- "A term essential for understanding postmodern pornography is "pornotopia" (or "pornutopia"). Christian Hansen, Catherine Needham and Bill Nichols state in Pornography, Ethnology and the Discoursse of Power that "pornotopia" is an ideal construct "visited by an ideal spectator. Pornography proposes an ever-renewed and continually satisfied desire; it offers the perpetuation of desire" (Hansen, Needham, Nichols 1991, p. 212). According to the previously established orientation of inquiry I consider pornutopia an anti-traditional equivalent of Paradise, Valhalla or Svarga. A suggestive vision of a supernatural place of eternal bliss has been presented by the Japanese writer Y. Mishima in his story The Priest of Shiga Temple and His Love which refers to the beliefs of the Buddhist school of Pure Land: "in that Land the earth is made of emerald and the roads that lead across it are lined with cordons of gold rope. The surface is endlessly leveled and there are no boundaries. Within each of the sacred Precincts are fifty thousand million halls and towers wrought of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, coral, agate, and pearls; and wondrous garments are spread out on all the jeweled daises. Within the halls and above the towers a multitude of angels are forever playing sacred music and singing paeans of praise to the Tathagata Buddha. In the gardens that surround the halls and the towers and the cloisters are great gold and emerald ponds where the faithful may perform their ablutions; and the gold ponds are lined with silver sand, and the emerald ponds are lined with crystal sand. The ponds are covered with lotus plants which sparkle in variegated colors and, as the breeze wafts over the surface of the water, magnificent lights crisscross in all directions. [.] The air is full of jeweled cords, and from these cords hang the myriad treasure bells which forever ring out the Supreme Law of Buddha; and strange musical instruments, which play by themselves without ever being touched, also stretch far into the pellucid sky. If one feels like having something to eat, there automatically appears before one's eyes a seven-jeweled table on whose shining surface rest seven-jeweled bowls heaped high with choicest delicacies. But there is no need to pick-up these viands and put them in one's mouth. All that is necessary is to look at their inviting colors and enjoy their aroma: thereby the stomach is filled and the body nourished, while one remains oneself spiritually and physically pure" (Mishima 1966, pp. 59-60). In Valhalla, warriors who died with sword in hand are awaited by Valkyries - supernatural virgins, who conduct them to a feast, during which they sit beside the Gods. Meanwhile in the pornutopia a random internet user is awaited by countless numbers of diverse men and women ever ready for sex, prepared to satisfy his farfetched cravings. Instead of (referring to the terminology of Swami Prabhupada's writings) a "transcendental pastime" (Swami Prabhupada, p. 773) one encounters an extremely un-traditional pastime. However, it does not originate from the material order, but from the simulative and, hence, the anti-symbolic.
In pornography one can then notice anti-traditional inversions of phenomena known from the traditional world. The consumption of sperm, common in porn films, can be related to its ritual treatment by certain Tantric and Shaivist sects as well as the Gnostic Phibonites (Eliade 1978, pp. 93-118), the close-ups of the vagina to its sacred images common in the Classical (vulva), Dharmic (yoni) or Black Africa cultures (Kowalski 1990, pp. 154-159), the consumption of excrement to the Medieval belief in its magical powers or the alchemical conviction of its mysterious sense (Kadmon, Skatologia czyli czarna sztuka), actors (actresses) bearing both male and female physical features (so called trannies or she-males) as hermaphroditical inversions of the traditional androgyne (Cf. Eliade 1965). Through these phenomena the counter-initiative character of pornography is expressed. Their presence in postmodern pornography can be explained by a process to which J. Evola referred as "the involution of the world", the effect of victories of the forces of Anti-tradition, and what M. Eliade called degradation of symbol, degeneration of hierophany: for when mind is no longer able to attain the metaphysical meaning of a symbol, the symbol is becoming understood on more and more vulgar levels (Cf. Eliade 1965).
In reference to the actions portrayed in postmodern pornography such terms as "beastly" or "animal" have been commonly used. One of the major ethologists, Vitus B. Dröscher, claims that animals do not experience satisfaction (in the human sense) from undertaking such actions as eating or sexual intercourse and because of that they cannot become addicted or obese without the intervention of men (Cf. Dröscher 1979). Those reflections supported by the achievements of contemporary ethology confirm certain premonitions and observations of a prominent and controversial 19th century researcher of sex, gender and sexuality, namely: Otto Weininger. In his opus magnum Geschlecht und Charakter (Sex and Character) O. Weininger determines two fundamental types of female character: the mother and the prostitute. For the former the purpose is to have children, for the latter: sexual intercourse with men. And it is the mother which O. Weininger claims to be close to the animal world and by this condition amoral, incapable of morality. The prostitute is immoral and depraved and through this closer to the human condition (Weininger 2005, pp. 188-209). Thus, the character of pornography is not beastly nor animal, but (referring to the Christian nomenclature) demonic. The Bhagavad-Gita mentions two separate and opposite qualities: the divine (of the "Devas") and the demonic (of the "Asuras"). Both transcend the human condition; however, the former enables ascension (and that is: initiation), while the latter enables descent into darkness (counter-initiation) (The Bhavad-Gita 1885, 16th chapter). And so pornography, with its relocating of the spectator into pornotopia, has a character "of the Asuras": demonic and counter-initiative.
In one of the scriptures of Tantric Buddhism an ideal partner is described as the best of women, coming from a spiritual family. She neither menstruates nor produces an unpleasant smell, she is never ill and when overcome by sexual desire she knows no shame nor boundaries (Hinduskie wiersze miłosne 2006, p. 76). Women portrayed in pornography meet most of those requirements and this state is achieved exactly by the simulative character of postmodern pornography. Nevertheless, it must be emphasized that contrary to Tantric practices pornography does not lead one to liberation from the samsara.
A concept essential for the comprehension of the esoteric aspect of pornography is "the left hand path". J. Evola writes of a left hand path belonging to the world of Tradition: "that includes breaking the law, destruction, and orgiastic experience of various forms, but starting from a positive, sacred and sacrificial orientation, towards what is above, towards transcendence of all limitation" (Evola, Youth, Beats and Right-Wing Anarchists). Examples of the left hand path can be the various Tantric practices or one of the many Hindu ascetic sects (sadhus), namely: the aghori, whose members consume alcohol, meat or excrements. Pornography can be considered as the left hand path of the anti-traditional world - referring to certain commonly unaccepted practices, but going in the same direction as the right hand path.
Following the once assumed orientation (perceiving evil as a parody of good, interpreting the world's history as strife between Tradition and Anti-tradition, cosmos and chaos) it can be concluded that simulacrum, a term fundamental in describing and understanding postmodern culture and mentality, should have its counterpart in the traditional order. According to R. Guénon, a term which organizes the world of Tradition is the symbol. As this scholar claims, Primordial Tradition can manifest itself only through a symbol, since only a symbol can overcome the boundaries of the kingdom of reason (Bartyzel, René-Jean- Marie-Jospeh Guénon). Thus, simulacrum is the anti-traditional counterpart of symbol, pornography a parody of the left hand path, which in the pornotopia leads the postmodern man to counter-initiation and a descent into lower states of being."
J. Gulanowski, Simulative and Esoteric Aspects of Pornography, "Journal of Education Culture and Society", 2/2010, pp. 87-89. http://www.joedcuso.eu/Content/Issues/2010/02/Articles/2_6.pdf From a more concrete standpoint, addiction to pornography is supposed to cause erectile dysfunction - which does not come as a surprise, since any purely cerebral experience causes impotency in general. One can thus see easily why ‘feminism’ and pornography are closely linked. Incidentally, does watching pornography – not only men watch it - have the same effects on women? It is doubtful, especially since women are so cerebral beings.
As far as the characters are concerned, the author jumps the gun a little bit when claiming that “Women portrayed in pornography meet most of those [Tantric] requirements”, that is to say, that they “neither [menstruate] nor [produce an unpleasant smell], [they are never ill]…”; besides, he sometimes loses sight of the fact that the characters involved in pornography are by no means exclusively females. Furthermore, simulation is not what distinguishes pornography from unstaged sexual relationships: the figure of the husband doubting the sincerity, so to speak, of her wife’s orgasm has been a common topic of popular literature since the ‘Middle Ages’ at least. The ability of women (or, for that matter) feminine males to simulate, whether in public or in the privacy of the home, in keeping with what nature does so well, should not be underestimated, at any rate. Not to mention that, whether in a sexual context or not, they know, by their own nature, no boundaries, when left to their own device. Sight is also lost of the fact that, as pointed out in Metaphysics of Sex, women, during sex, tend to make sure that that they are seen, that an eye is kept on them.
Last but not least, instead of saying that “In pornography one can then notice anti-traditional inversions of phenomena known from the traditional world”, we’d rather say: in pornography one can notice phenomena which can be brought back to the traditions of certain races: “the close-ups of the vagina to its sacred images common in the Classical (vulva), Dharmic (yoni) or Black Africa cultures”, and which can be found on some churches in the British Isles; “the consumption of excrement to the Medieval belief in its magical powers or the alchemical conviction of its mysterious sense”, a belief that was shared in the most practical manner by a few Medieval saints, whose practices rivalled the adepts’ of Tantrism, though in a context that was not directly sexual.
In closing, the most interesting thing about this article, which, as any Traditionalist writing, is characterised by a certain ignorance of the historical past, a complete indifference to intrinsic racial differences, and the tendency to mistake almost mathematically ‘inversion’ for ‘conversion’, is the neologism “pornotopia”.
evola_as_he_is@{{emailDomain}}