In Eumeswil, the protagonist, Manuel Venator, states that 'No one takes anyone else seriously anymore.' - This, for me, is the great crevasse which separates us from the more patient, respectable and responsible sides of history.

The ability to take a man or woman as themselves, and not merely as part of a larger,. homogenising political or cultural system. The modern world (WW2 onwards) atomises everyone, and in doing so removes the possibility that anyone is sincere in themselves.

Junger is likely idolised because his personality - arguably essence - is so striking, one cannot help but take him seriously, if simply as a human feat of history. As one reads old books, those written before the 20s especially, one gets the impression that-

Though the authors may have understood themselves as a small part in the great whir of life, such abstract unimportance on a large scale, didn't detract from the potential solidity of their life on a local or personal scale.

It is only recently that all comes after politics of socio-cultural analysis. There was a time when a person whose life, though admittedly plain, was taken in earnest, taken seriously for what it was in itself.

It's a rarity to meet anyone with an inherent nature which pierces through the thick malaise of modernity, but they exist, and their essence springs forth in their writing, alluding to the possibility of exit from sleep.

The desire to 'exit modernity' then, is less about criticising the empirical mundanity and frustrations of everyday life, and primarily about cultivating a knowledge and mentality attempts to revive a long forgotten existence, one of sincerity, solemnity and attention.