H. A. Murena: recovering the sacred

Abstract

We will work with the essays Hector Alvarez Murena wrote from 1961 until his death: particularly, La cárcel de la mente (1971), La metáfora y lo sagrado (1973) and El secreto claro (dialogues with D. J. Vogelmann, 1977). Our hypothesis posits that the texts of this period are a unit, which allows us to value Murena's greater interest in the decadence of Western civilization. His main problem is the loss of the sacred to a “titanic thought” that leads mankind to catastrophe. At the same time, there is a close dialogue with representatives of Western (Guenon and Burckhardt) and Eastern (Coomaraswamy and Lao Tze) “traditional thinking”, which allows him to complement his German philosophical background (Heidegger and Benjamin) to offer possible answers to modern man's moral, spiritual and intellectual crisis.