Esotericism for Everyone

Critical comments by Dario Chioli to Bruno Bérard & Aldo La Fata, Che cos’è l’esoterismo tra verità e contraffazioni (Esotericism for Everyone. Interviews with Aldo La Fata, forecasted 2025), Solfanelli, Chieti, 2024.

L’esotérisme pour tous (L’Harmattan), Che cos’è l’esoterismo tra verità e contraffazioni (Solfanelli), Esotericism for Everyone (Angelico Press) is one of the few books, perhaps the only one, to treat the subject not only scientifically, but also without ideological apriorisms. It lets everyone “speak” and, in this sense, is tolerant, and therefore liberal.

Let’s just say that “cognitive humility”, a virtue characteristic of the scholar Aldo La Fata, is also richly appreciated by his interlocutor Bruno Bérard, a brilliant specialist in the history of religions and metaphysics (not to mention the timely afterword by Jean-Pierre Brach). The result is an excellent study.

As we have seen, this is a book-interview, or rather a book-dialogue between two specialists in the subject, who are nonetheless trying to speak to the world. That’s the difference with other books produced by various tribes of esotericists armed with an exclusivism that on the one hand gratifies and on the other abolishes, as we’ll explain later.

In the meantime, no aspect of the subject has been overlooked. The list is long: esotericism and science; esotericism and religion; history of esotericism (or rather “a history”), esotericism and esotericists; esotericism and mysticism; Jewish, Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, modern esotericism.

Central, at least in our eyes, are the chapters on the relationship between “esotericism and metaphysics” and between esotericism and “cognitive humility” (here, our thanks to the authors for having taken up and developed our terminology). No less interesting are the chapters on La Fata’s intellectual biography and the concluding one on the nature of esotericism.

From the reviewer’s point of view, the volume can be approached in two ways: 1) from the point of view of internal criticism (analysis of points, commas, etc., focusing on the forest of different schools, hence the possible marriages, divorces, anathemas and hermeneutical conflicts in the most benign of hypotheses); 2) from the point of view of external criticism aimed at understanding and developing the metapolitical value of esotericism, which is contained in the volume.

In this last aspect, which is the one we have chosen (also for disciplinary reasons), La Fata and Bérard’s volume refers to an approach that sees esotericism as a “mediating phenomenon” (in dialogue with science, metaphysics and religion), promoting social transitions. A phenomenon which, we seem to understand, goes beyond the quantitative dimension of the “esoteric group”. In this sense, La Fata’s image of the Guénonian derivation (if we remember correctly) of religion as victorious esotericism is very pleasing – because, in our opinion, it is right and justified.

A victory that sees the transformation into quantity, i.e. religion, of a quality, namely esotericism, as the knowledge of the few.

Which – let’s get back to business – is the result of a mediation process that could be described as metapolitical, as it is the culmination of a process of social rationalization (in a morally good sense; we’re aware that the term may not please, but it refers to the metapolitics of regularities); rationalization, we say, of a “truth” previously held by the few. To put it another way: the seed takes root, becomes a tree, and the tree bears fruit in abundance.

If it doesn’t become a religion – and this is the fundamental point – esotericism remains a sect or, if you prefer, regresses to a sectarian phenomenon. This brings to mind the classic sect-church dynamic studied by Troeltsch in Les doctrines sociales des églises et des groupes chrétiens, as well as the institution-movement proposed by Alberoni (another metapolitical regularity). In other words: Tertium non datur .

A parenthesis. From this last point of view, Aldo La Fata’s biography seems to be a continuous distancing, through successive cognitive enlargements, from any form of stale, morose traditionalism. An “institution” in the making. It will be up to future biographers to explore, beyond the good and the bad, the sulphurous évoliens contributions (from the point of view of the “movement”), which are obviously not the only ones in the brilliant intellectual framework of La Fata’s formation, whose “fathers” include Panunzio and Guénon.

So the metapolitical dynamic of esotericism seems to be bidirectional (a process of inclusion-exclusion, another metapolitical regularity): sect-religion; religion-sects. And we’re thinking here, on the one hand, of the grandioquential evolution of the great religions, and, on the other, of the fate, at a certain point involutive, of Buddhism in India, as well as the petrification of quite a few sects, such as the pre-Christian mysteries, or certain desertifying branches of Protestantism and Catholic traditionalism.

It’s a methodologically profound and productive approach that we find again and again in L’ésotérisme pour tous / Che cos’è l’esoterismo. A book, let us repeat, that wants to speak to the world. This is its liberalism, its tolerance, the fruit of a cognitive humility unknown to the proponents of sectarian, or worse still, politicized esotericism. In short, as we have said, this is excellent proof, at the very least, of liberal esotericism.

The diverse and varied world of esotericism, whether ancient or contemporary, often presents a panorama that borders on confusion, and those who approach the subject can only be bewildered, if not discouraged. And this is true whether it’s a sincere quest for knowledge, simple curiosity or even – unfortunate choice – misguided self-assertion and presumed superiority.
But if, in the latter case, recourse to fanciful esoteric tinkering is frequent, those truly seeking a path to knowledge and inner elevation often implore the presence of works capable of bringing them clarity. Today, thanks to the invaluable book “Che cos’è l’Esoterismo” (What is Esoterism), recently published by Solfanelli and featuring French metaphysician-philosopher Bruno Bérard and researcher Aldo La Fata, one of the most lucid contemporary experts on esotericism and spirituality, the desire of aspiring esotericists – the real ones – seems at last to be fulfilled: apparently, two names of unquestionable authority have succeeded in the enormous task of rendering complex concepts with the simplicity they deserve.
In a world accustomed to simplification, the “idiot sister” of simplicity, which subtracts substance from concepts in the name of perspective-free ease of use, we find ourselves faced with a masterpiece of true simplicity, capable of expounding difficult subjects in a luminous and essential way, without sacrificing the complexity of the concepts but eliminating, that is, complication and all the frills of “effect”.
Achieving this “difficult simplicity” undoubtedly requires a great deal of familiarity with the subject, and Bruno Berard and Aldo La Fata pull it off brilliantly. In the fluid structure of the interview, the former uses an elegant maieutic game to ask the latter limpid questions, followed by clear answers that are never misleading or ambiguous. With the constant impression that the interviewee is waiting for exactly that question and that the interviewer knows in advance which way the answer will go, fifteen chapters follow one another with a disturbing lightness, considering the density of the subject, thanks to a perfect understanding between the two parties that gives life to an elegant and harmonious dance of ideas and concepts.
The book is elegant and orderly in its structure: each chapter confronts the concept of esotericism with the different fields of human knowledge and the great religions, with which the links are often so close as to be confusing…
A great deal of work is done, in the early chapters, to distinguish esotericism proper from the many pseudo-esotericisms widespread in the world of spiritual research, just as great intellectual energy is deployed to warn future esotericists against seeking such knowledge out of mere vanity or pride.
Countless ancient and modern “masters” and hermeticists are cited, from Pythagoras to Dante Alighieri, from Guénon to Evola, Paolo Virio and Silvano Panunzio, the latter being particularly close to Aldo La Fata, whose guide and teacher he was.
From all this emerges a (re)clean image of esotericism as a path to individual self-improvement, interconnected with religion(s), philosophy and metaphysics but, at the same time, independent in its realization. An esotericism open to all those willing to accept with determination the effort required to walk this path, capable of testing but also offering fruits of rare splendor. Indeed, with the intention of bringing back to its essence the image of esotericism, often obscured by vain superstructures, confused syncretisms and, what’s more, belittled by the vanity of those who flaunt it as a certificate of intellectual superiority, Aldo La Fata’s words bring esoteric knowledge back to its essence as a spiritual Way, and posit as an inescapable condition the “good will” of evangelical memory.
In this respect, the title chosen for this singular two-voice guide is even clearer. Most will not have missed the almost banal title chosen for the Italian edition which, however, in terms of (deliberate) obviousness, is surpassed by the French original which sounds like “L’Esoterismo per tutti” (Esoterism for all) … A “pour tous” which risks being offensive to those who have devoted their lives to in-depth research in the field of esotericism. But at this point, those with relatively young children might recall one of Disney’s latest masterpieces, the magnificent “Ratatouille” (Oscar 2008 for Best Animated Feature), in which a little mouse becomes a great chef.
Here too, a famous French chef, who later died, had published a book entitled “Tout le monde peut cuisiner”, infuriating the lords of the French kitchens. However, in the final speech of the perfidious food critic Anton Ego, who will rediscover his humanity thanks to a dish as simple as ratatouille, an enlightening reflection resounds: “It’s not true that anyone can cook, but it is true that a great chef can hide behind anyone”.
The comparison between Bruno Bérard and Aldo La Fata’s scholarly presentation and an animated film for children may seem irreverent, but the example is undoubtedly apt: the path of esotericism is not open to everyone, but a true and sincere esotericist can hide behind any “man of good will.

The volume I deal with in this writing I consider the best book in the field of non-fiction read in the Italian language during the year 2024. It deals, already in the title, with a subject that we hear about often but in which both superficiality and mystifications generally hold sway, it deals with esotericism. The work in question has an approach that defends the worldview of Tradition. “What is Esotericism“-”between truths and counterfeits” is the title of the wonderful publication by the Solfanelli publishing house, which features as its protagonists of the highest level two specialists conversing with each other: Bruno Bérard (1958) questioning and interacting with Aldo La Fata (1964). This is an in-depth series of interviews, divided into chapters, done with Aldo La Fata, a well-known scholar of Tradition and esotericism and the history of religions, a Catholic writer who was long a close collaborator of the great Italian philosopher, theologian, expert on Christianity and universal spirituality Silvano Panunzio (1918-2010). Aldo La Fata demonstrates his immense background in the field of esotericism and traditional religions in a series of no less than seventeen chapters ranging from the relationships between esotericism and science, esotericism and religion, history of esotericism, esotericism and mysticism, an overview of esotericism in the three traditional Abrahamic religious forms, as well as Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism. Completing the volume are other intense chapters that also talk about the biographical journey of Aldo La Fata himself, and we also dive into more and more particular dimensions, such as the chapter on modern esotericisms, metaphysics, “cognitive humility,” and finally an attempt is made, which is very difficult, to give a definition of Esotericism itself as such. Totaling 219 pages there are also appendices, afterword, bibliographies (both by Aldo La Fata and Bruno Bérard), index of names. Published in this first Italian edition in July 2024, the work was previously released in French beyond the Alps by our French cousins. The particular “saturnine” and traditional nature of the contents is particularly appealing to me; the French metaphysician and Sufi René Guénon (1886-1951), who died in Cairo and is also known by the name Shaykh Abdelwahid Yahya, is often cited as a reference point. Another important protagonist is the aforementioned Silvano Panunzio, who, in some ways, can be considered a kind of Italian and Catholic Guénon, a profound and original thinker but who certainly drew much inspiration from the French Master and in part probably also from the “baron,” the philosopher, orientalist and esotericist Julius Evola (1989-1974), despite the fact that the latter is often rejected by many “strictly observant” Guénonians and obviously also by the Catholic world in general, the same argument could be made, as far as a certain ostracism and dissent is concerned, by recalling the name of another scholar mentioned in the book, the neo-Pythagorean Pythagorean philosopher and devotee of Masonic studies Arturo Reghini (1878-1946). Also appearing in the volume is another leading figure in the affairs of Italian esotericism, the exponent of Hermetic thought Giuliano Kremmerz (1861-1931). To fully understand the text of the conversation between Bruno Bérard and Aldo La Fata one must in any case have an excellent knowledge regarding the very vast history of 20th century Italian esotericism, environments, character, strands of thought, often incompatible orientations, rivalries, written works and lived lives. “What is Esotericism” moreover is a kind of small encyclopedia, from the point of view of an exquisitely traditional esoteric perspective, of the history of religions of all mankind and all times. The book therefore implies an essentially Guernonian theoretical conception, whereby one accepts the substantive division between esotericism and exotericism and agrees with what Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998), another author quoted in the book, defined as the “transcendent unity of religions.” furthermore, dignity is accorded to Freemasonry as a genuine Form of spirituality and esotericism, making the due and very intricate distinctions, and the difference between mysticism and esotericism is nevertheless essentially exposed (again, however, with specifications and a non-simplistic analysis). What I list here is a schematic summary with respect to the complexity and density of the teachings and theses advocated by Aldo La Fata. What is certain is that the volume is a very rich and fascinating read, conceptually deep and a mine of knowledge, including historical knowledge. A rare experience, in my opinion absolutely to be had.

Detailed presentation of the book