Meditations on the Peaks: Mountain Climbing as Metaphor for the Spiritual Quest [Paperback]

Julius Evola (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1998

Evola articulates the close relationship between the physical rigors of mountain climbing and the ascent of the initiate toward self-transcendence. 

Julius Evola, a leading exponent of esoteric thought, was also an ardent mountain climber who personally scaled the peaks of the Tyrols, Alps, and Dolomites. For Evola the physical conquest of a mountain, with all the courage, self-transcendence and mental lucidity that it entails, becomes an inseparable and complementary part of spiritual awakening. It is no coincidence that many ancient cultures chose mountains as the abodes of their gods and considered the rigorous ascent of peaks as the task of heroes and initiates. In modern times, which tend to suffocate the heroic with naked self interest, the mountain still forms part of the profound dimension of spirit where the soul finds within itself more than what it thought itself to be. In Meditations on the Peaks, Evola combines recollections of his own experiences with reflections on other inspirational men and women who shared his view of the transcendent greatness of mountains.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Evola writes in lively prose, filled with fascinating and concrete detail...To read his descriptions of the higher spiritual states is like watching a champion mountain-climber on a vertical glacier."
(Joscelyn Godwin in Gnosis )

"[Evola's] engaging and poetic look at mountain climbing through the eyes of awareness creates an artistic dance of words and images. Feeling the landscape of both mind and matter, [he] brings deeper meaning to the struggles of everyday life."
(Meditation Pathways )

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Inner Traditions (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892816570
• ISBN-13: 978-0892816576
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #901,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good edition of an important book, April 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Meditations on the Peaks: Mountain Climbing as Metaphor for the Spiritual Quest (Paperback)

America seems to be the country where there the translation of Evola's works is marching on faster than anywhere else. Surprisingly this tendency started at the same time as the breakdown of the Communist superpower. Are now even Americans for a future beyond Americanism? Another leading role for the American translations in the "Inner Traditions" series is the beautifulness of the covers, the cheapness of the books, the including of an index - the only thing lacking is the bibliographic information regarding the collected articles which build this book - and much more important the quality of the translations. Guido Stucco has done a fine job again and he has shown in his preface to "The Yoga of Power" his insight into the Evolian thinking: "Evola pointed the way to a steep and solitary path that in my view is still a valid alternative to both the path of koinonia - of human fellowship, which contemporary society has been promoting for the past thirty years - and the spiritualized bourgeois individualism promoted by the New Age movement."

This solitary path can wind his way to the peak of a mountain as this book shows. The spiritual dimension lies first and mainly in the act of climbing, but then expands to the legends connected with the mountains and the experience of the elements - ice and storm, rain and sun. Evola's ashes returned after his dead to his beloved Mount Rosa, to be buried in the eternal ice: the ascend to the peak as a symbol of resurrection. The modern opposition to this experience of transfiguration is symbolzied in skiing: "In skiing the modern spirit finds itself essentially at home; this modern spirit is intoxicated with speed, with constant change, with acceleration." With this book the reader lets this modern spirit behind and reaches to those heights, where ice and light unite in eternal joy.

Martin Schwarz

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for Sunday strollers, January 7, 2002

By 

Kenneth Robinson (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meditations on the Peaks: Mountain Climbing as Metaphor for the Spiritual Quest (Paperback)

This slim volume is collection of brief essays and magazine articles thematically centered on, as the title states, Mountain Climbing as Metaphor for the Spiritual Quest.

A few of the articles are dated, but the rest are gems. What Evola means by the spiritual quest is not the stuff of New Age fantasy or the gooey sentimentality of religiosity.

Evola's prose in these essays is clear and direct. He manages to give us a glimpse into a harsh and rarefied world of transcendent beauty. This book may be the best introduction to Evola for those who are not yet prepard for his more scholarly, esoteric and demanding writings.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rarefied and Lofty Evola, February 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Meditations on the Peaks: Mountain Climbing as Metaphor for the Spiritual Quest (Paperback)

Loftiness, elevation, height-a leitmotiv in all Evola's books. This work bespeaks his passion for mountain-climbing and lends itself as a metaphor for a life of striving towards increasingly higher goals. An excellent introduction to the Italian philosopher, and a highly enjoyable read in its own right.