"Changing the Image" of Gods, Religion and theology in Ernst Junger's Optics

Golovushkin Dmitrii Aleksandrovich Associate Professor, Department of History of Religions and Theology, A.I. Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University 191186, Russia, Sankt-Peterburg, g. Saint Petersburg, Naberezhnaya reki Moiki, 48, korpus 20 (Institut istorii i sotsial'nykh nauk), kab. 214 golovushkinda@mail.ru Other publications by this author

"The gods climb out of the cherished hollow

Heroes grow like an avalanche, like tops

A painted bird will dive into the crows

But before you land, remember your name

It's all someone else's..."

(Letov E.Alien)

Modern discussions about "post-secularization", "the return of religion" and "post-religion" inevitably raise complex and painful questions that can be answered "the wrong way." Which religion is "returning" from the "ghetto" of secularism? What are we dealing with in the twilight of the humanistic idea? Who and what are they, the new gods of the digital age?  Until quite recently, this problem was exclusively the sphere of the theory of religion and the topic of "changing the image" of gods, religion and theology, was perceived as a set of speculative constructions, far from life and practice. In the last decade, the situation has changed dramatically. Gradually, it became clear that we were really starting to deal with "another religion." According to P.N. Kostylev's apt remark, "in the pontiff's chair there turned out to be a completely different, in our opinion, which so far has neither an exact name nor a clear definition, essence (or essence)." "Alien" or "Strangers" today perform the functions of religion and "what was called religion all the way through human history has become an institutional appendage of society, and not an independent force" ^[10]. However, it is in this epiphany that one should look for the reasons for the actualization of the old Augustinian question: "Can they (religions and gods – D.G.) create a whole and keep it"? It concerns the very essence of the current situation, since it entails another, even more important question: Can they, new religions and new gods, create culture and preserve the human in man? Doubts have every reason to be. History has already proved that "after the greys come the blacks."   

There is no shortage of forecasts on the topic of "the future of religion" or "the future of religions". The available scenarios and images are numerous and diverse. However, a special place in this set rightfully belongs to the "forecasts" of the German writer, knight-thinker, one of the ideologists of the conservative revolution and the developer of a large–scale interpretative model of the completed Art Nouveau, Ernst Junger (March 29, 1895 - February 17, 1998). As noted by the famous translator and researcher of E. Junger A.V. Mikhailovsky, he "was not a thinker in the strict sense, but managed to offer amazing optics, rarely found in current literature. A vision of the depth in the surface, the great in the small, whether it's an hourglass, a discarded snake skin or some kind of jumping beetle. The effect of Junger's stereoscopic prose is well described by the word gestalt – in the variety and diversity of phenomena, you suddenly discover a whole that is larger than its parts" ^[1].

Nevertheless, the content and analysis of this author's views on the problems of religion and theology are practically absent in domestic scientific research. Considering that almost all of E. Junger's major works have been translated and published in Russia, this looks like a serious omission. This article invites discussion on this topic.

However, before proceeding to the consideration of the substance of the issue, it is necessary to make several important digressions.

Firstly, those researchers who enter the "territory of E. Junger" do not accidentally make an important reservation that writing about him "means entering a minefield through which one can move only with extreme caution" ^{[9, p. 5]}. Traditionally, E. Junger is associated with right-wing radical ideas and service in the SS, which puts serious filters on the way to understanding his work, as well as his place and role in the European intellectual culture of the XX century. Moreover, as a thinker, E. Junger was very dynamic and often crossed the line. Accustomed to danger and risk, repeatedly showing courage and bravery on the fronts of the First World War, he was not afraid to reconsider his views and never lost proper self-reflection ^[8].

Secondly, as A.V. Mikhailovsky has already noted, the acquaintance with E. Junger cannot be called accidental in any way. O.A. Sedakova, following A.A. Akhmatova, compares the emergence of such a connection with a "phone call", by which, however, "Montaigne and Gelderlin, Rimbaud and Tsvetaeva can call us." Such a "call" says that always, "it may be different, it may be completely different" ^{[13, p. 5]}.

Thirdly, in this context, in order not to fall under the "scissors that cut", it is important to choose your own approach to research. In our case, the choice is made in favor of the so-called "reverse chronology", when the author's works are considered in reverse order. This path is suggested to us by E. Junger himself, who actively used the so-called "mirror literary technique" in his works. Through the "return" to the basics or through the "return" of the basics, through the "look in the mirror", which leads to the "prototype", he peers into the future and thereby lays a "corridor" along which he can move in both directions. Therefore, we begin unwinding the coils of the stated problem with the work "Gestalt change. Forecast for the XXI century" is the last published essay by E. Junger, written by him in 1993, and which contains allusions to the key works of the thinker.

***

Translated by A.V. Mikhailovsky, "the change of the gestalt of the gods ^[2] means that the phenomena associated with their veneration are changing" ^{[18, p. 11]}. Translated by M.V. Medovarov, "the change of the image of the gods means that the form in which they are revered is changing" ^[19]. It can be assumed that the "change of the image" of religion and theology, which is mentioned in the final essay by E. Junger, means that their manifestation is changing (Lat. manifestatio – detection, manifestation), their "image" and "language" are changing. But in order to make the picture clearer, in order to understand what is behind E. Junger's words, it is necessary to consistently analyze three big questions.

1. E. Junger on the modern era.

E. Junger chooses myth as an optics for the study of historical time, including modernity. The myth in the thinker's view is not a prehistory or prehistory at all, but a timeless reality – the Other, which is the receptacle of prototypes. Historical time is fenced off from it by a "wall of time", through which a person cannot penetrate. However, it is open to the mythical itself, which is repeated many times in one way or another and acts in history: "The mythical is undoubtedly approaching, it is already on the way. It is always there anyway, and at the right hour it is only brought to the surface as a treasure. And vice versa, it eludes any movement that has already risen high, as a completely different principle" ^{[21, p. 52]}. Therefore, in a metahistorical sense, what is happening here and now is what is happening behind the "wall of time", what leaked through it, was perceived and turned from the potential into the real. According to E. Junger, this life form sets the "pulses of history" until, due to the loss of a person's ability to "read" and "be content with what he received as a gift", it stops at its "end", after which a new big cycle will come. Therefore, when the "midnight of history" comes, it is important for a person to "name and describe what is new that unfolds on this side of the "wall of time"" ^{[12, p. 66]}, thereby reading what has penetrated into the world through its cracks. E. Junger himself in his "reading" tells us that "the revolution of the Earth ^[3] includes and defines a worldwide revolution. And this makes us think about the repetition within an even larger cycle, where they measure not by historical epochs, but by the eras of the Earth" ^{[18, p. 28]}. So, there is still hope for a "different", "new" story. 

E. Junger's "mythical framework" is metaphorically represented by titanomachy – a sequential change of gods and titans in history: "Titanomachy and the twilight of the gods are metahistorical – they invade history from nature and space. From the point of view of time, it should be assumed that the Titans preceded the gods and ruled chaos. According to the myth, the Titans conceived the gods and taught them. Their rebellion shakes Olympus – Zeus shackles them and imprisons them in the underworld. But they come back – a fettered Prometheus in the form of a Worker's Gestalt. The gods create from the Timeless; the titans act and invent in time. They are more related to technology than to the arts" ^{[18, pp. 11-12]}.

Thus, the evidence of the arrival of the gods in the world for E. Junger is the dawn of the arts and the artistic word. Following his "friend" F. Gelderlin, he considers them as the result of "insight into the Timeless" ^{[18, p. 22]}. Therefore, works of art and poetry are on the other side of all historical criteria, which means they serve as proof that "transcendent touch" and even transcendence itself as a way / form of human existence and stories are possible.

The arrival of Titans in the world, on the contrary, leaves no place for culture. If in Greek myths their "generic characteristic" is parricide, then in relation to modernity it is a categorical break with tradition and history. In addition, Titanov characterizes an insatiable "energy hunger, because of which everything is sacrificed, including morality" ^{[2, p. 613]}. "Titans do not need prayers; they are served through work" ^{[18, p. 33]}. It is no accident that the rationalistic project of the New Time was prepared by the so-called "Prometheus gestalts", the first of which in the XX century was the "gestalt of the Worker". This is the time of technology – the "uniform of the Worker", totality, mobilization and disintegration of individuality, when "the highest value of an individual is not that he is an individual, but, on the contrary, that ... reaches a high degree of depersonalization" ^{[14, p. 140]}. According to E. According to Junger, the transition to the "gestalt of the Worker" breaks the way for new authoritarian regimes. This is the threshold of Leviathans, which are already outgrowing the borders of national states and are an "attempt at constructive preparation of imperial spaces" and the world state: "On the other side of the workers' democracy, in which the content of the world known to us is being cast and processed anew, the outlines of state orders that go beyond any possible comparison appear" ^{[16, pp. 420, 421]}.

E. Junger calls the end of the XX century and the future XXI century "interim" (Latin interim – intermediate) or Interregnum ^{[18, p. 20]}. During this period, Titans will continue to dominate, and respect for the gods will continue to fall. However, the gods will return again "in due time" because "there is no culture without gods" ^{[18, p. 33]}. This will happen on the eve of "great changes" that will manifest themselves "not least in catastrophes" ^[4], the involvement of a person in which, according to E. Junger, is too overestimated. These are the "plans" of the Earth, as the "first principles", which, like a snake, sheds its old skin. Titans by their activity push it to transformation, and the gods take part in the creation of a culture / new culture, which is a condition for human habitation on Earth. Therefore, E. Junger is convinced that culture is the prerequisite of history, and not vice versa ^{[12, pp. 75, 77]}. This is the secret of the "great transition", which F. Gelderlin tells us about in the anthem "Titans":

But when it breaks out

Busy day

And on the mountain range,

Distracting lightning,

From the hour of sunrise

The heavenly dew is shining,

Must and mortals

Feel high.

Because they build houses,

And the workshop is working,

And a ship sails through the storm.

And people shake

Each other's hand; so it is planned

On earth, and for good reason

The eyes are fixed to the ground.

But you feel

And a different way.

Because up to some measure

There is a need for both raw and coarse,

So that purity recognizes itself.

But when for the depth,

So that the rough and raw become living,

The All - shaker is taken,

They think,

That the Heavenly One descends

To the dead and powerfully dawns

In the free abysses,

Receptive to everything.

But I wouldn't like to say,

That the heavenly ones are weakening,

If this, having fermented, already boils over the edge ^{[4, pp. 131-132]}.  

How does E. Junger see the new "image" of the world, because what is at stake is not more, not less, but the question of the existence of man on Earth? According to N.V. Gladilin's observations, E. Junger himself "seemed to freeze "At the wall of time", carefully peering into this wall and not trying to look on the other side of it" ^{[6, p. 119]}. The writer reads and transmits to us only his understanding of what is happening on this side. He is well aware that "at the intersection of the zero meridian, the previous figures no longer correspond to the truth, and a new calculation must be started" ^{[22, p. 43]}. But the thinker is not afraid to ask the main question of our time: "Is the historical perspective satisfactory, and is it not the case that we are at the end of history, or already beyond it?" ^{[18, p. 8]}. Therefore, E. Junger's "Forecast for the XXI century" is also the detection of signs / signs of the "end of history", which, according to the writer, gives us a chance to influence the processes of the coming "transition" ^[5].    

a) Technological. In the "Change of Gestalt" E. Junger directly says that technological progress is a "prophetic sign" of the interregnum. With the help of technology, titanic forces change the face of the Earth, man, society, politics, culture, which has been repeated more than once in history. However, today technology is becoming "really scary." It turns into an independent ontological force capable of influencing the course of events and phenomena. Already in "Going into the Forest" E. Junger says that technical and automatic is "one of the forms of evil fate." His personification, as well as a symbol of our era as a whole, can be considered the death of the Titanic: "Here the contrast of light and shadow is brightest: the hurbis of progress and panic meet each other, increased comfort and destruction, automatism and catastrophe" ^{[21, p. 39]}. The writer develops the same idea in the "Change of Gestalt", noting that modern science and technology "come close to their own borders and begin to cross them. ... The progress of technology can turn into magic" ^{[18, p. 29, 31]}. Consequently, the "enchantment" and "coercion" (J. Fraser) of a person by technology is expected, as well as her monstrous experiments on him: "A telephone conversation is now not as simple as it seems. Light alarms, transplants, chimeric animals, the living dead on the screen, and so on" ^{[18, p. 31]}. E. Junger believes that in the future even morality will be replaced by "a kind of technology" ^{[21, p. 104]}.

b) Socio-political. With regard to the modern political, and political power in particular, E. Junger says that "the great symbols "crown and sword" will continue to lose their meaning; the scepter is undergoing transformation" ^{[18, p. 19-20]}. This means that such values as honor, dignity, responsibility for social truth and justice are becoming increasingly alien to political power. The power in the modern world is entirely focused on the fight against free competition, the place of which is occupied by terror and the need to "constantly keep a part of the population in a tight grip." This is "a new concept of power, in its strongest and most unalloyed concentration" ^{[21, p. 33]}.

The "world state" defines the face of the modern social, in which, according to E. Junger, the cult of the majority and mass character have won ^{[21, pp. 28-29]}. It is no coincidence that the writer characterizes modern society through the concept of the military jargon "cauldron": "The cauldron shows us the exact image of an era seeking to clarify its issues with fire. The hopeless human environment has long been prepared primarily by theories striving for a logical and exhaustive explanation of the world, and going hand in hand with technological progress. First, the enemy falls into the rational, and then into the social “cauldron”; the ring closes, and the hour of extermination comes. There is no more hopeless fate than to be dragged into a place where even the right has turned into a weapon" ^{[21, p. 31]}. This position of the person who got into the "environment" was also well understood and conveyed to us in his "Fatal Strategies" by J. Baudrillard: "The masses are the absolute prototype of the hostage, the thing that was taken hostage, that is, the masses, annulled in their sovereignty, abolished and non–existent as a subject, however - attention! – fundamentally unable to exchange as an object. Like the hostage, they are good for nothing, and it is not known how to get rid of them" ^{[3, p. 60]}.

c) Cultural. In "The Change of Gestalt" E. Junger, following F. Gelderlin, calls our time "meager", in "Going to the forest" he defines our life as "gray", and in "Eumeswil" characterizes our world as "colorless". E. Junger can make such a disappointing diagnosis of modern culture by experiencing withdrawal and even exile from the world of the gods. The writer is convinced that in creativity, in art and in poetry, the Timeless is primarily manifested. This is the "voice of the other", which we can catch by virtue of our inherent freedom. And with their disappearance, the world is gradually sinking into uniformity: "The lack of ideas – or, more simply, gods – causes an inexplicable melancholy, like a fog through which the sun does not penetrate. The world becomes colorless; the word loses substance – and above all, where it should go beyond the limits of pure communication" ^{[23, p. 89]}. Therefore, E. Junger suggests that the poet and culture "fall asleep" – temporarily surrender to the power of Dionysus ^{[18, p. 21]}.

d) Existential. E. Junger believed that in a technologized society with its cult of convenience and speed, the essence of a person is suppressed, and he ceases to feel the true values of life. A person becomes an appendage of mechanisms and technologies, especially socio-political, psychological and pedagogical. As a result, his existence becomes "mechanized hell, gray despotisms, prisons and thorough control" ^{[21, p. 37]}. In fact, in his works E. Junger speaks about the destruction of truly human values and meanings, about the declared war on everything human: "Everything they did in their youth, which for thousands of years has been considered a man's business, happiness, joy and pleasure – riding, plowing a field in the morning with oxen, from which steam comes, in the summer the heat of cutting ripe ears with a sickle, when sweat trickles down the tanned chest, and the knitters barely have time to knit sheaves, dine on the grass in the shade of green trees – everything that has been sung in poetry and prose since time immemorial, none of this has become. There was no happiness either" ^{[20, p. 79]}.

According to E. Junger, widely used technologies of coercion today give rise to the phenomenon of "fellahization" ^[6] – "existence without historical consciousness and high claims, life in one day" ^{[18, p. 32]}.  By "fellahization" he also means "the destruction of the sublime" and "averaging" in the most negative sense of the word. 

E. Junger does not forget to express himself about fear, which "belongs to the number of symptoms of our time." At the same time, he makes one very important clarification: "Now people are not only scared, but at the same time they themselves are frightening. ... They seem to summon demons" ^{[21, p. 41]}.

e) Anthropological. Modern biotechnologies, genetic engineering and social experiments can lead to the fact that human nature itself will change. E. Junger believes that the emergence of a new type of man, a new human race is possible. On the one hand, the heroes will "grow up" in the cradle of iron," but they will only be "like" heavenly ones" ^{[18, p. 21]}. On the other hand, the number of "reserves" /biotopes will increase ^[7], "in which people act without making the slightest physical effort" ^{[18, p. 32]}. About these, E. Junger, not without sarcasm, notes that they can train muscles all their lives, which they will never be able to apply. The writer carefully looks at the faces of modern people and already in the "Worker" diagnoses the "process of impoverishment": "And here a metamorphosis opens up to us, which becomes more and more unambiguous with each step. This unambiguity is also manifested in the very type in which the transformation is planned, and the first impression it makes is the impression of some emptiness and monotony. This is the very monotony that makes it very difficult to grasp the differences between individuals belonging to alien human or animal races" ^{[16, pp. 190-191]}.

f) Religious. Transformations in the religious sphere for E. Junger correlate with transformations in other areas of human life. He is convinced that "the struggle for power is preceded by the correction and rejection of images" ^{[21, p. 41]}. Therefore, the end of the Interregnum, according to the writer, will primarily be marked by religious transformation and the emergence of qualitatively new forms of religion and religiosity ^{[18, p. 29]}. This is the "last frontier". This is already evidenced by the massive spread of new religious movements and cults, which are based on the "expectation of a divine meeting" ^{[18, p. 9]}. However, E. Junger considers the "extraordinary Spiritualization" promised by astrologers to be the most reliable indicator of the proximity of the "transition" ^{[18, p. 26]}. In his works, E. Junger returns to this phenomenon more than once, to which G. Hesse was one of the first to draw attention.: "Probably, some readers will be surprised that the starting point of Junger's presentation is such a symptom of our era as the placement of astrologers' predictions in newspapers. ...I would consider other symptoms more serious. However, it speaks in favor of Junger that, without advertising his faith in astrology, he skillfully uses an excellent language of symbols" ^{[5, pp. 269-270]}.

Indeed, the writer considers "spiritualization" to be an extremely powerful, but at the same time a very dangerous force capable of opening the world to "demons". Trust in religious experience based on "pure imagination" is also dangerous – it takes spiritual forces away from the needs of the Earth ^[8]. Therefore, E. Junger believes that the process of "spiritualization" can be directed and led only by poets-theologians, who are a kind of religious revolutionaries. It is they who will give the signal "to the overthrow of idols and the overthrow of tyrants" ^{[21, p. 46]}. Involuntarily, I recall the words of N.A. Berdyaev concerning the Russian spiritual renaissance of the beginning of the XX century: "The spirit swept over the whole world... The perspective has changed." 

"Spiritualization" as a universal transformation, according to E. Junger, should be preceded by universal simplification or "bleaching". This theme of turning to the origins, foundations or origin / the return of the origins, foundations or originals, as a path to renewal (renewal through an appeal to the "basics"), is one of the central ones in the writer's work. In particular, in the novel "Eumeswil", which is a kind of description of the "cultural cycle" at an accelerated pace, E. Junger directly says that "one possibility does not exclude another. ... The primitive is the foundation of both an individual and human communities. It is the bedrock on which history is based and which, when history fades, is exposed again. Humus with its flora is layered on the rocks and disappears again, no matter how it either dries up or is washed away by rains. Then the pure stone is exposed; it preserves the primitive inclusions. For example: a prince becomes a leader, a doctor becomes a medicine man, voting becomes an acclamation" ^{[23, p. 87]}.

The theme of "simplification" in E. Junger's concept correlates with the theme of "Going into the Forest", which "is encountered again when time has shaken at its core, in the area of the highest danger" ^{[21, p. 52]}. The "forest" in the works of E. Junger appears as a timeless being, as a mythical space or a space of Another, Wonderful, Untrodden (M. Heidegger), "in which a powerful life abides everywhere for those who understand its symbols" ^{[21, p. 62]}. The "forest" is a place of spiritual freedom. This is a place where a person "wakes up" and realizes his power, thereby setting history in motion ^{[21, p. 44]}. In addition, the "Forest" is the "great House of Death", and a person must know the necessary "paths" and "paths" along which he can walk himself or lead a slave. There and only there, according to the writer, it is possible to overcome / lose Fear, which always "wears a mask in the style of time."

As a result, A.V. Mikhailovsky, summarizing E. Junger's reasoning about the "Forest", comes to the conclusion that "The forest as an imaginary mythical topos is found everywhere – in forests and deserts, in big cities, in dreams and dreams; it is a place of Great transition and a sign of eternal life in the form of a "life-giving tree" The Cross of the Lord" ^{[11, p. 138]}.

The topic of "going into the Forest" largely clarifies the meaning of the question asked by E. Jurgen: "Are we at the end of history, or are we already beyond it?" The answer to it, to one degree or another, was given by the writer in the finale of the novel "Eumeswil". Enchanted by Attila's stories about the wonders and treasures of the "Forest", Condor and his second closest assistant Domo hatch a plan for the "big hunt". The main character of the novel, the steward–historian Martin Venator, also receives an invitation to join as "our Xenophon". However, none of the participants of this expedition returned to Eumeswil.   

This means that the tyrant titan and the heroes have left this world. They disappeared from history, and together with it absorbed Leviathan: "The Kasbah has fallen into desolation; shepherds graze their flocks of goats inside the fortress walls" ^{[23, p. 511]}. The "last man" also left with them. For this reason, in the novel, the image of a Landfill / Landfills that surround the city arises. These are the remains of historical cultures, civilizations and states – one of the symbols of non-historical spaces. In a Large Landfill, non–farmers - primitive gatherers who live "like mushrooms" - lead a half-asleep existence. This is the "Fellah society" – a society that lives in the dustbin of history. Therefore, Condor agrees with the chief falconer Rosner that "decomposition is not subject to moral assessment": "The sight of a city garbage dump would please me more than some Our Lady of Karion" ^{[23, p. 231]}. That is why E. Junger speaks about the "fundated sadness" of historians, who, like theologians, have their approach to the "wall of time": "When we look back, we see graves and ruins, piles of ruins. At the same time, we ourselves submit to the reflective effect of time: believing that we are moving forward and further, we are actually approaching this past. Soon we will belong to him: time will overtake us" ^{[23, p. 22] [9]}.

From the epilogue of the novel, it becomes clear that Eumeswil – the last bastion of order and legality, preserved on the wreckage of the world that destroyed itself, is already beyond history. It is not the feelings of a person that rule here, but the "conscience of the archivist" who seals the "sheets". It remains only to trust the hero Atilla, who knows and remembers that "we must return that spark to the gods" ^{[23, p. 230]}.

2. E. Junger on gods, religion and theology

All religions and religious teachings, according to E. Junger, have the Timeless as their basis/source. Therefore, knowledge of the highest human values and ideas about the true sources of life are stored in their depths: "There is always and everywhere the knowledge that archaic forces are hidden in a changing landscape, and springs of abundance and cosmic power are beating under the veil of transient phenomena. This knowledge not only serves as the symbolic and sacramental foundation of churches, is not only woven into secret teachings and sects, but also represents the core of all philosophems, no matter how different their conceptual world. In fact, they all come from the same secret, which is open to every person and into which every person has been initiated at least once" ^{[21, p. 61]}.

Because of this, E. Junger highly appreciates the spiritual potential and social significance of religion and the church: "They carry more power than what is called a worldview" ^{[21, p. 76]}. In the essay "Across the Line," he writes that in the case of a nihilistic conflict, "it is not only more prudent, but also more worthy to stand on the side of the church than on the side of those who attack it. This was discovered only recently and still continues to be discovered today. Everywhere, with the exception of a few soldiers, one should thank only the church for the fact that, amid the rejoicing of the masses, it did not come to outright cannibalism and enthusiastic worship of the beast" ^{[22, p. 47]}.

In the future, the writer only increases the emphasis on the socio-political significance of religion and theology.  In "Going into the Forest" he declares that modern coercion and the power of Leviathan cannot be resisted without relying on "three great forces" – art, philosophy and theology" ^{[21, p. 36]}. That is why "tyranny persecutes even such harmless creatures as Biblical scholars" ^{[21, p. 76]}. The authorities are most afraid that religion, the church and theology will free a person from fear/fears, which will inevitably lead to its downfall ^[10].

In other words, for E. Junger, the word of the church and the word of the theologian is always a socially effective word: "A thirsty person rightfully expects from the theologian that he will comfort his suffering, namely, he will follow the example of the prototype of all theologians, that is, he will strike with a staff that knocks water out of the rock" ^{[21, p. 116]}. Junger is convinced that a "genuine" theologian is able to help a person "remove the veil from his eyes" and show that there is a great divine power in him ^[11]. 

However, in his latest essay "The Change of Gestalt", the thinker is forced to admit that these "great words" are increasingly turning into "empty words" and even into "garbage" today. Under their flow, "any sermon then turns into a more or less successful eulogy. Therefore, it affects graves the most" ^{[18, p. 33, 34]}. In addition, E. Junger believes that today there is a real danger of the church and theology turning into "organs of tyranny": "Religious thirst, which was previously legitimately quenched by churches, can now join anyone" ^{[21, p. 77]}.

Why are "gods also mortal"? Why do they come and go wearing animal or human masks? Why did the temples, which once boomed with life, "now come to desolation"? Why can't theology "measure itself against nihilism"? Why is it "necessary to foresee those times and spaces in which the church will no longer exist"? ^{[21, p. 71]}

In order to get answers to these questions, and therefore to understand the religious and philosophical constructions of E. Junger, it is necessary to get acquainted with his view on the idea of the "eternal return" of F. Nietzsche, as well as with the peculiarities of his mythical-cyclical vision of the world. 

a) The Return of Time and the Return of Eternity. In Eumeswil, E. Junger calls the idea of "Eternal Return" "the thought of a fish that wants to jump out of a frying pan."  If she succeeds in carrying out her plan, she will "fall on a hot plate" ^{[23, p. 114]}. In the "Change of Gestalt", the writer also does not miss the opportunity to notice that F. Nietzsche's words "God is dead" go against the ideas of "Eternal Return", which, most likely, is "some kind of confession, confession of faith" ^{[18, pp. 8, 24]}. As a result, arguing with the great philosopher, E. Junger makes an amazing U-turn and suggests instead of the idea of "Eternal Return" the idea of "The Return of Time". He believes that at the end of history, the mythical force re-initiates a kind of "big bang of light", which snatches a certain time period from Eternity (E. Jurgen uses the expression "a thousand years"). That's why the end of history is always associated with the expectation of the coming of the divine – with it comes a new time: "Myth-generating power... – non-historical: it has neither origin nor development; it affects history in an unaccountable and unpredictable way. She does not belong to time, she creates time. Therefore, in the last terms – when the historical substance has already exhausted itself and can no longer guarantee the preservation of even the zoological order... theology is drying up, giving way to theognosis: people don't want to know anything more about the gods – they want to see them" ^{[23, p. 239]}.

This idea is the cornerstone of E. Junger's mythical-cyclic construction/worldview. The gods who came with the new time and "create from the timeless" gradually disappear from history, and titans take their place. Titans act in time and "their power is confirmed in the "eternal return". This eternity is not the end of time and times, but their stretching into infinity" ^{[18, p. 32]}. Titans "work out" the time until the end of history, after which a new epiphany follows. As a consequence, this "return" predetermines the permanent birth of new "images" of the gods, since the Timeless cannot be faceless in history: "One God cannot be comprehended, whereas man talks to many gods on equal terms: maybe as their inventor, or maybe as a discoverer" ^{[23, p. 280]}. Similarly, time forces "even the gods to work for themselves" ^{[23, p. 113]}. And this serves for E. Junger as the main proof that "there should be no Eternal return" ^{[23, p. 113]}. Relying on him, especially at the end of the story, is "the last refuge of a conservative who has lost hope in a political and religious sense. A thousand years then becomes the smallest coin for him" ^{[23, p. 113]}.

At the same time, this principle of Being based on the "Return of Time" is for E. Junger the main reason for the imperfection of the world. It is not by chance that the novel "Eumeswil" begins with a kind of revelation of the main character, who thinks of himself as a "prisoner in a dungeon": "Hence my suspicion that the creation of the world has already begun with a fake that has crept in. Whether it was a simple mistake, paradise could be restored in the course of further development. However, the Old Man classified the tree of life. My sufferings are also connected with this: with the incurable imperfection, not only of the created world, but also of my own personality. Awareness of such imperfection leads, on the one hand, to enmity with the gods, and on the other – to self-criticism" ^{[23, p. 8]}.

E. Junger's "friend" F. Gelderlin also felt like a "prisoner in prison". This is evidenced by the following lines from his famous elegy "Bread and Wine":

Why doesn't god mean hero now, as before,

And the criminal will not mark the forehead with a brand?

Or did he come and take human form,

He completed everything and, having comforted, closed the heavenly feast ^{[4, p. 84]}.

This gives grounds for E. Junger to come to the conclusion that "the Return of the Eternal is better: it can happen only once – and then time will stretch out in a straight line" ^{[23, p. 113] [13]}.

c) The transcendence of history and religion as transcendence.

In order to introduce the reader to his own understanding of the connection between history, religion and myth, in the first chapter of the novel "Eumeswil" E. Junger dwells in detail on the views of two teachers of Martin Venator. The first of them is the historian Vigo, in which the features of E. Junger's friend Carl Schmitt (1888 – 1985) and the Italian historian Giambattista Vico (1688 – 1744) merged.  The second teacher is the philosopher Bruno, under whose name, according to T.A. Baskakova, "a certain hypostasis of Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) is hiding" ^{[2, p. 622]}. Martin Venator himself, assessing their influence, admits that he cannot "clearly separate these two, despite their dissimilarity".: "Vigo sees the course of world history as a cyclical process, so his skepticism, like his optimism, has limits. ... I owe Vigo an impartial view of history. ... Bruno helped me guess about the background, which does not relate to history or to the kingdom of nature and does not depend on the presence of man in the universe at all. Bruno was able to abolish historical consciousness and the torments associated with it" ^{[23, pp. 81, 111 – 112]}.

Moreover, Martin Venator believes that the ideas of his teachers naturally merged in him: "After all, all disciplines – say, biology and physics – converge in such a way where opposites are mutually destroyed in atoms" ^{[23, p. 81]}. This means that the main character, and therefore E. Junger himself, combine mythological and historical ways of perceiving the world. The writer, despite his obvious piety for historical science, admits that this is not equivalent to a "historian", although he is close to the "wall of time". But this can be done by a "magician" or another "guard on the border" – a poet, theologian, philosopher, artist who "sharpens his sight and hearing by walking along the neutral strip between the tides of time" ^{[23, p. 113]}.

As a result, the plot about the teachers of Martin Venator gradually brings us to the Jungerian understanding of history and religion as transcendence: "Vigo is turned to the gods, and Bruno is turned to the titans; to the forest – one, to the lower world – the other" ^{[23, p. 81]}. As a "magician" Martin Venator / Ernst Junger opens the "transition" / "transitions" between them, along which you can move in both directions. It is not by chance that the writer focuses his attention on the fact that "to pray" does not necessarily mean "binding" ^{[23, p. 277] [14]}. Hence the roots of Junger's image of a "theologian poet" who discovers new gods and founds new religions, as well as the image of a "lone wanderer" who brings amazing "treasures" from "places of extreme remoteness".: "These were the last solitary wanderers, the last fruits on the ancient family tree of heroes. They returned, having connected the beginning and the end, back to their myths" ^{[15, pp. 353-354]}.   

3. A new epiphany and a new religion.

A new epiphany and a new religion, despite their expectations, are associated with great risks and unpredictable consequences for E. Junger:  "With new gods – new delusions and tasks. The world is imperfect" ^{[17, p. 354]}; "Knowledge will not move to a new level without new mutations. And there will be no shortage of them, because Scissors cut most likely when they begin to close" ^{[18, p. 34]}.

This is due to the fact that the question of the nature and quality of the "new" for the writer is closely connected with the question of human freedom – freedom from fear, coercion and technology. After all, fear and coercion give birth to "monsters", and technologies cause "strangers" into the world: "All claims have become unreliable, they have already lost their imperative – at least for an intellectual loner. It is when the general freedom disappears that his own increases. The situation should be understood in a new way: after all, you have brought the gods, the state and society with you" ^{[17, p. 354]}. 

Almost all of the writer's post-war work is devoted to this problem, in the center of which stands a single individual, as a unique representative of the human race, able to hear and recognize the "voice of a Friend", including a Friend of Another.

In the 1950s, this lone individual was defined by E. Junger as having gone into the Forest. This is the "third gestalt", "the third mythical figure that replaces the Unknown Soldier and Worker" ^{[11, p. 141]}. The one who has gone into the Forest is the one who has preserved the original connection with freedom, "which, from the point of view of time, is expressed in the fact that, resisting automatism, he refuses to accept its ethical consequence, that is, fatalism" ^{[21, p. 36]}. This is the "husband of free and independent action." This is a person who meets/has met himself and belongs to himself: "He is the son of his Father, the owner of the Earth, a miraculous being. During such a meeting, everything social recedes into the background. A person again notices in himself the powers of a priest and a judge, as it was in ancient times. It goes beyond abstractions, functions and forms of division of labor. He establishes his connection with the Whole, with the Absolute, and this will be his most powerful experience of happiness" ^{[21, p. 85]}.

Later in the novel "Emesville", the image of the One Who Went into the Forest is developed in the figure of an Anarch.  An anarch is also a "forest traveler", but a traveler who has not been ousted from society, but who has ousted society from himself: "He is and remains his own master – under any circumstances. If he decided to take the forest path, then for him it is not so much a matter of law and conscience, as a consequence, so to speak, of a transport accident. He changes the way of disguise" ^{[23, p. 196]}. The power of the Anarch lies in the fact that he owns only himself. He lives in a world that is not taken seriously, which greatly increases the degree of his freedom: "I serve my time, but as a self-determined one" ^{[23, p. 146]}.

The one who has gone into the Forest and the Anarch are united by the fact that they keep knowledge about the three saving forces that create a space beyond the control of Leviathan and the world of technology – knowledge about the transcendent, love and creativity.  Therefore, a historian, a theologian and a poet who has gone into the Forest and an Anarchist, first of all, can be a new "hero" to the world.  The anarch no longer puts faith at the edge of the corner, but proclaims the priority of spiritual experience and spiritual practices: "Next to the zero meridian, which we are still at, faith will not show us the course; evidence is required here. Otherwise, one could say that here, of course, they believe only in evidence. It seems that there is a growing number of souls who understand that even from a technical point of view, spiritual life, even in its accessible forms, is much more effective than military discipline, sports training or the rhythm of the working world. Ignatius already knew this, and today the founders of sects and leaders of small circles live with this knowledge, whose intentions are difficult to judge unequivocally, among whom one can name, for example, Gurdjieff, this in many respects amazing Caucasian" ^{[21, p. 81]}.

Consequently, the Anarch who has gone into the Forest is a new elite, new "heroes" and new "prophets" who fix and leave behind new religious teachings and churches ^[15]: "Here is the possibility of creating a new order. Like the Counter-Reformation, which in its essence corresponded to the Reformation" ^{[21, p. 81]}.

The main spiritual practice of the new elites is transcending, the essence of which is the transition / return to their own prototype. The main character of the novel "Eumeswil" Martin Venator, before going to the Forest, practiced for a long time in front of a mirror. He managed to achieve what he had always dreamed of – separating himself from his physical body: "I saw myself-in-the–mirror as a transcendent bridegroom, and myself, who had entered into a confrontation with him, as his transient reflection. A candle was burning between us, as always; I bent over it so that the flame burned my forehead; I saw a burn mark, but did not feel pain" ^{[23, p. 510]}.

In other words, Martin Venator was able to see himself as authentic, his prototype/prototype.  After all, Venator is the Latin venator (hunter).  The Latin name Martin means "militant, dedicated to Mars." In addition, the Condor wished, "actually commanded" him to be called Manuel – short for Emmanuel / Immanuel (Hebrew: "God is with us"). E. Junger is convinced that it is from this practice that "the incredible attraction of strong-minded people stems…  The reflection remembers its prototype, from which it comes, because in it is the source of its invulnerability – or, in other words, the legacy remembers that it is impossible to divide between heirs" ^{[21, p. 85]}. For such people, "a miracle is possible at any time": "I am always ready for a Great meeting" ^{[23, p. 93]}. They are always able to withstand attacks of fear, pain and coercion. 

The new religion of the Anarch Who has gone into the Forest is the religion of the Holy Spirit, "following the eras of the Father and the Son" ^{[18, p. 26]}. She no longer needs images of animals or people: "The Divine, wishing to appear in the highest degree of spirituality, does not need masks" ^{[18, p. 34]}.

In conjunction with new spiritual practices, the religion of the Holy Spirit is able to "break the shackles of technology" and radically transform it through spiritualization: "Under the spell of powerful optical illusions, people used to look at a person as a grain of sand, compared to his machines and apparatuses. But still the apparatuses were and remain the scenes of the lower-order imagination. Man made them, and he can also destroy them or give them a new meaning. ... If a person answers correctly, the devices lose their magical brilliance and submit to his hand. This needs to be understood" ^{[21, pp. 45, 74]}.

The religion of the Holy Spirit will also bring with it a new revelation – the Third Covenant. Poets who have become theologians at the same time will have the right to write it down. This will happen because the poet is able to exercise a "transcendent touch", which means to understand things and events in their essence and potency. The language of poets will become the new language of theology, which means that poetry itself will become a new form of theology: "The great events include the turn of philosophy from scientific knowledge to language; it brings the spirit into close contact with the proto-phenomenon. This is more important than all the discoveries of physics. The thinker enters into a field in which, finally, his union with not only the theologian, but also with the poet becomes possible again. ... And the existence of poetry is the best proof of that,  that it has already been possible to enter the timeless gardens more than once" ^{[21, p. 117, 119]}.

In this, E. Junger is supported by the British philosopher J. Warm. He admits the idea that the Western tradition "does not lend itself to renewal" ^{[7, p. 347]}. The scientist is convinced that "another way of thinking – inherent, for example, in some types of poetic creativity and mysticism – can resist the dominance of forms of thought endowed with special privileges by science and philosophy in Western cultures" ^{[7, p. 348]}.

***

E. Junger's reflections on the "change of the image" of gods, religion and theology, in fact, represent a Reformation project as a universal culture, because the thinker is convinced that the new world and a new history begin with a "religious revolution" / religious transformation. At the same time, Junger's Reformation project is not a fantastic "optics" through which one can see or predict the future of religion. This is a concrete way and method of Reformation, according to which religions are not modernized, are not revived, are not created from scratch, but are rediscovered as a result of a person rediscovering himself. Thus, E. Junger sets the cultural and religious paradigm of the Reformation in the coordinates of traditionalism = modernism / fundamentalism = modernism, which brings it to the level of mediation (the "middle way"): the qualitative novelty of the religious and social is achieved without breaking away from the "basics".

E. Junger methodically carries out the idea that the result of the rediscovering of religion directly depends on the degree of freedom of a person, on the possibility of his meeting with himself, with his prototype.  For this reason, the Reformation becomes permanent, and its main goal is the gathering/formation of elites capable of bringing the struggle for man to a new, higher humanistic level. This becomes clear from the ending of the novel "Heliopolis". The "blue pilot", who flew to earth to take Lucius to the higher kingdom, explains his mission as follows: "We consider it possible to gather from all over the world an elite that was created by suffering pain and who was cleansed in battles and the fever of history, like a substance that is characterized by a hidden will to salvation. We strive to concentrate this will and let it develop, so that later we can give it to the body again as a meaningful and enlightened life force. This is how the Regent's exodus should be understood – as a farewell to the plan of his simple return. He was silent and looked searchingly at Lucius. Then he lowered his voice: "We will wait until all the forces turn around, perform and collapse. The Regent will be well informed about everything, his favor is unlimited. He nodded to Father Felix at the same time. – The game must exhaust all possibilities. Only then can you dare the impossible. We are looking for those who have failed in the stratosphere. We approve of Zarathustra's teaching, according to which man must be overcome by superman. We consider his teaching not in moral terms, but from the point of view of historical necessity. The next step will be that the superman also needs to be overcome, and he will fail from the person who will get the highest power in the struggle with him" ^{[15, p. 437]}.

^[1] The expression "Image change" is a translation of the title of E. Junger's work "Gestaltwandel", proposed by M.V. Medovarov.

^[2] Ernst Junger consciously speaks of "gods" as something indefinite. The gods are those who come from beyond the "wall of time", from the timeless. Therefore, they can take on a very different appearance, wearing an animal or human mask. The writer notes: "The gods enter the sphere of our representation. We can only approach them in sacrifices or prayers, but we cannot get behind the curtain on which their images appear – they are there as a "thing in itself"" ^{[18, pp. 8-9]}

^[3] The "revolution of the earth" according to E. Junger's "mythological matrix" is the change of one's own creation by Mother Earth to another – like a snake that sheds its skin (myths about Typhon, Anthea, etc.) It is noteworthy that in the myth of Anthea, whom Hercules defeated, the idea is stated that the son of the Earth becomes a person.

^[4] "Catastrophes," according to E. Junger, "are a test of the extent to which human masses and peoples have their true basis. Do their roots still go straight into the soil - that's what their health and survival on the other side of civilization depends on..." ^{[21, p. 35]} 

^[5] "The pendulum is a symbol of dead, measured time. This is the sharp sickle of Kronos, which, swinging, threatens the bound prisoner, but he also frees him if he manages to use it" ^{[21, p. 37]}; "In any case, it is useful to have before your eyes both the catastrophe itself and the way in which you can find yourself in it. This is an exercise for the spirit" ^{[21, pp. 49-50]}.

^[6] Fellah (Arabic. plowman, farmer). At the time of the spread of Islam, this term was used to distinguish the nomads (Bedouins) in the occupied territories of the Arab conquerors from the local villagers (Fellahs), who were unprivileged taxable population.

^[7] Biotope is a part of the habitat of plant and animal organisms characterized by homogeneous conditions of existence. 

^[8] Ernst Junger believed that the "spiritual victory" dreamed of by "numerous sectarians", "new schools of yoga" and "Christian nihilism" can only be imagined by them, since they reject the world:  "Nevertheless, one cannot be content with the knowledge of Truth and Goodness, sitting on the top floor while the skin is being flayed from the neighbors in the basement. It is also impossible in spiritual terms to be not only in a safe, but even simply in a superior position, if only because the unheard-of suffering of millions of enslaved cries to heaven. The fumes from the slaughterhouses are still floating in the air. You can't cheat next to such things." ^{[21, p. 46]}

^[9] A parallel with the "Doomed Hail" of the Strugatsky brothers suggests itself.  The main characters of this novel, I. Katsman and A. Voronin, moving north to the "zero point", are forced to first go through the remains of civilizations and historical epochs, and then reach the desert, which they cannot pass, but they also have no way back. In the final scene, Andrei Voronin sees the silhouette of a stranger in the distance, shoots him with a pistol and hits himself.

^[10] "Those in power constantly live in the terrible expectation that not only individuals, but also the masses will be able to free themselves from this fear (of death); which would inevitably lead to their downfall. Here is the real reason for the bitterness against any transcendental teaching, in which lies the greatest danger: the fearlessness of man. There are areas where the word "metaphysics" is already persecuted as heresy" ^{[22, p. 56]}.

^[11] "A theologian is someone who is familiar with the science of abundance that surpasses any economy, who knows the riddle of eternal sources, inexhaustible and always close. By theologian we mean the knowledgeable" ^{[21, p. 80]}

^[13] Translated by N.V. Gladilin: "...Then time is forced to lay down its arms" ^{[6, p. 119]}.

^[14] Religion (Latin: religare – to bind).

^[15] The main character of the novel "Eumeswil", Martin Venator, is engaged in recording their conversations behind the titan Condor and the satellites Attila /Achilles and Domo/Odysseus.  In fact, his "handwritten legacy" is "holy scripture": "When the conversation flares up and the forest comes closer, I push the rod intended for such logging out of the reserve with my finger, as if I remove the weapon from the safety. Then I don't need to insert special signs, I just continue the list of requested drinks. Perhaps this is just a fantasy (but what is fantasy?), but at the sight of the columns written in this way, conversations come closer than at the moment when I first heard them. As if the background had opened up behind them. Then the word is no longer just a message – it acquires the power of a spell. Looking back, I saw faces frozen as during a sacrifice" ^{[23, p. 79]}.

You can simply select and copy link from below text field.