To Lorenzo García, who suggested this topic
For thousands of years, a human’s everyday life was governed by religious practices from dawn to dusk. Things changed dramatically in the 19th Century. Nietzsche and Marx saw it clearly: no matter what our faith, from then on, the onset of industrialization and capitalism subjected us to another mass evangelization: that of the cult of productivity. Could God really be dead? And if so, what are we doing to compensate for his crushing absence? What are our society’s new cults? Which gods do we venerate and what rituals do they subject us to? In our December-January issue we wanted to address these questions. The cult of oneself, the cult of science as an objective truth, and personality cults are without a doubt among the most prevalent. In “Narcissistic Polytheism,” Romeo Tello describes our obsession with social media: the frantic pursuit for likes and retweets from our “followers.” Mauro Libertella writes about the life and aesthetic project of Mario Levrero, one of the greatest cult writers on the continent; Alejandro Andrade Paese explores a series of unofficial Mexican cults, while Luigi Amara compares the Dionysian rites of Antiquity to today’s prudish festive practices. Our society’s cults correspond to a myriad of beliefs. Do they have a unifying factor? Is there perhaps a great God or a Big Brother whom we unknowingly venerate? Or, as Borges might have put it: who is the God behind God pulling the strings of our new convictions? We hope that the texts included in this issue will help you get closer to the answer. Twice a year, the Revista de la Universidad de México publishes a literary supplement. This time we wanted to focus on texts from different spiritual traditions: from Sufism to Zen koans, from Kabbalah to the poetry of San Juan de la Cruz. The selection was guided by our own aesthetic preferences as well as the recommendations we received; aiming—as always—for cultural diversity. We believe that juxtaposing these mystic texts from throughout history with articles about modern paganism might provide a revealing perspective on this topic. There is nothing left for us to do, dear reader, but wish you pleasant reading and happy holidays—no matter who your Gods might be nor the cult you belong to.
Imagen de portada: Nietzsche por Gustav Adolf Schultze, 1882.