Unfortunately, the posture of the reactionary, if it was ever realistic, certainly isn't now. The rapid pace at which new technologies and lifestyles come upon us makes the stubborn, reflexive hostility preferred by many an option that is simply unworkable. Hope is found not in dogmatically resisting the inevitable but in working to mold and guide already visible trends into something approaching a more desirable end. A second option, which serves as the main topic of this treatise, is to work to cast aside the rat race and disengage.

 

While it is not the purpose of this writer to downplay, or worse, attack the technological underpinnings of present society, what is clear is that western man has become divorced from what is arguably his true nature and natural habitat. That Westerners are essentially rural beings is something that Jack London persuasively showed, [3] and a greater appreciation for those traditions and cultural precepts is found far easier in a setting in which one returns to the soil, eschewing the cosmopolitan ethos of the city, and emphasizing a more centered life of simplicity devoid of soulless eudaemonism. A Burkean outlook on life, looking to family, community, and nation is antithetical to the mass decadent consumer state of Big Macs and bimbos. It seeks to honor the achievements of the past and those who came before, not put primary emphasis on the NYSE or reduce one's existence to watching degenerate misfits on daytime trash television. To be close to one's roots, to cherish and preserve the works of the great men of the past is of lasting and critical import; for as Arthur Schopenhauer observed, greatness, not happiness is our ideal. And even happiness should be on a higher plane, not sink into the muck of utilitarian "pig morality."

 

Although unimaginable to the fast paced suburbanites of today, previous epochs of Western civilization were not characterized by the rampant materialism now current. Especially advanced civilizations such as ancient Athens were noted more for philosophical introspection and a life of settled ease. [4] While the Athenians were not averse to labor, they were not so consumed by it that they neglected the higher pursuits that make for a truly cultured society. When one considers Attica, and its comparatively miniscule population to the high octane metropolises of today, one finds that bigger is not always better. Truly, quality is seen to trump quantity in the evaluation. The gap in intellectual accomplishments between the former and the latter is stark. The transcendentalist and naturalist, Henry David Thoreau, in emulating this ancient pattern, sought to show that endless labor and pursuit of the almighty dollar were essentially pointless endeavors; that man's existence requires a more meaningful, soul fulfilling exercise. To Thoreau, being was finding one's self in the solitude of nature, away from the hustle and bustle of the urban quagmire. While it was perhaps not his intention, his Walden can serve as a new anthem and part of the basis for a new de-massified man stressing an outlook on life that looks to the rural, if not in fact, certainly in spirit. "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!" [5]

 

In considering the process of disengagement it is instructive to review some of the proposals heretofore offered which in some manner touch upon our subject. Perhaps foremost in this field are the works of the utopians, which while flawed insofar as they propose some variation on socialist organization, nevertheless provide insight into an alternative form of social arrangement. Thomas More and B.F. Skinner explored the possibilities of like minded people cooperating in what were essentially counter-communities cut off from the mainstream. Isolated, largely self-sufficient redoubts living peacefully yet independently give some hope of escape from a world gone mad. That such communities have been able to operate more or less under the radar of state scrutiny for millennia gives practical, real life evidence that surviving Ragnarok is doable. Of course, not everyone is likely to join a commune, but the fact that non-socialist communities of such a character are already in existence serves to temper the hesitancy of those not likely to go 'retro' and don Birkenstocks and bell bottoms. In Utopia, More employed what has since become a literary mainstay - the island paradise as an outlet for the discontented. The concept of island settlements naturally conjures up scenes out of The Swiss Family Robinson and similar fare, but fantasy can easily be transposed into reality. Even though this has been a sparsely used option, it is not hard to imagine a group of disgruntled traditionalists pooling resources and 'starting over'. Skinner's Walden Two outlines a somewhat less unconventional framework in that it describes a self-contained grouping operating within the confines of a nation-state. In Skinner's work, the community even manages to acquire political clout by continually attracting more and more dispirited moderns looking for an escape hatch.

 

Neither of these patterns are necessarily recommended, for it must be admitted that they are somewhat in the realm of idyllic visions; and they are certainly unsuitable for many, who for sundry reasons simply lack the opportunity to radically transform their lifestyles. What they do provide however is a sort of thought experiment in the arena of ideas, and an intellectual yardstick by which options can be weighed and acted upon.

 

Whatever the road taken this much is clear: The purpose of the new man will be to withdraw from what is clearly a civilization in the throes of what Sorokin called "sensate culture." He must ask for more than the omnipresent ignorance so prevalent. He must study, prepare himself, and look to transcend beyond the notions of Aristippus. Out of the ashes of the old, the new man of the West will find that his struggle is well worth the effort.

 

Notes

 

1. Toffler's theory that change itself (or more importantly, the rapidly increased tempo at which change now occurs) has wreaked havoc on what were formerly static norms is given too little attention by those concerned with more traditional modes of living in an ethnic context. See Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (New York: Bantam Books, 1990.)

 

2. Ibid.

 

3. Jack London, The Valley of the Moon (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.)

 

4. For insight into the easygoing lifestyle of the ancient Greeks and the Athenians in particular, see C.M. Bowra, Classical Greece (New York: Time-Life Books, 1965.)

 

5. Henry David Thoreau, Walden and "Civil Disobedience", Signet Classic edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980), p. 66.