The 'trad' movement

It is a shame that the recent 'trad' movement has taken the name of Traditionalism, further blurring its meaning, the same as the likes of Aldous Huxley and the theosophists did some decades ago. Now we must further distinguish what is meant by the term, most often using agitating phrases like "capital T Traditionalism" to differentiate meaning. 

Often, in the right-wing trad subculture, we see the following:

• from males: a focus on going to the gym and eating a specific diet, on being the financial provider for their family (so they say, I actually don't see many living examples of this, unfortunately those who espouse the idea are usually keyboard warriors who aren't responsible for any family whatsoever), some may fixate on hobbies they [read: their social media peers] have deemed manly such as gun collecting or mountain climbing
  
  
• from females: a focus on "being feminine" which they address by wearing certain clothing and taking on hobbies such as baking and sewing, going to church (usually very new to any religion), also a focus on reproducing and other Demeter-oriented activities

I applaud the above activities, as most of them are personal preferences and hobbies of mine and my husband as well. But this is not the point. The point is that the lower case trad types begin and stop here. Their fixations and focuses rest primarily on the external, on the doing, on the becoming, and again- in the archetypical Demeter and Warrior roles (if you don't yet grasp these archetypal roles, it is very useful to click the links and learn).

This is a form of 1950's [t]raditionalism, a roleplaying of Leave it to Beaver. And this should not be mistaken with or equated to true Traditionalism. 

The above and other mentioned hobbies and outward activities may indeed end up being natural by-products of a true man or woman of antiquity, i.e. Tradition, but what we see in the modern trad movement is these outward activities coming first, without the inner state as the foundation to inform action, which is why there is a sense of roleplaying, a loss of real essence.

Tradition is not an intellectual system, because it cannot be fully understood without having undergone a change in one’s being. -- Gornahoor, The Experience of Existence

I write this today because I do feel a sadness when I come across online profiles of women with "home, family, tradition" proudly written out in their bios.  Is this a huge step beyond most modern women? Probably. But I wonder, "what exactly does she mean by 'tradition'?" Is she merely referring to gender roles? Does she mean going to church? Wearing dresses? The problem here is that a truly life-changing path of Traditionalism is getting missed altogether, being understood and misrepresented as this 1950's path of externals, of which Puritan imagery becomes the defining aesthetic.

But Tradition is the transcendent path of inner change. It is altogether transformational on an ontological level for the one walking it. Curling your hair and baking bread matter not in such a realm. 

"The “greater holy war” is man’s struggle against the enemies he carries within himself, that is, against the elements in him that are opposed to order and unity. There is however no question of annihilating these elements, which, like everything that exists, have their reason for existence and their place in the whole; what is aimed at is to “transform” them, by bringing them back and as it were reabsorbing them into unity. Above all else, man must constantly strive to realize unity in himself, in all that constitutes him, through all the modalities of his human manifestation:

• unity of thought
• unity of action
• and also, which is perhaps hardest, unity between thought and action" - -Rene Guenon, Symbolism of the Cross 

So much esoteric meaning has been lost to us, and I worry that people--even some I know and love--are LARP'ing some role which will not lead them down a path of true fulfillment or spiritual growth/union with God. We cannot focus on the wife, the house, the job, the church building only and expect gratification. Eventually, externals will fail you.

This loss of meaning extends into every realm. Think of archaeologists who unearth ceremonial artifacts, only remarking on the physical attributes and the physical activities these objects implied. They can't possibly fathom the potential power, danger even, that they hold in their hands because the world has been reduced to only knowing "truth" through the senses. Our epistemological empiricism and rationality, even our own scientific method, assumes that the physical layer of reality is it. 

And we have such a difficult time escaping this paradigm, as we've all grown up in it, our very thought will always be influenced by it, no matter how hard we try. We see this even in the 'trad' movement, which I honestly find more and more insufferable these days, steeped in ego and self-righteousness, and unfortunately, still so fixated on biology and the physical in general. I just wish they would have chosen a different term to define themselves; using 'traditionalist' is contributing to subversion.