Index Page - for Full End & Beginning in 12 chapters, now uploaded
This is one of my favorite of Gumilev's works. Read the shorter excerpt in the main index, it's a direct repeat of the first 2 chapters.
Planet Earth is ONE, with singular processes that can be identified within, and upon its surface. Yet the biosphere is divided into climatic regions, so the species are many and diverse. Thus the anthroposphere (mankind's works) also have different characteristics, coming out of their region of development.
As humanity; we don't think the same. WHY?
HOW DID IT HAPPEN? AND HOW IS IT HAPPENING NOW?
These questions lead us to the study of history and the rise and fall of civilizations. We are a civilization right now: are we rising; or are we falling? OR; How close to the precipice are we? This we want to know. How can we live better and ensure that living is done in a sustainable way?
Some theories talk about resources; but some societies without resources have thrived, and societies with abundant resources have fallen. So there must be something beneath resources.
Some theories talk about who are our friends and who are our enemies. But why do we have enemies? What did we do, are we innocent? Did we ever have any friends? Were they for real? How did that come about?
Some theories talk about education. You probably don't know how to live good like we do. Don't worry, we'll educate you.
Some theories talk about good and evil. Of course I am good, so you must be evil. My job is to kill you. Your job is to defend yourself from me, if you can. If I don't stop, then you have to kill me. (But more of us will come.) You know, the devil has his ways.
There must be some understanding beneath these platitudes.
Right now I have been studying this theory of Passionarity and Ethnogenesis, by a prolific Russian scientist, Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov, 1912-1992. Russia is in a different climatic, cultural and development region. So, I don't think the same as he does. This is what I am trying to overcome. Although he lived throughout the period of the Soviet Union, he refused to glorify Marxism, and he suffered greatly for that. His theories take effect before any Economic, Political or Ideological considerations. Some of us muse about the "deep state" but he introduces us to the "deep people". What are the current stereotypes of behavior that dominate in each culture, (throughout the ages).
This book that I propose as an introduction to his theory is "The End and the Beginning Again".
I have translated it from the Russian, because I wanted to read it. For all I know this might be the only English translation, but I am not really pressed to find out. It’s the only one free of charge. Its purpose is to explain the stages of the growth and the downfall of civilizations. In the explanation he offers many, many examples. But the book is not about those examples. They merely illustrate his theory. If you don't keep this in mind, it can be frustrating, because he is virtually "flying through" hundreds of tribes, societies, empires and civilizations, and all their movements, growth, hostility and warfare, and you wonder, "HOW CAN I KEEP ALL THIS STRAIGHT"? I have never even heard of half or more of these peoples. (Examples all through the northern hemisphere. There's not that many studies to draw from on the south of our globe, nor the ancient Americas.) And there are no such references in his book.
This is not a problem for those who want to know. On one Russian site there are 92 books and writings by Gumilyov. (Of course they not are all book-length.) But each is a detailed look at one geographical area, with all the known details, and many many references included.
He demonstrates that the progression of each ethnic group follows this scheme:
The Incubation phase
Ascent, the rising phase
Acmatic phase (to maximum passionarity, or extreme doer-ship),
Breakdown, fracture (Ethnic Sickness)
Inertia and Harmony (the Golden Autumn).
Obscuration, domination by the anti-system, (destroyers)
The Memorial phase, After the End, (if they make it that far).
In each chapter of the book we are going through one of these theoretical stages in the rise and fall of ethnicity. Each chapter explains that one in the series of the stages, which are actually stages of human excess energy, which can be summarize as the will toward action. Excess energy (and we are calling it passion), cause people to DO SOMETHING. We are not saying if that something is constructive or destructive. Both can happen.
Finally the built up energy is so intense that it has to be destructive. That is the stage in the chapter called the “fracture phase”. Then in each chapter Gumilev goes through a series of examples of different civilizations in that particular energy stage. All these examples are in different timings, depending on the culture’s age. So he is jumping around through the centuries, not at all chronologically ordered. That could appear confusing. But the examples are to demonstrate the theory, not to lay out the chronology of any one continent.
I offer this translation to you, because perhaps you write, and thus you think. Maybe this can be an aid to your understanding on what you are reading. I am reading it again, as I post it. And also, I will move on to translating and reading other works, to get a more complete view. (Take your time of course.)
SOME AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY and questions and answers
Ethnos: Its properties and peculiarities, Man in the biosphere.
The Irresistible force; examples of how to understand this very "something"- even anti-instinct - the quality that pushes people to follow illusory rather than real goals
Flashes of Ethnogenesis, Social and Ethnic Histories in a broad expanse of Eurasia
First, in the V-VI centuries, there was complete chaos in Western Europe - the Roman Empire, which fell from its own weight, fell prey to the small clumps of Germans and Slavs who infiltrated it.
Anti-systems in Ethnogenesis; People dedicated to destruction. Here you might be wondering why it is important to dwell on negative philosophies and religions of the Middle Ages. They are the Coptics, Cathars, the Patarenes, the Bohemians, the Peacchians, the Mazdakites, and the strict Manicheans. They are all very different but the similarity is they are all “Anti-Life”. When those names come up in any other writings, you’ll know what to expect. I think there are plenty of negative people in the world right now.
It would be alright if they just wanted to commit suicide, but they want to take you along with them. So killing is honored in their systems. This is one aspect of what Gumilev calls the Anti-System, the destructive force that is the action behind the fall of civilizations.
The other part of the anti-system are just the lazy people and mini gangsters. They’ll just feed off of the working part of the population.
Passional Fractures - - Mechanism of the Fracture
Contacts at the Level of Super-Ethnoses, Polarization in super-ethnoses
The Golden Autumn of Civilization, From Fracture to "Blossom"
When Darkness Comes, The Change of Phase Imperatives
Hidden Forces, Ethnic regeneration as a principle, and factors in Ancient Science