A new book on anarchist thought is now
available from Winter Oak Press. For an interview with the author please see here. For a discussion on this book on our Facebook page, please see here.
The Anarchist Revelation: Being What
We’re Meant to Be is the latest work by activist and writer Paul
Cudenec.
Here, he turns his back on contemporary
trends of anarchism in a bid to reconnect with the primal force of
its root ideology.
Cudenec notes the significance of its
refusal of the state and its judicial system, of land ownership and
of the need to work for wages in order to live.
But he goes further in suggesting that
anarchism represents a whole way of thinking that stands in direct
opposition to the blinkered materialism of contemporary society and
its soul-stifling positivist dogma.
He writes: “The anarchist does not
merely stray outside the framework of acceptable thinking as
carefully assembled by the prevalent system – she smashes it to
pieces and dances on the wreckage.”
Cudenec notes the fluidity and depth of
thinking found in anarchism, in stark contrast to Marxism, and
identifies, in particular, a love of apparent paradox that seems to
appeal to the anarchist psyche.
He also sees a connection between and
anarchism and esoteric forms of religion – such as Sufism, Taoism
and hermeticism - whose inner light defies the crushing patriarchal
conservatism and hierarchy of the exoteric institutions.
Cudenec provides evidence that
anarchism’s roots lie partly in this life-embracing source of
inspiration, the bringer of art and poetry as well as of resistance
and revolt.
While, he argues, anarchism is
incompatible with existing religions, it has the potential to harness
its powerful ideology to this universal esoteric current and thus
become the religion of the future, the spiritual and political
revelation that will save humankind from a grim future of slavery,
corruption and destruction.
In making his case, Cudenec draws on
the work of anarchists such as Gustav Landauer, Michael Bakunin and
Herbert Read. But he also widens the field of enquiry to include the
philosophy of René Guénon, Herbert Marcuse and Jean Baudrillard;
the existentialism of Karl Jaspers and Colin Wilson; the vision of
Carl Jung, Oswald Spengler and Idries Shah, and the environmental
insight of Derrick Jensen and Paul Shepard.
With a fusion of scholarly research and
inspiring polemic, Cudenec succeeds in forging a coherent and
profound 21st century world-view with an appeal that will reach out
far beyond those who currently term themselves anarchists. (Source)
Review:
Review:
Publications on anarchism have been thriving since the early 2000s. Yet, there is still a place for surprisingly unique releases. Paul Cudenec's The Anarchist Revelation, recently published by Winter Oak Press in England is one such example. The book attempts no less than equipping contemporary anarchism with a footing that is often neglected: the transformation not only of society's structures but also of people's souls.
In order to achieve his goal, Cudenec embarks on a daring journey through the history of ideas. The list of references is long: Taoism, Sufism, the Bhagavad Gita, Nietzsche, Hesse, Huxley, C.G. Jung, Marcuse, Baudrillard, Zerzan, to name but a few. This alone will be reason enough for some folks to be skeptical: the list includes many non-anarchists, the danger of romanticizing non-Western traditions is evident, and when the likes of Oswald Spengler pop up, a fear for reactionary ideas corrupting a presumably progressive treatise is never far.
Make no mistake, though: this is no hodgepodge of random notations, and no new age hocus-pocus disguised in anarchist colors. Cudenec's text is well-structured, consistent in its arguments, and manages to address poetry, mysticism, and spirituality without regressing into lofty gibberish. It is never in doubt that the book is a serious attempt at helping us answer the ever relevant question of whether life can change with a rearrangement of social institutions alone, if we don't change as human beings.
This is not an either-or question of course, as social institutions determine personal development – but the opposite is true as well. As Cudenec puts it, it is not that "the message is an individualist one … The reason why individuals must follow this path is so that they can better channel and carry out the needs of the larger whole." (vii)
In a kind of Landauerian twist of Nietzsche (readers who couldn't care less about either can simply ignore this observation), Cudenec puts a strong emphasis on the figure of the "outsider": "Being an 'outsider' is thus a stage in a personal transformation which we must all experience if we are ever to emerge from the perpetual self-obsessed adolescence encouraged by contemporary society." (viii)
Once again, the purpose of this stage is not to remain isolated, but to reunite with others as an individual better equipped for communal existence: "As instinctive outsiders, we free ourselves from the chains of society's expectations only to find ourselves bearing an enormous burden of care for the well-being of the community. An extreme sense of personal freedom combined with an extreme sense of collective responsibility – this is the powerful creative tension at the heart of the anarchist psyche." (85)
The anarchist "revelation" that the book's title alludes to is a consequence of these convictions: "It is not so much a revolution that is needed, but a revelation – a lifting of all the veils of falsity and a joyful rediscovery of the authentic core of our existence." (121)
To speak of an "authentic core of our existence" or, as Cudenec does on other occasions, of a "human archetype" (19) or the possibility of failing to become "all that nature intended us to be" (25) easily evokes accusations of essentialism. Yet, if we look beyond the terminological difficulties, an important question is raised here: What is it that we, as anarchists, actually want and need? In the end, only an answer to this question can lay the foundation for the communities we are seeking.
Paul Cudenec's work will mostly appeal to those who – in increasing numbers – explore the relations between anarchism and philosophy, psychology, and religion. People looking for in-depth analyses of governmental bodies, labor conditions, or gender and race relations might have to turn somewhere else. No single book has it all.
The Anarchist Revelation has a clear purpose, however, that is, reflecting on the transformation of the self for the benefit of the community. Everyone interested in this mighty challenge will find the text to be an inspiring read.
gk (August 2013) - (Source)
Gabriel Kuhn is well known to English-speaking anarchists for the likes of Life Under the Jolly Roger: Reflections on Golden Age Piracy (2010), Soccer vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics (2011), and for editing and translating Gustav Landauer's Revolution and Other Writings (2010) and Liberating Society from the State and Other Writings (2011) by Erich Mühsam.
His German-language works include Tier-Werden, Schwarz-Werden, Frau-Werden. Eine Einführung in die politische Philosophie des Poststrukturalismus (2005) and Neuer Anarchismus in den USA. Seattle und die Folgen (2008).
Paul Cudenec draws on an impressively
wide range of authors to depict a corrupted civilization on the brink
of self-destruction and to call for a powerful new philosophy of
resistance and renewal offering a future for humanity in which we are
all able to “be what we’re meant to be”. He combines the
anarchism of the likes of Gustav Landauer, Michael Bakunin and
Herbert Read with the philosophy of René Guénon, Herbert Marcuse
and Jean Baudrillard; the existentialism of Karl Jaspers and Colin
Wilson; the vision of Carl Jung, Oswald Spengler and Idries Shah, and
the environmental insight of Derrick Jensen and Paul Shepard in a
work of ideological alchemy fuelled by the ancient universal esoteric
beliefs found in Sufism, Taoism and hermeticism. With a fusion of
scholarly research and inspiring polemic, Cudenec succeeds in forging
a coherent and profound 21st century world-view with an appeal that
will reach out far beyond those who currently term themselves
anarchists. The book sets out by exploring the sense of
meaninglessness in modern society, exemplified by our alienating
dependency on technology and mental manipulation by commercial
interests. It follows Guénon, Marcuse and Baudrillard in diagnosing
a regression of intellect and the reign of quality over quantity –
a condition that Cudenec describes as the disease of modernity. He
argues that the concepts of “progress” and economic “growth”
imply the inevitability of one particular future – a continuation
of the current system. Although environmental crisis threatens our
very existence, change is blocked and democracy is an illusion. The
repression of resistance is mirrored by the control of “reality”.
The closing-down of language and thought encouraged by the positivist
philosophy is, as Marcuse and Jaspers explain, ideal for the
capitalist system – denying as it does all possibility of human
autonomy. What we need, says Cudenec, is a complete refusal of the
system. Anarchism challenges assumptions about the law (Leo Tolstoy),
property (William Godwin), employment (Bakunin) and the state (Errico
Malatesta). It rejects the narrowness of positivism (Bakunin,
Landauer) and imagines individuals’ natural potential fulfilled in
a harmonious organic society (Peter Kropotkin). Our innate human
sense of justice is thwarted by capitalism, argues Cudenec, creating
a powerful potential for revolt. But where, he asks, will the rebels
come from to take on such a titanic struggle? He looks at the way a
natural outsider (Wilson) can manage to turn the despair of
alienation into acceptance of an existential burden of responsibility
(Jean-Paul Sartre). An inner strength is needed to take on the
“allotted task” (Jaspers), which presents itself as calling or
“daemonic will” (Jung). This originates in the collective
unconscious and acts for the benefit of whole – it is thus merely
channelled by an individual, who must be open and authentic enough to
allow this to happen. The universal esoteric spiritual path involves
stripping away the ego’s barrier between the individual and the
collective whole (Ibn ‘Arabi). With historic connections to this
tradition (Sedgwick, Waterfield), anarchists use the language of
alchemy to call for a transformation of society (Bakunin, Emma
Goldman, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon). The anarchist love of seeming
paradox reflects the depth and fluidity of the philosophy – in
contrast to “rigid” Marxism (Landauer). Contradictions are
embraced rather than resolved. Playfulness and creativity are also at
the heart of anarchism and set it apart from materialist Marxism. The
poetic language of revolt can bypass social conditioning and open up
new possibilities. In his final chapter, “¡Viva la Revelación!”,
Cudenec concludes that a remarkable transformation is needed to save
humanity. This will not come from existing religions – we need a
spiritual awakening that speaks a “new language” (Jaspers) and is
powered by its own values (Frithjof Schuon). This is The Anarchist
Revelation.
Paul Cudenec is a writer, poet and
activist living in the south of England. His previous writing
includes Antibodies: Life, Death and Resistance in the Psyche of the
Superorganism and We Anarchangels of Creative Destruction. For more
information and contact details visit paulcudenec.blogspot.co.uk
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