Benevolent Liberalism
Oct. 26th, 2018 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
causticus"Benevolent Liberalism" is a concept I've been toying around with; of course this only makes sense from the perspective of Metaphysical Traditionalism (what some might call Sophia Perennis). Whereas Liberalism is no longer seen as unequivocally antagonistic toward Tradition, but rather a historic political force containing utility value in service of genuine restoration: namely a Liberalism that served as a potent dissolving against the corrupted institutional forces of Medieval Europe, i.e. Christian theocracy and the Monarchies which serves as the prime political enabler of monolithic Church hegemony. This may have in fact been the true motive of some of the more enlightened American Founding Fathers, as their "true religion" was Hermetic Cosmotheism, a *true* Tradition in every sense of the word. This set of beliefs flew in under the radar using a series of time-sensitive guises like Freemasonry, Deism, Enlightenment Humanism, ect.
Of course this young Liberalism quickly became corrupted and even twisted into grotesque forms (see: the French Revolution, Socialism, Marxism, ect.) which fully embodied the Abrahamic shadow it was attempting to revolt against. And then as we know quite well, the rising economic powers of Europe, the Bourgeoisie/Oligarchs/Vaishyas ended up hijacking Liberal imperative and turning it into an ideology that championed their own supremacy and the economic rape, pillage and plunder of the planet (for their sole benefit) that followed.
Can Liberalism today be salvaged and re-invented and redirected toward the goal of restoring the Natural Way (Dharma)? Perhaps so. If so, it would have to:
(1) Confine itself to the political realm and thus keep its nose out of the metaphysical. Unlike contemporary "progressive" liberalism, which very much behaves like an aggressive monotheistic religion, with its "my way or the high way" ethos and MO it actively works to forcefully impose on everything it comes into contact with.
(2) In the political realm, it shall redefine itself as a mediating mechanism that keeps belligerent and expansionist ideologies, both religious and secular, in check and thus unable to gain any considerable degree of control over the levers of state power.
(3) Uphold the virtues of ideological pluralism and a form of secularism that favors cultural decentralism and thus doesn't infringe upon the religious, spiritual and cultural liberties of law-abiding constituent populations; this secularism should however draw its inspiration from cosmotheistic wisdom tradition, which itself is a truly universal spiritual base.
There's probably more points I could add to this at a later time.
Of course this young Liberalism quickly became corrupted and even twisted into grotesque forms (see: the French Revolution, Socialism, Marxism, ect.) which fully embodied the Abrahamic shadow it was attempting to revolt against. And then as we know quite well, the rising economic powers of Europe, the Bourgeoisie/Oligarchs/Vaishyas ended up hijacking Liberal imperative and turning it into an ideology that championed their own supremacy and the economic rape, pillage and plunder of the planet (for their sole benefit) that followed.
Can Liberalism today be salvaged and re-invented and redirected toward the goal of restoring the Natural Way (Dharma)? Perhaps so. If so, it would have to:
(1) Confine itself to the political realm and thus keep its nose out of the metaphysical. Unlike contemporary "progressive" liberalism, which very much behaves like an aggressive monotheistic religion, with its "my way or the high way" ethos and MO it actively works to forcefully impose on everything it comes into contact with.
(2) In the political realm, it shall redefine itself as a mediating mechanism that keeps belligerent and expansionist ideologies, both religious and secular, in check and thus unable to gain any considerable degree of control over the levers of state power.
(3) Uphold the virtues of ideological pluralism and a form of secularism that favors cultural decentralism and thus doesn't infringe upon the religious, spiritual and cultural liberties of law-abiding constituent populations; this secularism should however draw its inspiration from cosmotheistic wisdom tradition, which itself is a truly universal spiritual base.
There's probably more points I could add to this at a later time.
