Paris, December 11th, 1949
Dear Mr. Guénon,
[…] I would like to point out, to conclude this long letter, an old error adopted by modern philosophers who are as perceptive as moles! Mr. Sartre and Krishnamurti, Bergson and others have not failed in this regard.All these myopic metaphysicians have confused the «rest of Being» with «Nothingness», which leads to the absurdity of their systems, to cosmic despair, and to the inextricable muddle of their thoughts.
I have tried to bring a bit of order to these cosmogonic conceptions throughout the verses of my work, but I am not inclined to organize this mystery for the public, which nevertheless demands it (the letters I receive testify to this).
If it pleases you, you could usefully do this in my place in the introduction you are kind enough to undertake, and it would be amusing to see the entire scholarly edifice of existentialism thrown to the ground in a few words, which has everyone running, including the holy Church that adds to it by publishing a book titled Christian Existentialism (sic) (whether by publishing or allowing it to be published!).
Thus, I could very well subtitle my work this way: «Essence, Substance, and Filth». Essence is God, the creator and animating fire of forms. Substance is mother and goddess, the nourishing and multiplying water of the forms emanated from the essence.
Essence is coagulating, while substance is dissolving. The mixture of substance with filth has made «matter» appear, which is a «mixture» in the exact sense of the term. This is the fall.
Filth is «nothingness», that is to say, the outer darkness that has become inner due to the accident of the fall, which strangely resembles the emulsion of the fringe of the substantial sphere when it set in motion under the impulse of the central essence. That is Being in action!
The cessation of this movement may very well lead to the substantial recovery of the particles exiled in the outer darkness; that is Being at rest!
Certain particles may also remain emulsified in the filth by refusing to return to the great original and substantial sea; that is hell and the revolt of Iblis. You will easily recognize all the names that apply to pure substance in ancient and recent religions, as well as those that apply to essence represented by the point in the circle.
Evil, which is filth, has no being in itself, but when it is accidentally mixed with substance, it becomes a decelerator to it, and death and birth take effect. On the contrary, when the separation of substance from filth is accomplished (which is the secret of redemption), eternal, substantial, and essential life remains alone. You see how clumsy it is to confuse the rest of Being, which is the cessation of creation, with non-being, which is outer Nothingness, without being, therefore, without action and without proper rest.
I would need much more time and space to develop and clarify my thoughts. Nevertheless, you can test it in this very concise form by confronting it with the teachings of the great initiatory and mystical traditions. I have tried very briefly to represent through an image my conception of the Universe in action and in rest, constituted by this central essence, this global substance, and this peripheral filth. I am attaching it hereby, with hopes of making myself better understood.
Please excuse this very long ramble and receive my very grateful and very friendly thoughts in Him who subsists in action and in rest through the eternities of the great alternating breath.
