Nihilism : the root of the revolution of the modern age

What is the Nihilism in which we have seen the root of the Revolution of the modern age? The answer, at first thought, does not seem difficult; several obvious examples of it spring immediately to mind. There is Hitler's fantastic program of destruction, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Dadaist attack on art; there is the background from which these movements sprang, most notably represented by several "possessed" individuals of the late nineteenth century--poets like Rimbaud and Baudelaire, revolutionaries like Bakunin and Nechayev, "prophets" like Nietzsche; there is, on a humbler level among our contemporaries, the vague unrest that leads some to flock to magicians like Hitler, and others to find escape in drugs or false religions, or to perpetrate those "senseless" crimes that become ever more characteristic of these times. But these represent no more than the spectacular surface of the problem of Nihilism. To account even for these, once one probes beneath the surface, is by no means an easy task; but the task we have set for ourselves is broader: to understand the nature of the whole movement of which these phenomena are but extreme examples. Rose's (1932 - 1982) brief but potent deconstruction of nihilism is just a fragment of much larger but never completed work. What does Nihilism mean? wrote Friedrich Nietszche. That the highest values are losing their value. There is no goal.There is no Truth, no thing in itself. There is no answer to the why? In 1962, the young Eugene Rose (the future Fr. Seraphim) undertook to write a monumental chronicle of the abandonment of Truth in the modern age. Of the hundreds of pages of material he compiled for this work, only the present essay has come down to us in completed form. Here Fr. Seraphim reveals the core of all modern thought and lifethe belief that all truth is relativeand shows how this belief has been translated into action in our century. Today, four decades after he wrote it, this essay is more timely than ever. It clearly explains why contemporary ideas, values, and attitudesthe spirit of the ageare shifting so rapidly in the direction of moral anarchy, as the philosophy of Nihilism enters more deeply into the fiber of society. Nietszche was right when he predicted that the 20th century would usher in the triumph of Nihilism. Some years after writing this essay, Eugene Rose became a monk in the mountains of northern California with the name Fr. Seraphim. Although he lived his whole life in America, he has become, after his death, one of the most popular spiritual-philosophical writers in Eastern Europe. "In 1962, the young Eugene Rose undertook to write a monumental chronicle of the abandonment of Truth in the modern age. Of the hundreds of pages of material he compiled for this work, only the present essay, on Nihilism, has come down to us in completed form. Here Eugene reveals the core of all modern thought and life--the belief that all truth is relative--and shows how this belief has been translated into action in our era. Today, nearly half a century after he wrote it, this essay is more timely than ever. It clearly explains why contemporary ideas, values, and attitudes--the "spirit of the age"--are shifting so rapidly in the direction of moral anarchy, as the philosophy of Nihilism enters more deeply into the fiber of society. Nietszche was right when he predicted that the twentieth century would usher in "the triumph of Nihilism."--Back cover In 1962, the young Eugene Rose undertook to write a monumental chronicle of the abandonment of truth in the modern age. Of the hundreds of pages of material he compiled for this work, only the present essay, on nihilism, has come down to us in completed form. Here Eugene reveals the core of all modern thought and life - the belief that all truth is relative - and shows how this belief has been translated into action in our era. Today, nearly half a century after he wrote it, this essay is more timely than ever. It clearly explains why contemporary ideas, values, and attitudes - the "spirit of the age" - are shifting so rapidly in the direction of moral anarchy, as the philosophy of nihilism enters more deeply into the fiber of society. Nietszche was right when he predicted that the twentieth century would user in "the triumph of nihilism." Editor's Preface INTRODUCTION: The Question of Truth The Stages of the Nihilist Dialectic 1. LIBERALISM 2. REALISM 3. VITALISM 4. THE NIHILISM OF DESTRUCTION The Theology and the Spirit of Nihilism 1. REBELLION: THE WAR AGAINST GOD 2. THE WORSHIP OF NOTHINGNESS The Nihilist Program 1. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD ORDER 2. THE MAKING OF THE "NEW EARTH" 3. THE FASHIONING OF THE "NEW MAN" Beyond Nihilism Notes