Classic Essays

Existential Realism

The Self is but a brief transition from and to nothingness; we can achieve self-actualization only within a natural community of racial kin.

WESTERN MAN’S most persistent difficulties have centered around his striving to attain a valid self-conceptualization, that is, to see himself as he really is and not as he imagines or would like himself to be. Man’s attempts to gain this knowledge of Self and to relate it to his being-in-the-world have been continually hindered by his own ignorance and subjectivity. Only recently has the rise of the scientific-naturalistic outlook and the accompanying wealth of data enabled man to obtain a better understanding of Nature’s order and to acquire the proper means to gain deeper insights into the human phenomenon. Equipped with these aids, the critically thinking individual seeks to constantly reinforce a frame of mind regarding existential matters that is uncompromisingly realistic, in order to fearlessly confront the problems of individual identity, purpose and being.

Identity

The essence of individual identity must be perceived within the overall context of human identity. This perception must include a conceptual de-divinization of man, who is to be recognized not as some sort of “sacred” being magically imbued with “dignity” and “rights,” but as a member (albeit the most advanced) of the animal kingdom, subject to the rules of that kingdom. Notions of self-identity must incorporate a cognizance of the part of the individual’s overall biological heritage has played in the generation of his own inclinations and attitudes. In personal terms, the Majority member must understand that life necessitates a continuous effort toward honest self-assessment with the aim of garnering self-mastery and asserting the will-to-power.

Purpose

The why of individual existence is an aspect of the all inclusive why of material existence itself. The answers reside in the distant past with the interaction of energy and matter which formed this planet, with the complex chemical processes which produced life, and with the evolution of simple organisms into more complex forms culminating in the rise of our race and on the individual level in the emergence of the man of genius.

But perhaps this only indicates “how” and not why.

More to the point, it must be stated that the existence of the individual has no more objective purpose than does the existence of any other physical construct. He must therefore abandon all philosophies, be they theistic or humanistic, which attempt to explain reality by reference to imminent purposes, ultimate causes or predetermined ends. He must endeavor instead to create his own raison d’être to give his existence focus and dimension.

Being

The question of Being usually takes the Heideggerian form, “Why is there something rather than nothing at all?” The obvious reply is, “There is not nothing because there is something.” To speculate on why this is so seems rather futile. The dogmatic materialists, rationalists and theologians aside, the ultimate questions regarding the fundamental reasons for Being (if they are valid questions in the first place) may never be satisfactorily answered. At any rate, we should not pointlessly question or bewail the structure of reality, but rather seek to understand and dynamically interact with it.

Of paramount relevance to a philosophy of Being is the further realization that the Self is but a brief transition from and to nothingness, that the span of its existence is an insignificant, inconsequential instant in eternity. Indeed, were the earth itself with all the self-important individuals on it to be obliterated tomorrow, the cosmic functions would continue unimpaired. The universe could get along perfectly well without us.

The Challenge of Nihilism

Only the nay sayer, the coward and the weakling are overwhelmed and dismayed by recognition of the ultimate reality of nothingness confronting the individual. As existential realists we should joyfully accept this awareness, seeing it not as a dead end of pessimism and gloom, but as a shining path to freedom! For thus enlightened, we transcend moronic moralisms and proceed unhindered toward the realization of necessity and the objectification of our will.

Simultaneously, we must avoid one-dimensionality in our assessment of our being-in-the-world. An understanding of the duality of the Self comes about — a duality reflected in the nature of man as an individual and as a racially social creature.

The individual is not just an “individual” — some self-sustaining atom of consciousness popping into existence out of a vacuum. The individual’s unique physical, psychological and spiritual qualities are produced by a higher entity: race! Individuality (or more accurately, personality) is a function of race. No individual is so “individual” as to nullify his composite racial characteristics. And since race is a social or collective phenomenon, the individual is further distinguished as a social animal who can achieve self-actualization only within a natural community of racial kin.

Therefore, we must analyze existential problems from the racial-collective perspective as well as from the individual standpoint. The truth thus emerges that the individual does indeed stand before the abyss of nothingness. As a racial element, however, the individual is the embodiment of a historic genetic community which can pass on the essence of its being to future generations. In this sense, the individual is immortal.

Consequently, the individual can assert his will-to-power only under the aegis of the collectivity. In other words, real power is a collective or group attribute. The individual has power only when he surrenders part of his individuality and merges his Self into a group power-pattern. Power is exercised as an expression of collective will over the Self and over other Selves. Ultimately it is imposed upon and alters material reality — either in a foolish and inevitably futile effort to “dominate Nature” (as the arrogant, self-deceiving liberals and Marxists would have it), or in an organic manner, working with Nature and applying her laws.

But what happens when one surveys the contemporary situation and sees the vital basis of Western man’s collective will power, the race itself, being subverted and pushed toward oblivion? A new, virulent species of nihilism may then arise.

We must bypass the nihilism of the spiritually weak and recognize the nihilism of the Underman for what it is — a will-to-destroy born of inferiority and envy. There is, however, another kind of nihilism: one evolved out of the realization that all the really important things in life — those which spring from healthy instincts, sound values and cultural vitality — have been undermined and are rotting away. For in a world without these racially derived fundamentals which provide the possibility of a meaningful, creative existence for both the individual and the community, we are left with literally nothing. The response may be despair, resignation, or, for the more dynamic, a retaliatory will to annihilate the residual decadence.

In fact this nihilistic reaction grows out of an erroneous quantitative view. The very real threat of great multitudes of our kinsmen, or even the vast majority of the Folk itself drowning in degeneration and genetic impoverishment need not lead to utter hopelessness. We must think qualitatively, and know that if only a minute but ideologically purified remnant of the Folk can survive corruption and extinction, then, despite the numerical smallness of its seed, our community and culture will someday flower again. A future world in which Western civilization has collapsed and which is populated by raceless masses wallowing in a morass of misery, chaos and death due to the deprivtion of the supportive benefits of Western technology, would pose no unmanageable threat to even a fragment of a revitalized, determined Folk. History provides ample evidence of the awesome, earth-shaking power of dedicated, unyielding minorities; the Question before us is whether the Folk will struggle to win its liberation now or in the future when the odds against us will be even greater. There is no alternative to this struggle; biological survival is guaranteed to no species.

And what of the danger of outright nuclear physical extermination due to nuclear holocaust, ecological suicide, or some unforeseen cosmic catastrophe? There is but one answer — and it supersedes all rationalist and intellectual argumentation. Heroism is an indispensible facet of existential outlook — a heroism which propells the Folk-community forward to fulfill its inner imperatives.

Existential realism is a power/survival ethic, a mental and spiritual toughening which frees its adherents from the devitalizing influence of sickly, false ideas, values and institution. Its method, inspired by Nietzsche, is to “philosophize with a hammer,” and its aim is to prepare our Folk and its leadership stratum for the impending future forecast by Spengler:

The time will come, if it is not already here, when there will be no more room for gentle souls and weak ideals. Age-old barbarism, hidden and fettered for centuries beneath the formal strength of high culture, will reawaken … that warlike, sound joy in one’s own strength … the will of the strong, the sound instincts, the folk, the will to own and to control.

* * *

Source: Instauration magazine, October 1979

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Zemma
Zemma
3 October, 2021 5:56 pm

I’m reading this again, second time today, to really have it sink in. A German friend recently told me about Heidegger, who I knew of by name, but haven’t read yet. This is spot on. “Endeavour” – that is what got to me. That is what I somehow needed to “be told”. I still have a hard time accepting the existence of those things of reality – humans mainly – that are nothing but a nuisance to me. The human-obstacle, I call it… Those uncalled for and uncontrollable circumstances of life that take human form, that apparently have the EXACT SAME awareness of themselves than inanimate objects that just happen to be there, or at least have their propensity to being a danger stem from that unawareness… Actually, the problem… Read more »