Traditionalists, with an upper case “T”, like to talk about the cyclical nature of time. In the beginning was The Golden Age, an era marked by harmony with God, which was then followed by The Silver Age, a period after a fall away from God, but close enough to The Golden Age that residual Golden Age virtues remain, after which came The Bronze Age, where materialism abounded, and finally the cycle concludes with The Iron Age, whose chief characteristics are the dissolution of the family, the flight of the gods, widespread violence, and the collapse of great civilizations. Although a new Golden Age is said to come after The Iron Age, making this a cyclical account of history, there is a clear downward slope, a process of involution, that tends away from order and towards chaos.
As I have mentioned elsewhere, the Traditionalist account of history is similar to the account given in the Old Testament: when Israel is faithful to God, there is prosperity; when Israel departs from God, invasion and famine come. Different idiom, same message. While we are touching on the message of Traditionalist doctrines, I would like to add here that behind all Traditionalist esoterica lies the same message: draw near to God.
If you have been keeping up with Scattered Roses, you have heard this all before. Today I want to do something different. In this post I want to point out something weird: The Golden Age never existed, and only exists by its absence. All Traditionalist thinkers have noted, at one time or another, that we have been living in The Iron Age, The Kali Yuga, since the beginning of recorded history. Here are a few examples:
From Rene Guenon,
“The Hindu doctrine teaches that a human cycle, to which it gives the name Manvantara, is divided into four periods marking so many stages during which the primordial spirituality becomes gradually more and more obscured; these are the same periods that the ancient traditions of the West called the Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages. We are now in the fourth age, the Kali- Yuga or 'dark age', and have been so already, it is said, for more than six thousand years, that is to say since a time far earlier than any known to 'classical' history.”1
From Julius Evola,
“These are the fundamental structures to which, generally speaking, we can analytically reduce any mixed form of civilization arising in historical times during the cycle of the Dark Age or Age or Iron.”2
And from the crazed witch, who has made herself into the Traditionalist corpus, Savitri Devi:
“Yet, although they fully recognized the value of their own work in the practical field, and surely very soon conceived the possibility — and perhaps acquired the certitude — of indefinite technical progress, they never believed in progress as a whole, in progress on all lines, as most of our contemporaries seem to do. From all evidence, they faithfully clung to the traditional idea of cyclic evolution and had, in addition to that, the good sense to admit that they lived (inspire of all their achievements) in anything but the beginning of the long-drawn, downward process constituting their own particular “cycle” — and ours…
The privileged ones — the wise — are those few who, being fully aware of the increasing worthlessness of present-day mankind and of its much-applauded “progress,” know how little there is to be lost in the coming crash and look forward to it with joyous expectation as to the necessary condition of a new beginning — a new “Golden Age,” sunlit crest of the next long drawn downward wave upon the surface of the endless Ocean of Life.”3
Guenon is explicit that the Kali Yuga, The Iron Age, began before recoded history. Evola is more subtle but maintains that The Iron Age corresponds to “historical times.” Devi is less explicit than both Guenon and Evola, but still asserts that the ancients believed themselves to be at the top of a slope that must conclude in “a crash” that will be proceeded by a new Golden Age…in other words, the ancients believed themselves to be in The Iron Age.
The Iron Age is synonymous with recorded history. What is more is that if we look back to the Garden of Eden, Satan was present even in Paradise. It does not seem unreasonable to conclude from these two observations that a Golden Age in the sense of a time where Man was in perfect harmony with God was always, at least, precarious. No sooner than having read about the first humans do we also read of their fall. To speak of a Golden Age in the Traditionalist sense, in the sense of whole civilizations existing prior to The Fall, is to speak of an absence. There was no Golden Age in the Traditionalist sense.
Does this mean we should disregard the Traditionalist doctrine? It does not, because The Golden Age is present through its absence, and this makes for a good poetic for understanding history. Looking out at the world and seeing how it is steeped in sin causes a man to reflect, “what was it like before sin? What would life be like if things were right?” We are presented with the absence of The Golden Age, a photographic negative, and in light of this negative, in light of the darkness, we can posit what life ought to be. For the Christian, we tasted The Golden Age in the Garden, but only after The Iron Age passes, only after the Second Coming, will we truly reach The Golden Age. So, it is true that Gold follows Iron, but, and this is key, the original Golden Age was present only through absence.
Guenon, Rene. Translated by M. Pallis, A. Osborne, and R. Nicholson. The Crises of The Modern World. Sophia Perennis Publishing. Hillsdale, NY. 2004. 7
Evola, Julius. Translated by Guido Stucco. Revolt Against the Modern World. Inner Traditions Publishing. Rochester, Vermont. 1994. 228
Devi, Savitri. The Lightning and the Sun. Temple Press. Calcutta, India. 1958. 1-2, 3/