Metaphysics of War

By: Julius Evola

Narrated by: Henry Oliver

These essays, originally written by Evola during the 1930s and '40s, deal with war from a spiritual and heroic perspective. Evola selects specific examples from the Nordic, Vedic, Roman, Persian, Islamic, and other traditions to demonstrate how traditionalists can prepare themselves to experience war in a way that will allow them to overcome the limited possibilities offered by our materialistic and degraded age, thereby transcending the Age of Kali and entering the world of heroism by achieving a higher state of consciousness, which Evola depicts as an effective realization of the ultimate purpose of life.

His call to action, however, is not that of today's armies, which ask nothing more of their soldiers than to become mercenaries in the temporary employ of a decadent class. Still less is it a call to misdirected or nihilistic violence. Rather, Evola presents the warrior as one who lives an integrated and purposeful way of life - one who adopts a specifically Aryan view of the world in which the political aims of a war are not its ultimate justification, but rather war is seen as merely a means through which the warrior finds his calling to a higher and more complete form of existence beyond the political, and in accordance with the teachings of the great spiritual texts. More importantly, he shows how the ideal of the warrior extends beyond the battlefield into other aspects of traditional living, even in times of peace.

Julius Evola (1898-1974) was an Italian traditionalist, metaphysician, and political philosopher. He remains a leading authority on the world's esoteric traditions and one of the greatest critics of modernity. He wrote extensively on the ancient civilizations and beliefs of both East and West and the world of Tradition.

©2011 Arktos Media Ltd. (P)2019 Arktos Media Ltd.

Ancient Doctrine of War

When one reads this book in the midst of one's own "Internal War", this book is a field manual for victory. Ave Roma.

Very well written!

Very thought provoking! Well written essays, and very well read. This audiobook applies traditional values to the modern world.

Still waiting for Men Among The Ruins

If possible, read Revolt Against The Modern World, but The Metaphysics Of War is intended as an introduction, and it may very well introduce the reader/listener to several authors. The Metaphysics Of War columns were written after "Revolt" and also after Evola translated Spengler's Decline Of The West into Italian. Decline Of The West is also available from Arktos, and there is an Ukame version on Audible. This audio book ("Metaphysics") is derived from columns that the Evola wrote in the 1940s, together with at least one response to the Korean War, or rather the response to the Western European response to the Korean War. While the author assumed that his readers had not read his books yet, and did provide his readers withe free-standing explanations; I find that every subsequent endeavor by Julius Evola reads/listens best with Revolt Against The Modern World acting as a foundation. Almost evereyone has read All Quiet On The Western Front. The editor of my school paperback physically separated Paul Baumer's "death" from the rest of the text--and wouldn't you know it, there was a sequel. Both are available on Kindle and Audible--as are Evola's "Revolt", and Ride the Tiger. The same can be said of Ernst Junger's Storm of Steel. I would also add Robert Graves' Goodbye To All That, which might not be on Audible. Graves' experience is shockingly modern. While I do not believe that Evola never heard of Graves' work, it would have been inaccessible to Italian newspapers in the 1940s. The Metaphysics of War will spark an interest in those books and others, and where referenced, there will be demonstrative passages.

great content!

the world needs more of this content. please continue to publish more works of this nature.

Not for those with closed minds

Truth and alternative perspectives can be found here for those who want to find it

More relevant now than when it was written

A beautiful explanation of transcendental fascism. The opening narration gave the author and the subject a fair shake; something not too common in modern times (in the West at least).

"War, what is it good for?" the answer is culture

A phenomenal case for the reconstruction of a warrior culture in the West. This was my first time reading/listening to Evola, and despite having never read Revolt Against the Modern World I was able to understand the majority of the arguments and references. Many of the concepts are abstract but if you've read any Nietzsche then you're adequately equipped to proceed.

I am now absolutely hooked on Evola thanks to this audiobook. It is a phenomenal translation and performance, another winner by Arktos.

Good intro to Evola

This collection of essays discusses the problems of a degenerating west by connecting its (warrior) rise and (bourgeois) fall to conceptions of violence, spirit, matter, and a host of ethics and virtues. It is a great introduction to Evola because it deals with his spiritual understanding of race and the suprabiological potentials of man. That it does so while focusing on such virtues as heroism, courage, and nobility makes it essential, if a tad esoteric, listening for men who feel called to defend the dying embers of western civilization.

The lack of translations makes sense now

In his latter essays of this collection, Evola talks about illusions. You can just skip to that part, because that's his essays in their entirety: the illusion of Rome cast over a failed state and system and the illusion of Roman legions cast over weak, enervated armies unable to subdue undeveloped states their ancestors once owned.

Major Historical and Logical Flaws

Interesting story and good narration.

Ok, for the young men interested in this book, you will probably like it. You are the audience and it will be compelling. But, here are some points that you may want to explore on your own....before you enlist, give up freedoms, and then jump out of a trench.

(1) Listen/read to a great course on Eastern Europe
(2) Listen/read to about the Crusades (read old stuff, not new stuff)
(3) Listen/read to about Julius Caesar (he wrote his own works!)

The warrior class has been hacked today, hacked in the past, and hacked in the way-long past. German crusaders in the East were making trading posts, Crusaders were brave young kids (truly kids) but they had no idea where they were actually going. The crusaders were constantly being manipulated by Byzantine Nobles and commercial interests. As soon as Islam gave the Byzantines a better deal, they betrayed and manipulated the young Crusaders, continuously. Then, in the long past that Evola seems to glorify, Rome...the guy that sold-it as pure and dignified was Cato. But Cato was considered a crazy nut in his own time by Caesar and Cicero. Cato was a greedy guy that let a rich guy take his wife for money. He even pillaged the graves of relatives for jewelry. Cato was basically pathologically jealous and cheap, but tried to make himself appear purely Stoic. Even Pompey the Great was really just defending the Anatolian Tax Farmers. The nearest we have to warrior ethos are Spartans and Native American tribes. Outside of that, you are into flesh traders and soldiers of fortune.