Initiation and initiative : an exploration of the life and ideas of Dimitrije Mitrinović

THE NEW AGE 67

as Mairet who, on Mitrinovié’s promptings, had begun to contribute to the paper himself in 1919 was forced to admit

.... that the excellence ...in Mitrinovic’s spoken English was not apparent in his literary style—or not when he wrote about world affairs. In this vein he expressed himself in towering abstractions, metaphysical allusions and extraordinary neologisms—a style which, at its best, might achieve a kind of monstrous beauty like an elephant with wings, and was always unlike anything one had ever tead before. ... . - 20

The reason Mitrinovi¢ adopted a style and a language so difficult for the general reader to follow reflected his own perspective on the springs of human action. For Mitrinovi¢, only mythological notions were able to affect the human emotions and hence the human will to action and commitment. Commonsense rational ideas necessarily mirrored the world as it was, reflecting the accepted paradigms of conventional thought, and could lead only to commonsense practical action oriented to readily attainable goals. ‘Impractical,’ imaginative or utopian actions which transcended the fetters of the dominant view of the world could be evoked only as a consequence of people’s emotions being moved. Their origin lay in inspiration rather than mundane rational calculation. So, in his “World Affairs” articles for The New Age, he aimed not so much at the intellect but at those levels of consciousness above and below rational consciousness and thought. Moreover, the abstruseness of his language reflected his view of the complexity and contradictions inherent in human life and society. To express himself simply and clearly (as he was able to do when the occasion demanded), to render his ideas easily understandable at a first reading, would be to imply that life itself was straightforward and clear-cut, the fundamental guiding principles of which were readily available to be grasped by the individual without difficulty or struggle.

Despite the fact that Orage acknowledged that new ideas necessitated a new vocabulary, he was concerned that Mitrinovic’s contributions to the weekly would be beyond the comprehension of The New Age readership if he was given a completely free hand in matters of style and form of expression. Consequently, the first four months of the weekly column, “World Affairs,” were written by Orage himself, largely frorn notes taken during conversations with Mitrinovié. Eventually both men found this arrangement unsatisfactory and Mitrinovi¢ alone became responsible for the commentaries that appeared under the pseudonym M. M. Cosmoi.

Underpinning the articles were two broad assumptions. The first involved the recognition of the unity and continuity of the whole universe and, derived from this, of humanity in general. Although we might experience diversity