to THE AUSTRALIAN
In reflecting upon ‘the collapse of European civilisational self-belief’ Greg Sheridan avoids mentioning two vital factors (‘Merkel might yet leave Europe in ruins’, 21/9). The first of these is the failure of Christian leadership to renew Christian sacred tradition by reforming it. The analyses of Carl Jung, Rene Guenon, Piotr Ouspensky and other intellectual giants have been almost completely ignored. European culture cannot grow fruitfully into the future without a religious base that does not flout 200 years of scholarship in comparative religion and study of esoteric initiation.
The second factor is the widespread influence of certain aspects of Jewish culture, as has been capably analysed by Jewish writer Gilad Atzmon in his 2017 book ‘Being in Time’. Largely atheistic and hostile to intellectual freedom, this influence has been eroding the philosophical tradition that goes back to Plato, Aristotle and the ancient Egyptian civilisation before them. No-one need be ‘baffled’ by what has happened.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic