Welcome to Rananim

“As collective thought cannot exist as thought, it passes into things (signs, machines …). Hence the paradox: it is the thing which thinks and the man who is reduced to the state of a thing.” — Simone Weil

Our beautiful world is dying, being burned alive by a humanity and technology out of control. Our world is burning, being burnt alive, burnt down by a world full of people full of hubris.

Rananim Now has been founded with the goal of healing our broken world. Our mission is twofold:

1. To spread the message of D. H. Lawrence and his vision of utopian communities isolated from the modern world.

2. To help put those ideas into practice.

We believe that Lawrence was the greatest philosopher, political theorist, and mystic of the last two-hundred years, yet he has—sadly—been ignored or reviled. Books have been written by ignorant authors claiming Lawrence was many things he was not. We aim to clear up this confusion and show Lawrence for the great man he was. Our educational mission is to foster the understanding and acceptance of the political, philosophical, and religious views of Lawrence—world-wide.

Based on Lawrence’s writings, and others of similar ideals, we aim to heal our world. We believe the world can only be healed by less technology, not more, but that both the political and revolutionary paths to change have failed and are unlikely to be restored. As such, our goal is the creation of modern monastic communities built on Lawrencian principles. These communities would exist outside of the economic confines of the modern world. If everyone joined one of these communities and started abiding by its principles, the great calamity could be averted, but if, as is likely, the great calamity is inevitable, then our communities could be refuges from the deluge when the modern world finally collapses into chaos and calamity.

“I feel perfectly hopeless and disgusted with the world here… When we can but set sail for our Rananim, we shall have our first day of happiness. But it will come one day—before very long… That is the living dream. We will have our Rananim yet. Everything seems to have gone to pot in the world. And still I hope… we can find our Rananim… Hope is a great thing. We are not beaten yet, in spirit, but it is a critical moment. We must pray to the good unknown. I think we shall come out alright, even against so many millions… We shall all come to our Rananim before many years are out—only believe me—an Isle of the Blest, here on earth… We are going to found an Order of the Knights of Rananim.” —D. H. Lawrence

We aim to publish writings based on the principles established by D. H. Lawrence in his political, philosophic, and religious writings. Lawrence was a great novelist and his novels even have the uncanny ability to alter one’s state of consciousness, but he was far more than just a great novelist. We have lofty goals, foremost among them to change the world by helping to end the age of the Machine, and to return to an urzeitig (primeval) state.

“We are just on the sea, looking down into a little cove. The water smashes up the black rocks. It is nice. Then the bare, unformed, urzeitig [primeval] landscape—there really might be rock-hurling giants and odd pixies. If only it weren’t all cut up into fields! … Alas Alas! What is going to become of the world? … The desert is the only place.” —D. H. Lawrence

Our mission coincides perfectly with the mission D. H. Lawrence outlined for his own proposed private publishing venture The Rainbow Books and Music. As such, we will let his flyer for that venture speak for us:

Either there exists a sufficient number of people to buy books because of their reverence for truth, or else books must die. In its books lie a nation’s vision; and where there is no vision the people perish.

The present system of production depends entirely upon the popular esteem: and this means gradual degradation. Inevitably, more and more, the published books are dragged down to the level of the lowest reader.

It is monstrous that the herd should lord it over the uttered word. The swine has only to grunt disapprobation, and the very angels of heaven will be compelled to silence.

It is time that enough people of courage and passionate soul should rise up to form a nucleus of the living truth; since there must be those among us who care more for the truth than for any advantage.

For this purpose it is proposed to attempt to issue privately such books and musical works as are found living and clear in truth; such books as would either be rejected by the publisher, or else overlooked when flung into the trough before the public.

This method of private printing and circulation would also unseal those sources of truth and beauty which are now sterile in the heart, and real works would again be produced.

Why subscribe?

If you subscribe, you will get access to all of my writings here, including early access to all chapters of my book The Machine Will Never Triumph: A Lawrencian Critique of Technology. I aim to publish approximately one chapter per week, with the vast majority of chapters only being available to paid subscribers. The Machine Will Never Triumph is a book with a purpose namely, to heal our burning world by creating a fundamental change in perception of the reader. This will be accomplished through the explication of the writings of D. H. Lawrence. Lawrence’s later poetry is a profound philosophic tome in its own right. This book will first explicate Lawrence’s poetry through his prose, then lead on into further detail through the writings of like-minded thinkers. Finally, the author, Farasha Euker1, will tie everything together with a deep philosophical commentary on the texts.

Euker and Lawrence both assert that most of our contemporary woes are caused by an imbalance between our conventional conceptions and the metaphysical underpinning of reality, and our machine-dominated culture, which reinforce one another in a vicious downward spiral. The Machine Will Never Triumph will show that much of our modern technology causes far more harm than good, and shows us a path out of our current technologically induced malaise. The path of modern technological development must stop; and most of the edifice of the modern world needs to be sacrificed, even if it requires falling back into a new dark ages. This book shows why that must happen and how it may come about through a change in consciousness and restoration of a passionate love of Creation.

The first half of The Machine Will Never Triumph will deconstruct our current modern, technological civilization and its underlying religious, philosophic, and scientific structures, which appeared to Lawrence, the author, and many others grounded in traditionalist teachings, as a living nightmare. The second half of the book will put forth a positive philosophy for restoration of a physically and spiritually nourishing civilization, based on Lawrence’s writings and the ancient sources he was most passionate about, namely the Etruscans, the Egyptians, and the pre-Platonic Greeks.

Throughout all of Lawrence’s writings, there is a unitary thread namely, criticism of the modern mechanization and automatization of humanity that has been pursued in the name of money—“which rots the brain, the blood, the bones, the stones, the soul”—and science, along with an exhortation to change one’s life here and now, and how to make those changes to get in touch again with Nature, Life, and the Dark God we cannot see along with the Gods we can attain awareness—and have sense of presence of.

“We know enough. We know too much. We know nothing. Let us smash something. Ourselves included. But the machine above all.” —D. H. Lawrence

Additionally, I aim to occasionally publish poetry, stories, and translations, such as chapters from my forthcoming translation of Walter F. Otto’s Theophania.

Lawrence […] spent himself opposing this subtle, tendency that masqueraded as modernity, but was in reality both murder and suicide. He was allied with the old, dark gods of life, the undisclosed, impenetrable gods who live in the living and remain forever unnamed. So, […] life for Lorenzo was a fight to the death, and the world was a battle-field for him. — Mabel Dodge Luhan

We are teachers in the old tradition going back, back, back before even Plato’s academy. We have our roots in the Orphic wisdom traditions, ancient Egyptian theology, the Etruscans, and the rites and rituals of the ancients from times long gone; from the Hopi, to the European tree-worshippers. Earth is sacred, the Moon is sacred, the Sun is sacred, and we need to start by acknowledging that fact. We honor all living things; birds, beasts, and flowers alike, and for us even the smallest of trees is sacred.

The planet is in trouble. Our human hubris has wreaked havoc on this, our home. There are those out there who claim the only way to solve our problems is with more technology. They are wrong! Then there are the vast masses of robot humanity who live their sad and miserable lives attached to their phones and other devices. Sad! Sad! This is not a life that honors the Gods. D. H. Lawrence has come with a gospel to teach us, a gospel which can save us all. This gospel is the gospel of Life, which is inherently against machines and technology of all sorts. The machine must never triumph!

Talk with us, learn from us, and come to see the doors that we can open.

“All men are worshippers
unless they have fallen, and become robots.

All men worship the wonder of life
until they collapse into egoism, the mechanical, self-centred system of the
robot.

But even in pristine men, there is the difference:
some men can see life clean and flickering all around,
and some can only see what they are shown.

Some men look straight into the eyes of the gods
and some men can see no gods, they only know
the gods are there because of the gleam on the faces of the men who see.

Most men, even unfallen, can only live
by the transmitted gleam from the faces of vivider men
who look into the eyes of the gods.

And worship is the joy of the gleam from the eyes of the gods,
and the robot is denial of the same,
even the denial that there is any gleam.” —D. H. Lawrence

Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website. Never miss an update.

Stay up-to-date

You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.

Join the crew

Be part of a community of people who share your interests.