Julius Evola

ON THE «LEFT-HAND PATH»

[O]ne might recall the Orthodox Hindu doctrine of the triple aspect of
Divinity. This doctrine is apparently obtained by applying the method here called
«inductive», that is inferring the correct concept of the Divinity from concrete
experience. Factually, one observes creative processes, subsistent forms, as well
as destructive processes in the world. Correspondingly three faces are attributed
to divinity: that of God who creates, that of God who conserves, and that of God
who destroys, the corresponding religious hypostases being Brahmâ, Vishnu and
Shiva. These gods have furnished the points of reference for a differentiated cult,
but also for various paths of action — paths which are distinct but, in the last
analysis, equivalent.
It is in this view that the concepts of the Right-Hand Path and the Left-
Hand Path are properly defined. The first path relates to the first aspects of the
Principle (Brahmâ and Vishnu) and, on the plane of comportment, of ethics and
of cult, it is characterized by affirmation of what exists, by the sacralisation of
what exists, by conformity to law (Dharma) and to the positive precepts of a given
traditional order of earthly life. Meanwhile the Left-Hand Path — Vâmâcâra —
stands essentially under the sign of Shiva (or of his Sakti — for example Durgâ
and Kâlî), that is, of the destructive aspect of divinity; it entails not only
detachment and the release from every existent order and norm, but an «anomia»
(=adharma, having no nomos=a law). So Shiva was capable of being both the god
of ascetics who withdrew from the bonds of the world, as well as of the outlaw
himself.
In this respect however as many misinterpretations can arise (and
effectively have arisen) as deviations. It is in this sphere that the concept of
«destruction» is associated with that of «transcendence»: however, not
destruction for destruction’s sake, but destruction for transcendence (the
etymology of the word «transcend» is surpassing by rising). Also, it is obviously
not so much a question of material destruction as, above all, of destructive
experiences, because here one is dealing with the paths to spiritual realization.
The reference here made to «transcendence» is reductionistic; the orientation
toward the heights is the constant and inescapable presupposition. It
distinguishes the world of which we are speaking unequivocally from the sinister
world, mentioned above, of Sade and the like, despite the obscure ecstasies that
this last might provoke.
It is natural that whoever follows the Left-Hand Path makes apologia for
it; so one reads in a certain text that this path is to the Right-Hand Path as wine
in milk, and that they who have a qualification or a vocation for Vîra (=a virile or
heroic orientation) are attracted to it. But a positive title for this claimed
preeminence might really exist, which emphasizes precisely the dimension of
«transcendence»: because that which has a character of transcendence is
necessarily destructive (destructive of the finite), and such a character was
attributed, beyond Shiva, to the Supreme Principle itself. This appears in an
orthodox text which has almost the same popularity in India as the Bible enjoys
in the West: namely, the Bhagavad-gîtâ. In the eleventh chapter of this text, a
destructive and crushing force is indicated as a «supreme form» of the divinity,
and the warrior Arjuna is exhorted to become its human incarnation by
conquering every agony and every weakness of soul. This orientation can
absolutely be related to the Left-Hand Path: combat, death, destruction receive a
metaphysical anointment if their foundation is in the impulse toward
transcendence, in the adumbration of an essential divine attribute.
But customarily the Left-Hand Path is not referred to the «Path of the
Warrior» (despite the evident convergences) but rather to particular experiences
in which also figures, as in Occidental Dionysism, the orgiastic element, which is
to say the specifically sexual element.
In such experiences one seeks something destructive in view of its
«deconditionalized» qualities. Thus it would be a grave error to think that, for
example, when sex and woman are used on that path, one aims at «pleasure» as
it is commonly understood: the «voluptuousness» counts rather as a shattering
of the door in the opposite direction. In the Right-Hand Path sexual unions are
ritualized, are made in the image of the ieros gamos, of the intercourse of a divine
couple or a mythological archetype. Meanwhile in the Left-Hand Path sexual
unions must «kill», by realizing the ancient formula «love=death». It can be
observed that Western alchemical hermetism has enumerated the use of women
amongst those means that it, in its cyphered polivalent jargon, has called
«corrosive waters» or the «philosopher’s venom».
An eminent Hindu scholar, Das Gupta, has indicated connections between
the Left-Hand Path and certain «obscure religious cults». We have stated above
that very widespread misunderstandings of a moralizing character exist with
respect to the essence of this Path; we must note also a number of its degraded
and degenerate forms. In fact, we stand on rather treacherous ground here,
especially if we proceed to true and proper «evocations». There are practices the
ultimate meaning of which could be summarized thus: to activate (or evoke) that
which stands beneath form, in order to carry oneself above form. By «form» here
is meant all that which is variously conditioned and ordered with a certain fixity
in the human being or in a given structure. Every order is defined as a form which
yokes and ties the formless and elementary — the «demonic» if you please, in the
ancient and non-Christian moral sense of the term. The formless or elementary
is now liberated; by emerging, it cannot help but act destructively on form. If we
stop here, we find ourselves in the field of obscure rites of witchcraft. Forms of
possession (potentially not perceived as such) might result. If rather the
destruction of form carries beyond and above form, all of this might acquire a
kind of positive character. One could even speak of a «white manipulation of the
black magic» (which extends so far as to include even the so-called «black
masses»), and this might form an aspect of the Left-Hand Path. Whence the
references made by Das Gupta. Everyone perceives the risks that are encountered
in such practices. It is important to observe, on the other hand, that in India the
Left-Hand Path is not taken by isolated individuals who are attracted by one or
the other of its aspects; there, several traditions correspond to it, with several
spiritual masters (guru) and it often even entails initiations. Initiation, in the
aspect which ought to be considered in this context, is taken to arouse in the
single individual a power which, if it does not immunize him completely to every
danger (in such a case he would no longer be a man), it at least helps him to keep
his feet — naturally, if he knows how to look clearly into himself, if he knows his
own possibilities, and if the ultimate aim is kept constantly present.