Dionysian Apollonism

To sum up, the man for whom the new freedom does not spell ruin, whether because, given his special structure, he already has a firm base in himself, or because he is in the process of conquering it through an existential rupture of levels that reestablishes contact with the higher dimension of "being" - this man will possess a vision of reality stripped of the human and moral element, free from the projections of subjectivity and from conceptual finalistic, and theistic superstructures. This reduction to pure reality of the general view of the world and of existence will be described in what follows: the freedom of pure existence in the outside world is confirmed in the naked assumption of his own nature, from which he draws his own rule. This rule is a law to him to the degree that he does not start from a state of unity, and to the degree that secondary, divergent tendencies coexist and external factors try to influence him.

In the practical field of action, we have considered a regime of experiments with 2 degrees and 2 ends. First there is the proving knowledge of himself as a determined being, then of himself as a being in whom the transcendent dimension is positively present. The latter is the ultimate basis of his own law, and its supreme justification. After everything has collapsed and in a climate of dissolution, there is only one solution to the problem of an unconditioned and intangible meaning to life: THE DIRECT ASSUMPTION OF ONE'S OWN NAKED BEING AS A FUNCTION OF TRANSCENDENCE (75).

As for the modes of behavior toward the world, once a clarification and confirmation of oneself has been achieved as described, the general formula is indicated by an intrepid openness, devoid of ties but united in detachment, in the face of any possible experience. Where this involves a high intensity of life and a regime of achievement that enliven and nourish the calm principle of transcendence within, the orientation has some features in common with Nietzsche's "Dionysian state," but the way in which this state should be integrated suggests that a better term would be "Dionysian Apollonism." When one's relations with the world are not those of lived experience in general, but of the manifestation of oneself through works and active initiatives, the style suggested is that of involvement in every act, of pure and impersonal action, "without desire," without attachment (75-76).

-Julius Evola, Ride the Tiger