (1) First, the legitimacy of the ‘Nirvana option’ depends on a voluntary choice: all individuals within Western civilization would have to collectively agree with this choice without any compulsion. It is highly unlikely that all individuals would simultaneously recognize this destiny as privately applicable to themselves. Especially problematic in this regard is the ‘choice’ of vulnerable groups such as children, sick people and older people. Only a group that is exclusively made up of adult and healthy people, and which has freely agreed to abstain from procreation, can fully avoid this ethical problem. There are very few historical precedents for a legitimate ‘Nirvana option’, and then only in the very specific circumstances of an existential external threat (the Jewish Sicarii at Masada in 73 AD, the Cathar refugees at Montségur in 1244, the Balinese puputan of 1906). At an individual level, the ‘Nirvana option’ is an entirely legitimate response for contemporary Western men in the face of Western Modernity: to halt biological procreation, to take leave of worldly affairs and to welcome ritual self-annihilation are deeply embedded within the timeless ideals of Christianity and therefore retain their value as steps to transcendental ‘redemption’ at an individual level. A Western man looking at the downfall of his civilization from this perspective is still able to fulfil the self-surpassing destiny of that civilization in an entirely unexpected and liberating fashion. From this perspective, all the symptoms of ethnic replacement are transformed into insignificant incidents — at most, the ridiculous hedonism and atavistic cruelty of the immigrant masses will cause a moment of serene pity. To most indigenous Westerners, their ferocious appetite for procreation (polygamy, r-strategy reproduction), their infantile greediness (obsessive car ownership, free rider immorality) and their primitive rituals (genital mutilation of children, animal sacrifice) represent long-abandoned stations on their journey to an incomparably more sublime end. But a voluntary, individual ‘Nirvana’ experience never justifies an enforced, collective ‘Nirvana’ strategy. As long as there are Western people who still have worldly wishes and earthly ambitions, the Cultural Nihilist self-annihilation programme of ethnic replacement remains a grotesque perversion.

  (2) Second, the legitimacy of the ‘Nirvana option’ depends upon a conscious choice: the choice for self-annihilation can only be valid if it is made in a state of mental competence. From a Traditionalist perspective, however, the Postmodern dominance of Cultural Nihilism among the Western peoples renders them mentally incompetent. At a collective level, the Cultural Nihilist programme of self-annihilation does not represent a well-considered journey towards a consciously willed destiny, but rather an unconscious movement in an undetermined direction. The purposeless fatalism and denaturalized instinct that propel this unconscious movement can be understood against their historical background: two world wars, four decennia of imperial collapse and a century of fatal experiments with Historical Materialist ideologies. Regressive genetic selection, totalitarian cultural matriarchy and collective narcissist pathology make it impossible to speak in terms of a conscious and legitimate choice for self-annihilation: the Western peoples are not abolishing themselves, but are losing themselves (Peter Sloterdijk’s ‘fall into the future’). This is shown by the fact that they are abstaining from cultural transmission, but not from biological reproduction. In other words: they are distancing themselves from continuity in civilization (culture), but not from continuity in biology (nature): they are regressing from civilization-creating patriarchy into atavistic matriarchy. Thus, the baby boomers are still having children, but they no longer take responsibility for them. Thus, the baby boomers still want to continue to live as long as possible, but they no longer have a destiny to live towards. Thus, the Cultural Nihilist self-annihilation project for Western civilization, initiated by the baby boomers, is nothing more than narcissist pathology, megalomaniacally played out on the stage of world history: it represents a psycho-historical revenge on Western culture and a sadistic sacrificial offering of the children of that culture.

  But a Traditionalist analysis of the Crisis of the Modern West cannot end with a simple statement of the historical facts. Neither the cultural-historical explanation of the Cultural Nihilist annihilation of Western civilization nor the psycho-historical refutation of the Cultural Nihilist ‘Nirvana option’ suffices as an effective metapolitical discourse when the future of the Western Tradition is at stake. Traditionalism’s raison d’être resides in its function as Guardian of Tradition — in this case, the Guardian of the Western Tradition — and it is obliged to fulfil its duties in an effective manner. The night watch manning the walls of Western civilization is not only obliged to keep a look-out, but also to raise the alarm when necessary. Traditionalism has recognized the Cultural Nihilist hostile elite as the enemy and it must now call to arms the defenders of Western civilization. The fact that this enemy is a traitor from within and that it has already opened the gates of the West to barbarous invaders is no reason for dereliction of duty. The Guardian of the West has done his first duty by raising alarm and is now bound to take up arms alongside the Katechon of the West. The old Katechon institutions of the West — Monarchy, Nobility, Church, Academy — have a duty to the Western peoples: they must make a supreme effort to fight and defeat Cultural Nihilism — or die in the attempt. Here the probable outcome of the fight is of secondary importance: in every authentic Tradition, duty and honour take precedence over calculus and life.

  ‘Götterdämmerung’

  In certain times suicide is no longer a gesture of pride,

  but a last remedy to avoid capitulation to Satan.

  — Nicolás Gómez Dávila

  For peoples that have lost their Wehr- und Waffeninstinkt through unearned freedom, unappreciated peace and undeserved wealth — peoples that have forgotten the great sacrifices of their ancestors and the costly lessons of their history — it is difficult to achieve a realistic view of the world. This problem is most acute in those who are most privileged: they feel so secure and so comfortable that they easily lapse into classic hubris. If for a long time they have had the illusion that they no longer need their own identity and their own people, and if they long get away with behaving accordingly, they finally become a hostile elite. Thus, during the eternal baby boomer generation and under the aegis of Cultural Nihilism, a ‘globalist’ hostile elite has formed in the West, rejecting all forms of authentic identity — and all forms of authentic debate. Between this hostile elite — a power cartel of shareholder billionaires, usurious bankers, professional politicians, media pundits and politically correct academics — and the ‘common people’ of the West, there is a rather thick intermediate layer: a well-to-do conglomerate of baby boom pensionados, entrepreneurial nouveaux riches and wannabe social climbers. The large majority of the hostile elite can no longer be saved except by psychiatric intervention — they are lost to their people. But in demographic terms this elite is insignificant — it accounts for no more than ten percent of the population at most. It is the intermediate group that is demographically crucial: it represents up to a quarter of the population and it is permanently vulnerable in terms of wealth and status due to its immediate position. Its self-interest dictates its adherence to the ideology of the hostile elite, but this adherence is superficial and pragmatic. Its acceptance of the obligatory politically correct hallucinations of the Cultural Nihilist elite represents a s
urvival strategy, not a worldview. Members of the intermediate layer permanently fear social demotion — a relapse into the ‘common people’ from which they rose with so much difficulty — and they are existentially sensitive to ‘real life’ developments such as economic cycles, social threats and ethnic transitions. They suffer, at least unconsciously and instinctively, from the existential Angst that is caused by the daily reality of the Postmodern West: hyper-capitalist bubble economics, social deconstruction and ethnic replacement.

  Thus, it is a good strategy to explain to them that their worst fears are about to be realized and that there is only one way to face them: to move outside the daily ‘bubble’ of self-absorbed consumerism and outside the comfort zone of ideological political correctness. A realistic conversation with members of the intermediate section of the Western population means this: to point out all that they stand to lose. In concrete terms: the inheritance of their ancestors, their own gains in the present and the future of their children. To a certain extent, the socio-economic loss — loss of security, loss of wealth, loss of opportunities — can be rationally calculated. The cultural-historical loss may be less tangible, but it is exactly this intangibility that makes it more fearsome. Thus, a successful policy of patriotic and identitarian resistance to the Cultural Nihilist abolition of Western civilization will depend on formulating a coherent and effective answer to the deep-seated — unconscious, instinctive — fears of the Western peoples, fears that are most acute in the intermediate layer of the population.

  The effectiveness of the patriotic-identitarian response to the problem of ethnic replacement depends on a correct psycho-historical approach of the elementary fears of the Western peoples. This approach must allow them to master these fears by recognizing their own strength and potential. In other words: the Western peoples must be brought to re-cover their authentic identities and to re-live the archaic power that once created these identities. In this regard, Traditionalism has an important task: its knowledge of authentic identity and authentic heritage allows it to accurately predict the real price tag attached to the Cultural Nihilist self-annihilation programme of ethnic replacement. Traditionalism can point out the direct link between the ancient eschatological visions of Western culture and the contemporary self-annihilation programmes cherished by the hostile elite. Traditionalism permits insight into the psycho-historical background to the programme of ethnic replacement by ‘naming and shaming’ its sub-rational, counter-instinctive and sadomasochistic motives — and by exorcizing them. The most important exorcism spell is the counter-motif, i.e. the contemporary re-activation of archaic eschatological motifs. In concrete terms: to pronounce the actual implications of the impending Götterdämmerung of Western civilization. The future of Western civilization is at stake and the time has come to ask questions about the concrete prospects of its highest creations when the programme of ethnic replacement reaches its conclusion. These questions even concern the hostile elite: the hostile elite has appropriated these creations, identifies with them and derives its status from their ownership. Thus, in the final analysis, it must all fall when it loses these ‘trophies’.

  How will Da Vinci’s La Gioconda end when the advance guard of Da‘esh finally reaches the Louvre? The bullet-proof glass that already covers it is meant to protect it from lone-wolf crazies, not from armies of psychiatric patients. Will it end in a Chinese Wunderkammer dedicated to the extinct tribes of the West, bought up by a business tycoon during a last execution sale? Or will the last curator happen to be an ‘angry white man’ who will choose to sink it into the Seine, rather than let it fall in the hands of jihadist vandals?

  How will Bach’s Hohe Messe be heard for the last time after the last Christians have been smoked out of their end-time catacombs? The sum total of technique, skill and tradition that is necessary to reproduce this masterwork is incompatible with the intellectual atavism and cultural-bolshevik barbarity that will inevitably result from Umvolkung. Will the last note sound just before the first ’aḏān sounds from the mosque into which the Dresden Frauenkirche has been converted, three hundred years after the composer played it on the organ there? Or will it resound in the ear of the last commander of rocket forces when he chooses the schreckliche Ende of nuclear euthanasia over the Schrecken ohne Ende of eternal barbarity?

  And how will the last performance of Tchaikovsky’s Spyashchaya krasavitsa take place before the final introduction of Shariah Law? The precarious performing arts — a girl’s foot pointe en relevé, an ethereal angel in a transparant tutu — are no match for hudūd executioners. Will the last performance take place in some obscure provincial town in the last native-held enclave, just before the Endsieg of the Eurocaliphate? Or will it be held in a last outburst of spectacular splendour as a last gesture, in the manner of the performance of Wagner’s Götterdämmerung by the Berliner Philharmoniker on 16 April 1945 during the final act of Hitler’s Götterdämmerung?

  The Samson Option

  Earth! render back from out thy breast

  A remnant of our Spartan dead!

  Of the three hundred grant but three,

  To make a new Thermopylae!

  — Lord Byron

  Still, the Western peoples have been given a short respite during which to reconsider their options: a short moment to recognize the counterfeit ‘Nirvana option’ of the Cultural Nihilist hostile elite as a historical Fata Morgana — and to choose another road before it is too late. But it is entirely conceivable that, after half a century of Cultural Nihilist delusions, they are no longer capable of rational observation and authentic autonomy, and that the fate of the Western peoples has been sealed. In the latter case, from a metaphysical perspective, it is entirely justified that the Western peoples submit to the ‘judgment’ and ‘punishment’ befitting the ‘unrepentant sinner’: the Bible expresses this metaphysical dimension as the ‘Final Judgment’ and the ‘Lake of Fire’. But for ‘Modern men’ this fate is perhaps more easily understood in its immanent dimension, i.e. as the natural law of cause and effect. In terms of natural law, the earthly home of humanity constitutes a single ‘living’ organism that is ruled by cosmic time cycles and bio-evolutionary feedback loops of immense duration and width in time and space. Within this network of interrelated, overlapping and simultaneous cycles and loops it is inevitable that every action is followed by reaction — and every mistake by correction. Within this imminent reality, it is therefore inevitable that the actions of the Western peoples throughout the Modern Age are eventually followed by reactions. In terms of Traditional metaphysics, this cycle of ‘action and reaction’ may be interpreted as ‘crime and punishment’. From that perspective, it is simply inconceivable that the enormities committed by the Western peoples during the Dark Age of Modernity — global ecocide through anthropogenic climate change, billion-fold animal cruelty through bio-industrial commerce, hellish idiocracy through institutionalized matriarchy — will remain without consequences.

  In a certain sense, these enormities punish themselves in Western Cultural Nihilism and its self-annihilation programmes of climate catastrophe (abolition of the Western biotope), social implosion (abolition of Western communal life) and ethnic replacement (abolition of Western ethnicity). From a Traditional metaphysical perspective, Cultural Nihilism can, therefore, be interpreted as the just ‘punishment’ of the Western peoples, condemning them to a slow death in blindness, slavery and humiliation. In the Bible this was the fate of the mighty judge Samson, the Christian anti-type of the miracle-working and miraculously resurrected Messiah: he ended ‘Eyeless in Gaza at the Mill with Slaves’ (John Milton, Samson Agonistes). But the Bible also recounts how Samson decided not to accept his fate: before his death, he reconciled with God and took revenge on his enemies. In pre-Christian Indo-European paganism such a heroic death, the mors triumphalis, was considered the highest possible destiny: it guaranteed an honourable reception in Valhalla. Thus, the double Christian
and pagan heritage of the Western peoples provide them with a double vision to escape from the dark fate of blind slavery. They do not have to go silently into the night of history: even if their downfall proves inevitable, they can still reach eternity through a last effort of supreme willpower. It is the will to self-surpassing heroism that has etched the name of Judge Samson and the name of his people, Israel, into history for all eternity.

  And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God,

  remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God,

  that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

  …And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.

  And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords,

  and upon all the people that were therein.

  So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

  — Judges 16:28, 30

  4. The Fighting Temeraire

  The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to be Broken Up, 1838 (Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1839), The National Gallery.