The following notes are based on René Guénon’s East and West. Excerpts are from Part II, Chapter III “Constitution and Role of the Elite.”

When Guénon speaks of an intellectual “elite”, he’s not really talking of a club or political vanguard. The modern mind will usually jump to the familiar pattern of a certain physical and identifable structure. But Guénon warns that the real elite must never be reduced to just external organization:

“many people, on hearing the word ‘organization’ pronounced, immediately imagine that it refers to something comparable to the formation of a group or association of some kind. This is a complete error, and those who entertain such ideas prove that they understand neither the meaning nor the scope of the question. Just as true metaphysics cannot be confined to the formulas of a particular system or theory, so the intellectual elite cannot accommodate itself to the forms of a “society” constituted with statutes, regulations, meetings and all the other outward manifestations that this word necessarily implies…”

And so he advises to not even start with a formal and rigid structure. Even the best-intentioned effort will rot from the inside. One wrong member or one deviation, and the whole project could essentially collapse:

“Indeed, not only is this form of “society” useless in such a case, it would be extremely dangerous, due to the deviations that would inevitably occur: however rigorous the selection, it would be very difficult to prevent, especially at the beginning and in such an unprepared environment, the introduction of a few units whose incomprehension would be enough to compromise everything; and it is to be expected that such groups would be very likely to be seduced by the prospect of immediate social action, perhaps even political action in the narrowest sense of the word, which would be the most unfortunate of all eventualities, and the most contrary to the proposed goal.”

So a true elite never entangles itself in social or political movements directly, no matter how important they may appear. Its influence is indirect precisely because it remains rooted in the “immutable” and unshaken by worldly agitation.

“Here, then, external society is merely an accidental manifestation of pre-existing internal organization, and the latter, in all its essential aspects, is always absolutely independent of the former; the elite has no business getting involved in struggles which, however important, are necessarily foreign to its own domain; its social role can only be indirect, but it is all the more effective for that, because to really direct what is moving, you must not be drawn into the movement yourself”

The great mistake here is to reverse causality, or try to create external form before there is a consistent internal reality. A true elite must first exist inwardly in being, and only then can any outer expression safely follow:

“This is exactly the opposite of the plan that would be followed by those who would first form external societies; these must only be the effect, not the cause; they could only be useful and have a real raison d’être if the elite already existed beforehand… and if it was strongly enough organized to surely prevent any deviation.”

Of course the modern mind can not grasp this. They can’t imagine real influence without formal institutions or regarded fiat credentials. They live in a world where only the visible counts:

“This idea of organizations which do not take the form of “societies”, which have none of the external elements by which these are characterized, and which are only more effectively constituted, because they are really founded on what is immutable and do not admit in themselves any mixture of transitory, this idea, we say, is completely foreign to the modern mentality”

But Guénon isn’t necessarily against people coming together, like for a study group, but he does warn even simple study groups must be formed with extreme caution, as it should be more of a metaphysical terrain rather than just a hobby. There are forces at play here:

“It goes without saying that if a few people, instead of working in isolation, preferred to get together to form “study groups” of sorts, we wouldn’t see this as a danger or even a drawback, but only on condition that they were convinced that they had no need to resort to that external formalism to which most of our contemporaries attribute so much importance, precisely because external things are everything to them. Moreover, even if we were simply to form “study groups”, if we wanted to do serious work and pursue it far enough, many precautions would be necessary, for everything that is accomplished in this field brings into play powers unsuspected by the vulgar…”

So the real work begins not with immediate activism or deliberate organizing, as western traditions often obsess over, but with deep and focused preparation. In this context, the only solid foundation is metaphysical knowledge. Without that, nothing can be done:

“…adaptation to such and such defined conditions is always extremely delicate, and one must possess unshakeable and very extensive theoretical data before thinking of attempting the slightest realization. The very acquisition of such data is not an easy task for Westerners; in any case, and we can’t stress this enough, it’s the essential starting point, the only indispensable preparation, without which nothing can be done, and on which all subsequent achievements, in whatever order, essentially depend.”

To me, Guénon’s warning about premature external organization speaks directly to Muslims today who are attempting to reforge meaningful bonds of ummah in digital space, because in our fiat reality where the collapse of traditional structures has left a spiritual and institutional vacuum, the temptation to replicate the same modern frameworks, like through branding and politics, is immense, yet it risks reducing something sacred and subtle to mere spectacle.

The effort to build “tribes” through tools like Bitcoin and Nostr only has value if those efforts are rooted in a sort of interior transformation, where metaphysical clarity precede every technical solution or networked coalition.

I would think that it’s somewhat hazardous in mistaking the tool for the foundation, or in thinking that distributed tech alone can replace what must be cultivated in the soul first. Any attempt to build parallel institutions and exit the riba money order must begin from individuals and small circles that are already aligned inwardly before they ever try to exert influence outwardly.

In this way, Guénon reminds us that the strength of an actual community is not so much in its scale, or visibility, or physicality, or formal coherence, but in that “unseen” link between people who carry the same “toxic” and unyielding principled orientation, because only those who are not swept up in the movement of the world can hope to shape its direction, inshaAllah.