albion
12-25-2004, 02:02 PM
PIERCE AND THE COSMOTHEIST WORLDVIEW
In order to understand Pierce's millenarian worldview, it is necessary briefly to explore the racially rooted theology upon which his organization is based. This philosophy, which Pierce calls 'Cosmotheism,' resonates in his literary work, particularly in Turner, and provides adherents with a totalistic logic explaining the order of the universe.<12> Blending Darwinian evolutionary theory with ideas from ancient Teutonic legend, Cosmotheism synthesizes the scientific with the mystical in its construction of reality. While the empirical and otherworldly components of this belief system might initially appear incompatible, in a strange sense each reinforces the other in an all-encompassing concept for human evolutionary development.<13>
Pierce perceives the world in terms of separate, biologically differentiated evolutions of racial groups. Reflecting strong traces of the theories of scientific racism he read while at Oregon State University,<14> Pierce's conception of racial progress would seem, at first glance, to be merely an extension of the early twentieth century's 'racial anthropology' literature. Here it is important to see that Pierce's system of thought diverges significantly from the purely scientific structure adopted by early racial theorists. In the Cosmotheist thoughtworld, evolution takes on a spiritual meaning as mankind follows predetermined courses of racial destiny. Pierce has described this process as an 'upward path' with its end point leading to the goal of 'oneness with the Creator.'<15> This ultimate Cosmotheist objective, the white race's realization of godhood, is viewed as a genetically wired certainty. According to Pierce, who has lectured on the subject to small gatherings of National Alliance members, the race's 'divine spark' has propelled it to greatness throughout history and separates it from all other forms of life.<16>
The concept of a unique Aryan path to godhood has parallels with the 'secret wisdom' beliefs found in ancient Gnosticism. Although lacking the racial mystique that would come to preoccupy some of its distant offshoots, Gnosticism established an early foundation for alternative expressions of salvationism. Embracing a mysterious and syncretic belief system borrowed from Platonism, oriental religions, Judaism, and Christianity, Gnosticism flourished in the first few centuries c.e. in the Mediterranean Basin as a counter religious movement to orthodox Christianity.<17> The importance of Gnosticism as a forebearer of other elite, alternative theological systems is found in its dualistic interpretation of reality. Perceiving in themselves a divine spark that differentiated those within the sect from outsiders, the early Gnostics held that the realization of spiritual unity with God could be achieved through secret revelation and initiation into the group's esoteric tradition.<18> This knowledge, which was deemed unavailable to group outsiders, permitted the 'release' of one's godly potential, and thus facilitated the 'insider's' personal path to divinity.
The Gnostic gravitation toward dualism and group secrecy was continued by a host of esoteric orders in the Western world. In particular, notions of occult revelations resonated with many of the secret societies which drew their inspiration from the Gnostic worldview. It is interesting to note that the uniquely German permutations of Gnostic belief, which in the nineteenth century combined Volkish nationalism with the mysticism of legendary secret societies, became the prime expositors of a 'revolutionary gnosis' that possessed both a racial basis and a political agenda.<19> The best-known of these relatively obscure ideas was Ariosophy, an Aryan variant of the era's widely popular Theosophy. Blending German nationalistic sentiments, occultism, and Teutonic belief, Ariosophy emerged as a 'crisis cult' in response to its adherents' sense of dislocation within late nineteenth-century German society and the disunified nature of the German state.<20>
Pierce has consistently displayed a fascination with various figures who are commonly associated with the Western esoteric tradition. Throughout his writing career, Pierce has admired the metaphysical ideas of mystical philosophers such as Meister Eckhart (1260-1327 c.e.) and Giordano Bruno (1548-1600 c.e.).<21> Scholars have generally located Eckhart and Bruno in the lineage of esotericists whose brand of mysticism incorporated Gnostic and Neoplationist themes.<22> For Pierce, these theological scholars provided their race with a glimpse of the Divine in man's soul. Inspired by similar views about the innate urge to achieve union with a higher nature, Eckhart and Bruno observed cosmologies which, while subtly differentiated, stressed the possibility of the soul's perfectibility.<23> It was, in fact, the mystical reference to this divine spark, a point of central important in Eckhart's philosophy,<24> which Pierce integrated into his own racially based cosmology. In a 1978 essay entitled 'The Faustian Spirit,' Pierce employs the Gnostic understanding of the soul's upward path in his racially deterministic framework of thought:
The race which is the bearer of this spirit must, therefore, be doubly careful that its genetic basis is preserved'that it does not become a race solely of lawyers, clerks, laborers, and merchants but remains a race also of philosophers, explorers, poets, and inventors: of seekers of ultimate knowledge, of strivers toward the perfection which is Godhood.<25>
Cosmotheism appears to be philosophically related to this ancient esoteric tradition in some important ways. First, Cosmotheism can be viewed as an extension of the same type of protest subculture which organized around groups in the Gnostic constellation. Galvanized by the feeling that society was flawed and on the wrong course of development, these groups turned inward, away from the surrounding social system, and sought security in a group-specific, utopian image of the world. Second, despite the chronological gap between the emergence of the Gnostic outlook and that of Cosmotheism, there are similarities in their respective uses of dualism. Employed by each as a means to divide society into camps comprised of the 'enlightened' and the 'unknowing,' these philosophies provide believers with a neat, systematized way of differentiating between insider and outsider. Such an outlook provides the group with a sense of unity and a means to coalesce around shared ideals which are held to be superior to those of the outside culture.<26>
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/usanazis/cosmotheism.html
In order to understand Pierce's millenarian worldview, it is necessary briefly to explore the racially rooted theology upon which his organization is based. This philosophy, which Pierce calls 'Cosmotheism,' resonates in his literary work, particularly in Turner, and provides adherents with a totalistic logic explaining the order of the universe.<12> Blending Darwinian evolutionary theory with ideas from ancient Teutonic legend, Cosmotheism synthesizes the scientific with the mystical in its construction of reality. While the empirical and otherworldly components of this belief system might initially appear incompatible, in a strange sense each reinforces the other in an all-encompassing concept for human evolutionary development.<13>
Pierce perceives the world in terms of separate, biologically differentiated evolutions of racial groups. Reflecting strong traces of the theories of scientific racism he read while at Oregon State University,<14> Pierce's conception of racial progress would seem, at first glance, to be merely an extension of the early twentieth century's 'racial anthropology' literature. Here it is important to see that Pierce's system of thought diverges significantly from the purely scientific structure adopted by early racial theorists. In the Cosmotheist thoughtworld, evolution takes on a spiritual meaning as mankind follows predetermined courses of racial destiny. Pierce has described this process as an 'upward path' with its end point leading to the goal of 'oneness with the Creator.'<15> This ultimate Cosmotheist objective, the white race's realization of godhood, is viewed as a genetically wired certainty. According to Pierce, who has lectured on the subject to small gatherings of National Alliance members, the race's 'divine spark' has propelled it to greatness throughout history and separates it from all other forms of life.<16>
The concept of a unique Aryan path to godhood has parallels with the 'secret wisdom' beliefs found in ancient Gnosticism. Although lacking the racial mystique that would come to preoccupy some of its distant offshoots, Gnosticism established an early foundation for alternative expressions of salvationism. Embracing a mysterious and syncretic belief system borrowed from Platonism, oriental religions, Judaism, and Christianity, Gnosticism flourished in the first few centuries c.e. in the Mediterranean Basin as a counter religious movement to orthodox Christianity.<17> The importance of Gnosticism as a forebearer of other elite, alternative theological systems is found in its dualistic interpretation of reality. Perceiving in themselves a divine spark that differentiated those within the sect from outsiders, the early Gnostics held that the realization of spiritual unity with God could be achieved through secret revelation and initiation into the group's esoteric tradition.<18> This knowledge, which was deemed unavailable to group outsiders, permitted the 'release' of one's godly potential, and thus facilitated the 'insider's' personal path to divinity.
The Gnostic gravitation toward dualism and group secrecy was continued by a host of esoteric orders in the Western world. In particular, notions of occult revelations resonated with many of the secret societies which drew their inspiration from the Gnostic worldview. It is interesting to note that the uniquely German permutations of Gnostic belief, which in the nineteenth century combined Volkish nationalism with the mysticism of legendary secret societies, became the prime expositors of a 'revolutionary gnosis' that possessed both a racial basis and a political agenda.<19> The best-known of these relatively obscure ideas was Ariosophy, an Aryan variant of the era's widely popular Theosophy. Blending German nationalistic sentiments, occultism, and Teutonic belief, Ariosophy emerged as a 'crisis cult' in response to its adherents' sense of dislocation within late nineteenth-century German society and the disunified nature of the German state.<20>
Pierce has consistently displayed a fascination with various figures who are commonly associated with the Western esoteric tradition. Throughout his writing career, Pierce has admired the metaphysical ideas of mystical philosophers such as Meister Eckhart (1260-1327 c.e.) and Giordano Bruno (1548-1600 c.e.).<21> Scholars have generally located Eckhart and Bruno in the lineage of esotericists whose brand of mysticism incorporated Gnostic and Neoplationist themes.<22> For Pierce, these theological scholars provided their race with a glimpse of the Divine in man's soul. Inspired by similar views about the innate urge to achieve union with a higher nature, Eckhart and Bruno observed cosmologies which, while subtly differentiated, stressed the possibility of the soul's perfectibility.<23> It was, in fact, the mystical reference to this divine spark, a point of central important in Eckhart's philosophy,<24> which Pierce integrated into his own racially based cosmology. In a 1978 essay entitled 'The Faustian Spirit,' Pierce employs the Gnostic understanding of the soul's upward path in his racially deterministic framework of thought:
The race which is the bearer of this spirit must, therefore, be doubly careful that its genetic basis is preserved'that it does not become a race solely of lawyers, clerks, laborers, and merchants but remains a race also of philosophers, explorers, poets, and inventors: of seekers of ultimate knowledge, of strivers toward the perfection which is Godhood.<25>
Cosmotheism appears to be philosophically related to this ancient esoteric tradition in some important ways. First, Cosmotheism can be viewed as an extension of the same type of protest subculture which organized around groups in the Gnostic constellation. Galvanized by the feeling that society was flawed and on the wrong course of development, these groups turned inward, away from the surrounding social system, and sought security in a group-specific, utopian image of the world. Second, despite the chronological gap between the emergence of the Gnostic outlook and that of Cosmotheism, there are similarities in their respective uses of dualism. Employed by each as a means to divide society into camps comprised of the 'enlightened' and the 'unknowing,' these philosophies provide believers with a neat, systematized way of differentiating between insider and outsider. Such an outlook provides the group with a sense of unity and a means to coalesce around shared ideals which are held to be superior to those of the outside culture.<26>
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/usanazis/cosmotheism.html