I'm guessing we need, among other things, to sing songs ourselves, however badly, to read great works aloud, however softly, to essay works that were just barely accepted for brief periods of time in the early and middle Middle Ages, often called magic. To use the psalms as cantrips, to fight against evil, to actually do what our religions beg us to do. To appreciate antiquity in all its horror and beauty. All that. More. Seek diligently, as you are doing here...
A lot of the feelings of disenchantment come from being told to ignore those things that we know are real, but can't explain with science.
Focus on these things and the enchantment reappears. Trusting our intuition rather than dismissing it as superstition or fantasy.
This can be done anywhere, it doesn´t even require a natural or beautiful surrounding. Though it is easier to do in such settings. The beautiful old architecture and sacred sites are an attempt to manifest the enchantment into the physical.
By focusing on these mysteries we know are real, we help to break the spell that modernity has cast over our minds. The more it is dispelled, the more confidence we have to fight the evil. The heroes may emerge in this frame.
Thank you for inviting us to join in your quest. I hold great hope that, while the magic formula for re-enchantment may forever elude us, we may all be blessed to contribute to, and enjoy the fruits of, this awakening. The landscape before us appears barren at times; I, however, refuse to surrender my being to mind numbing mediocrity. It is my hope that many like minded souls will join in the adventure.
A vital project, without a doubt. I've also noticed this issue with the re-enchantment crowd. There's a lot of talk about it but no one really knows what it means. Maybe its a matter of re-enchanting our children's lives (though I do not have any yet) and through that, the world in a slow manner. Or are there some sort of quests or tasks to accomplish as we adults chip away at the regime of material immanence? I guess we'll see. For my part, re-enchantment is seeming, more and more, to be something that *happens* to me, not that I manufacture myself. Been working on an essay explanation of it for a while, but only in bits. I look forward to this discussion on your part. Like I said, I really do think it's a vital project.
Glad to have you on board. I don't want to call out anyone in the disenchantment crowd because I appreciate what they are trying to do. But yes, there's a certain un-seriousness I find in it. Maybe I see that some are too comfortable staying in a sort of cozy fantasy land with lots of books and cozy pubs and walks in the wood. As great as those things are, they won't save us. One cannot retreat into a warm hobbit hole in the Shire and expect the darkness to go away on its own.
Yes, exactly. I love my old school aesthetics too but it can often become a larp. If enchantment means anything at all, it means it has to be attached to reality, which unfortunately means I can’t live in my own little private Narnia-styled Disneyland-esque artificial “re-enchanted” world, I have to somehow go about this vague, difficult project in the muck of the world as it is. Older, often better men tried to do it in the real world and they failed, or they were too early. While that does mean our efforts will be very difficult, it definitely does not mean that I can just tuck myself in and wait for it to happen. So, agreed. Salvation lies outside the hobbit hole
What happened to the age of hero’s? Hero’s were regulated out of existence. They are too dangerous! All this slaying of dragons. Why don’t we just do business with the dragons and orcs? Enchantment? Only if there is a profit to be made.
An observation: Western philosophy and much of Western Christianity has eliminated the connection between the physical realm and the spiritual, or eliminated the spiritual entirely. We must learn to reconnect with the spiritual and understand its effects on the physical.
Christianity is specifically designed and meant to BE the spiritual realm. However, as well seen, no or few Christians or their priests "believe in that sort of thing." It's too childish, be reasonable, man.
And pointing that when it FIRST appeared the very reason it replaced Pagan gods in Northern and Southern Europe is precisely BECAUSE it was magically kicking their gods all around town and getting things done. --Remember at that first point, the Christians had nothing at all. One Friar walks into the woods. There's no sword or oppression at that point, not 'til many centuries later.
Disenchantment is a function of the previailing (western) materialistic worldview. The Cartesian position where Nature at large possesses no ‘thinking soul’ at all and is entirely mechanistic has resulted in the physical and biological world becoming inanimate and desacralised, with no intrinsic beauty or purposiveness. If Nature consists solely of matter, all things may legitimately become controlled and exploited for human gain. This attitude explains the profoundly dire siutation we now find ourselves in, and is obviously the antithesis of animism, which still holds sway is some parts of the world.
The process of re-enchantment therefore is the means by which we can come into right relation with the cosmos, by understanding it as both a physical and spiritual phenomenon, where Nature and all things contained therein constitute an ever-unfolding drama of animate, intelligent entities with who we can interact. Western occultism provides the tools by which this may occur - a way of speaking to the cosmos in order to literally en-chant it.
Re-enchantment is a process of sybiosis, and requires active engagement by us. It is an exchange, a covenant, a form of service, a desire for wholeness, union and balance; a alchemical conjunction of matter and spirit, sun and earth, above and below.
Myths therefore are sacred narratives describing the interplay of entities within an ensouled universe; the great cycles of life, death and rebirth are embodied and enacted in the ever-turning orrery of the cosmos. Thus, the cosmic dramas enshrined in myth provide a means to reconnect with the fundamental realities of existence when viewed through a prism of enchantment. Stories of the grail, the wasteland, solar heroes, sacred marriage, a descent into return from the otherworld etc etc are all allegories of in which humans play a key role in sustaining (or breaking) the cosmic order.
But, of course, the process of enchantment must begin with us as individuals: the inner wasteland must be addressed before the outer wasteland is made fecund. Again, this is enshrined in myth and the teachings of the Western Mystery Tradition. To quote Tolkien:
"Faërie... contains many things besides elves and fays... it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all the things that are in it... and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted"
I believe enchantment to be an inner peace that one is able to project to an otherwise cynical, self absorbed and unthinking world. I actually had to Google what the acronym "LARP" stood for. Completely reject that interpretation of the quest. Be real. Be open. Be curious. Be a believer in the potential of goodness and rightness. Let your inner journey and peace be a beacon to those who have lost themselves in the pursuit of "the way the world is".
The magic may have gone out of the world, as some say.. But if one lives as if it's still here among us, has it really? I don't think so. Call me a starry eyed optimist, but I believe if that we all choose to believe and act as if the world is still in some senses enchanted, we can bring the magic back! What I'm saying is, go out and be adventurous.Fill your lungs with the fresh life giving air and feel the electricity in your veins. As Nietzsche would say: firmly say "Yes!" to life!
It's trite to say that modernity is what disenchanted the world, but I would like to delve into that:
The enlightenment, with its putting logic and reason above all things, taught humanity that there was nothing outside of our grasp. Without the unknown and unknowable, there is no mystery beyond humanity that belongs to different beings or different realms. Everything is simply waiting to be discovered by humans, and, once we refine our methods, we will be able to not only discover it but also tame it. This obviates the need for an enchanted world, the fae, the layers of reality overlapping but separate from the material world.
Similarly, the conception of equality has destroyed the notion of the hero. A hero is someone who (most often by way of his blood) stands above all others and does amazing things no one else can do. Once the belief that all humans are equal, have equal potential, or are separated only by their experiences the capacity for heroism becomes anathema. The reenchantment of the world requires a fundamental shift in the attitudes humans take to themselves and their place in the universe. Working backwards, we must do away completely with the nightmare of human equality to allow the hero to reemerge. Then, we must give back to God what is his, accepting as a people what limits humanity and our desires is something fundamental to the reality in which we live.
You might ask people to send in personal accounts of metaphysical experiences. (Many would wish to remain anonymous.) That might help dispel the sense that the physical is all that's real, or philosophical materialism.
A great idea. There is a divide in "re-enchantment" circles over just how much they literally believe in the supernatural, or more specifically at what level they believe the supernatural interacts with us on a regular basis. I want to try to respect all angles with this series but obviously I have my own opinions.
Modernity and its emphasis on numbers is what disenchanted the world. The concrete mundaneity of everyone's lives as prescribed with numbers in our bank accounts and on our phones leaves little space for the unknown, where the magic lives.
For all the marvels of natural sciences, our minds long for the need to intuit and look at the world without the mechanistic lens, we need that sense of wonder to flex our imagination and to create beyond the here and now. Without that we do really feel dead and the world around us is greyer than ever.
I have found that the closer one grows to Our Lord, while at the same time getting away from technology, especially social media, the more beautiful and magical life becomes. It isn’t always easy, but the benefits are great indeed.
When, in my past, I lived a life far away from Christ, deep in the state of mortal sin, and spent many hours per day rotting on social media, I felt wholly disconnected from reality itself in a sense.
Today, I walk outside and I feel the breeze not just on my skin, but in my soul. I see the beauty and majesty in everything. I find myself thanking Our Lord for the weather, and for the beauty of nature.
It’s so much more than just nature though. Relationships can grow deeper, love is felt much more deeply and truly, and men of renown are seen much more easily.
All this to say, living a life based around Christ and His Church, and the removal of modern forces which draw us out of reality, we can, in my experience, regain that fantastical and magical view of life. I believe the real world is inherently magical and beautiful, but it is dulled and destroyed by modernity. As technology usage is necessary these days, atleast to some extant, the challenge is to find that balance which preserves enchantment of life to the greatest extent, yet doesn’t turn us into the Amish. Technology only when necessary or something of the sort.
We need to enchant discovery. Instead of leaning on the unknown and mysteries to provide the gap that people associate with enchantment, people need to become the agents. Imbue your heroes with mythic quality because they chose to drink from the spring of courage, and start this young. Wonder is classed as a childlike trait, and it always opens the door to more. When it comes to adults, enchantment is an extension outside the self, so we will likely need to begin with people who are already predisposed to language of darkness and light.
Beyond that, there will always be gaps in our knowledge, and maybe we should be more willing to exploit them. James Herriot mentions how they once used an iodine compound that turned into a purple plume after dealing with a hoof infection to "make the farmer feel as though he got his money's worth" because the real work was invisible and resulted in ingratitude. Power can come from making a task look easy, but in the age of resentment there is neither magic nor appreciation. Capitalise on this further by making good human traits a cultivated magic and appreciation a valid currency.
I'm guessing we need, among other things, to sing songs ourselves, however badly, to read great works aloud, however softly, to essay works that were just barely accepted for brief periods of time in the early and middle Middle Ages, often called magic. To use the psalms as cantrips, to fight against evil, to actually do what our religions beg us to do. To appreciate antiquity in all its horror and beauty. All that. More. Seek diligently, as you are doing here...
Well said
A lot of the feelings of disenchantment come from being told to ignore those things that we know are real, but can't explain with science.
Focus on these things and the enchantment reappears. Trusting our intuition rather than dismissing it as superstition or fantasy.
This can be done anywhere, it doesn´t even require a natural or beautiful surrounding. Though it is easier to do in such settings. The beautiful old architecture and sacred sites are an attempt to manifest the enchantment into the physical.
By focusing on these mysteries we know are real, we help to break the spell that modernity has cast over our minds. The more it is dispelled, the more confidence we have to fight the evil. The heroes may emerge in this frame.
Thank you for inviting us to join in your quest. I hold great hope that, while the magic formula for re-enchantment may forever elude us, we may all be blessed to contribute to, and enjoy the fruits of, this awakening. The landscape before us appears barren at times; I, however, refuse to surrender my being to mind numbing mediocrity. It is my hope that many like minded souls will join in the adventure.
I think there are more of us than many realize.
A vital project, without a doubt. I've also noticed this issue with the re-enchantment crowd. There's a lot of talk about it but no one really knows what it means. Maybe its a matter of re-enchanting our children's lives (though I do not have any yet) and through that, the world in a slow manner. Or are there some sort of quests or tasks to accomplish as we adults chip away at the regime of material immanence? I guess we'll see. For my part, re-enchantment is seeming, more and more, to be something that *happens* to me, not that I manufacture myself. Been working on an essay explanation of it for a while, but only in bits. I look forward to this discussion on your part. Like I said, I really do think it's a vital project.
Glad to have you on board. I don't want to call out anyone in the disenchantment crowd because I appreciate what they are trying to do. But yes, there's a certain un-seriousness I find in it. Maybe I see that some are too comfortable staying in a sort of cozy fantasy land with lots of books and cozy pubs and walks in the wood. As great as those things are, they won't save us. One cannot retreat into a warm hobbit hole in the Shire and expect the darkness to go away on its own.
Yes, exactly. I love my old school aesthetics too but it can often become a larp. If enchantment means anything at all, it means it has to be attached to reality, which unfortunately means I can’t live in my own little private Narnia-styled Disneyland-esque artificial “re-enchanted” world, I have to somehow go about this vague, difficult project in the muck of the world as it is. Older, often better men tried to do it in the real world and they failed, or they were too early. While that does mean our efforts will be very difficult, it definitely does not mean that I can just tuck myself in and wait for it to happen. So, agreed. Salvation lies outside the hobbit hole
I'm starting to define what it means here:
https://jmackinder.substack.com/p/what-is-enchantment
Though of course that will be one man's opinion. Defining terms is vital.
Eugene McCarraher makes the case that the world has not been disenchanted, but rather misenchanted.
The false, synthetic values we hold dear - money and success, ease and convenience, mere external appearance - lead us out the world, and not into it.
It seems to me that the path back to true enchantment begins with the most basic and immediate concerns in life:
Growing our own food, raising our own children, caring for our own sick and elderly.
The heroic challenge of our age is to take back responsibility for our lives.
What happened to the age of hero’s? Hero’s were regulated out of existence. They are too dangerous! All this slaying of dragons. Why don’t we just do business with the dragons and orcs? Enchantment? Only if there is a profit to be made.
An observation: Western philosophy and much of Western Christianity has eliminated the connection between the physical realm and the spiritual, or eliminated the spiritual entirely. We must learn to reconnect with the spiritual and understand its effects on the physical.
Christianity is specifically designed and meant to BE the spiritual realm. However, as well seen, no or few Christians or their priests "believe in that sort of thing." It's too childish, be reasonable, man.
And pointing that when it FIRST appeared the very reason it replaced Pagan gods in Northern and Southern Europe is precisely BECAUSE it was magically kicking their gods all around town and getting things done. --Remember at that first point, the Christians had nothing at all. One Friar walks into the woods. There's no sword or oppression at that point, not 'til many centuries later.
Disenchantment is a function of the previailing (western) materialistic worldview. The Cartesian position where Nature at large possesses no ‘thinking soul’ at all and is entirely mechanistic has resulted in the physical and biological world becoming inanimate and desacralised, with no intrinsic beauty or purposiveness. If Nature consists solely of matter, all things may legitimately become controlled and exploited for human gain. This attitude explains the profoundly dire siutation we now find ourselves in, and is obviously the antithesis of animism, which still holds sway is some parts of the world.
The process of re-enchantment therefore is the means by which we can come into right relation with the cosmos, by understanding it as both a physical and spiritual phenomenon, where Nature and all things contained therein constitute an ever-unfolding drama of animate, intelligent entities with who we can interact. Western occultism provides the tools by which this may occur - a way of speaking to the cosmos in order to literally en-chant it.
Re-enchantment is a process of sybiosis, and requires active engagement by us. It is an exchange, a covenant, a form of service, a desire for wholeness, union and balance; a alchemical conjunction of matter and spirit, sun and earth, above and below.
Myths therefore are sacred narratives describing the interplay of entities within an ensouled universe; the great cycles of life, death and rebirth are embodied and enacted in the ever-turning orrery of the cosmos. Thus, the cosmic dramas enshrined in myth provide a means to reconnect with the fundamental realities of existence when viewed through a prism of enchantment. Stories of the grail, the wasteland, solar heroes, sacred marriage, a descent into return from the otherworld etc etc are all allegories of in which humans play a key role in sustaining (or breaking) the cosmic order.
But, of course, the process of enchantment must begin with us as individuals: the inner wasteland must be addressed before the outer wasteland is made fecund. Again, this is enshrined in myth and the teachings of the Western Mystery Tradition. To quote Tolkien:
"Faërie... contains many things besides elves and fays... it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all the things that are in it... and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted"
I believe enchantment to be an inner peace that one is able to project to an otherwise cynical, self absorbed and unthinking world. I actually had to Google what the acronym "LARP" stood for. Completely reject that interpretation of the quest. Be real. Be open. Be curious. Be a believer in the potential of goodness and rightness. Let your inner journey and peace be a beacon to those who have lost themselves in the pursuit of "the way the world is".
The magic may have gone out of the world, as some say.. But if one lives as if it's still here among us, has it really? I don't think so. Call me a starry eyed optimist, but I believe if that we all choose to believe and act as if the world is still in some senses enchanted, we can bring the magic back! What I'm saying is, go out and be adventurous.Fill your lungs with the fresh life giving air and feel the electricity in your veins. As Nietzsche would say: firmly say "Yes!" to life!
It's trite to say that modernity is what disenchanted the world, but I would like to delve into that:
The enlightenment, with its putting logic and reason above all things, taught humanity that there was nothing outside of our grasp. Without the unknown and unknowable, there is no mystery beyond humanity that belongs to different beings or different realms. Everything is simply waiting to be discovered by humans, and, once we refine our methods, we will be able to not only discover it but also tame it. This obviates the need for an enchanted world, the fae, the layers of reality overlapping but separate from the material world.
Similarly, the conception of equality has destroyed the notion of the hero. A hero is someone who (most often by way of his blood) stands above all others and does amazing things no one else can do. Once the belief that all humans are equal, have equal potential, or are separated only by their experiences the capacity for heroism becomes anathema. The reenchantment of the world requires a fundamental shift in the attitudes humans take to themselves and their place in the universe. Working backwards, we must do away completely with the nightmare of human equality to allow the hero to reemerge. Then, we must give back to God what is his, accepting as a people what limits humanity and our desires is something fundamental to the reality in which we live.
The Aenian Man idea is a great step towards this.
Yes, the fundamental reality of hierarchy is essential to an enchanted world. The disenchanted is flat and dull and "equitable".
Without inequality/hierarchy, there no good to fight for, and no evil to fight against.
You might ask people to send in personal accounts of metaphysical experiences. (Many would wish to remain anonymous.) That might help dispel the sense that the physical is all that's real, or philosophical materialism.
A great idea. There is a divide in "re-enchantment" circles over just how much they literally believe in the supernatural, or more specifically at what level they believe the supernatural interacts with us on a regular basis. I want to try to respect all angles with this series but obviously I have my own opinions.
Modernity and its emphasis on numbers is what disenchanted the world. The concrete mundaneity of everyone's lives as prescribed with numbers in our bank accounts and on our phones leaves little space for the unknown, where the magic lives.
For all the marvels of natural sciences, our minds long for the need to intuit and look at the world without the mechanistic lens, we need that sense of wonder to flex our imagination and to create beyond the here and now. Without that we do really feel dead and the world around us is greyer than ever.
I recommend you check out The Telepathy Tapes. That will reenchant things pretty quickly if you approach it with an open mind…
I have found that the closer one grows to Our Lord, while at the same time getting away from technology, especially social media, the more beautiful and magical life becomes. It isn’t always easy, but the benefits are great indeed.
When, in my past, I lived a life far away from Christ, deep in the state of mortal sin, and spent many hours per day rotting on social media, I felt wholly disconnected from reality itself in a sense.
Today, I walk outside and I feel the breeze not just on my skin, but in my soul. I see the beauty and majesty in everything. I find myself thanking Our Lord for the weather, and for the beauty of nature.
It’s so much more than just nature though. Relationships can grow deeper, love is felt much more deeply and truly, and men of renown are seen much more easily.
All this to say, living a life based around Christ and His Church, and the removal of modern forces which draw us out of reality, we can, in my experience, regain that fantastical and magical view of life. I believe the real world is inherently magical and beautiful, but it is dulled and destroyed by modernity. As technology usage is necessary these days, atleast to some extant, the challenge is to find that balance which preserves enchantment of life to the greatest extent, yet doesn’t turn us into the Amish. Technology only when necessary or something of the sort.
We need to enchant discovery. Instead of leaning on the unknown and mysteries to provide the gap that people associate with enchantment, people need to become the agents. Imbue your heroes with mythic quality because they chose to drink from the spring of courage, and start this young. Wonder is classed as a childlike trait, and it always opens the door to more. When it comes to adults, enchantment is an extension outside the self, so we will likely need to begin with people who are already predisposed to language of darkness and light.
Beyond that, there will always be gaps in our knowledge, and maybe we should be more willing to exploit them. James Herriot mentions how they once used an iodine compound that turned into a purple plume after dealing with a hoof infection to "make the farmer feel as though he got his money's worth" because the real work was invisible and resulted in ingratitude. Power can come from making a task look easy, but in the age of resentment there is neither magic nor appreciation. Capitalise on this further by making good human traits a cultivated magic and appreciation a valid currency.