Revolt Against the Modern World: Politics, Religion, and Social Order in the Kali Yuga (Rivolta contro il mondo moderno) is a book by the philosopher and theorist Julius Evola, first published in Italy, in 1934. Widely seen as his magnum opus, it is an elucidation of his Traditionalist world view.
The first part of the book deals with the concepts of the Traditional world; its knowledge of the bridge between the earthly and the transcendent worlds. The second part deals with the modern world, contrasting its characteristics with those of traditional societies: from politics and institutions to views on life and death. Evola denounces the regressive aspects of modern civilisation (using Tradition as a normative principle).
Rivolta contro il mondo moderno was published in Milan by Hoepli in 1934. In 1969 a revised and augmented edition was published. Translated into English by Guido Stucco (from the 1969 edition), it was published by Inner Traditions in 1995 and as a 375-page hardcover (ISBN 0-89281-506-X). It has also been translated into German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Turkish and Hungarian.
Famous quotes containing the words revolt against the, revolt against, revolt, modern and/or world:
“I went to a very militantly Republican grammar school and, under its influence, began to revolt against the Establishment, on the simple rule of thumb, highly satisfying to a ten-year-old, that Irish equals good, English equals bad.”
—Bernadette Devlin (b. 1947)
“As nature requires whirlwinds and cyclones to release its excessive force in a violent revolt against its own existence, so the spirit requires a demonic human being from time to time whose excessive strength rebels against the community of thought and the monotony of morality ... only by looking at those beyond its limits does humanity come to know its own utmost limits.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“O sovereign mistress of true melancholy,
The poisonous damp of night disponge upon me,
That life, a very rebel to my will,
May hang no longer on me. Throw my heart
Against the flint and hardness of my fault,
Which, being dried with grief, will break to powder
And finish all foul thoughts. O Antony,
Nobler than my revolt is infamous,
Forgive me in thine own particular,
But let the world rank me in register
A master-leaver and a fugitive.”
—William Shakespeare (15641616)
“The real accomplishment of modern science and technology consists in taking ordinary men, informing them narrowly and deeply and then, through appropriate organization, arranging to have their knowledge combined with that of other specialized but equally ordinary men. This dispenses with the need for genius. The resulting performance, though less inspiring, is far more predictable.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“At present, man applies to nature but half his force. He works on the world with his understanding alone. He lives in it, and masters it by a penny-wisdom; and he that works most in it, is but a half-man, and whilst his arms are strong and his digestion good, his mind is imbruted, and he is a selfish savage.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)