It is difficult to know where to begin, since like the end of
fireworks, which initially fascinate, but then come floating down in
every direction like so many unrelated ideas. Yet, since every journey
begins with the first step, the best first step would be "Evola as he
is", or using another metaphor, to stand on the shoulder of a giant
for a better view.
As for Evola's opinion of the Middle Ages, we can quote from
"Imperialismo Pagano":
<<the grandeur of Rome, having risen from the forces of the Nordic
Aryans, created the last, great, universal period in the West, the
feudal-imperial civilisation of the Middle Ages.>>
Hardly a negative judgment. It would behoove us to try to understand
what is so great about that civilisation. By the way, no period since
was considered by Evola to have reached such a height, and certainly
not the Rome-Berlin Axis.
A series of unrelated contingent events depicting disloyal subjects
and the burial practices of low caste Estonians does not change that.
The opinions of a post-modern, feminist, American university professor
does not change that, all the more so since her definition of "racism"
probably derives from Trotsky in 1922 who first coined the word.
Evola is relentless in criticizing the views of the biological
racists, including the two pamphlets published by Thompkins&Carriou.
Let's keep the following points in mind to understand the Middle Ages
and just what constitutes "racial consciousness".
In "Three Aspects of the Jewish problem", Evola characterises the
Aryan is not simply by blood, but "an affirmative attitude toward the
divine." So to answer the question of the racial consciousness of the
Middle Ages means to explore their attitude towrd the divine.
Only confusion can arise by not properly distinguishing the Catholic
system -- which is a determinate and positive thing -- from
Protestantism and primitive Christianity, which are indeterminate and
chaotic. Again, Evola from the same work:
<<From an Aryan standpoint, the Catholic Church is all the more worthy
as it has managed to Romaanise Christianity, resuming hierarchical
ideas, traditions, symbols, and institutions that are related to a
larger heritage, rectifying by means of the Roman spirit the
pernicious element that is closely connected to Jewish Messianism and
to the anti-virile Syrian mysticism peculiar to the revolution of
primitive Christianity.>>
Perhaps, in their Wisdom, this is what those Medieval kings saw. In
Evola's hierarchical conception, and the conjunction of the royal and
sacred functions, it is lawful for the King to choose the people's
religion and any resistance is disloyalty and betrayal.
The "political" excuse is absurd since, for Evola, the religious and
the political elements are inseparable (just as they were for Maistre
and every right thinking man).
In the Middle Ages, Jews were either chased out or permitted to live
in ghettos. This may be disliked by professors today, but it indicates
a racial consciousness, one that was lost by the way whenever and
wherever the Catholic Church began to lose its grip; e.g., Protestant
England, Republican France, and then all over Europe. It wouldn't be
absurd to look for a cause and effect relationship here.
What is absurd is to look at recent and contemporary attempts to build
a "racial consciousness" on a purely material and biological plane, a
course doomed to failure, and worse than failure, as the mistakes of
the first half of the 20th century have proven.
No, as Evola repeatedly asserts, a racial awakening is really a
spiritual awakening. He calls for a new Counter-Reformation and we can
learn from the efforts of our ancestors in the Middle Ages.
<<Only a profound spiritual change and regeneration and a move from
within that would resurrect those values ... from an essentially
super-biological and super-racial point of view, in terms of type of
civilisation, can lead to a real solution.>> (ibid)
Not a Fata Morgana, but a "real" solution. But if you don't know what
to look for, you will never see it, even when it is pointed out.