Customer Reviews

Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Julius Evola wrote this book (in the 1950's) for people like himself (although younger and less experienced): marginalized radical-right intellectuals (with a strong spiritual bent) trying to maintain their dignity in a world where they exert little to no influence over their contemporaries, which he refers to throughout the book as the "differentiated" and "integrated" type of man--the "aristocrats of the soul" referred to in the subtitle. Topics of his critique range from (to name a few) nihilism, youth sub-cultures, existentialism, science, the arts, sexuality, and death. Evola's basic premise is that Western civilization is disintegrating and beyond the point of saving (or being worth saving), and so it is the task of the individual who is disgusted by his surroundings to make the best of the situation by "riding the tiger"--a non-resisting controlled indulgence--for the time being, and yet not falling prey to the delusions offered by the surrounding world.

There's little point in reviewing this, or any book, by Evola, as they are pretty well self-recommending to the `differentiated individual' [the man who stands out from the crowd] that he is concerned with. If you don't fall into that rarefied class, then this book is not for you, and if that sound like 'elitism', then so be it; facts are facts, and this book would not please you anyway.

That said, even some who might be expected to welcome this translation of a relatively recent [Evola in the 70s!] work might not be pleased either. This book represents an even greater movement away from practical politics (his famous post-war `apoliteia' which some seem to think makes him "the godfather of neo-Nazi terror") than the previous Men among the Ruins. And Evola continues to take his own stands, regardless of what professors or publicists may think as "of the Right." Enthusiasts for the "French New Right" or the "Conservative Revolution" may be nonplussed to find their hero Heidegger beaten soundly in the chapter on Existentialism [which can even be recommended to the non-differentiated soul who wants a relatively short analysis and dismissal of that tiresome movement], while Sartre, that dirty French commie, gets some qualified praise for his views on freedom.

On the other hand, the relatively illiterate American `conservatives' who know nothing of Heidegger but worry about eugenics and `the white race dying out' would do well to contemplate Evola's views on marriage and reproduction. No great race, he points out, has conquered and ruled through force of numbers, but only by the will of its elites (the British Raj, for example). In the present situation, to demand more births is necessarily to demand that the numerically superior lower classes increase, while the elite themselves cannot count on their own children, born into this dark age, acquiring any distinction. Evola endorses the Platonic and Hermetic preference for passing traditional wisdom from master to disciple, rather than indiscriminate population growth, to preserve Aryan culture.

The chapter on drugs will also upset such conservatives; reading between the lines, Evola clearly supports his own earlier experimentation with mind-altering chemicals, and continues to find their use of value (again, only to the differentiated man, not the aimless hippie or teen subject to `peer pressure.') In this he continues to stand with the true Conservative Revolutionaries, such as Junger and Benn, libertines all, and disdains our current crop of thoroughly judaized "conservatives."

While not exactly a call to arms, this book will comfort the 'spiritual aristocrat' and provoke the intellectually lazy "man of the right." It may even delight a few liberals -- welcome to the fold!

_Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul_ by Italian counter-revolutionary theorist Baron Julius Evola is a manual for a certain spiritual type of man - the man of Tradition - faced with the nihilistic reality of the modern world. Tradition is characterized by a recognition of transcendence and hierarchy as opposed to the mass levelling which has taken place in modernity - at root in nihilism. Evola, a gloomy figure on the marginalized radical right in postwar Italy, writes of the modern world as witnessing a new dark age, the Kali Yuga of Indian tradition (as noted by the father of Traditionalism, Rene Guenon). In the philosophy of Traditionalism, the world is said to have fallen from a past Golden Age (as witnessed to by the ancient Greeks, Hesiod, and the Hindus) and approaching the end of a cycle has entered the Kali Yuga, an era characterized by dissolution. Kali is a dark goddess of sexuality and orgiastic rites in Hindu mythology - said to be asleep in previous eras but in the Kali Yuga said to be wide awake. The modern age is characterized by the "death of God" (the end of the transcendent), the beginning of European nihilism as explained by Nietzsche. In such a world, the spiritual type Evola writes for is totally alienated. Topics covered in this book include Nietzsche's philosophy and the world in which "God is dead", the "lost youth" and the postwar generation of Beatniks, the dead end of existentialist philosophies, Heideggerianism and Husserlian phenomenologies, the new physics and scientism, moral decline, an excursus on drugs, the failure of modern art, sexuality and marriage, the "new religiosity, and death. Evola finds little to recommend for his ideal type except for a sort of neo-Gnostic complete withdrawal from the modern world characterized by what he terms "apolitea". In terms of Tradition, little remains left to recognize and hierarchy has been completely abolished. This form of apolitea may be described as "riding the tiger", a Far Eastern saying meaning that if one succeeds in riding a tiger not only does one avoid having to leap on one, but one may eventually get the better of it. This is Evola's only recommendation for coming to terms with modernity and making one's way across the Kali Yuga that completes the traditional cycle. As in his previous book _Revolt Against the Modern World_, Evola offers many profound insights into both the nature of modernity and the means for achieving counter-revolution giving the prevailing winds of the time.

"Ride the Tiger" is a relatively short yet brilliant book for those capable of thinking critically. Evola gives a history of nihilistic and existentialist thought, demonstrates in what manner these systems of thought are incomplete, and takes these systems to their logical conclusion.
I was so amazed at Evola's erudite thinking and consistency that I bought the rest of his works and have never looked back. Not for the intellectual dullard or neo-spiritualist (i.e. "New-ager"), "Ride the Tiger" is, as the subtitle states, for the "Aristocrat of the Soul".

I wouldn't exactly call this book a manual. There is no how-to. It's more like a summary of a non-political philosophy of life. If you don't already know something about European philosophy and essentially agree with Evola's worldview, you probably won't get anything out of this book. And even if you can follow parts of it, you may not be able to follow all of it. For example, I agree with Evola's conclusions on music, but I don't understand the rationale for his criticism of jazz--that it relies in the silences (or up-beat, I don't remember exactly). I suspect this has some metaphysical meaning related to his esotericism.

Evola and the translator are talented enough that the book is interesting to read even when it is useless. I agree with Evola on enough points that I intend to keep reading more of his works, looking for some way to adapt his worldview without embracing the occult, in which I have no interest. As Buddhism is becoming "psychologized" through neuroscience, I suspect much of Evola's work can be of interest to post-modern Americans who would have been interested in Albert Jay Nock or Henry Adams in another time. In some ways this is unfortunate because Evola could be a gateway to foolish, dead-end political philosophies like anarchism or neo-fascism.

Who is this book good for? As you can guess from the other reviews, it will appeal to people who see themselves as above the middling crowd, although these are not the right people for the book. The book is meant for people who have a strong intuition that something is wrong with the world that can't be fixed by giving people more money, passing more laws, or voting out our current political regime.

Evola's almost reckless advice is for very wise people who have a strong sense of proportion; it is not for weak minded people who want to exhibit power or force. In a nutshell, we are born in modernity, crouched on the back of the Tiger. For Evola modernity is decadence, atomism, mass beliefs, urban myths, propaganda topics, consumerism, social conformity and social fear, essentially fear. This reality faces us with a dilema: or we choose with gallantry individual self-realization and personal growth through Perennial Tradition disciplines made available to us through modern media ( a paradox of our times ) or we dissolve ourselves in an illusory World whose lack of substance and cinicism we wilfully choose not to bother ourselves with.

This book is extraordinary. Evola eviscerates the various -isms and -ologies of the modern world, revealing the crushing spiritual vacuum at the core of modern life. While discussing the failings of the modern intellectual or scientist, he is always careful to explain how traditional thinkers walked that conceptual path before, emerging with treasures and insights instead of ennui and nihilism. Of particular interest is his hyper-rational onslaught on the claims of modern science, which he effortlessly reveals for the pointless, vapid exercise it is. As I understand it, Evola trained as an engineer and like his fellow Italian Vilfredo Pareto, applies an engineer's incisive thought to the problem of Kali-Yuga modernity for the differentiated man. At the same time he is brutally candid about modern western spiritual forms such as Christianity, an effeminate parody of Traditional spirituality aimed at the lower types in our ailing epoch.

What I like about this book is the fact it is shot through with heroism and hope, unlike Men Among the Ruins or Revolt Against the Modern World which, while brilliant, are rather despairing in character. While revealing modernist assumptions and values for the dross they are, Evola somehow retains an essential optimism in the face of our blighted age. This is not the 'traditional' conservatism of the Anglo-American world: this is a full-scale intellectual assault on post-Renaissance Western civilization.

Highly recommended.

Evola's "Ride the Tiger" is fairly light reading for someone versed in philosophy. I laugh every time I see the comment on the back of the book that says "One of the most difficult and ambiguous figures in modern esotericism". If anything, the book is somewhat superficial and hardly esoteric at all. However, it has a rather interesting thesis that sets its author's way of thinking at odds with both capitalism and marxism. In presenting a third way in personal life, it is rather interesting. Unfortunately, it has some problems.

Evola's argumentation is often bad i.e.: his rampant Kali Yuga "The end is near!" eschatological stance and he often misinterprets texts or takes commnents by German philosophers i.e.: Nietszche out of context to suit his general argument. He often tables difficult arguments until later in the book and never sufficiently addresses them. To his credit, he does tend to use Hegel in a relevant way, though.

Thankfully, unlike other traditionalists, his arguments tend to be straight forward and seldom resort to religious/occultic or other nonsensical explanations. He has a somewhat diletante-ish (he tends to drop a lot of german and french literary references) though highly engaging style.

Recommended for those with an historical or philosophical interest in philosophical pessism in the 20th century, radical traditionalism, italian fascism, radical populism, third way thinking, or people of a philosophical or theological bent interested in occultic underpinnings of WW2 and how they developed after it. A german philosophical or literary background will be helpful.

If you're interested in other 3rd way ideologies, though, I'd also recommend Chesterton and his texts (and fiction) that deal with distributivism. If you're interested in Pessimism, I'd recommend Spengler's "Decline of the West" and of course, if you haven't read him already, Schopenhauer.

If you're not familiar with prussian/german literature and philosophy and have a mild classical background, you'll probably get lost, very quickly.

Yes, i do love the ominous writers...
Some will accuse Evola for being fascist, ultra righteous, nazi, (and even worst),
but the truth is that Evola only show us his great works.
And to accuse Evola for his views is some heavy proof of ignorance for me.
The fact is that, even one proletarian work as i am, have gathered invaluable
lessons for one's entire life from Evola.
What i have learned from Evola's works, says for itself.
All the detractors are just like a dogs bark in the dark.
The same says for the ones who are using Evola's works for justify
theirs right wing delusions!

This book is an extremely interesting attempt-- emphasis on "attempt," I'm not sure that Evola succeeds-- in providing the men of "a certain type" with a way to assert themselves in a world utterly opposed. The content of the book has been discussed at length, but the translator needs to be slammed over and over again, and new one prepared. This translation is barely English; it is so clunkily constructed as to almost defy reading. You can still see Evola shine through in places, but it took me a few tries to get through a very dauntingly poor prose style.