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02.09.22 / 09:37:28 ESTe-flux journal #124 Ñ february 2022 Ê Order of Sophianic MarxistsMarx, the AlchemistAlchemy as Dual-Nondual Anthropologyand Antiauthoritarian PraxisThe document before us is an alchemicaltreatise, supposedly written by Marx himself. Init, the emergence of the value form, theproletarian revolution, and Marxist theory arerecast as the alchemical Magnum Opus, usingthe terminology of alchemical praxis, as if it weresome treatise by Paracelsus. It is, in other words,a structural translation of one discourse intoanother, preserving the logic of both. The resultseems fairly consistent, as if we were dealingwith a case of reverse anthropology, to borrow aterm coined by the anthropologist Roy Wagner.An example Wagner gives of this phenomenon isthe Òcargo cult,Ó where an indigenous peopleadapt products of Western civilization into theircosmogony (an act that the Westerner naturallyfinds absurd). This, indeed, is the aim ofprogressive anthropology: to assume a differentperspective and see oneÕs own culture assomething no longer recognizable; to freeoneself, however briefly, from oneÕs ownphilosophy, or the Òstifling bedroom of the SameÓ(Viveiros de Castro).4 This happens when Òtheclassified becomes the classifier.Ó In our case, itis not the Marxist who translates the alchemistÕssystem into his own cultural conventions, butvice versa. Marxist praxis is presented asalchemical in essence. To understand this better,let us attempt a partial back-translation of thepseudo-Marx treatise into more conventionalterms. But first, we must speak to the alternativemeaning of alchemy and consider the validity ofmixing alchemy and Marxism.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊAlchemy, as we know, is the praxis of theGnostic/Hermetic tradition. The larger esotericand mystical tradition, which emergedsomewhere in Roman Egypt in the first centuriesof the common era, runs through two thousandyears of history up to our present as a kind ofunderbelly or occult side of European (morebroadly, Eurasian) thought and art. It hasresurfaced in countless guises and incarnations,notably as the Kabbala, Swabian Pietism,Hegelian philosophy, Russian religiousphilosophy, and Russian cosmism. The essenceof the Gnostic/Hermetic tradition is that it isdual-nondual: i.e., it can distinguish betweenGod, human beings, and the world, whilesimultaneously asserting that all three aremodalities of the same thing, and that it ishumanityÕs objective to surmount thesepermeable boundaries. This is where theGnostic/Hermetic tradition diverges subversively04/10of humanity along with it, transmutes itselfinto the red lion that has swallowed thesun!and radically from the conventional, officiallysanctioned religious movements of various eras,particularly European Christianity. The latterposits an insurmountable chasm between Godand man, Creator and creature, and thecorrelative indelible duality, wherein thetranscendent will always remain superior to theimmanent. Needless to say, this state of affairsoffers a convenient template for earthly power:rulers and the official church, i.e.,representatives of the indelibly transcendentGod on earth, will always remain in a superiorposition vis-ˆ-vis their subjects. In institutional,conventional Christianity, the gap between theauthorities and the people is as insurmountableand ontological as that between God andcreation.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊThe Gnostic/Hermetic tradition underminesthis position. It posits man as dualistic in nature,comprising the natural and the divine principles.His objective is to escape from the lowest orÒfallenÓ world of the sidereal, demiurgical, ormaterial determination. Aided by his imagination(understood as a function of the mind rather thanbinary reason, or, in HegelÕs terms, of Vernunftrather than Verstand), he is able to climb theunbroken chromatic ladder toward a union withthe One (Absolute), i.e., until he himself becomesthe Universal or God. In the run-up to this, theOne is unfolding, emanating, or progressing intothe world and as the world. When the lower limitis reached, the Recovery of the produced to theproducing begins, and progress is displaced byepistrophe: this is the Gnostic/HermeticResurrection, Renaissance, or Revolution. InHermetics, rebirth is wholly contingent on manÕsinner abilities: this, indeed, is the principal ideabehind the Hermetic state, i.e., the tightly sealedflask, the alchemical alembic, the human skullas the container of thought. Only in a vashermetica can transfiguration of consciousnessand transmutation of matter take place, twoprocesses which are interdependent andinterchangeable, as, indeed, we learn from theTábula Smarágdina of Hermes Trismegistus:Òas above, so belowÓ or as within, so without.Omnipotence, immortality, consciousness ofoneÕs divine nature are fully within manÕs grasp,but to attain these he must put in the work, i.e.,take up alchemical praxis at the interchangeablelevels of transformation of matter and ofconsciousness.Marx and the Gnostic/Hermetic Tradition (aQualification)Gnostic variations of the Gnostic/Hermetictradition go even further in pointing up thestruggle against officialdom: the world of matterand determination is said to be in the hands ofthe Demiurge and the archons, malicious and

02.09.22 / 09:37:28 EST05/10years our Order has been at work on a Russiananalogy to MerrifieldÕs Òmagical Marxism,Ó whichis an attempt to restore Marxism to its originalpower of the imagination. It is time to publish ourpreliminary results.e-flux journal #124 Ñ february 2022 Ê Order of Sophianic MarxistsMarx, the Alchemistimperfect Rulers. The divine component in man,however, stands above this world, and its task isto turn the world upside down, destroy theinferior determination of the false lowergods/rulers and, in effecting the revolution,attain freedom in the consciousness of oneÕspotency. Whose words are these? Do they belongto the Gnostic tradition or do they form the coreof Marxist theory? Our answer is: both. It is notour purpose here to show the connectionsbetween MarxÕs ideas and the Gnostic/Hermetictradition: others have done this admirably onnumerous occasions.5 We note in particular theworks of Cyril Smith, as well as Glenn AlexanderMageeÕs recent work on Hegel as a Hermeticphilosopher and Erica LagalisseÕs studies on theoccult underpinnings of antiauthoritarianmovements. At the same time, the act of bringingtogether Marxist philosophy and theGnostic/Hermetic tradition may still come as ashock. This could be because there is still nomajor publication titled ÒKarl Marx and theGnostic-Hermetic Tradition.Ó If so, the followingpages may be read as either commentary on thisinvisible book or its opening pages. Here thereverse anthropology of the manuscript by thepseudo-Marx-alchemist becomes a directanthropology and genealogy of Marxism. Thecore concepts of Marxism may, at least, beexamined organically within Gnostic/Hermeticphilosophy and, at most, are in fact its specificavatar, a Gnostic/Hermetic myth actualized in anew guise at the intersection of being andbecoming, like any (eternally) recurring myth.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊDo such efforts constitute revisionism? Notin our view, since they do nothing to diminish theforce of MarxismÕs revolutionary positions. Onthe contrary: they affirm and strengthen them ina different cultural language, ground MarxÕsphilosophy in older traditions, and restore toMarxism the mighty, transformative power of theimagination Ð a gesture increasingly demandedin our time by the truly progressive ÒnewÓMarxists, such as Andy Merrifield and VladislavSofronov. Additionally, everything that follows isa project of Sophianic Marxism, one of theÒnewestÓ Marxisms, destined to rejuvenate thismighty philosophy in the postcolonial space ofreverse anthropologies and alternativecosmologies. The term ÒsophianicÓ derives fromSophiology, a notable part of Russian religiousphilosophy that promotes all-unity, which isrealized through a ubiquitous and androgynousanima Mundi (world soul). By aligning sophianicall-unity with MarxÕs notion of Gemeinwesen asthe collective human essence, we placeSophianic Marxism at the fertile intersectionbetween MarxÕs thought and Russian religiousphilosophy, the Gnostic/Hermetic tradition, andEurasian esotericism in general. In the past fewSelbstbetätigung Ð Self-Actualization Ðas HumanityÕs Magnum OpusThe core of MarxÕs philosophy Ð which, putanother way, coincides with the core of GnosticHermeticism Ð is the central place given tohumanityÕs self-activity or self-actualization.Marx (and Hermeticists generally) construes theact of perfection as manÕs task, his work. Theseventeen-year-old Marx writes, ÒTo man, too,the Deity gave a general aim, that of ennoblingmankind and himself, but he left it to man toseek the means by which this aim can beachieved.Ó6ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊFrom the very outset, moreover, thisperfection is not individual, but general,universal. This, once more, tracks perfectly withthe objective of Gnostic/Hermetic praxis: theachievement of the state of all-oneness or allunity, when the One, having unfolded throughprogress into All (the World), undergoes therevolutionary return to the One. In Hermetics, alloneness is the starting and the end point of thedialectical triad of cosmogony: unity-progressepistrophe. To be sure, Marx Òflattens outÓ allunity on earth (effectively standing HegelÕsHermeticism Òupside downÓ), but the originalidea of all-unity as manÕs universal objectiveremains unchanged:The chief guide which must direct us in thechoice of a profession is the welfare ofmankind and our own perfection. It shouldnot be thought that these two interestscould be in conflict, that one would have todestroy the other; on the contrary, manÕsnature is so constituted that he can attainhis own perfection only by working for theperfection, for the good, of his fellow men.7The true essence of man Ð in theGnostic/Hermetic tradition,8 as well as in Marx Ðis not his ÒfallenÓ actual determined state, butthe free Anthropos, the Man-God. Marx uses theterm Gemeinwesen to denote authentic humannature, i.e., manÕs all-unity, or in the language ofRussian religious philosophy, his sobornostÕ(fellowship). Therefore, according to Marx, rightand true universal law Ð as a realization of manÕsinner essence, unconstrained in some coerciveand unnatural manner Ð is something that for thetime being exists only potentially, at once asessence and as horizon line. In earlier socialformations we find only Òcustoms contrary toright,Ó when Òhuman history was part of natural

06/10history, and in which, according to Egyptianlegend, all gods concealed themselves in theshape of animals É For whereas human law isthe mode of existence of freedom, this animallaw is the mode of existence of unfreedom.Ó9ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊSimilarly, the Gnostic tradition recognizesthe authentic man as inner essence (hence ourterm Òesoteric,Ó i.e., Òinternal,Ó and the Arabic نطابلا ÒÓ (batin) or ÒhiddenÓ in Shiite Gnosticmysticism). This essence must be accessedthrough the intensive process of becoming oneÕsnondual twin.10 of distinction,Ó arising asintensities in the nondual chromatism ofbecoming. In Hermeticism, the intensive pairs orsyzygies operate, on the one hand, as tensionedstrings, between which becoming is realized Ði.e., they act as attractors of the process Ð andon the other as generators of multiplicity, asassurance that the world is multiform and existsgenerally Ð i.e., the One progresses into theworld and as the world by virtue of thegeneration of differences, organized intoandrogynous intensive pairs. So too man exists,on the one hand, as Anthropos Ð Aeon of thefourth syzygy Ð in essence, God and hisemanation, and on the other, as earthly man Ð acreature of dual (at once spiritual and material)nature. One of them is free from determinationand is spiritual, while the other remains in theprocess of declining/becoming. The link betweenthe two modes of human existence ensures thatearthly man, in all his individualized multiplicity,will come together as Purusha, Adam Kadmon, orAnthropos, the Man-God. This transition occursas inner intensity.] In actuality, the spiritualsubstance of the world is weighed down bydetermination, the Òpunishments of matter.ÓAccording to Marx, in every age man is grantedonly his false, counterfeit, or polluted Ònaturalunity,Ó e.g., in the form of religion or capital (i.e.,Demiurge and the false deities of the lowestworld): Òthis abject materialism, this sin againstthe holy spirit of the people and humanity.Ó11ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊAnthropos exists in the world in a profanedstate: ÒIn the literal sense of the word people areput in separate boxes (Kasten), and the noble,freely interchanging members of the great sacredbody, the holy Humanus, are sawn and cleftasunder, forcibly torn apart.Ó12 Consequently,according to Marx, manÕs essence as universality(Gemeinwesen) demands realization andpurification: it is at once given (as the fallen,dismembered holy Humanus) and posited (as thereassembled and purified Anthropos).ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊSelbstbetŠtigung is self-actuation, selfgovernance, self-launch, self-activation, self-Synthetic imageÊproducedbyÊruDALL-E, a multimodalneural network.ÊLicense:ÊCC BY4.0.Ê02.09.22 / 09:37:28 EST

02.09.22 / 09:37:28 EST07/10e-flux journal #124 Ñ february 2022 Ê Order of Sophianic MarxistsMarx, the Alchemistarousal, self-realization. This mercurial, shapeshifting term first appears in Marx asSelbsttŠtigkeit (self-activity) in the first article ofthe ÒProceedings of the Sixth Rhine ProvinceAssembly,Ó where Marx, in best proto-Jungiantradition, describes the process of self-activityÕsprojection into the world and its consequentalienation, when self-activity begins to beperceived as the activity of another: ÒThefunctioning of the state, which primarilyexpresses the self-activity of the individualprovinces, takes place without their formal cooperation, without their joint knowledge; it is asenseless contradiction that my self-activityshould consist of acts unknown to me and doneby another.Ó13 The state appears here as theinauthentic Demiurgic ruler, who does not reflectthe essence of laws, rights, and human selfactivity, but rather perverts it and presents it ashis own. Subsequently, Marx interprets in asimilar vein the alienation of the worker and hislabor: ÒTo the worker who appropriates nature bymeans of his labor, this appropriation appears asestrangement, his own spontaneous activity asactivity for another and as activity of another.Ó14In the ÒEconomic and Philosophical Manuscriptsof 1844Ó and in ÒTheses on FeuerbachÓ Marxintroduces the term ÒselbstbetŠtigungÓ as selfrealization, which henceforth appears as a morecomprehensive variant of ÒselbsttŠtigkeit,Ó withan emphasis on becoming: self-realizationimplies and is attained through self-activity.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊThis precisely echoes the Gnostic doctrine,wherein the objective is Òto make straight thetrue human, the essential human who still liessupine within us.Ó15 This Gnostic intensivetwinhood also underpins MarxÕs particularunderstanding of rights, law, and the state; thesemust reflect not the actual state of affairs andearthly powers, but the virtual, potential one:ÒThe state can and must say: I guarantee rightagainst all contingencies. Right alone is immortalin me, and therefore I prove to you the mortalityof crime by doing away with it.Ó16 Man has a rightto realize his human essence, and this right, bydefinition and in the absence of any externalobstacles, is the embodiment of freedom; it issacred, authentic (insofar as it accords withessence), and immortal.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊAll discrepancies between the actual holyHumanus and his virtual intended state are butÒexternal obstacles,Ó ÒpunishmentsÓ of thelowest world, which must be cast off by means ofthe Gnostic/Hermetic Revolution. This is thestarting point of MarxÕs distinctive soteriology:as far as Gnosticism is concerned, the inferiordetermined world is so corrupted and turnedupside down that it is impossible for the peopleto free themselves from its punishments and themalign power of its rulers. Therefore, Gnosticismneeds a prophet Ð the unmasker, the Revealer,who will open the peopleÕs eyes to the hiddentruth: that spiritual substance has fallen into thestate of matter, but that it is to be foundeverywhere (as prima materia), and thatuniversal salvation is in the hands of one and all.Consequently, Gnosis (i.e., Knowledge) and itsprophet, Savior (soter), play a central role in theGnostic/Hermetic tradition. In ancient texts,Simon the Sorcerer (Simon Magus) Ð thearchetypal figure of the Gnostic savior Ð comesto show the people that Limitless Power is withinthem.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊMarx appears seventeen hundred yearslater for the same purpose. Unlike his orthodoxChristian counterpart, the Gnostic savior comesto reunite every person (including himself) withhis authentic Self. ÒHe does not come to pardona sin É but to rectify a situation of ignorance anddeficiency and to re-establish the originalplenitude.Ó17 The present state of incompletiontouches the Savior himself: he is immanent to hiscircumstance. This is why the Gnostic Jesus tellshis disciples, according to the third and fourthcentury gnostic text Pistis Sophia (The Wisdom ofFaith): I have come to save you, because you arepart of my power. Immanent chromatism andfellowship (all-unity) as true essence.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊNo eyes can be opened without theintervention of the Gnostic savior, whose mainweapon is Gnosis Ð his theory. As Marx writes,The self-confidence of the human being,freedom, has first of all to be aroused againin the hearts of these people. Only thisfeeling, which vanished from the world withthe Greeks, and under Christianitydisappeared into the blue mist of theheavens, can again transform society into acommunity of human beings united for theirhighest aims, into a democratic state É Forour part, we must expose the old world tothe full light of day and shape the new onein a positive way.18This ÒpositiveÓ work is indeed the Magnum Opus,the alchemical praxis. The requisite is concealedwithin existing form and must be extracted fromit, purified in alchemical alembics, stripped of itsinhuman integument (HŸlle). ÒWe develop newprinciples for the world out of the worldÕs ownprinciples É It will then become evident that theworld has long dreamed of possessingsomething of which it has only to be conscious inorder to possess it in reality.Ó19 The alchemicaltransmutation of imperfect metal into perfectgold (its intensive twin) takes place within themetal itself: i.e., its twin is already containedwithin it. Return or Revolution will begin onlywhen the terminal point of progress is reached Ð

Common Being as an Alchemical ProcessMarxÕs understanding of the revolutionary role ofthe proletariat is impossible without anawareness of the Gnostic/Hermetic cosmologicallogic that lies at its core. This is the initial step ofthe Òopus in black,Ó or the nigredo, which is thefirst stage of the alchemical work, orMagisterium: up from the very bottom, from thevery darkness. For Marx it is embodied in theabject condition of the proletariat, a sphereÒwhich, in a word, is the complete loss of manand hence can win itself only through thecomplete re-winning of man.Ó20 The proletariat isthe nonclass of a civil society, the utterly fallenman, lost to himself; this is why they alone canaccomplish the Revolution! Once more: rebirth orrevolution can begin only at the extreme end ofprogress, understood as the unfolding ofsubstance in the world, i.e., only at its extremefall and differentiation, its utter alienation fromitself. At this point, history in a nonhuman,alienated, and antagonistic form as prehistoryends and authentic history begins: ÒThebourgeois relations of production are the lastantagonistic form of the social process ofproduction É The prehistory of human societyaccordingly closes with this social formation.Ó21Gnostic progress is displaced by epistrophe;Revolution is afoot.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊGemeinwesen as common being is theessence of mankind, its philosopherÕs stone. Aswith any alchemical process, it is obtained bypassing through several stages. As we have seen,everything begins with the nigredo Ð the point ofabsolute alienation. This is always followed bythe albedo and the rubedo, finally terminating incommunism as the third Ð Òtruly humanÓ Ð stage(according to MarxÕs Grundrisse). But who isdriving this process? Man. He is his own objectand subject in the Gnostic/Hermetic dualnondual anthropology, which is essential to anunderstanding of the process ofSelbstbetŠtigung (self-realization, self-action, orself-actualization). Marx borrows the logic anddialectic of this process Ð the selbst-philosophy02.09.22 / 09:37:28 EST08/10e-flux journal #124 Ñ february 2022 Ê Order of Sophianic MarxistsMarx, the Alchemistthe point of the deepest fall into matter and ofextreme disunity or alienation, where nearly noLight can reach. At this very point appears theGnostic savior, who, on the one hand, exposesthe actual world as an upside-down, mad(verrückte) world, dominated by forms alienatedfrom man, and, on the other hand, calls uponmen to pay heed to their true essence and riseup, awaken their inner man, and assume anupright posture. This is why Simon Magus, thefounder of Gnosticism, is called ÒuprightÓ Ðbecause he calls for the straightening up of theinner man, much in the same way as the founderof Russian cosmism, Nikolai Fedorov.of Gnostics/Hermetics Ð from Hegel. MankindÒknows what it wills and knows it in itsgenerality, i.e., as something thought. Hence itworks and acts by reference to consciouslyadopted ends, known principles, and laws whichare not merely implicit but are actually present toconsciousness.Ó22 To be sure, Marx is trying toÒturn the world upside downÓ by replacingHegelÕs idea/substantiality with the actual manas actual subject of self-actualization. At thesame time, from the Gnostic/Hermeticperspective, there is no contradiction betweenMarx and Hegel: true substance emanates intothe world and as the world

Alchemist Synthetic image produced by ruDALL-E, a multimodal neural network. License: CC BY 4.0. What a great miracle is Man, O Asclepius, a being worthy of reverence and honor. For he passes into the nature of a god as though he were himself a god. — Hermes Trismegistus, ÒTo Asclepius,Ó Corpus Hermeticum The Lenin-Nag Hammadi Library