Volume 3 Numbers 3-4

ORIENS

March 2006

The function of Ren Gunon

and the fate of the West (I)
Michel VLSAN
(followed by the French version)

The fools among the people will say: What has turned them from their qiblah
which they had? Say: The East and the West belong only to Allah; He guides
whom He likes to the right path.
And thus We have made you a just nation that you may be the bearers of
witness to the people and that the Apostle may be a bearer of witness to you.
Koran, II, 142-143.

The disappearance of Gunon makes it possible to consider his work as a whole from some
different perspectives than the ones we could have had while he was alive. As long as he was
active and we could not, therefore, assign a term to his function, or a definite form to his work
which, as we all know, was not limited to the writing of his books, but was expressed also by his
multiple regular collaboration to the Etudes Traditionnelles (not to mention some publications to
which he collaborated before) as well as by his numerous letters about traditional matters, his
work happened to be in a certain way interdependent with his incommensurable, discrete and
impersonal, hieratic and unaffected, but sensitive and acting presence. Now, all of this can be
considered, in a certain way, simultaneously: the very cut that marks the end seals its
implications with a new general meaning. As a matter of fact, the prospect thus opened had
already caused the manifestation of reactions that did not occur until then. A new notoriety even
came to mark the end of the man. Some people thought they could see in some cases the end of
some sort of conspiracy of silence which, in some milieus, seemed to prevent the actualization
of real virtualities of participation to the spirit of his teaching. In any case, we must state that, if
we decide to take note of the importance of Ren Gunons work, the way it was done did not
reveal the progress of comprehension that we were hoping for. It even appears, in some cases,
that the interest towards him was proceeding more from a concern to prevent with opportunity a
real development of this understanding and to restrict the consequences that could be derived
from it. This is why these reactions are now important especially from a cyclic point of view.
And even though it is not our intent to raise here some new or already known errors, as well as
some obvious material inexactitudes, whether due to the inability of their authors or simply to
their unfairness at a time when, however, Ren Gunons work is present in all its extent and
fixed in the most explicit way, it appears necessary to specify the meaning that they are
acquiring in this very moment. We can, indeed, find there the most precise indication that some
limits have been reached and that some sort of judgment is being involved.

The function of Ren Gunon and the fate of the West (I)
Such is precisely the impression that emerges from the reading of the articles and studies
published this year in Catholic and Masonic publications. We know nevertheless that, very
fortunately, in these two milieus the cases of a better and even of an excellent understanding are
not missing, but a certain disciplinary reserve, shall we call it, prevents these exceptions from
changing, especially on the Catholic side, the general tone. However this sort of censorship
could only further discourage the last hopes of a broadening of the spiritual horizon for these
same milieus; and the limits which thus came to light are not missed by those who know what
the conditions of the Western intellectualitys revival in general are, as well as the conditions of
an end to the deep crisis of the modern world.
But, fortunately, there are still other intellectual milieus where the work of Ren Gunon now
gets into, in an unexpected way, and this even opens new prospects about the extent of the
influence that it can have in the future.
The opportunity for a summary, in which we are making these statements, allows us to bring up
here the general prospects formulated by Ren Gunon since the beginning of the coherent and
gradually series of doctrinal expressions which he was going to mark the Western position with,
its possibilities for the future and the successive manifestations of factors and of circumstances
which opened some positive possibilities or cancelled them. While supposing known from our
readers the whole ideas that dominate the Western problem, we will remind here, in a few
arguments, the cardinal points necessary to the orientation of our consideration.
The supreme condition of the human being is the metaphysical knowledge which is the one
concerning the eternal and universal truths. The value of a civilization resides in the degree of
integration of that knowledge and of the consequences that are drawn by it for the application in
the different domains of its constitution; such an integration and inner radiation are only possible
in the so-called traditional civilizations which are the ones that proceed from non-humans and
super-individual principles, and are based on some forms of organization which are themselves
the considerate expression of the truths to which they must drive the participation. The role of
any traditional form is indeed to offer the humanity it ordains, the teaching and the means
allowing the realization of this knowledge or to participate in it from far or from close, in
conformity with the diverse possibilities of the individuals and of the specific natures. The
extent in which a traditional form, be it of a purely intellectual mode or of religious mode,
detains these doctrinal elements and the corresponding methods, is from then on the sufficient
and decisive criteria for its current truth, as well as the extent in which its members will have
realized their own possibilities in this order, will be the only title that the spiritual generation of
this traditional form could present in a judgment which would affect it and its humanity as a
whole.
The modern West, with its individualistic and materialistic civilization, is in itself the negation
of any intellectual truth per say, as well as of any normal traditional order, and as such it
presents the state the most obvious of spiritual ignorance that the humanity has ever reached
until now as much in its whole as in any of its parts. This situation can be explained by the
abandonment of the non-human and universal principles upon which the human and cosmic
order is based, and is characterized in a special way by the end of the normal connections with
the traditional Orient and its imprescriptible wisdom.
/

Volume 3 Numbers 3-4

ORIENS

March 2006

La fonction de Ren Gunon

et le sort de lOccident (I)
Michel VLSAN
Les insenss parmi les hommes diront : Quest-ce qui les a dtourns de
leur qiblah antrieure ? Dis : Cest Allah lOrient et lOccident ! Il guide
qui Il veut dans une voie droite .
Cest ainsi que Nous vous avons tablis communaut mdiatrice afin que vous
soyez tmoins auprs des hommes et que lEnvoy soit tmoin auprs de vous .
Coran, II, 142-143.

La disparition de lhomme permet de considrer lensemble de luvre dans des perspectives

diffrentes de celles que lon pouvait avoir de son vivant. Tant quil exerait son activit et
quon ne pouvait donc assigner un terme sa fonction, ni une forme dfinitive son travail qui,
comme on le sait, ne se limitait pas la rdaction de ses livres, mais sexprimait encore par sa
multiple collaboration rgulire aux Etudes Traditionnelles (pour ne pas parler des revues
auxquelles il avait collabor antrieurement) ainsi que par son abondante correspondance
dordre traditionnel, son uvre se trouvait dans une certaine mesure solidaire de sa prsence
incommensurable, discrte et impersonnelle, hiratique et inaffecte, mais sensible et agissante.
Maintenant, tout cet ensemble arrt peut tre regard en quelque sorte en simultanit : la
coupure mme qui marque la fin scelle sa porte dune nouvelle signification gnrale. De fait,
la perspective ainsi ouverte a dj occasionn la manifestation de ractions qui ne staient pas
produites jusquici. Une nouvelle notorit vint mme pour marquer la fin de lhomme.
Quelques-uns ont cru voir en certains cas la rupture dune sorte de conspiration du silence
qui, dans certains milieux, paraissait empcher lactualisation de virtualits relles de
participation lesprit de son enseignement. Quoi quil en soit, nous sommes obligs de
constater que, si lon se dcide ainsi prendre acte de limportance de luvre de Ren Gunon,
la faon dont on la fait na pas rvl le progrs de comprhension quon pouvait esprer. Il
apparat mme, dans ces cas, que lintrt quon lui portait procdait plutt dun souci de
prvenir avec opportunit un dveloppement rel de cette comprhension et de limiter les
consquences qui pourraient en tre tires. Cest pourquoi ces ractions sont maintenant
importantes surtout un point de vue cyclique. Et si nous ne voulons pas relever ici des erreurs
nouvelles ou dj connues, ainsi que des inexactitudes matrielles patentes, quelles soient dues
lincapacit de leurs auteurs ou tout simplement leur mauvaise foi au moment o, pourtant,
luvre de Ren Gunon est prsente dans toute son ampleur et fixe de la faon la plus
explicite, il nous parat ncessaire de prciser la signification quelles acquirent en ce moment.
On peut, en effet, y trouver lindication plus prcise que certaines limites ont t atteintes et
quune sorte de jugement sy trouve impliqu.
Telle est prcisment limpression qui se dgage de la lecture des articles et des tudes parus

La fonction de Ren Gunon et le sort de lOccident (I)

cette anne dans les publications catholiques et maonniques. Nous savons pourtant que, fort
heureusement, dans ces deux milieux ne manquent pas les cas de meilleure, et mme
dexcellente comprhension, mais une certaine rserve, disciplinaire dirons-nous, empche que
ces exceptions changent, du ct catholique surtout, le ton gnral. Pourtant cette sorte de
censure ne pourrait que dcourager encore les derniers espoirs dun largissement de lhorizon
spirituel de ces mmes milieux ; et les limites qui se font jour ainsi nchappent pas ceux qui
savent quelles sont les conditions dune revivification de lintellectualit occidentale en gnral
et dune issue de la profonde crise du monde moderne.
Mais, heureusement, il y a encore dautres milieux intellectuels o luvre de Ren Gunon,
dune faon imprvue, pntre maintenant, et ceci ouvre mme des perspectives nouvelles sur
ltendue de linfluence quelle peut exercer lavenir.
Loccasion rcapitulative dans laquelle nous faisons ces constatations, nous permet dvoquer ici
les perspectives gnrales formules par Ren Gunon depuis le dbut de la srie cohrente et
gradue dexpressions doctrinales dont il venait marquer la position de lOccident, ses
possibilits davenir et les successives manifestations de facteurs et de circonstances qui
ouvraient des possibilits positives ou les annulaient. Tout en supposant connu de nos lecteurs
lensemble des ides qui dominent la question occidentale, nous en rappellerons ici, en quelques
traits, les points cardinaux ncessaires lorientation de notre examen.
La suprme condition de ltre humain est la connaissance mtaphysique qui est celle des vrits
ternelles et universelles. La valeur dune civilisation rside dans le degr dintgration en elle
de cette connaissance et dans les consquences quelle en tire pour lapplication dans les
diffrents domaines de sa constitution; une telle intgration et irradiation intrieure nest
possible que dans les civilisations dites traditionnelles qui sont celles qui procdent de principes
non-humains et supra-individuels, et reposent sur des formes dorganisation qui sont ellesmmes lexpression prvenante des vrits, auxquelles elles doivent faire participer. Le rle de
toute forme traditionnelle est en effet doffrir lhumanit quelle ordonne, lenseignement et
les moyens permettant de raliser cette connaissance ou de participer elle de prs ou de loin, en
conformit avec les diverses possibilits des individus et des natures spcifiques. La mesure
dans laquelle une forme traditionnelle, quelle soit de mode purement intellectuel ou de mode
religieux, dtient ces lments doctrinaux et les mthodes correspondantes, est ds lors le critre
suffisant et dcisif de sa vrit actuelle, de mme que la mesure dans laquelle ses membres
auront ralis leurs possibilits propres dans cet ordre sera le seul titre que la gnration
spirituelle de cette forme traditionnelle pourrait prsenter dans un jugement qui affecterait
celle-ci et lensemble de son humanit.
LOccident moderne, avec sa civilisation individualiste et matrialiste, est par lui-mme la
ngation de toute vrit intellectuelle proprement dite, comme de tout ordre traditionnel normal,
et comme tel il prsente ltat le plus patent dignorance spirituelle que lhumanit ait jamais
atteint jusquici tant dans son ensemble que dans lune quelconque de ses parties. Cette situation
sexplique par labandon des principes non-humains et universels sur lesquels repose lordre
humain et cosmique, et se caractrise dune faon spciale par la rupture des rapports normaux
avec lOrient traditionnel et son imprescriptible sagesse.
/

Volume 3 Numbers 5-8

ORIENS

June 2006

The function of Ren Gunon

and the fate of the West (II)
Michel VLSAN
(followed by the French version)

The process through which the downfall of the modern era is accomplished must end
normally, in conformity as much with the nature of things as with the unanimous
traditional data, by reaching a certain limit, marked more than likely by the catastrophe
of a civilization. From this moment on, a change of direction appears inevitable, and the
traditional data as much in the East as in the West, indicate that there will then be a
reinstatement of all the traditional possibilities the actual humanity is still composed of,
which will coincide with a remanifestation of the primordial spirituality, and, at the
same time, the anti-traditional possibilities and the human elements which incarnate
them will be rejected out of this order and will be definitively degraded. But if the
general pattern of these events to come seems certain, the fate that will be reserved to
the western world in this trial and the part that it could have in the final restoration,
will depend on the mental state that the western humanity will have at the time this
change occurs, and it is understandable that this is only to the extent that the West will
have become aware again of the fundamental truths common to every traditional
civilization that it will be included in this restoration.
The actual situation of humanity considered as a whole, imposes the conviction that the
awakening of the intellectual possibilities of the West can only be realized under the
influence of the teaching of the traditional East, which still conserves intact the deposit
of the sacred truths. This teaching was formulated in our time for the western conscience
by the providential work of Ren Gunon who was the chosen instrument of a supreme
remembrance and of an extreme support by the Eastern spirituality. Thus, it seems that
the exact position of the West in general, and of Catholicism in particular, will have
to be defined with regard to this presence of truth, as a possible traditional basis for
an entire civilization. This is insofar as this token from the East will have been
understood and remembered for its own benefit, that the West will have answered to
this summons which contains, at the same time, a promise and a warning.

The function of Ren Gunon and the fate of the West (II)
It should be specified, as it happens, that the special privilege obtained by Gunons
work to play the role of the criteria of truth, of regularity and of traditional plenitude for
the western civilization, comes from the sacred and non-personal character taken by the
function of Ren Gunon. The man who was going to accomplish this function had
certainly been prepared for a while and not improvised. The sources of Wisdom had
predisposed and formed his entity according to a precise economy, and his career was
accomplished in time by a constant correlation in between his possibilities and the
external cyclical conditions.
Thus, this is how on a being with an absolutely exceptional intellectual depth and
power, who drew his fundamental certitudes directly at the principial source, who
was gifted with a prodigious spiritual sensibility which was going to serve for a role
of recognition and of universal identification for the multitude of symbols and their
meanings, who was characterized by a way of thinking and a mastery of expression
that appear as the direct translation, at their level, of that holiness and the harmony
of the universal truths realized within the self, so this is how on such a being, unique,
as is also unique, in another way, the world he was going to speak to, as well as the
cyclical moment that corresponded to it, on such a being the doctrinal and spiritual
functions of the traditional East concentrated to form, in a way, a supreme
expression. Hinduism, Taoism and Islam, these three main forms of the actual
traditional world, respectively representing the Middle-East, the Far East and the NearEast, which are, in their order and under a certain respect, like the reflections of the three
aspects of this mysterious King of the World about whom Ren Gunon was actually
going to be the first one to give the revealing definition, projected the converging beams
of a unique and indivisible light that no masterpiece could ever manifest as integrally
and as amply on a plane dominating the whole traditional forms and ideas. Besides its
intrinsic truth, the beauty, the majesty and the perfection of this monument of the
Universal Intellect that is his work, attest the most generous gift in its order, and
constitute the most dazzling intellectual miracle ever produced for the modern
conscience. The testimony from the East has thus put on the most prestigious and, at the
same time, most adequate form, which was moreover the condition of its major
effectiveness. This is in the consideration of this transcendent and, at the same time,
close presence, that the spirit of the western man must be recognized and become aware
of his possibilities of truth regarding a total human order.

Volume 3 Numbers 5-8

ORIENS

June 2006

La fonction de Ren Gunon

et le sort de lOccident (II)
Michel VALSAN

Le processus selon lequel saccomplit la dchance de lOccident lpoque moderne,

doit finir normalement, en conformit, tant avec la nature des choses quavec les donnes traditionnelles unanimes, par latteinte dune certaine limite, marque
vraisemblablement par une catastrophe de civilisation. A partir de ce moment un
changement de direction apparat comme invitable, et les donnes traditionnelles tant
dOrient que dOccident, indiquent quil se produira alors un rtablissement de toutes les
possibilits traditionnelles que comporte encore lactuelle humanit, ce qui concidera
avec une remanifestation de la spiritualit primordiale, et, en mme temps, les
possibilits anti-traditionnelles et les lments humains qui les incarnent seront rejets
hors de cet ordre et dfinitivement dgrads. Mais si la forme gnrale de ces
vnements venir apparat comme certaine, le sort qui serait rserv au monde
occidental dans ce jugement et la part quil pourrait avoir dans la restauration finale,
dpendra de ltat mental que lhumanit occidentale aura au moment o ce changement
se produira, et il est comprhensible que cest seulement dans la mesure o lOccident
aura repris conscience des vrits fondamentales communes toute civilisation
traditionnelle quil pourra tre compris dans cette restauration.
La situation actuelle de lhumanit considre dans son ensemble, impose la conviction
que le rveil des possibilits intellectuelles de lOccident ne peut se raliser que sous
linfluence de lenseignement de lOrient traditionnel qui conserve toujours intact le
dpt des vrits sacres. Cet enseignement fut formul en notre temps lintention de la
conscience occidentale par luvre providentielle de Ren Gunon qui fut linstrument
choisi dun rappel suprme et dun appui extrme de la spiritualit orientale. Il
apparat ainsi que cest en rapport avec cette prsence de vrit que devra se dfinir la
position exacte de lOccident en gnral et du Catholicisme en particulier, en tant que
base traditionnelle possible pour une civilisation entire. Cest dans la mesure o ce
tmoignage de lOrient aura t compris et retenu pour le propre bnfice de
lOccident, que celui-ci aura rpondu cette convocation qui contient en mme temps
une promesse et un avertissement.

La fonction de Ren Gunon et le sort de lOccident (II)

Il convient de prciser en loccurrence que le privilge spcial qua cette uvre de jouer
le rle de critre de vrit, de rgularit et de plnitude traditionnelle devant la
civilisation occidentale drive du caractre sacr et non-individuel qua revtu la fonction
de Ren Gunon. Lhomme qui devait accomplir cette fonction fut certainement prpar
de loin et non pas improvis. Les matrices de la Sagesse avaient prdispos et form son
entit selon une conomie prcise, et sa carrire saccomplit dans le temps par une
corrlation constante entre ses possibilits et les conditions cycliques extrieures.
Cest ainsi que, sur un tre dune hauteur et dune puissance intellectuelle tout fait
exceptionnelles, puisant ses certitudes fondamentales directement la source
principielle, dou dune sensibilit spirituelle prodigieuse qui devait servir pour un rle
de reconnaissance et didentification universelle de la multitude des symboles et des
significations, caractris par une forme de pense et une matrise dexpression qui
apparaissent comme la traduction directe, sur leur plan, de la saintet et de lharmonie
des vrits universelles ralises en soi-mme, sur un tel tre donc, unique, comme lest
dans un autre sens le monde mme auquel il devait sadresser ainsi que le moment
cyclique qui lui correspondait, les fonctions doctrinales et spirituelles de lOrient
traditionnel se concentrrent en quelque sorte pour une expression suprme.
LHindouisme, le Taosme et lIslam, ces trois formes principales du monde traditionnel
actuel, reprsentant respectivement le Moyen-Orient, lExtrme Orient et le ProcheOrient, qui sont, dans leur ordre et sous un certain rapport, comme les reflets des trois
aspects de ce mystrieux Roi du Monde dont justement Ren Gunon devait, le premier,
donner la dfinition rvlatrice, projetrent les feux convergents dune lumire unique et
indivisible que jamais uvre de docteur neut manifester aussi intgralement et
amplement sur un plan dominant lensemble des formes et des ides traditionnelles. En
dehors de sa vridicit intrinsque, la beaut, la majest et la perfection de ce monument
de lIntellect Universel quest son uvre attestent le don le plus gnreux dans son ordre
et constituent le miracle intellectuel le plus blouissant produit devant la conscience
moderne. Le tmoignage de lOrient a ainsi revtu la forme la plus prestigieuse et en
mme temps la plus adquate, ce qui tait dailleurs la condition de son efficacit
majeure. Cest dans la considration de cette prsence transcendante et en mme temps
proche que doit se reconnatre lesprit de lhomme dOccident, et prendre conscience de
ses possibilits de vrit par rapport un ordre humain total.

Volume 3 Numbers 9-10

ORIENS

September 2006

The function of Ren Gunon

and the fate of the West (III)
Michel VLSAN
(followed by the French version)

The fundamental ideas in this testimony are as following: first of all, in the purely
intellectual and spiritual order; the supremacy of the metaphysical knowledge over all
other orders of knowledge, of contemplation over action, of Liberation over Salvation,
of the distinction between initiatory and intellectual path, on one side, and exoteric path,
on the other side, the later one with its mystical corollary in the last traditional phase
of the West. On the level of the whole traditional world: the essential identity of all
sacred doctrines, the intelligible universality of the initiatory and religious symbolism,
and the fundamental unity of all traditional forms.
This traditional unanimity does not exclude the existence of different degrees of
participation to the united way of thinking: this one is better represented, and also better
preserved, by the traditions in which the point of view purely intellectual and
metaphysical predominates: from there, a normal higher position of the East in the
spiritual order. In that respect, there is therefore normally a hierarchy and some
subsequent relationships between the different traditions, as well as between the
civilizations which correspond to them. The Western world, since some times before the
so called historical area, and whatever the traditional forms governed it at the time, had
in a general way always kept with the East a normal relationship, properly traditional,
based on a fundamental agreement about principles of civilization. Such was the case of
the Christian civilization of the Middle Age. These relations were severed by the West in
the modern times and Ren Gunon places its beginning a lot earlier than ordinarily
considered, namely in the 14th century, when, among other characteristic facts regarding
this change of direction, the Order of the Temple, which was the main instrument of this
contact in the Christian Middle Age, was destroyed: and it is interesting to note that one
of the grievances made to this order was precisely to have kept some secret relationship
with Islam, relationship which was inaccurately perceived at the time by the public,
because it was essentially initiatory and intellectual. This state of things always
worsened as the Western civilization was losing its traditional characteristics until it
became what it is today, a completely abnormal civilization in all areas, agnostic and

The function of Ren Gunon and the fate of the West (III)
materialistic regarding principles, negative and destructive regarding the traditional
institutions, anarchic and chaotic regarding its own constitution, invading and dissolving
regarding its role toward the whole humanity: the Western world, after having destroyed
its own traditional civilization, turned itself now brutally now insidiously against any
existing traditional order, and specially against the Eastern civilizations. This is how the
purely intellectual teaching offered by Ren Gunon can be completed by a criticism of all
the aspects of todays West. We will not have to remind here what this criticism, at the same
time profound and extensive, consists of, since it is not in the scope of our subject; this part of
Ren Gunons work has generally been easier received, and many Westerners recovered
from the usual illusions regarding the value of the modern world.
We would like to make it clear now that, because of the cyclic function of Ren Gunon, the
diverse situations considered by him regarding the state of the West at the time when its
civilization will have reached the end, can be legitimately linked to the reaction that the
Western intellectuality would have with respect to his work. This is indeed through the
intellectual aspect that the recovery of the general mentality could be realized, and Ren
Gunons work is aimed at those who are able first of understanding the principial truths, then
of drawings the necessary consequences. The contemporary Western intellectuality thus
assumes in a logical mode a representative dignity and responsibility. About this subject it
should be reminded that, since his first book, published in 1921, Introduction to the study of the
Hindu doctrines (Conclusion), Ren Gunon had formulated three main hypotheses regarding
the fate of the West. First the most unfavorable one is the one where nothing would
replace this civilization, and while disappearing, the West, left on its own, would end up
buried in the worse barbarity. After having stressed this possibility, he concluded that
there is no point insisting at length to understand how disturbing that first hypothesis is.
The second possibility would be the one where the representatives of other civilizations,
i.e. the Eastern peoples, in order to save the Western world of this irreparable decline,
would assimilate the West to their civilization whether it like its or not, supposing that
such a thing would be possible and that, also, the East would agree to do so, in its totality
or in some of its composing parts. We hope was he saying that no-one will be blinded
enough by the Western preconceptions not to recognize how much this hypothesis is
preferable to the previous one: there would certainly be a transitory period filled with very
painful ethnic revolutions, which are difficult to imagine, but the final result would be
enough to compensate the damages fatally caused by a similar catastrophe; however, the
West would have to renounce to its own characteristics and would be purely and simply
absorbed. This is why, said then Ren Gunon, a third case should be considered as a lot
more favorable from the Western point of view, even though equivalent, to tell the truth,
to the point of view of the whole earthly humanity, since if it came to happen, the effect
would indeed be to make the Western abnormality disappear, not by suppression like in
the first hypothesis, but, like in the second one, through a return to the genuine and normal
intellectuality; but this return, instead of being imposed and forced, or at the very least
accepted and undergone from the outside, would be then carried out voluntarily and like in
a spontaneous way. In the rest of his article, Ren Gunon comes back to his three
hypotheses to indicate more precisely the conditions that would determine the realization
of one of the other among them. Everything depends obviously in that respect, did he
stress, on the mental state in which the Western world would be at the moment when it
reaches the stopping point of its actual civilization. If this mental state is then what it is

The function of Ren Gunon and the fate of the West (III)
today, the first hypothesis will necessarily be realized, since nothing could replace what
would be given up, and since, on the other hand, the assimilation by other civilizations
would be impossible, the difference of mentalities leading to an opposition. This
assimilation, which corresponds to our second hypothesis, would presuppose, as a
minimum condition, the existence in the West of an intellectual group, even if only in the
form of a very small elite, but constituted strongly enough to provide the indispensable
intermediary to bring back the general mentality toward the sources of the genuine
intellectuality, in orienting it in a direction that does not have to be known by the masses.
As soon as we consider as possible that supposition of a stopping of civilization, the
preliminary constitution of this elite seems therefore as the only one capable of saving the
West, at the right time, from chaos and dissolution; and, moreover, in order to interest the
holders of the Eastern traditions to the fate of the West, it would be essential to show them
that, if their most severe opinions are not unfair toward the Western intellectuality taken as
a whole, there can be at least some honorable exceptions, indicating that the decline of this
intellectuality is not absolutely irreparable. We have said earlier that the realization of the
second hypothesis would not be exempt, temporarily at least, of certain unfortunate
aspects, should the role of the elite be reduced to be the support of an action upon which
the West would have no initiative, but this role would be very different if the events could
give the elite the time to exert such an action directly and through itself, which would
correspond to the third hypothesis. It can indeed be conceived that the intellectual elite,
once constituted, would act in a way as a germ in the Western world, to prepare the
transformation which, in becoming effective, would allow it to deal, if not from equal to
equal, at least as an autonomous power, with the authorized representatives from the
Eastern civilizations.
Regarding the way we can understand the elites influence, Gunon made later in East and
West some remarks which will be worth reminding here in order to prevent some
representations that would be too coarse. The elite while working for itself, will also work
necessarily for the West in general, because it is impossible that an elaboration like this one
to be carried out in any kind of milieu without producing sooner or later some considerable
modifications. Moreover, the mental currents are subject to some laws perfectly defined,
and the knowledge of these laws permits an action a lot more efficient than the use of
empirical means; but here in order to come to the application and to realize it in all its
extent, we must be able to have as support a strongly constituted organization, which does
not mean that some partial results, already appreciable, cannot be obtained before reaching
this point. As defective and incomplete the means we dispose of can be, they must be put in
effect sometime in the way they are, otherwise we will never be able to acquire more
perfect ones; and we shall add that the slightest thing accomplished in harmonic conformity
with the order of principles carries virtually in itself some possibilities whose expression is
capable of determining the most prodigious consequences, and this is true in all areas, as its
repercussions spread according to their hierarchical repartition and through the way of
indefinite progression (ibid, p. 184-185).

Volume 3 Numbers 9-10

ORIENS

September 2006

La fonction de Ren Gunon

et le sort de lOccident (III)
Michel VALSAN
Les ides fondamentales de ce tmoignage sont les suivantes : tout dabord, dans lordre
purement intellectuel et spirituel; la suprmatie de la connaissance mtaphysique sur
tous les autres ordres de connaissance, de la contemplation sur laction, de la Dlivrance
sur le Salut, de la distinction entre voie initiatique et intellectuelle, dune part, et voie
exotrique, dautre part, celle-ci avec son corollaire mystique dans la dernire phase
traditionnelle de lOccident. Sur le plan densemble du monde traditionnel : lidentit
essentielle de toutes les doctrines sacres, luniversalit intelligible du symbolisme
initiatique et religieux, et lunit fondamentale de toutes les formes traditionnelles.
Cette unanimit traditionnelle nexclut pas lexistence de degrs diffrents de
participation lesprit commun : celui-ci est mieux reprsent, et aussi mieux conserv,
par les traditions dans lesquelles prdomine le point de vue purement intellectuel et
mtaphysique : de l, prminence normale de lOrient dans lordre spirituel. Sous ce
rapport il y a donc normalement, certains gards, une hirarchie et des rapports
subsquents entre les diffrentes traditions, comme entre les civilisations qui leur
correspondent. Le monde occidental, depuis des temps qui remontent encore plus loin
que le dbut de lpoque dite historique, et quelles quaient t les formes traditionnelles
qui lorganisaient, avait dune faon gnrale toujours entretenu avec lOrient des
rapports normaux, proprement traditionnels, reposant sur un accord fondamental de
principes de civilisation. Tel a t le cas de la civilisation chrtienne du moyen ge. Ces
rapports ont t rompus par lOccident lpoque moderne dont Ren Gunon situe le
dbut beaucoup plus tt quon ne le fait dordinaire, savoir au XIVe sicle, lorsque,
entre autres faits caractristiques de ce changement de direction, lOrdre du Temple, qui
tait linstrument principal de ce contact au moyen ge chrtien, fut dtruit : et il est
intressant de noter quun des griefs quon a fait cet ordre tait prcisment davoir
entretenu des relations secrtes avec lIslam, relations de la nature desquelles on se
faisait dailleurs une ide inexacte, car elles taient essentiellement initiatiques et
intellectuelles. Cet tat de choses est all toujours en saggravant mesure que la
civilisation occidentale perdait ses caractres traditionnels jusqu devenir, ce quelle est
lpoque prsente, une civilisation compltement anormale dans tous les domaines,
agnostique et matrialiste quant aux principes, ngatrice et destructrice quant aux institutions traditionnelles, anarchique et chaotique quant sa constitution propre, envahissante

La fonction de Ren Gunon et le sort de lOccident (III)

et dissolvante quant son rle envers lensemble de lhumanit : le monde occidental, aprs
avoir dtruit sa propre civilisation traditionnelle, sest tourn tantt brutalement tantt
insidieusement contre tout lordre traditionnel existant, et spcialement contre les
civilisations orientales. Cest ainsi que lenseignement purement intellectuel expos par Ren
Gunon se complte par une critique de tous les aspects de lactuel Occident. Nous naurons
pas rappeler ici en quoi consiste cette critique la fois profonde et tendue, puisquelle
intresse moins notre propos, et dailleurs cette partie de luvre de Ren Gunon a rencontr
gnralement un accueil plus facile, bien des occidentaux tant revenus deux-mmes des
illusions habituelles sur la valeur de la civilisation moderne. Nous voulons prciser
maintenant que, en raison de la fonction cyclique de Ren Gunon, les diverses situations
envisages par lui quant ltat de lOccident au moment o sa civilisation aura atteint le
point darrt, peuvent tre lgitimement rattaches la raction que lintellectualit
occidentale aura devant son uvre. Cest en effet par le ct intellectuel que le redressement
de la mentalit gnrale pouvait se raliser, et luvre de Ren Gunon sadresse
exclusivement ceux qui sont capables tout dabord de comprendre les vrits principielles,
ensuite den tirer les consquences qui simposent. Lintellectualit occidentale
contemporaine assume ainsi en mode logique une dignit et une responsabilit reprsentatives.
A ce propos il nous faut rappeler que, ds son premier livre, paru en 1921, lIntroduction
gnrale ltude des doctrines hindoues (Conclusion), Ren Gunon avait formul trois
hypothses principales quant au sort de lOccident. La premire la plus dfavorable est
celle o rien ne viendrait remplacer cette civilisation, et o celle-ci disparaissant, lOccident,
livr dailleurs lui-mme, se trouverait plong dans la pire barbarie . Aprs en avoir
soulign la possibilit, il concluait qu il nest pas utile dy insister plus longuement pour
quon se rende compte de tout ce qua dinquitant cette premire hypothse . La seconde
serait celle o les reprsentants dautres civilisations, cest--dire les peuples orientaux,
pour sauver le monde occidental de cette dchance irrmdiable, se lassimileraient de
gr ou de force, supposer que la chose ft possible et que dailleurs lOrient y consentit,
dans sa totalit ou dans quelques-unes de ses parties composantes. Nous esprons
disait-il -que nul ne sera assez aveugl par les prjugs occidentaux pour ne pas
reconnatre combien cette hypothse serait prfrable la prcdente : il y aurait
assurment,dans de telles circonstances, une priode transitoire occupe par des rvolutions ethniques fort pnibles, dont il est difficile de se faire une ide, mais le rsultat
final serait de nature compenser les dommages causs fatalement par une semblable
catastrophe ; seulement, lOccident devrait renoncer ses caractristiques propres et se
trouverait absorb purement et simplement . Cest pourquoi, disait ensuite Ren
Gunon, il convient denvisager un troisime cas comme bien plus favorable au point de
vue occidental, quoique quivalent, vrai dire, au point de vue de lensemble de
lhumanit terrestre, puisque sil venait se raliser, leffet en serait de faire disparatre
lanomalie occidentale, non par suppression comme dans la premire hypothse, mais,
comme dans la seconde, par retour lintellectualit vraie et normale ; mais ce retour, au
lieu dtre impos et contraint, ou tout au plus accept et subi du dehors, serait effectu
alors volontairement et comme spontanment . Dans la suite de son expos, Ren
Gunon revenait sur ces trois hypothses pour marquer plus prcisment les conditions
qui dtermineraient la ralisation de lune ou de lautre dentre elles . Tout dpend
videmment cet gard, prcisait-il, de ltat mental dans lequel se trouverait le monde
occidental au moment o il atteindrait le point darrt de sa civilisation actuelle. Si cet tat

La fonction de Ren Gunon et le sort de lOccident (III)

mental tait alors tel quil est aujourdhui, cest la premire hypothse qui devrait
ncessairement se raliser, puisquil ny aurait rien qui puisse remplacer ce quoi lon
renoncerait, et que, dautre part, lassimilation par dautres civilisations serait impossible,
la diffrence des mentalits allant jusqu lopposition. Cette assimilation, qui rpond
notre seconde hypothse, supposerait, comme minimum de conditions, lexistence en
Occident dun noyau intellectuel, mme form seulement dune lite peu nombreuse, mais
assez fortement constitu pour fournir lintermdiaire indispensable pour ramener la
mentalit gnrale, en lui imprimant une direction qui naurait dailleurs nullement besoin
dtre consciente pour la masse, vers les sources de lintellectualit vritables. Ds que
lon considre comme possible la supposition dun arrt de civilisation, la constitution
pralable de cette lite apparat donc comme seule capable de sauver lOccident, au
moment voulu, du chaos et de la dissolution ; et, du reste, pour intresser au sort de
lOccident les dtenteurs des traditions orientales, il serait essentiel de leur montrer que, si
leurs apprciations les plus svres ne sont pas injustes envers lintellectualit occidentale
prise dans son ensemble, il peut y avoir du moins dhonorables exceptions, indiquant que
la dchance de cette intellectualit nest pas absolument irrmdiable. Nous avons dit que
la ralisation de la seconde hypothse ne serait pas exempte, transitoirement tout au
moins, de certains cts fcheux, ds lors que le rle de llite sy rduirait servir de
point dappui une action dont lOccident naurait pas linitiative, mais ce rle serait tout
autre si les vnements lui laissaient le temps dexercer une telle action directement et par
elle-mme, ce qui correspondrait la possibilit de la troisime hypothse. On peut en
effet concevoir que llite intellectuelle, une fois constitue, agisse en quelque sorte la
faon dun ferment dans le monde occidental, pour prparer la transformation qui, en
devenant effective, lui permettrait de traiter, sinon dgal gal, du moins comme une
puissance autonome, avec les reprsentants autoriss des civilisations orientales .
Quant la faon dont on peut entendre linfluence exerce par llite, Gunon donnait plus
tard dans Orient et Occident quelques prcisions quil est bon de rappeler ici afin
dempcher quon sarrte des reprsentations trop grossires. Llite tout en travaillant
pour elle-mme, travaillera aussi ncessairement pour lOccident en gnral, car il est
impossible quune laboration comme celle dont il sagit seffectue dans un milieu
quelconque sans y produire tt ou tard des modifications considrables. De plus, les
courants mentaux sont soumis des lois parfaitement dfinies, et la connaissance de ces
lois permet une action bien autrement efficace que lusage de moyens tout empiriques ;
mais ici pour en venir lapplication et la raliser dans toute son ampleur, il faut pouvoir
sappuyer sur une organisation fortement constitue, ce qui ne veut pas dire que des
rsultats partiels, dj apprciables, ne puissent tre obtenus avant quon en soit arriv ce
point. Si dfectueux et incomplets que soient les moyens dont on dispose, il faut pourtant
commencer par les mettre en oeuvre tels quels, sans quoi lon ne parviendra jamais en
acqurir de plus parfaits; et nous ajouterons que la moindre chose accomplie en conformit
harmonique avec lordre des principes porte virtuellement en soi des possibilits dont
lexpression est capable de dterminer les plus prodigieuses consquences, et cela dans tous
les domaines, mesure que ses rpercussions sy tendent selon leur rpartition hirarchique
et par voie de progression indfinie (op. cit., p. 184-185).

Volume 3 Numbers 11-12

ORIENS

November 2006

The function of Ren Gunon

and the fate of the West (IV)
Michel VLSAN
(followed by the French version)

We have to limit our quotes to the essential, and the reader will have to refer himself to the
integral text of the chapters were quoting here, as well as to The Crisis of the Modern
World and The Reign of Quantity, to have the other aspects that would come with the
realization of one or the other of these three hypothesis. What should be remembered for
our subject, is that the idea of an intellectual elite brings back the very question of the future
fate of the West. It is up to such a spiritual and human entity to accomplish the return of
the West to Tradition one way or another as well as to establish the agreement on the
principles with the traditional East. This is what, shall we say, links the spiritual, and, in
general, traditional perspectives of the West with Ren Gunons teaching because in fact
in his work is found the starting point of an intellectual awakening and the inspiration for
all the work to be accomplished next. The statement of certain ideas will first allow the
possible elements of the elite to become aware of themselves and of what was necessary
for them. The mental formation must start with the acquisition of a theoretical knowledge
about the metaphysical principles: this is the study of the Eastern doctrines which should
have allowed that, and Ren Gunon, with the series of his essays, mainly about the Hindu
doctrines, came to give light and provoke this study from which could result the
assimilation by the elite in training of the essential modes of the Eastern way of thinking.
We shall also remind the reader that the Western elite, to be indeed such an elite, had to
remain tied to the Western traditional forms: this is why the elite could only do what
Gunon called an assimilation to the second degree of the Eastern teaching. 1 Thus, this
is how the first mode of the support the East was offering to the West was manifesting
itself; this is the period that Ren Gunon designated as being the one of the indirect
help or of the inspirations: these inspirations, he was saying, can only be transmitted
1

Those among Westerners who will have directly joined some Eastern traditional forms therefore do not
enter in this notion of a Western elite, even if they live in the West; such people, because of their
traditional tie, directly linked to the East in the intellectual aspect, properly do a first degree
assimilation of this teaching. We will have to come back later over the role that such people can play in the
development of the relationships in between the Western elite and the Eastern elites.

The function of Ren Gunon and the fate of the West (IV)
by some individual influences serving as intermediaries, not by a direct action of some
organizations which, unless an unexpected upheaval, will never engage their responsibility
in the business of the Western world (East and West, p. 179). And he added this
statement that concerned him before anybody else: those who directly assimilated the
Eastern intellectuality can only aspire to play this role of intermediaries we were
mentioning about earlier; they are, because of this assimilation, too close to the East to
do more; they can suggest and expose some ideas, point out what would be advisable to
do, but not take upon themselves the initiative of an organization which, coming from
them, would not really be Western. (ibid.) We shall stress, when the chance occurs, this
distinctive aspect of Ren Gunons function, because some could be tempted to only see
in him a simple author of theoretical books: first of all, the fact that his writings precisely
correspond, at any degree, to some inspirations originating from some Eastern spiritual
forces and expressing themselves though his possibilities and his personal influence,
shows that those inspirations have, not only in their doctrinal substance, but also in their
primary intention, a starting point which is not located in the simple intellectual
understanding and in the individual desire to make others participate to this understanding,
nor in the mere requests of the milieu and the pressure of the circumstances; next, his role
was not only to make some doctrinal talks, but also, as he was saying himself, to suggest
some ideas and to point out what would be advisable to do, and we know very well
that, indeed, he has practiced in this way a very widespread activity which is only
revealed indirectly and partially by his books when he noted down the elements that
could interest his readers in general.
To come back to the relations of the elite with the East, the second period of support it
was going to receive is called by Ren Gunon direct support: it implies that the elite
is already constituted as an organization able to enter into a relationship with the
Eastern organizations which work in the pure intellectual order, and to receive from
them, for its action, the help that can be procured by some forces that have been
accumulating since an unmemorable time. (ibid., p. 201) When a first work of
assimilation will have been accomplished this way, nothing will be against the idea that the
elite itself (since the initiative had to come from it) would have recourse, in a more
immediate way, to the representatives of the Eastern traditions; and those, being interested
with the fate of the West because of the presence of this elite, would not be short of
answering this call, because the only condition they demand, is the understanding this is
in the second period that the support from the East could manifest itself effectively. (ibid.,
p. 203) During this period, which is the one of the effective action, the elite must
realize some adaptations toward the Western condition; thus, it is out of the question to
consider the substitution of a tradition for another, and regarding the religious tradition of
the West, it is only about the addition of the internal element which is currently lacking,
but which can very well superpose itself to it without anything being changed externally.
(ibid., p. 195) Only if the West ended up being definitively powerless in its efforts to
come back to a normal civilization could a foreign tradition be imposed upon them; but
then there would not be any fusion, since nothing specifically Western would subsist; and
there would not be any substitution either, because, to reach such an end, the West would
have to have lost every single vestige of the traditional mind, with the exception of a small
elite without who, since the West is not able to receive this foreign tradition, it would
inevitably fall into the worse barbarity. (ibid., p. 199)

The function of Ren Gunon and the fate of the West (IV)
To summarize the possible relationships in the most favorable hypothesis between the East
and the West, Ren Gunon specified again: therefore it is a matter of not imposing to the
West an Eastern tradition, whose forms do not correspond to its mentality, but to restore a
Western tradition with the help of the East, indirect help first, then direct.: or, inspiration in
the first period, effective support in the second one When the West will be in possession
again of a regular and traditional civilization, the elites role will have to continue: the
elite will then be what the Western civilization will utilize to communicate with the other
civilizations, because such a communication can only be established and maintained by
what is the highest among each of them... In other words, the West would have to finally
have representatives in what is symbolically designated as the centre of the world or
any other equivalent expression (which should not be understood literally as the
indication of a determined location, whatever it could be); but, here, we are talking
about things way too far, way too inaccessible for the time being and probably for a very
long time still, to justify insisting about it more. (ibid., p. 202)

Volume 3 Numbers 11-12

ORIENS

November 2006

La fonction de Ren Gunon

et le sort de lOccident (IV)
Michel VALSAN

Nous sommes obligs de limiter lessentiel nos citations, et il faudra se reporter au texte
intgral des chapitres que nous rappelons ici, ainsi qu La Crise du Monde moderne et au
Rgne de la Quantit, pour avoir les autres aspects que comporte encore la ralisation de
lune ou de lautre de ces trois hypothses. Ce quil y a en retenir pour notre propos, cest
que cest autour de lide dune lite intellectuelle que toute la question du sort futur de
lOccident se trouve ramene. Cest une telle entit spirituelle et humaine quincombe
de raliser le retour de lOccident la Tradition dans une mesure ou dans une autre ainsi
que dtablir laccord sur les principes avec lOrient traditionnel. Cest cela mme,
dirons-nous, qui relie les perspectives spirituelles, et en gnral traditionnelles, de lOccident
lenseignement de Ren Gunon car en fait cest en son uvre que se trouve le point de
dpart dun rveil intellectuel et linspiration de tout le travail accomplir par la suite.
Lexposition de certaines conceptions doit permettre tout dabord, aux lments possibles
de llite de prendre conscience deux-mmes et de ce qui leur tait ncessaire. La formation
mentale proprement dite doit commencer par lacquisition dune connaissance thorique des
principes mtaphysiques : cest ltude des doctrines orientales qui devait permettre cela,
et Ren Gunon venait, avec toute la srie de ses exposs, principalement des doctrines
hindoues, susciter et clairer cette tude dont pouvait rsulter lassimilation par llite en
formation des modes essentiels de la pense orientale. Nous rappellerons aussi que llite
occidentale, pour tre telle, devait rester attache aux formes traditionnelles occidentales :
cest ainsi quelle ne pouvait faire que ce quil appelait une assimilation au second
degr de lenseignement oriental1 . Cest ainsi que se manifestait le premier mode de
lappui que lOrient offrait lOccident ; cest la priode que Ren Gunon dsignait
comme tant celle de l aide indirecte ou des inspirations : Ces inspirations, disait-il,
ne peuvent tre transmises que par des influences individuelles servant dintermdiaires,
non par une action directe dorganisations qui, moins de bouleversements imprvus,
nengageront jamais leur responsabilit dans les affaires du monde occidental (Orient
et Occident, p. 179). Et il ajoutait ceci qui le concernait lui-mme avant tout autre:
1

Ceux d'entre les Occidentaux qui auront adhr directement des formes traditionnelles de l'Orient, n'entrent
donc pas dans cette notion d'lite occidentale mme sils vivent en Occident ; ceux-ci, de par leur
rattachement traditionnel, devant sassimiler directement l'Orient sous le rapport intellectuel, font proprement
une assimilation au premier degr de cet enseignement. Nous aurons revenir plus loin sur le rle que
peuvent jouer ceux-ci dans le dveloppement des relations entre l'lite occidentale et les lites orientales.

La fonction de Ren Gunon et le sort de lOccident (II)

Ceux qui se sont assimil directement lintellectualit orientale ne peuvent prtendre
qu jouer ce rle dintermdiaires dont nous parlions tout lheure ; ils sont du fait de
cette assimilation, trop prs de lOrient pour faire plus ; ils peuvent suggrer des ides,
exposer des conceptions, indiquer ce quil conviendrait de faire, mais non pas prendre par
eux-mmes linitiative dune organisation qui, venant deux, ne serait pas vraiment
occidentale (ibid.). Nous soulignerons loccasion cet aspect caractristique de la
fonction de Ren Gunon, car certains pourraient tre tents de ne voir en lui quun simple
auteur de livres thoriques: tout dabord, le fait que ses crits correspondent prcisment,
un degr quelconque, des inspirations manant des forces spirituelles de lOrient et
sexprimant travers ses possibilits et son influence personnelle, montre que ceux-ci
ont, non seulement dans leur substance doctrinale, mais encore dans leur intention
premire, un point de dpart qui nest pas situ dans la simple comprhension
intellectuelle et dans le dsir individuel de faire participer les autres cette comprhension,
ni dans les seules sollicitations du milieu et la pression des circonstances ; ensuite, son
rle ntait pas seulement de faire des exposs doctrinaux, mais aussi, comme il le disait
lui-mme, de suggrer des ides et dindiquer ce quil conviendrait de faire , et
nous savons trs bien que, de fait, il a exerc en ce sens une activit trs tendue qui nest
rvle quindirectement et partiellement par ses livres quand il y notait les lments qui
pouvaient intresser ses lecteurs en gnral.
Pour en revenir ce qui concerne les rapports de llite avec lOrient, la deuxime
priode de lappui quelle devait en recevoir est appele par Ren Gunon celle de
lappui direct : elle suppose llite dj constitue en une organisation capable
dentrer en relation avec les organisations orientales qui travaillent dans lordre
intellectuel pur, et de recevoir de celles-ci, pour son action, laide que peuvent procurer des
forces accumules depuis un temps immmorial (op. cit., p. 201). Quand un premier
travail dassimilation aura t ainsi accompli, rien ne sopposerait ce que llite ellemme (puisque cest delle que devait venir linitiative) fit appel, dune faon plus
immdiate, aux reprsentants des traditions orientales ; et ceux-ci, se trouvant intresss
au sort de lOccident par la prsence de cette lite, ne manqueraient pas de rpondre cet
appel, car la seule condition quils exigent, cest la comprhension... Cest dans la
seconde priode que lappui des Orientaux pourrait se manifester effectivement (op. cit., p.
203). Dans cette priode qui est celle de l action effective , llite doit raliser des
adaptations la condition occidentale ; il nest pas question denvisager ainsi la substitution
dune tradition une autre, et pour ce qui est de la tradition religieuse de lOccident, il
sagit seulement de l adjonction de llment intrieur qui lui fait actuellement dfaut,
mais qui peut fort bien sy superposer sans que rien soit chang extrieurement (op. cit.,
p. 195). Ce nest que si lOccident se montrait dfinitivement impuissant revenir une
civilisation normale quune tradition trangre pourrait lui tre impose ; mais alors il ny
aurait pas fusion, puisque rien de spcifiquement occidental ne subsisterait plus; et il ny
aurait pas substitution non plus, car, pour en arriver une telle extrmit, il faudrait que
lOccident et perdu jusquaux derniers vestiges de lesprit traditionnel, lexception
dune petite lite sans laquelle, ne pouvant mme recevoir cette tradition trangre, il
senfoncerait invitablement dans la pire barbarie (op. cit., p. 199).

La fonction de Ren Gunon et le sort de lOccident (II)

En rsumant les rapports possibles ainsi dans la meilleure hypothse entre Orient et
Occident, Ren Gunon prcisait encore : Il sagit donc, non dimposer lOccident une
tradition orientale, dont les formes ne correspondent pas sa mentalit, mais de restaurer
une tradition occidentale avec laide de lOrient, aide indirecte dabord, directe ensuite : ou,
si lon veut, inspiration dans la premire priode, appui effectif dans la seconde... Lorsque
lOccident sera de nouveau en possession dune civilisation rgulire et traditionnelle, le
rle de llite devra se poursuivre : elle sera alors ce par quoi la civilisation occidentale
communiquera dune faon permanente avec les autres civilisations, car une telle
communication ne peut stablir et se maintenir que par ce quil y a de plus lev en
chacune delles... En dautres termes, il faudrait que lOccident parvint finalement avoir
des reprsentants dans ce qui est dsign symboliquement comme le centre du monde
ou par toute autre expression quivalente (ce qui ne doit pas tre entendu littralement
comme indiquant un lieu dtermin, quel quil puisse tre); mais, ici, il sagit de choses
trop lointaines, trop inaccessibles prsentement et sans doute pour bien longtemps
encore, pour quil puisse tre vraiment utile dy insister (op. cit., p. 202).

Volume IV Numbers 1-2

ORIENS

February 2007

The function of Ren Gunon

and the fate of the West (V)
Michel VLSAN
(followed by the French version)

Certainly this hypothesis, the most favorable for the West, the one of an integral restoration
of the Western civilization based on its own traditional forms and basis, was the least
probable, and Ren Gunon never deluded himself in that respect, and if he considered
such an hypothesis, this is in a way in principle, not to discard any possibility or not to
discourage any hope, all effort in this sense having anyhow some results in another order,
and first of all for the elite itself. But for the republication in 1948 of East and West,
observing, in an addendum, the aggravation of the general disorder and after having said
again that the only remedy consists in a restoration, he noted that unfortunately, from this
point of view, the chances of a reaction coming from the West itself seem to diminish ever
day more, because what subsists as tradition in the West is more and more affected by the
modern thought, and, consequently, even less capable of serving as a solid basis for such a
restoration, with the result that without rejecting any of the possibilities that might still exist,
it seems more than ever likely than the East would have to intervene more or less directly, in
the way that we have explained, if this restoration was to happen some day... If the West still
has in itself the means to return to its tradition and to restore it fully, it is up to the West to
prove it. In the meantime, we have to declare that until now we have not noticed the slightest
evidence that would allow us to presuppose that the West, left on its own, would really be
able to accomplish this task, no matter how essential the idea of its necessity is. With these
conclusions stating the probability that the East would intervene more or less directly in the
Western restoration, Gunon obviously was bringing up the second hypothesis he formulated,
the one where the Eastern peoples, in order to save the Western world of this irreparable
decline, would assimilate them to their civilization whether they like it or not, supposing
that such a thing would be possible and that, besides, the East would agree to do so, in its
totality or in some of its composing parts., and this, let us remind it, was implying that
the West would have to renounce to its own attributes. The minimum conditions for this
hypothesis, however, were in the existence in the West of an intellectual kernel, even if only
made of a very small elite, but strong enough to form the indispensable intermediary to bring the
general mentality back. But in this case the elites role would be reduced to serve as a point of
support for an action which the West would not have the initiative of. About this, we could

The function of Ren Gunon and the fate of the West (V)
remark that several eventualities can be considered within the second hypothesis according to
the factors that must intervene in it: on the one hand, the importance or the efficiency of the
Western elite, on the other hand, the Eastern peoples and the organizations that could find an
interest in a Western restoration. These eventualities are expressed, in a way, by the
modalities of this assimilation that could be done either willingly, which would imply a
Western consent, at least in its most important ethnical elements, or forcibly, which
presupposes a more or less generalized resistance. Besides, and especially in this latest
case, we still have to consider the possibility that the assimilation affects the West as a
whole or only a part of it, the Eastern peoples that are involved could undertake it only
insofar as they estimate that it corresponds to their own interest, for the rest they might
just take certain security measures of the established order, which also means that, in this
case, some parts of the West might fall in a situation corresponding to the first
hypothesis, the one that affirmed a pure and simple state of barbarity. If we consider
these different secondary possibilities, this is to make the reader understand that the
renunciation of a probability in the second hypothesis does not necessarily implies the
realization of the best aspects of this hypothesis, and that it does not even exclude
some possibilities in the first hypothesis, the whole thing depending first of all on the
capacity that this elite would have to serve as a point of support for the Eastern action.
Until now we have confined ourselves to the most general terms by speaking of the
possibilities of the traditional revival of the West. We must now consider these
possibilities according to the points of support that the Western elements, which would
have to accomplish this restoration work with the help of the knowledge of the Eastern
doctrines, could find in the Western world itself.
We should start by saying first that if there has been in the West at least one spot where
the traditional thought had been conserved integrally, we could have seen there a reason
to hope that the West could accomplish a return to the traditional state by some kind of
spontaneous awakening of latent possibilities; this is the fact that such a persistence
seemed, in spite of certain pretentions, extremely doubtful to him, which authorized
Ren Gunon to consider a new mode of constitution of an intellectual elite, and in fact
nothing has come until now to deny his initial supposition. In order to constitute itself, the
elite in formation had all interest in finding support in an organization with an effective
existence. By way of organizations with traditional attributes, everything that the West still
holds onto is, in the religious order the Catholic Church, and in the initiatic order a few
organizations in an advanced state of decline. However on the doctrinal aspect, only the first
one could be considered as a possible basis to revive the whole Western world, and Gunon
was therefore saying in The Crisis of the Modern World: It very well seems that there is in
the West only one single organization that has a traditional attribute and which preserves a
doctrine susceptible of providing an appropriate basis for work: this is the Catholic Church.
Everything that would be needed is, without changing anything to the religious form that the
Catholic Church displays on the outside, to restitute to its doctrine the deep meaning that it
really holds in itself, but whose actual representatives seem not to be aware of anymore, nor
of its essential unity with the other traditional forms; the two things, by the way, are
inseparable from each other. This would be realization of the Catholicism in the true sense of
the word, which, etymologically, expresses the idea of universality, which is forgotten too
soon by those who would like to make of it only an exclusive denomination of a special form
purely Occidental, without any effective link with the other traditions (op. cit., pp. 128-129).
2

Volume IV Numbers 1-2

ORIENS

February 2007

La fonction de Ren Gunon

et le sort de lOccident (V)
Michel VALSAN
Certainement cette hypothse, la plus favorable pour lOccident, celle dune restauration
intgrale de la civilisation occidentale sur des bases et dans des formes traditionnelles
propres, tait la moins probable, et Ren Gunon ne sest jamais fait trop dillusions cet
gard, et sil envisageait une telle hypothse, ctait en quelque sorte par principe, pour ne
limiter aucune possibilit et ne dcourager aucun espoir, tout effort dans ce sens ayant de
toute faon, des rsultats dans un autre ordre, et tout dabord pour llite elle-mme. Mais
la rdition en 1948 dOrient et Occident, faisant tat, dans un Addendum, de laggravation
du dsordre gnral et aprs avoir redit que le seul remde consiste dans une
restauration , il constatait que malheureusement, de ce point de vue, les chances dune
raction venant de lOccident lui-mme semblent diminuer chaque jour davantage, car ce
qui subsiste comme tradition en Occident est de plus en plus affect par la mentalit
moderne, et, par consquent, dautant moins capable de servir de base solide une telle
restauration, si bien que sans carter aucune des possibilits qui peuvent encore exister, il
parat plus vraisemblable que jamais que lOrient ait intervenir plus ou moins directement,
de la faon que nous avons explique, si cette restauration doit se raliser quelque jour... Si
lOccident possde encore on lui-mme les moyens de revenir sa tradition et de la restaurer
pleinement cest lui quil appartient de le prouver. En attendant, nous sommes bien oblig de
dclarer que jusquici nous navons aperu le moindre indice qui nous autoriserait supposer
que lOccident, livr lui-mme, soit rellement capable daccomplir cette tche, avec
quelque force que simpose lui lide de sa ncessit . Par ces conclusions nonant la
probabilit que lOrient intervienne plus ou moins directement dans la restauration
occidentale, Gunon voquait videmment la deuxime hypothse formule par lui, celle o
les peuples orientaux pour sauver le monde occidental de cette dchance irrmdiable, se
lassimileraient de gr ou de force, supposer que la chose ft possible, et que dailleurs
lOrient y consente dans sa totalit ou dans quelques-unes de ses parties composantes , et
ceci, rappelons-le, impliquait la renonciation de lOccident ses caractres propres . Le
minimum de conditions de cette hypothse tait toutefois lexistence en Occident dun
noyau intellectuel, mme form seulement dune lite peu nombreuse, mais assez fortement
constitue pour former lintermdiaire indispensable pour ramener la mentalit gnrale . Mais
dans ce cas le rle de llite sy rduirait servir de point dappui une action dont lOccident naurait pas linitiative . A ce propos, nous pourrions faire remarquer que plusieurs
ventualits peuvent tre envisages lintrieur de la deuxime hypothse en fonction des
facteurs qui doivent y intervenir : dun ct, limportance ou leffectivit de llite

La fonction de Ren Gunon et le sort de lOccident (II)

occidentale, de lautre, les peuples orientaux et les organisations qui pourraient trouver un
intrt une restauration occidentale. Ces ventualits sont exprimes, dans un certain
sens, par les modalits de cette assimilation qui serait faite soit de gr , ce qui implique un consentement occidental, du moins dans ses lments ethniques les plus
importants, soit de force , ce qui suppose une rsistance plus ou moins gnralise.
Dailleurs, et surtout dans ce dernier cas, il y a encore envisager la possibilit que
lassimilation affecte lensemble occidental ou seulement une partie, les peuples
orientaux en cause pouvant lentreprendre seulement dans la mesure o ils estimeront que
cela correspond leur propre intrt, pour le reste se contentant peut-tre de prendre
certaines mesures de scurit de lordre tabli, ce qui veut dire aussi que, dans ce cas, des
parties de lOccident pourraient tomber dans une situation correspondant la premire
hypothse, celle qui nonait un tat de pure et simple barbarie. Si nous envisageons
ces diffrentes ventualits secondaires, cest pour faire comprendre que renonciation
dune probabilit de la seconde hypothse nimplique pas forcment la ralisation des
meilleurs aspects de celle-ci, et que mme elle nexclut pas des possibilits de la
premire, le tout dpendant dabord de la capacit quaurait cette lite de servir de
point dappui laction orientale.
Jusquici nous nous sommes tenus dans les termes les plus gnraux en parlant des
possibilits de redressement traditionnel de lOccident. Il nous faut considrer maintenant
ces possibilits selon les points dappui que les lments occidentaux qui auraient
accomplir ce travail de restauration laide de la connaissance des doctrines orientales,
pourraient trouver dans le monde occidental mme.
Il faut dire tout dabord que sil y avait eu en Occident au moins un point o se serait
conserv intgralement lesprit traditionnel, on aurait pu voir l un motif desprer que
lOccident accomplisse un retour ltat traditionnel par une sorte de rveil spontan
de possibilits latentes ; cest le fait quune telle persistance lui semblait, en dpit de
certaines prtentions, extrmement douteuse , qui autorisait Ren Gunon denvisager un
mode nouveau de constitution dune lite intellectuelle, et en fait rien nest venu jusqu
prsent infirmer sa supposition initiale. Pour se constituer, llite en formation avait tout
intrt prendre un point dappui dans une organisation ayant une existence effective. En fait
dorganisations caractre traditionnel, tout ce que lOccident garde encore sont, dans lordre
religieux lEglise catholique, et dans lordre initiatique quelques organisations dans un tat
avanc de dchance. Pourtant sous le rapport doctrinal, seule la premire pouvait tre
envisage comme une base possible de redressement densemble pour le monde occidental,
et Gunon disait donc dans La Crise du Monde moderne : Il semble bien quil ny ait
plus en Occident quune seule organisation qui possde un caractre traditionnel et qui
conserve une doctrine susceptible de fournir au travail dont il sagit une base approprie : cest
lEglise catholique. Il suffirait de restituer la doctrine de celle-ci, sans rien changer la
forme religieuse sous laquelle elle se prsente au dehors, le sens profond quelle a
rellement en elle-mme, mais dont ses reprsentants actuels paraissent navoir plus
conscience, non plus que de son unit essentielle avec les autres formes traditionnelles ; les
deux choses, dailleurs, sont insparables lune de lautre. Ce serait la ralisation du
Catholicisme au vrai sens du mot, qui, tymologiquement, exprime lide d universalit ,
ce quoublient un peu trop ceux qui voudraient nen faire que la dnomination exclusive
dune forme spciale purement occidentale, sans aucun lien effectif avec les autres traditions
(op. cit., pp. 128-129).
4