Kiseliova–El Marassy, Ina. Tradicijos ir sakraliosios žinijos atgaivinimas XX a. Vakaruose

modernizmo ideologijos slinkčių akivaizdoje, Sovijus. Tarpdalykiniai kultūros tyrimai, 2021, T. 9, Nr. 2, Vilnius: LKTI, p. 149–158. ISSN 2351-471X

SUMMARY

Revival of Tradition and Sacred Knowledge in the Western World of the 20th Century in the Presence of Shifts in Ideologies of Modernism

INA KISELIOVA-EL MARASSY

Lithuanian culture research institute

The need to revitalise tradition and sacred knowledge became evident in the second half of the 19th century, with the rapid technogenic revolution, the crisis of religion, the totalitarian suppression of cultural symbols, cultural levelling and the impoverishment of the spiritual dimension. The most prominent response to this crisis was the intellectual Traditionalist movement, beginning in the 19th century and continuing to the present.

This article will discuss the origins, basic principles and most prominent personalities of Traditionalism, including Algis Uždavinys, well known in Lithuanian and global academic contexts, whose ideas, permeated by a traditionalist worldview, are of particular relevance in today’s world. Although not a single solid publication in cultural studies, aesthetics, art history, esotericism or religious studies is without the names of scholars, art historians and erudites who were active in the Traditionalist movement, Anthropocene, Anthropodicy and the victory of sacrum over profanum are proving the fact that the Traditionalists proposed ways of saving mankind from the desacralization of modernity have remained on the academic margins. Reflection on the fundamental ideas of the movement, rethinking the influence of cultural and civilisational contexts and reactualization of the chaos caused by the loss of the transcendental dimension, is yet another attempt to re-evaluate the Traditionalists’ ideological heritage and the importance of the esoteric dimension.

Keywords: Traditionalism, Traditionalist movement, Comparative Cultural Studies and Philosophy,

Sacred Tradition, René Guénon, Frithjof Schuon, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Algis Uždavinys.