Decline of the West, Volume One - Oswald Spengler | Part 4, Reading & Discussion

Alright folks.

This will be the fourth edition in our exploration of Oswald Spengler and his 1918 text The Decline of the West: Form & Actuality. Join us Faustian Souls as we trace the Destiny of our inescapable and necessary Cathedralic Prime-Symbol in pursuance of Infinite Space. Enticing, no?

For this session, we will be reading and discussing Chapter VIII: Music & Plastic (II) - Act & Portrait and Chapter IX: Soul-Image & Life-Feeling (I) - On the Form of the Soul. If you're reading the Arktos edition (which I recommend everyone do), this will be around 106 pages. If you start reading now, that's only 5.6 pages per day - easy peasy.

Here are two free PDF versions of the text: One aaaaaaand Two.
All are the same translation from Charles Francis Atkinson so ultimately, it does not matter. Work with whatever works with you.

As always, if you're unable to complete the reading prior to our meeting, no worries - it's dense and semi-lengthy, so we're just happy to have you and welcome whatever insights, critiques, questions, etc. you may have based on what you were able to read.

For those who have missed the first three sessions, I've been working needlessly hard on compiling a 58-page Spenglerian glossary that provides definitions for most of what has been covered so far. I'll likely provide an update version closer to the 25th but in the meantime, you can access it here: link link link. Let me know if you have issues.

We will be meeting in the Ace Hotel lobby on W 29th. There is coffee, breakfast, and booze. Message me the day of if you can't find us. We usually sit toward the back of the lobby next to the bar.

As always, this group is open to newcomers to Spengler, novices of philosophy, history, aesthetics, etc., ragamuffins, ne'er-do-wells, urchins of all sorts, etc. All insights are encouraged, just be somewhat sensible and all the way cool. Ain't no fun to be found in nodding your head along with a thinker for a hundred pages - strive to disagree, with decency.

Alright, looking forward to it - again, reach out to me with any questions or concerns in the meantime.

Looking forward,

Hamp