Active gnosis and mystical passivity: ecstasy and initiation in the traditionalist thought of René Guénon and Julius Evola

êxtase e iniciação no pensamento tradicionalista de René Guénon e Julius Evola

Abstract

This article analyzes the doctrinal distinction between initiation and mysticism established by the Traditionalist School, focusing on the contributions of René Guénon and Julius Evola. Both authors reject mystical ecstasy as a legitimate path to spiritual realization, characterizing it as a passive, transitory phenomenon vulnerable to deceptions of the psychic plane. Guénon grounds his critique in the opposition between active intellectual knowledge and passive sentimental devotion, requiring regular transmission through traditional organizations. Evola radicalizes this distinction by polarizing it in terms of a heroic solar path versus a devotional lunar path, emphasizing volitional conquest and energetic mastery. The divergence between them manifests in the question of self-initiation: Guénon categorically rejects it, while Evola admits rare exceptions. The article demonstrates how Perennialism validates ecstasy only as a stable result of gnosis, contrasting with contemporary phenomenological approaches. It concludes that Traditionalist production remains insufficiently studied by religious studies, although it offers relevant conceptual tools to distinguish phenomena that phenomenology tends to homogenize.