States of Exile

Attempt by antipaganism to found and make itself possible philosophically: predilection for the ambiguous figures of the old culture, above all for Plato, that instinctive Semite and anti-Hellene—also for Stoicism, which is essentially the work of Semites (—"dignity" as strictness, law, virtue as greatness, self-responsibility, authority, as supreme sovereignty over one's own person—this is Semitic. The Stoic is an Arabian sheik wrapped in Greek togas and concepts). - Nietzsche, The Will to Power Nietzsche also theorizes (baselessly) that Plato may have been taught by Egyptian Jews. Walter Kaufmann claims Zeno of Citium (Cyprus), the founder of Stoicism, was probably a Semite. Swami Abhayananda goes so far as to claim he was a Jew from Phoenicia. Stoicism is certainly a philosophy of spiritual exile. T.E. Lawrence comments in Seven Pillars of Wisdom ( source ): I had believed Semites unable to use love as a link between themselves and God, indeed, unable to conceive su...

Spengler writes : Somewhere in Tolkien’s letters he makes clear that the Dwarves of Middle Earth are his Jews. The Dwarvish language of which a few short examples are given is obviously derived from Semitic sources, just as High-Elven stems from Finnish and other Northern European roots. The Dwarves were created before the Elves in the Silmarillion, Tolkien’s posthumously-published compendium of the myths underlying the Lord of the Rings trilogy–but they were created rather by accident, and the whole business had to be done again from scratch to get it right. Thus Tolkien acknowledges in allegorical fashion the precedence of the Jews and their positive qualities (apart from the fact that they are clannish, like to spend their lives digging for wealth, and their women have beards). The Dwarvish alliance with Elves and Men against the Dark Lord makes clear Tolkien’s view that the Jews have their hearts in the right place, and the friendship of Legolas and Gimli is downright ecumenical. ...

But so is everyone else worth listening to.

The distinction between problems and solutions has always meant a lot to me. After all, there is such a thing as a problem to which there is no solution, but mysteries are things ones lives in the presence of. . . . And one must remember when one talks of problems and solutions that some people once talked of the "final solution" of a particular problem . . . It's been very much the American way to, as we say, "face" problems, which means settle them and get on running things. But there are some questions which I would call mysteries, and one of the great purposes of life to spend one's life trying to enter more and more deeply into them. - George Grant, Canadian philosopher "Jewish problem" and "Jewish mystery" are two ways of speaking representing two different outlooks on the world. The first: modern, hubristic, worldly thinking. The second: ancient, reverential, mystical thinking. Nazism is exemplary of modern godlessness, the Babylon...

From a Tablet magazine article on the magazine trade : Although I disagreed with the late Irving Kristol, the so-called godfather of neoconservatism, on many things, I think he was onto something almost existential when it comes to magazine publishing. “A lot of New York intellectuals”—which is to say, Jews—“have roots in Eastern Europe, where, unlike in England or France, there was no tradition or civility,” he told me once when I was interviewing him about intellectuals and magazines. “In England or France, you operate within a framework of existing institutions. In Eastern Europe, we wanted to change existing institutions, to improve them. The Cossack was the existing institution, so ideas were more important than institutions. That is why if you disagree with someone, you stop talking to him and start your own magazine.” Like the author, I think Kristol is onto something here. One does not have to be a proponet of Kevin MacDonald's theory of Jews-as-cultural virus to note a Jew...

An archaeologist writes : Ancient Mesopotamia and surrounding parts of the Middle East were the setting for some of the most momentous turning points in human history: the origins of farming, the invention of the first writing system, of mechanised transport, the birth of cities and centralised government, but also—and no less importantly—familiar ways of cooking food, consuming alcohol, branding commodities, and keeping our homes and bodies clean. That is what archaeologists and ancient historians mean when they talk (a little coyly, these days) about ‘the birth of civilization’, 5000 years ago, on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. It's common knowledge that the Mosaic code owes something to the laws of Hammurabi, the Genesis story owes something to Babylonian mythology, etc. Abraham is said to be of, ahem, Iraqi descent. The same question can be asked of modern Greeks as modern Iraqis: what the hell happened to you guys? As Greek civilization slipped away from the Greeks and...