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causticusWithin many of the historical IE cultures, we find a vague tripartiate class system alluded to in old texts and traditions. The Hindu Varna structure (which Westerners call 'Caste') seems to be derived from this. Though in the most common system there tends to be only three main categories, as opposed to the four we find in classical Indian civilization. These three are:
-Priests
-Warriors
-Producers
In the most conceptual terms:
-Ethical/Cultural Domain
-Political/Military Domain
-Economic Domain
Similarly in the Varna system:
-Brahmins (Priests/Teachers)
-Kshatriyas (Warriors/Governors)
-Vaishya (Producers: Farmers/Merchants)
-Shudras (Producers: Laborers/Peasants)
Among the ancient Iranains:
-Priests (sometimes called 'Magi')
-Aristocracy (Warrior-landholders)
-Commoners (Producers: Farmers/Merchants/Craftsmen/Peasants)
Plato, in his great work 'The Republic' ressurected this ancient form and incorporated it into his concept of an ideal state:
-Guardians (Philosopher-Kings)
-Auxiliaries (Warriors/Soldiers)
-Producers (Farmers, Merchants, Artisans, ect.)
And finally, in Medieval Europe, we find a similar social structure:
-Church Clergy
-Landholding Nobility/Aristocracy
-Commoners (Merchants, Artisans, Serfs/Peasants)
---
So we can see that this tripartiate class structure is a primordial form and perhaps we could say it's the sanest way of organizing society. The greatest sages and seers existed in this ancient societies (not so today!) and must have provided intellectual and spiritual support for this basic system many times over. Contrast this to the modern, industrialized West where any type of formal class distinction has been tossed to the wolves, under the guise of buzz-concepts like "liberty" .. "freedom" .. and "emancipation." Of course most liberals today will agree this dissolution has been a great thing, without of course providing any coherent metaphysical arguments to justify this position, besides maybe a "muh freedom is good and class is bad" utterance. Of course, merely getting rid of a formal social classification system does not make it go away, rather it simply remains in a less formal, less acknowledged state. So today the default system we have today, ranked in order of power, is something along the lines of:
-Capitalists/Investors, Businessmen and Merchants
-Celebrities, Mass Media Personalities and Tenured Academics
-Public Servants (i.e. Career Politicians)
-Producers (Professionals, Workers/Laborers)
-The Underclass, which includes anyone living in a community with a critical mass of people lacking a marketable skillset or ability to find steady work that pays a living wage
What we have here is a totally lopsided hierarchy (relative to the historical examples above) where various grades of apex Producers are on top, and everyone else gets sorted out in the lower layers. The "Cultural Domain" is in the second ranking and must serve the dictates of the ultra-wealthy Investor class. This cultural layer has no overarching spiritual imperative but instead is subject to the ever-shifting collection of fads that known modern pop culture and whatever ideological trends conform to this always-morphing mass culture. And of course pop culture is largely a function of big money. The old "Warrior class" no longer exists under this new arrangement, as modern armies are fully professional armies and there is no official nobility or aristocracy that exists, much less one that comprises the military's top officer corps.
Those who are well-read on Oswald Spengler and the Traditionalist authors (Guenon, Evola, ect.) will probably agree that Western European ('Faustian' as Spengler termed it) had already entered its decline phase and thus all the symptoms associated with a declining culture are loudly manifesting themselves here in the West of today. A lopsided class system is one of the primary symptoms of a culture circling the drain. Let us go back to Plato for a moment and note how he lucidly explains this decline process using the allegory of the 5 Regimes:
-Aristocratic Man: A Philosopher/Sage/Priest class guides the state according to a series of spiritual virtues.
-Timocratic Man: Landholding nobility rules and guides the state according to virtues like honor, duty, solidarity and patriotism.
-Oligarchic Man: An urban merchant class rules the state according the demands of material self-aggrandizement.
-Democratic Man: An assortment of citizen representatives from all parts of society rules the state according to a set of ever-changing popular opinions and whims, with "majority rules" being the determining factor, regardless of whatever system of morality or lack thereof the majority values; all that matters is quantity.
-Tyrannical Man: Owing to the state of total chaos Democracy ends up wreaking upon the whole of society, a single strong-man or small clique rises to the occasion promising to restore order to the state, usually employing rather draconian and bloody methods.
---
We can clearly see how the above has played out in the modern West. IMHO, only a return to the ancient arrangement (1. Ethics, 2. Politics, 3. Economics) will restore true order to our disintegrating mess of a society.
-Priests
-Warriors
-Producers
In the most conceptual terms:
-Ethical/Cultural Domain
-Political/Military Domain
-Economic Domain
Similarly in the Varna system:
-Brahmins (Priests/Teachers)
-Kshatriyas (Warriors/Governors)
-Vaishya (Producers: Farmers/Merchants)
-Shudras (Producers: Laborers/Peasants)
Among the ancient Iranains:
-Priests (sometimes called 'Magi')
-Aristocracy (Warrior-landholders)
-Commoners (Producers: Farmers/Merchants/Craftsmen/Peasants)
Plato, in his great work 'The Republic' ressurected this ancient form and incorporated it into his concept of an ideal state:
-Guardians (Philosopher-Kings)
-Auxiliaries (Warriors/Soldiers)
-Producers (Farmers, Merchants, Artisans, ect.)
And finally, in Medieval Europe, we find a similar social structure:
-Church Clergy
-Landholding Nobility/Aristocracy
-Commoners (Merchants, Artisans, Serfs/Peasants)
---
So we can see that this tripartiate class structure is a primordial form and perhaps we could say it's the sanest way of organizing society. The greatest sages and seers existed in this ancient societies (not so today!) and must have provided intellectual and spiritual support for this basic system many times over. Contrast this to the modern, industrialized West where any type of formal class distinction has been tossed to the wolves, under the guise of buzz-concepts like "liberty" .. "freedom" .. and "emancipation." Of course most liberals today will agree this dissolution has been a great thing, without of course providing any coherent metaphysical arguments to justify this position, besides maybe a "muh freedom is good and class is bad" utterance. Of course, merely getting rid of a formal social classification system does not make it go away, rather it simply remains in a less formal, less acknowledged state. So today the default system we have today, ranked in order of power, is something along the lines of:
-Capitalists/Investors, Businessmen and Merchants
-Celebrities, Mass Media Personalities and Tenured Academics
-Public Servants (i.e. Career Politicians)
-Producers (Professionals, Workers/Laborers)
-The Underclass, which includes anyone living in a community with a critical mass of people lacking a marketable skillset or ability to find steady work that pays a living wage
What we have here is a totally lopsided hierarchy (relative to the historical examples above) where various grades of apex Producers are on top, and everyone else gets sorted out in the lower layers. The "Cultural Domain" is in the second ranking and must serve the dictates of the ultra-wealthy Investor class. This cultural layer has no overarching spiritual imperative but instead is subject to the ever-shifting collection of fads that known modern pop culture and whatever ideological trends conform to this always-morphing mass culture. And of course pop culture is largely a function of big money. The old "Warrior class" no longer exists under this new arrangement, as modern armies are fully professional armies and there is no official nobility or aristocracy that exists, much less one that comprises the military's top officer corps.
Those who are well-read on Oswald Spengler and the Traditionalist authors (Guenon, Evola, ect.) will probably agree that Western European ('Faustian' as Spengler termed it) had already entered its decline phase and thus all the symptoms associated with a declining culture are loudly manifesting themselves here in the West of today. A lopsided class system is one of the primary symptoms of a culture circling the drain. Let us go back to Plato for a moment and note how he lucidly explains this decline process using the allegory of the 5 Regimes:
-Aristocratic Man: A Philosopher/Sage/Priest class guides the state according to a series of spiritual virtues.
-Timocratic Man: Landholding nobility rules and guides the state according to virtues like honor, duty, solidarity and patriotism.
-Oligarchic Man: An urban merchant class rules the state according the demands of material self-aggrandizement.
-Democratic Man: An assortment of citizen representatives from all parts of society rules the state according to a set of ever-changing popular opinions and whims, with "majority rules" being the determining factor, regardless of whatever system of morality or lack thereof the majority values; all that matters is quantity.
-Tyrannical Man: Owing to the state of total chaos Democracy ends up wreaking upon the whole of society, a single strong-man or small clique rises to the occasion promising to restore order to the state, usually employing rather draconian and bloody methods.
---
We can clearly see how the above has played out in the modern West. IMHO, only a return to the ancient arrangement (1. Ethics, 2. Politics, 3. Economics) will restore true order to our disintegrating mess of a society.
