The Crisis of The Modern World (1927/ 2007)

This text is a non-fiction piece of work that explores the root causes of the problems in the modern world and some of the consequences of this development. The original was written in French by René Guénon and has been beautifully rendered into English by Arthur Osborne. I read an edition published by Indica Books in 2007, while the original French was published in 1927. I just wanted to post a few thoughts on the great work, without being too lengthy or repeating the actual contents of the book.

This book is short, at a mere 142 pages, but it is undeniably rich and informative. I must praise the translator in having been able to eloquently transpose rather complex thoughts and explanations into an English that was clear, easy to read, concise and enjoyable; it was a fluid experience and the writing style engaged me just as much as the content.

I must say that this book has come as a breath of fresh air. It is valuable and relevant to us in so many ways because, despite its original publication date, it discusses issues that are very much at the heart of what we are facing in our present day society. The chaos and disequilibrium that we are experiencing in our epoch have been brewing for some time, some centuries even, and so this piece of work comes to clarify what the problem is and remove a good few illusions we have come to accept or follow. Guénon challenges many of the false ideas we are fed under the guise of progression and development and explains exactly why they are harmful to us and why they are being exploited in the first place.

Guénon, while discussing the problems the West is facing, uses the East as a frame of reference and thus we not only see natural deviations from the West's own tradition but also from the tradition of the rest of the world. What I really value in this book is its frankness and its attachment to the truth. Guénon deconstructs many core pillars of this modern, material society such as philosophy, the contemporary approach to the natural sciences, politics and why it is designed to fail, the inadequacy of democracy and even the rise of materialism, indulgence in sport and the engagement with the East, making reference to colonisation.

Having already done a bit of background reading, many of the foundations to understand some of the core concepts had already been lain. Without this, it may well have been a bit more difficult to comprehend what Guénon was referring to when making certain references. Nonetheless, the ideas shared in this piece are well explained and given with plenty of examples where necessary, which facilitates the whole reading process.

I found this to be an enriching and enjoyable book which definitely ought to be read by those concerned by the chaos of our times and hope to understand it to hopefully thus remedy it to a degree. It is an important book to get a glimpse into the importance of spirituality and metaphysics on a global scale.