Paithan’s Reviews > The Forest Passage > Status Update

Grapevine is where the earth and the sun unite. The material and the spiritual. Hercules and Dionysus. King and Priest. Left Hand and the Right Hand.

Jünger paints a picture of modern man on the Titanic. It’s all very fine when you get going, but when the icebergs show up you’re at the mercy of the crew. How should one conduct themselves in such a case? Retreat to the Forest, the connection we have to the spiritual realm. No wonder he converted to Catholicism.


Connection to “On Pain” and “War as an Inner Experience.”

Juenger has rebuilt Christianity without Christ or the Cross. He writes the ultimate nobility is that of the soul, to protect and serve those weaker than yourself. And to derive your actions from morality, rather than the law.

Juenger likens modern society to a large ship, such as the Titanic, in which the normal person is a passenger with no control. There is nothing to do except be ready for when it will crash.

Writing about the Second World War; Machines replaced the need for men to have an inner fighting spirit. And the machines became so destructive, that any glory that could be won on the battlefield was drowned out by the sheer apocalyptic power of the weaponry.