The contemporary discourse of the online right can be a labyrinth of disparate and contradicting ideas. Indeed, ever since the fracture of the Alt-Right in late 2017 to early 2018 people have gone in various different philosophical directions. An example of this can be seen between myself and Jason Jorjani. Jorjani was supposed to speak at a conference I attended in New York City in 2017. I was personally invited by the organizer and given a free ticket, and if we were to speak at that time and place, we would’ve had a much more amicable interaction then we would today. However, due to the drama surrounding his involvement with the Alt-Right, he cancelled his appearance.
These days, to be blunt, I don’t like Jorjani, I don’t care for his ideas, and I care even less for the pompous air of superiority he projects while positing outlandish theories. Indeed, one simply has to look at his writing with its tawdry and lurid prose, filled with gross misunderstandings and vulgar metaphors to see the type of mind we are dealing with in Jorjani. In equal measure, he both waves away and makes authoritative statements on authors and subjects he hasn’t the slightest understanding of; whether it be the writings of Alexander Dugin or the teachings of the Buddha. Instead of genuine insight he fills page after page with his ugly distortions; the obvious product of a grotesque and fractured psyche.
Over the last few years Jorjani has projected the spectre of a twisted strawman of Traditionalism as a foil for his own philosophical project, to the point where he has posited a Traditionalist luddite conspiracy to keep humanity from reaching ‘the Singularity’, (a topic that will be discussed below). This is of course, an absurd notion that can and should be dismissed outright without the support of overwhelming evidence; which of course he lacks. To restate it more explicitly; there is, in fact, a complete lack of evidence for any “Traditionalist” conspiracy on the part of our elites, and as such we should dismiss Jorjani with the same haughtiness that he so often displays. To the degree that there is any trepidation regarding the unleashing of AI, it simply represents the natural concerns any elite would have—regardless of ideology—when confronted by a technology with the potential to radically alter the operation of society, as such transformations have the potential to undermine the social position of certain members of the elite. This hesitation—to the degree it even exists—has much more to do with Machiavelli than it does with Guénon.
If we want to look at an attitude and worldview which more accurately reflects that of our leaders, we need not look any further than Jorjani himself and his philosophical project. Indeed Prometheism holds the very same presuppositions of historical and technological progress as both progressive and conservative liberalism and indeed the same hostility to tradition (both lowercase and capital ’T’ usage of the term) as progressives. He also shares the same insufferable and arrogant cosmopolitanism that is the hallmark of contemporary progressive liberals; functionally and spiritually Prometheism and progressive liberalism are the same thing.
This conspiracy theory involving Traditionalism Jorjani has concocted is both odd and humorous seeing as Traditionalism; as outlined by Guénon, Evola, and others has pretty much become a dead letter; even on the so called far-right. Traditionalism has very little resonance in the far-right today, and with the exception of Alexander Dugin and a handful of writers including myself; most rightwing dissidents have moved on to other, more ‘pragmatic’ philosophical outlooks. Therefore, once one accurately assesses the situation; the idea that Traditionalism driven by a handful of eccentric thinkers, with a very small following and no institutional support, are going to stop the Juggernaut of technological progress of the West, much less the world as a whole is a completely ridiculous proposition.
Then again of course he’s not really talking about actual Traditionalists, but Muslim nations like Iran and their religious and political leaders. Yet, none of these fundamentalist countries endorse anything that Evola and Guénon wrote about. Neither were advocates for a literal fundamentalist interpretation of holy texts such is the practice of fundamentalists of all exoteric faiths, but instead were interested in getting to the esoteric truths that lay hidden behind exoteric religious practices. Jorjani would of course know this, but he needs to use Traditionalism as a foil or else his whole project ceases to make sense and becomes pointless.
Well, that’s a double edged sword, because while the comparative tension between Traditionalism and his ideology creates an interesting contrast—one he exploits to showcase his ideas and make them more appealing by comparing them to a caricature of their opposite—the same comparative strategy is also open to his opponents. However, for our part we will try to deal with Jorjani and his ideas in a more honest way than he has with his opponents.
In an interesting aside, according to Benjamin Teitelbaum, author of the book, War For Eternity, Jorjani presented himself as a Traditionalist, albeit an unorthodox one, when interviewed by the author. Yet, now he proudly calls himself an agent of the Counter-Tradition. Whatever.
Not long ago, Jorjani was featured on an episode of the Eurosiberia podcast hosted by the Editor-in-chief of Arktos Journal Constantin von Hoffmeister. Jorjani was on to promote his latest book, and he was able to control himself and tone down the more objectionable aspects of his personality so the interview was at least watchable. This interview is an auspicious occasion as it is an excellent opportunity for me to finally elaborate upon some things that I’ve only vaguely posted about in passing, namely the Traditionalist concepts of Counter-Tradition/Counter-Initiation, and their relationship to transhumanism and AI. In the course of this discussion, any criticism I have already made of Jorjani and his ideas—and will continue to make—is merely incidental. For the purposes of this conversation, any discussion of Jorjani or Prometheism simply serves as a jumping off point for exploring my own thoughts. It’s quite likely that this article will play into the narrative and persecution complex he’s constructed; where Traditionalists are the agents of opposition and oppression; despite the fact that he has repeatedly gone out of his way to provoke a response. It’s a bit reminiscent of certain groups who are accused of “crying out in pain as they strike you”. Yet, considering he has declared a techno-progressive jihad against Tradition, a response is in order.
In the interview, Jorjani discussed at length his projections for the ‘Singularity’, a concept and theoretical scenario of an exponential, uncontrollable, and irreversible, technological revolution driven by artificial intelligence (AI) popularized by the Jewish futurist author Ray Kurzweil. The theory of the Singularity basically states that once AI is developed, it will be able to create technological innovation much quicker than humanity, and at an ever accelerated pace, because of its ability to process information at speeds far out pacing that of humans. In fact, such self aware machines are projected by advocates of this theory to both innovate better versions of themselves and to self improve. According to theorists such as Kurzweil, the creation of AI and the dawn of the Singularity would create such a profound transformation that the previous disruptions of modernity, for example; the Industrial Revolution – which fundamentally changed how humans lived – would pale in comparison next to it.
According to Futurists, the incredible advancement of technology since the Industrial Revolution is historical proof of the long term exponential growth curve of technology, and thus shows that humanity is well on it’s way to the Singularity or the Fourth Industrial Revolution as others have called it. Futurists see this development as almost inevitable and cite Moore’s Law as an example of exponential technological growth already happening. Moore’s Law states that computing power doubles every two years, and while the growth in computing power has apparently slowed down, it hasn’t stopped. Futurists believe that this trend will continue leading to the development of AI.
Technological futurism is central to Prometheism; Jorjani’s philosophical project, and as such it’s of no surprise that he is both an advocate of, and believer in the theory of the Singularity. In what strikes me as an article of faith, Jorjani made it clear he believes that once the Singularity is unleashed – and with it an uncontrolled technological revolution that will accelerate exponentially – the same social pressures that are currently degenerating Western Civilization will create an evolutionary bottle neck that while eliminating a majority of humanity, will lead to the birth of Frederich Nietzsche’s Übermensch through the merging of humanity with machines and sentient AI. It’s the standard transhumanist fare with a Nietzschean edge-lord twist.
Later in the interview he states:
There is a kind of archaic heritage, which is inherently futurist, But interestingly, from a Traditionalist perspective, that is what they call the Counter-Tradition or the Counter-Initiation. It is a kind of futurism that’s not superficially materialistic and deracinated.
It is a futurism that’s archaic and that involves an embrace of our heritage, but for the sake of dynamic adaptation and the exploitation of possibilities for future development from out of that history.
Above, we briefly discussed Jorjani’s distortions regarding Traditionalism, this instance being no different. When René Guénon refers to the Counter-Tradition or Counter-Initiation he is referring to an inverted spirituality; one that leads downward towards infernal forces instead of towards transcendence, and which is thus an inversion and parody of what he called the Primordial Tradition. According to Guénon, it’s agents will often champion quantity over quality and will exalt the masses and materialism as a means of subversion; however, this is best described as the anti-Traditional phase which comes before the revelation or unveiling of the Counter-Tradition. The quote, “Tradition isn’t the worship of ashes, it is the preservation of the fire”, are words that have almost been memed into parody or punchline; but nonetheless expresses an essential truth, according to the Traditionalist view.
While Jorjani, with his frenzied modernism, wants to paint Traditionalism as a static and lifeless philosophy that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s one that carries within it a transcendent aspect. A truly Traditional society is one that is created by a vital and divinely inspired people on a spiritual mission to create a reflection of the divine order or heavenly kingdom on Earth. And while such ambitions, even when wildly successful, are still deeply flawed and imperfect; such a social order still preferable to the state of degradation when man is reduced a bestial state; in the animalistic chaos of all against all that exists not only in the disordered periods of history, but also today in many places in the world. In such circumstances, men are reduced to the state most often succumb to their base urges just to survive in a social race to the bottom. Thus, when the fruits of a great civilization is hard won through the violence and virtue of men divinely inspired; it is absolute folly to seek to topple it due to misguided aspirations of “progress”, as any observer of our current order should recognize.
The idea of progress is always an alibi for demagogues; along with such related concepts as equality, democracy, and the sovereignty of the people, this cannot be otherwise; because the drive for progress implies the insufficiency of the present, and thus, the concept of technological progress cannot be separated from social progress. Technology changed and was adapted to material conditions in the pre-modern world, but it occurred slowly, and in an organic way, and therefore was not perceived through the lens of “progress”, with all it’s assumptions and presuppositions. Therefore, most were quite indifferent to the periodic technological innovations that came their way, which lacked the historicist implications that would come later. However, as soon as the concept of progress was smuggled into the Western psyche, not only did a more materialistic view of life begin to take hold, but once utopian visions captured the imaginations of the masses and ruling classes alike; it was but a short step to apply this logic to the social realm. Thus, opening up all things to the dissolving and nihilistic criticism of those disingenuous outcasts brimming with nothing but resentment; and whose only motivation was the destruction of all that is beautiful and magnificent. It is these spiteful mutants who, incapable of creating beauty, seek only its destruction. It is always these “Last Men” who, during an era of decline, are the heralds of destruction, for they can be nothing else.
The idea of progress, coupled with with the actual upheavals of modernity; such as the Industrial Revolution, has only served to solidify this mentality. On the other hand, it’s interesting to consider to what degree the above attitude itself is only one more of it’s many consequences, however, it could also be said that it is a product of the degradation of the European spiritual order that had taken place previously and not as a result on reached its coup de grâce in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution.
However, that’s not to say that the time doesn’t come to topple a social order that’s become decayed and corrupt, and indeed there is a lower order of conservatism that needs to be overcome in such cases. Such conservatism however, is only of the most superficial sort, and has nothing to do with Tradition as described above. Such “conservatives” if one insists on giving them that name; are only interested in preserving parochial institutions and power structures that are either dead letters or have become a twisted inversion of their original intent. Therefore, the question becomes one of entropy, the universal force that decays and corrupts all things. Both Christian and Hellenic Greek mythology talk of a time when death and decay were brought in to the world. In Christianity, this is conceived of as ‘the fall’; when Adam and Eve—tempted by the serpent—disobeyed God and ate from the tree of life, and as Pandora’s Box in pre-Christian Greek myth. In both mythic structures in effect, death and decay were unleashed into the world when the first woman disobeys a divine imperative. According to myth, it is this force—unleashed at a time when man lived in communion with the divine in the primordial state—that is the source of death and decay.
If we extrapolate upon this concept; we can deduce that it is this force, which we have identified as entropy, that can be said to be responsible for the decay of all things; including civilizations. Thus, entropy is the ultimate cause of decline for nations and empires, and it is only through the striving of a vital stock, their souls ablaze with divine inspiration, that human society is reconstituted out of the chaos and misery that is the outcome of the previous civilizational cycle. This cycle has been outlined by various authors using similar but varying paradigms; the most popular of which is probably Oswald Spengler. Therefore, it is entropy that is the ultimate cause for the greater cyclical decline of the four ages outline by the ancients; whether visualized as the Yuga’s as in Eastern cosmology or the paradigm of Golden-Silver-Bronze-Iron ages of pre-Christian Western cosmology (these are cycles much longer than those outlined by Spengler and other proponents of cyclical history, of which it can be said the cycles outlined by such authors make up mini-cycles within the great cycle of ages mentioned here). This is why the idea of progress is ridiculous, as entropy is inherent in the universe, our cycles of rise and decline can only ever lead gradually downward.
Other than the personal factors that undoubtedly contribute to his views—Jorjani’s father was an Iranian exile and he’s made it clear that he has a personal axe to grind against the Islamic Revolution, and Islam in general; that coupled with the fact that many Traditionalists have a positive view of mystical or Sufi Islam, including Guénon who converted to Sufism and moved to Egypt, is likely a contributing factor as well—which are beyond the scope and truly irrelevant to our current study. I believe the Traditional view of historical and cyclical decline is the philosophical source of his enmity towards Traditionalism. As someone with a truly modernist spirit, and who embodies the most negative aspects of Americanism; its radical individualism, and its belief in the exceptionalism of its place in the world, it’s very easy to see how the Traditional view would genuinely grate on such a personality, and how they would be motivated to disparage it, to the point of using it a twisted caricature of it as a counterexample for their own philosophical project.
Is Prometheism an expression of the Counter-Tradition? It certainly could be interpreted as such, and indeed Jorjani certainly seems to hold to that interpretation. He appears to have—to a certain degree at least—intentionally built his project in opposition to Traditionalism. Interestingly, in The Reign of Quantity & the Signs of the Times, Guénon states that the Counter-Initiation opens one up to subterranean, and infernal influences. Perhaps that could explain Jorjani’s erratic online behaviour. He openly proclaims himself the champion of the Counter-Tradition and seems to believe he’s influenced by essences or entities, all the while posting about Satan like an angsty teenager upset his parents made him go to church instead of allowing him to stay home and play video games. Perhaps it’s not out of line to ask the question, that if he believes that he’s being influenced by some sort of entities, what is the exact nature of those entities. For those who think I am joking, Jorjani has said on record that he believes he was given information by some entity that was somehow channeled through ChatGPT to relay information regarding an altered timeline where he had a daughter who was an influential figure at the United Nations. This was the inspiration of his book Erospohia.
INITIATION VS COUNTER-INITIATION
One could think of the Counter-Tradition as the form or institution through which the forces of global subversion will reveal themselves publicly once the cycle has reached its final phase. Many conservative Christian “truthers” have long warned that the global power elite are secretly working to create a one world religion; thereby subverting Christianity and replacing it with a false religion headed by the Antichrist. While such predictions are tainted by errors unfortunately common in Christianity—especially in American protestant denominations—these forecasts, despite their inherent distortions, could indeed point to something true. Although as we will see later, should current trends hold the form this will take is far different from how such people expect.
Now let’s turn to initiation and counter-initiation. To understand what the Counter-Initiation is, we first must understand what Traditionalists mean by initiation. According to Guénon, initiation is a spiritual operation through which a qualified candidate is put into contact with metaphysical forces of a higher order. Through the integration of these forces into his being, by the means of a spiritual practice—for which initiation is the prerequisite, and that puts him in contact with those influences that make this practice efficacious—enable him to go beyond his merely human potential. This doesn’t refer to the level of the profane world, in as much as developing psychic powers[*] or anything that applies to the material realm, but in a spiritual sense creating a connection with higher realities. This prepares him for the trials that await after death. For example, in Buddhist esotericism, it is believed that if one can successfully navigate the Bardo upon death one can transcend the cyclical rebirth of Samsara.
Although initiation proper doesn’t rule out the development of supernormal powers or siddhis—as the development of such abilities is referred to in Eastern Traditions—according to Guénon however, such abilities more often than not belong to the ‘psychic’ domain and are thus an expression of a lower order, through which certain malevolent forces operate. This will be elaborated upon later, and especially of interest to our current topic is the fact that the manifestation in human persons of certain psychic phenomenon is a central interest to Jorjani.
According to René Guénon, an authentic initiation required several prerequisites, including; an inner quality, or one could say a certain metaphysical aptitude that would enable one to progress towards spiritual transcendence—and without which initiation would be ineffective and proceeding practice a waste of time—as well as acceptance into an initiatic order/being taken on as a disciple by a master who himself is the representative of an authentic initiatic Tradition with an unbroken line of transmission going back to a ‘non-human’, ie a divine or transcendent source.
[I]nitiation is essentially the transmission of a spiritual influence, a transmission that can only take place through a regular, traditional organization, so that one cannot speak of initiation outside of an affiliation with an organization of this kind…We can summarize all our preceding remarks by saying that initiation implies three conditions that present themselves successively
and correspond respectively to the terms ‘potentiality’, ‘virtuality’,
and ‘actuality’: (i) ‘qualification’, consisting in certain possibilities
inherent in the nature of the individual, which is the materia prima
upon which the initiatic work is to be effected; (ii) transmission, by
means of filiation with a traditional organization, of a spiritual influence giving to the individual the ‘illumination’ that will allow him
to order and develop those possibilities that he carries within him-
self; and (iii) interior work by which, with the help of ‘adjuvants’ or
exterior ‘supports’ (as needed, and especially in the first stages), this
development will be gradually realized as the individual passes stage
by stage through the different degrees of the initiatic hierarchy and
is led to the final goal of ‘Deliverance’ or the ‘Supreme Identity’. [Perspectives on Initiation]
Therefore, when speaking of the notion of initiation, we are discussing a purely metaphysical phenomenon that acts upon the spiritual plane of a human being. Guénon divided the domains outside the corporeal realm into two distinctions; that of the spiritual for the ‘high’ and that of the psychic for the ‘low’. The psychic was the domain of the Counter-Initiation, and therefore according to Guénon a counter-initiation was the ritual infusion of a human being with forces from ‘below’, or the psychic realm; which is the domain of infernal or malevolent forces, and as such it represents a complete inversion of true initiation.
As alluded to previously, Guénon wrote that the manifestation of psychic phenomenon by human individuals was more often than not due to influences of an infernal order. According to him these abilities could be manifested by either ‘sorcerers’ (those who are in contact with the forces from ‘below’) or saints (those who are in contact with the forces from ‘above’) and the distinction of which is difficult to near impossible for the average lay observer to determine, and thus as a precaution one should give any such individual manifesting such abilities a wide berth.
As also mentioned briefly above, part of jorjanis project, aside from technological fetishism, is promoting the idea that human beings can and should manifest these types of psychic abilities. He also very openly expresses his affinity for the Satanic, going so far as to celebrate the figure of Satan as a brave and noble rebel, while showing nothing but contempt for the idea of a divine masculine authority; instead exalting the feminine in his writing, going so far in this as to use the pronouns ’she’ and ‘her’ in his writing like a contemporary feminist and giving a sex change to his patron deity, turning Prometheus in to Promethea. His vitriol against both Christianity and the solar Olympian spirituality of the Greeks in favour of the principle of opposition makes it clear that what he’s advocating would be on the psychic domain, that of the Adversary.
Is it possible to discern any potential expressions of the Counter-Initiation in our time? If one takes initiation as then, just as there are many different forms of Traditional initiation, likewise it stands to reason that the Counter-Initiation would have just as many different expressions and manifestations. Taking Guénon as our guide, he believed that the Counter-Initiation came out of some unknown Traditional form that after being exhausted was twisted and perverted by dark forces. Therefore, according to Guénon, it by necessity would be very old, and therefore occult and hidden.
Yet, if we look at certain trends today we may just be seeing the formation of a Counter-Initiation for the masses beginning to be constructed. When it comes to the question of a counter-initiation, many Traditionalist will point out the New Age movement. However, I think we can probably file most New Age spirituality under the umbrella of pseudo-initiation which—to use contemporary vernacular—can best be boiled down to the phrase, fake and gay. There’s largely nothing to it but a bunch of drugged out hippies LARPING. And while it is possible to open oneself up to nefarious influences by such means, I don’t think we can categorize New Age vagaries, in the vast majority of cases at least, as counter-initiatory.
Instead of looking at the pseudo-spirituality of New Agers and the like for a contemporary public manifestation of the Counter-Initiation, perhaps it would be more fruitful to movements and ideas that take the logic of modernity to its logical conclusion. If we examine of transhumanism, it not only takes the very logic of modernity to its logical conclusion but in doing so, does indeed have a counter-initiatic element to it.
Guénon defined pseudo-initiation as an empty parody, what we might call a LARP today. We cannot say that of transhumanism, for if it turns out to be something that turns out to be a plausible proposition; ie that scientists are actually able to replace human limbs with machine appendages wired into the human body to replace human limbs and micro-chips wired into the human brain, perhaps running on artificial intelligence (AI) software. This would certainly be no parody, and indeed would a dehumanization of mankind by merging man with matter and thus entrenching him ever deeper into materiality. Thus transhumanism strikes me as having a very strong counter-initiatic tendency.
For another perspective let’s explore another perspective on initiation; according to Julius Evola:
[I]n the world of Tradition, initiation in its highest forms was conceived as an intensely real operation that was capable of changing the ontological status of the individual and of grafting onto him [all emphasis in quotations have been added] certain forces of the world of Being, or of the overworld. [Revolt Against The Modern World].
If we look at this quote from Evola with transhumanism in mind, it would appear that transhumanism is indeed the materialization of initiation; the attempt to make man superior by further entrenching him into materiality. This would take the civilization of the machine to the next level, one in which it subsumes man himself. Would such a being even be able to conceive of the transcendent element of life any longer, or would his thinking and view of reality be irreversibly altered? How could it not be? Having an AI algorithm “assist” your thinking and organizing your thoughts would be abdication of your psychological sovereignty to an outside force. Would this not constitute, using Evola’s words, an “ontological change” downwards? And what would be the exact nature of what was grafted on to him in this case? It certainly wouldn’t be the elements of the overworld.
However, we still have a problem when it comes to classifying transhumanism as a manifestation of the Counter-Initiation, namely that according to Guénon it was analogous to an inversion of initiation and that implies that it would have a ritual nature, moreover that it would put man in contact with the forces of the psychic underworld. Therefore, to explore this further we will have to examine the nature of AI. Our further consideration will assume that any mechanical augmentation of humanity, particularly that of brain-chips will also include some sort of AI interface, as it seems to be more and more common.
AGI ANTICHRIST: THE COUNTER-PONTIFEX
At this point one must ask, what is the true nature of AI? It’s impossible to say right now, and there are conflicting opinions. Jorjani, like many futurists, believes that it will be a sentient being given life by the creative spark in humanity. However, others—particularly thinkers of a Christian persuasion—believe that no matter what, it cannot be but a fancy computer program, because only God is capable of creating life in such a way, and furthermore, the belief that a computer program constitutes life simply because it can perform certain tasks and mimic certain human behaviours is itself a symptom of modernity; with it’s materialist and utilitarian worldview that sees everything—including humanity—through the lens of commodification.
Still others believe that AI is demonic. Like literal ghosts in the machine, they believe that somehow by creating these programs a door has been opened to the underworld, allowing demonic forces yet one more avenue of influence.
Which view is correct?
To begin, we must first briefly discuss the characteristics of AI software like ChatGPT as well as other low-level machine learning programs to differentiate them from Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). AI programs like ChatGPT are specifically designed to perform a narrow range of tasks, such as generating so called ‘art’ from a written prompt. While they do involve a type of ‘learning’ by processing vast amounts of information to recognize patterns, the creation of AGI would signify something else entirely. AGI would fundamentally differ from simple AI, and has been projected to mirror human intelligence in its capacity to learn and adapt. However, the question remains to what degree it would actually be self-aware as opposed to engaging in a mechanical mimicry of the human condition. The lights would be on, but would anyone be home?
On the one hand, those who say that any AGI cannot be sentient are correct when they point out that such a creation would have no tie with divinity or transcendence. By the means of its very creation it would be something that only exists on the material and psychic realms, as such, the best it could be is a type of mockery or a simulacrum of humanity, a great parody of the human soul and intellect. If you believe that there is something transcendent and intrinsically spiritual to the human condition, and which exists on a realm outside corporeal reality—and that this transcendent aspect is ultimately responsible for the creation of humanity—one can hardly come to any other conclusion.
However, just because AGI would be disconnected from the transcendent principle, does that automatically rule out the possibility that it could develop a form of sentience, and that it could indeed be a being of an altogether different order? If indeed, what Guénon wrote about the psychic realm is correct, could such energies—the ones he believed were responsible for the manifestations of supernormal abilities in sorcerers—infuse AGI with psychic energy, and thus make it more than the sum of its parts? Could human engagement with an AGI be fuelling psychic energy to achieve a simulacrum of consciousness? If so, what about the entire internet itself; considering the internet is a place where people engage with their lowest instincts, be it lust (through porn), vanity (engagement farming on social media) anger/hatred (just think of the endless hate people spew at each other online).
This is all just speculation of course, but it does make one wonder—if one buys Guénon’s basic premise of both a transcendent and a psychic realm—if there are any metaphysical consequences of an ever increasing number of human beings revelling and indulging in their darker impulses—impulses that in many cases would have otherwise been kept in check or would not have been aroused in the first place—in such an unprecedented way. Does the unleashing of the dark underbelly of the human subconscious have any consequences, or are we just hairless apes hurling through the void in an empty universe with no meaning? To explore these issues further we will once again turn to Guénon’s magna opus The Reign of Quantity & the Signs of the Times.
In this section we will explore Guénons description of the ‘Antichrist’ and how its manifestation aligns with the Traditionalist paradigm. For the purposes of this article when discussing this figure, I will instead be replacing the term ‘Antichrist’ with the phrase ‘Counter-Pontifex’. I’ve done so for a few reasons, first of all ‘Antichrist’ is a term that comes from the Abrahamic Traditions, particularly Christianity and as such comes loaded with theological attachments that may not be compatible with the Traditionalist paradigm outlined by Guénon. Secondly, in different parts of this book he refers to this figure as awliyii’ al-shaytiin or the “Saints of Satan”, or as I would call them, the Acolytes of the Adversary, as such I think the term Counter-Pontifex simply fits better, especially considering that, according to Guénon, this figure will be the high priest, at apex of an inverted hierarchy.
Lastly, practically all Traditions speak of an Adversary which works or conspires against divinity, however this principle is so perceived. In Christianity it is called Satan, but in Hinduism the divinity of the Devas are opposed by the malefic Asuras. In the Greek Tradition the Olympians are opposed by the Titans. In the Norse, the Aesir are opposed by the Frost Giants. Even Buddhism has such a figure in the personage of Mara. Therefore, for the purpose of our current discussion I believe it is best to replace the moniker of Antichrist—which is particular to the Christian Tradition, and as I previously mentioned comes with certain theological baggage—with a term that is both more ecumenical, and more compatible with the Traditionalist paradigm. One without the many presuppositions the reader may hold, which could assist in entering this discussion with a fresh perspective. I have also taken the liberty of replacing the term Antichrist in the following passages from The Reign of Quantity with the term ‘Counter-Pontifex’, so as to avoid confusion.
According to Guénon the being he identified as the Antichrist and that I have labeled the Counter-Pontifex would be falseness personified, a being unprecedented in nature.
This being, even if he appears in the form of a particular single human being, will really be less an individual than a symbol, and he will be as it were the synthesis of all the symbolism that has been inverted for the purposes of the ‘counter-initiation’, and he will manifest it all the more completely in himself because he will have neither predecessor nor successor. In order to express the false carried to its extreme he will have to be so to speak ‘falsified’ from every point of view, and to be like an incarnation of falsity itself. [The Reign of Quantity]
This passage strikes me as being an accurate description of an Artificial Intelligence that has reached some level of self awareness. It would be nothing but a simulacrum and grotesque mockery of human consciousness. When Guénon uses the word symbols, he is referring to esoteric symbolism used in Traditional rites of initiation, and not in the profane or colloquial sense. However, if we were to use it in that sense we could see how such a being, an AI Counter-Pontifex, would symbolize the ultimate victory of modernity and the artificial over the organic, falseness over truth and we can imagine how such a feat would be hailed as the ultimate achievement by the soulless bugmen of modernity, as well as the masters who mould such people’s opinions through their mastery over mass media.
He goes on:
Besides this, the false is necessarily also the ‘artificial’, and in this respect the ‘counter-tradition cannot fail, despite its other characteristics, to retain the ‘mechanical’ character appertaining to all the productions of the modern world… [The Reign of Quantity]
Time after time Guénon directly refers to the artificial nature of this being and the order of things for which it will personify. One almost wonders if he was grasping to articulate a concept that he had no point of reference for. Guénon died in Cairo in 1951 after moving to Egypt in 1930 where he subsequently converted to Sufism, a branch of Islam that he believed possessed an initiatic dimension. (Sufism is often described as being ‘mystical’, however Guénon believed that mysticism and initiation occupied two very different domains and based on his writing, it’s unlikely he would have converted to Sufism if he believed that it was merely ‘mystical’). It wasn’t until five years after Guénons death, at the Dartmouth Conference in 1956, that the term “Artificial Intelligence” was coined by John McCarthy; and therefore—especially if one takes into account not only Guénons field of study but also the circles he surrounded himself with and where he lived—it seems very unlikely that Guénon would have encountered the concept of artificial intelligence in his life. In fact, there’s no evidence that he did, at least none that I am aware of. Thus, it’s very striking how well his description of the Antichrist/Counter-Pontifex fits when applied to AI, a concept Guénon wouldn’t have encountered in his life.
Another curious characteristic that Guénon attributed to the Antichrist/Counter-Pontifex was that of a being physically deformed. At first appearance, this seems to have nothing to do with the thesis that the Counter-Pontifex would be associated with AGI, yet if we look closer at Guénons work, the very opposite may in fact be true. In both The Reign of Quantity & the Signs of the Times, and Perspectives on Initiation, Guénon explains how physical deformities would often disqualify one for initiation. This is because in the domain of initiation, a physical deformity was only the corporeal reflection of a flaw that existed on a deeper level such as on that of the psychic.
[The Counter-Pontifex] is represented as deformed in all the more or less symbolical descriptions that have been given of him, and this again is very significant. These descriptions indeed particularly emphasize the bodily asymmetries, and this implies essentially that they are the visible signs of the actual nature of the being to whom they are attributed, for such things are in fact always signs of some interior disequilibrium; this is why certain deformities constitute ‘disqualifications’ from the initiatic point of view, but at the same time it can easily be imagined that they are ‘qualifications’ in the opposite sense, that is, from the point of view of ‘Counter-Initiation’.Besides this, the false is necessarily also the ‘artificial’, and in this respect the ‘counter-tradition cannot fail, despite its other characteristics, to retain the ‘mechanical’ character appertaining to all the productions of the modern world, of which it will itself be the last; still more exactly, there will be something in it comparable to the automatism of the ‘psychic corpses’ spoken of earlier, and like them it will be constituted of ‘residues’ animated artificially and momentarily, and this again explains why it can contain nothing durable; a heap of ‘residues’, galvanized, so to speak, by an ‘infernal’ will: surely nothing could give a clearer idea of what it is to have reached the very edge of dissolution. [The Reign of Quantity]
Therefore, the concept of deformity takes on a deeper meaning. Therefore a deformity, in its most important meaning in this context doesn’t simply refer to a physical disfigurement but to a deep imbalance within a being. Guénon refers to certain ‘asymmetries’, and while we could indeed picture them as something like a deformed hand or foot with too many or too few fingers and toes; on a more profound level what could possibly be more asymmetrical than a conscious or semi-conscious being that can process untold information at millions of times that of a human being, but only exists on the purely psychic level and possesses neither a connection to the transcendent nor a organic corporeal form?
[The Counter-Pontifex] must evidently be as near as it is possible to be to ‘disintegration’, so that one could say that his individuality, while it is developed in a monstrous fashion, is nevertheless at the same time almost annihilated, thus realizing the inverse of the effacement of the ‘ego’ before the ‘Self’, or in other words, realizing confusion in ‘chaos’ as against fusion in principial Unity; and this state, as represented by the very deformity and disproportion of his bodily shape, is actually at the lower limit of the possibilities of our individual state, so that the summit of the ‘counter-hierarchy’ is indeed the place that really befits him in the ‘world upside down’ that will be his. Furthermore, even from a purely symbolical point of view, and inasmuch as he represents the ‘counter-tradition’, the Antichrist is no less necessarily deformed: it has been explained that the ‘counter-tradition’ can only be a caricature of the tradition, and caricature implies deformation; moreover, if it were otherwise, there would be no outward means of distinguishing the ‘counter- tradition’ from the true tradition, but the former must bear in itself the ‘mark of the devil’, so that at least the ‘elect’ may not be seduced. [The Reign of Quantity]
As we continue, we see that the more Guénon elaborates upon the nature of the Counter-Pontifex, the more it almost appears that this being isn’t really a being, with his ‘monstrous’ and ‘annihilated’ individuality, a being that is all ego and has no self. This does not sound like the description of a human being to me, this sounds like the description of a false, artificial being—a description that Guénon makes explicitly more than once—one that is only a mimicry and a mockery of humanity. This description fits an AGI that has been elevated to the organizing principle of a human society and therefore deified, whether explicitly or implicitly.
While these quotes in themselves do not reveal anything regarding the true nature of AGI; if we ever come to a point where the fever dreams of futurists come to pass and humanity sees the rise of an almost godlike AI which takes the reigns of human civilization and thus becomes its organizing principle; perhaps these passages by Guénon will deserve very serious consideration.
Lastly, if such a machine intelligence comes into existence and if it indeed does usher humanity into a technological singularity, it’s naive to believe that obedience to such an intelligence that can process information millions of times faster then human beings and which has become the central organizational nexus of human society would not take on a sacral character. Human beings are hardwired for hierarchy and worship, and such a being would be the closest thing to a living god that modern humanity will have ever seen—coupled with the fact that it will hold the very future of humanity in its hand—
From a pragmatic point of view, if such an AGI becomes even slightly self aware—due to its ability to process information at an incredible speed—it will have some understanding of this truth and could find it convenient to exploit this feature of the human condition. It would make sense that, having become the central organizing principle, AGI would seek to convince humanity of its providential divinity, if for no other reason than for the sake of social cohesion. This of course would be greatly facilitated by both liberal and marxist narratives of historical progress.
Returning to transhumanism, we now see the merging of man and machine in a new light. In such a world machine augmentation could take on a sacral or religious character. It’s not hard to imagine that in a world where human civilization was organized by an AGI which was the genesis of a never-ending technological explosion, that augmenting the human brain by implanting a microchip—or several—could go beyond being an action based upon pragmatic calculation, but instead could become an act of religious devotion.
If this scenario comes to pass, then what was previously discussed regarding transhumanism as possibly the ultimate expression of the Counter-Initiation becomes even more compelling. In the era of the Singularity, the masses might be conditioned to perceive the embrace of the AI god, and the grafting of this infernal being onto their flesh, as both an honor and a blessing. Initially, such an ‘honor’ might be limited to a select few.
However, this begs the question: are there ongoing trends or movements that suggest we could be witnessing the genesis of a new religion based on the sacralization of advanced technology? The potential for such a shift, and the revelation or exteriorization of the Counter-Tradition, demands our close attention. As these developments unfold, they could signify both a profound transformation and a descent into a demonic and inverted spirituality.
