There was an old samurai who said, it is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war. Jünger's advice to cultivate an inner landscape of preparation seems to parallel this orientation.
Jünger seems also to have appreciated an important facet of freedom: if one is not free internally, one is not free at all; conversely, if one is internally free, there are no chains that can really hold one. The tyrant always requires the collaboration of the tyrannized, as the latter must ultimately agree to bend to the tyrant's will. If one refuses to submit, no matter the consequences, nothing the tyrant can do can make one submit. Which is not to say that the tyrant cannot do terrible things; such an uncompromising commitment to liberty is therefore much more easily said than done. But then, this too is I think acknowledged in Jünger's stance towards life: it is no accident that he was as much warrior as poet, and emphasized so strongly the necessity of martial virtue, training the soul and body in hardship, and acknowledged directly that only a small fraction of mankind could ever walk the path he described.
The man sounds pretty much a one of a kind with polar opposites existing within him simultaneously. Extremely difficult to prepare oneself mentally for the unknown, I guess it will depend on each person to decide depending on how grim it gets to how long and what they can withstand.
Tucker Carlson was interviewed by a friend, Clayton Morris, shortly after his week of J6 shows. [Quoting Youtube's auto transcript with some light editing for clarity.]
"The most important experience in the life of a man is humiliation and failure. . . I realized how wrong I was [about the Iraq War] and I made the decision that I had to admit it and I did admit it in December of 2003 in a New York Times interview and I'll never forget it. . . I got a text or an email from one of my former editors . . . who was like 'this is disgraceful' and I remember thinking I'm making a permanent break with my old life now because people won't accept this. . .
"I do think the beginning of all wisdom is acknowledging just how screwed up you are. That's the basis of Christianity but it's also the basis again of temporal human wisdom. It's like 'I'm the problem. I screwed it up. I am not God.' If you start here, you're much more likely to wind up at the truth and so I just like made a decision and it's hardened over the years and now it's just that iron clad. I'm not lying like I'm just not gonna lie, you know. . .
"To just decide 'I'm not gonna lie, I'm not gonna go along with these lies' is the most liberating thing you can do, whether it leads to professional success or failure, it doesn't matter. It enhances you as a person that makes you stronger every time you tell the truth, you become stronger. You feel this power coming into you. By contrast, every time you lie, you get smaller and weaker and more afraid.
"It's been this amazing and beautiful experience for me to be in the face of these lies and feel like I don't have to go along with this at all, and like, 'are you gonna fire me? Okay, fine, go ahead. I'm still not lying.' 'Are you gonna arrest me? Go ahead and I'm not lying period.' And they'll try to keep foisting crap on you."
Great essay, Luc. I am glad that I got to share this bit from Carlson. Obviously, it is really true. But as Juenger says, very few people are willing to live this way.
There was an old samurai who said, it is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener in a war. Jünger's advice to cultivate an inner landscape of preparation seems to parallel this orientation.
Jünger seems also to have appreciated an important facet of freedom: if one is not free internally, one is not free at all; conversely, if one is internally free, there are no chains that can really hold one. The tyrant always requires the collaboration of the tyrannized, as the latter must ultimately agree to bend to the tyrant's will. If one refuses to submit, no matter the consequences, nothing the tyrant can do can make one submit. Which is not to say that the tyrant cannot do terrible things; such an uncompromising commitment to liberty is therefore much more easily said than done. But then, this too is I think acknowledged in Jünger's stance towards life: it is no accident that he was as much warrior as poet, and emphasized so strongly the necessity of martial virtue, training the soul and body in hardship, and acknowledged directly that only a small fraction of mankind could ever walk the path he described.
According to Friedrich-Georg Jünger, modern man’s veneration of technology reveals his distant kinship to the Titans of myth. This ‘titanic’ impulse to dominate and consume expresses itself through our technology-driven industrial economy, which now determines every aspect of life from the air we breathe to the food we eat. https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2021/06/friedrich-georg-junger-technology-prometheanism-matthew-pheneger.html?mc_cid=73d6122766&mc_eid=764ac32c63
Interesting
The man sounds pretty much a one of a kind with polar opposites existing within him simultaneously. Extremely difficult to prepare oneself mentally for the unknown, I guess it will depend on each person to decide depending on how grim it gets to how long and what they can withstand.
Did you read it in German? I’ve read the English version, but I’ve been thinking of getting the German and re reading.
Tucker Carlson was interviewed by a friend, Clayton Morris, shortly after his week of J6 shows. [Quoting Youtube's auto transcript with some light editing for clarity.]
"The most important experience in the life of a man is humiliation and failure. . . I realized how wrong I was [about the Iraq War] and I made the decision that I had to admit it and I did admit it in December of 2003 in a New York Times interview and I'll never forget it. . . I got a text or an email from one of my former editors . . . who was like 'this is disgraceful' and I remember thinking I'm making a permanent break with my old life now because people won't accept this. . .
"I do think the beginning of all wisdom is acknowledging just how screwed up you are. That's the basis of Christianity but it's also the basis again of temporal human wisdom. It's like 'I'm the problem. I screwed it up. I am not God.' If you start here, you're much more likely to wind up at the truth and so I just like made a decision and it's hardened over the years and now it's just that iron clad. I'm not lying like I'm just not gonna lie, you know. . .
"To just decide 'I'm not gonna lie, I'm not gonna go along with these lies' is the most liberating thing you can do, whether it leads to professional success or failure, it doesn't matter. It enhances you as a person that makes you stronger every time you tell the truth, you become stronger. You feel this power coming into you. By contrast, every time you lie, you get smaller and weaker and more afraid.
"It's been this amazing and beautiful experience for me to be in the face of these lies and feel like I don't have to go along with this at all, and like, 'are you gonna fire me? Okay, fine, go ahead. I'm still not lying.' 'Are you gonna arrest me? Go ahead and I'm not lying period.' And they'll try to keep foisting crap on you."
Great essay, Luc. I am glad that I got to share this bit from Carlson. Obviously, it is really true. But as Juenger says, very few people are willing to live this way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI9OdnyvQew
Brilliant piece. Exactly how we must live.