What Does 'The Grey Robes' Symbolize?

The Network State, we said, needs a beating heart and a belief system. But what does all this represent?

Image courtesy of Fritz Diego Virhuez Leon

Some readers found the original Grey Robes image a little creepy. One X user with an #BLM hashtag and #istandwithukraine banner unironically referred to the course announcement as “a cult.” While I might have gone a little overboard with the techno-esoteric imagery, I still wish to hearken to the Freemasons. But in the interests of going a bit deeper, allow me the opportunity to explain the Grey Robes trope.

"The Grey Robes" concept found its original expression in Scott Alexander's coinage. In 2014, he identified the "Grey Tribe." Alexander, a prominent blogger, uses this term to describe a socio-cultural group that doesn't neatly fit into conventional political or ideological categories.

Balaji

Srinivasan picks up on the term to describe those constructing The Network State. But too many Greys have already forgotten Srinivasan’s One Commandment:

Every new startup society needs to have a moral premise at its core, one that its founding nation subscribes to, one that is supported by a digital history that a more powerful state can’t delete, one that justifies its existence as a righteous yet peaceful protest against the powers that be.

Still, despite being inchoate, the Grey Tribe is characterized by an eclectic mix of beliefs, drawing from both left-wing and right-wing values while remaining detached from the excesses of either “side.” In this sense, the Grey Robes symbolize a rejection of certain binaries.

Yet, we accept others.

Our North Star is one pole in a different polarity—self-sovereignty vs. authority. In other words, what unites the Greys is that we are anti-authoritarian.

But is that enough?

Tolkien’s Treasures

The Grey Robes symbolism is further enriched when considering the character of Gandalf the Grey from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth legendarium. Gandalf, a figure of wisdom and immense power, embodies the dual aspects of sage counsel and formidable fighter. His grey cloak, neither pure as white nor ominous as black, represents his role as a mediator, as well as his becoming. As a mediator, he assembled many different races and cultures against Sauron and his hordes. In becoming, he was engaged in conscious, continuous practice and always on mysterious journeys around Middle Earth, which transformed him.

Gandalf's counsel is anti-authoritarian in the context of "the ring"—a central plot device in Tolkien's works representing ultimate power and corruption. Gandalf acknowledges its seductive allure while recognizing the necessity of confronting it, which embodies the balance between moral discernment and the willingness to take decisive action. In shadowspeak: Know your shit and get shit done. Unlike a Pillar Saint or Boy Pharaoh, this wizard-warrior is a Renaissance Man.

Finally, and most importantly, Gandalf sends others on their Hero’s Journeys.

You Nietzsche a Little Bit

The Grey Robes imagery evokes a touch of Friedrich Nietzsche's “beyond good and evil," though please don’t interpret this as hostility to the Abrahamic and Buddhist faithful—all of whom we need in our order.

Nietzsche, famous for criticizing Puritan and Platonic morality, had seen, after Jesus, men gain power over Europe through strict demands for chastity and asceticism. Nietzsche argued for a perspective that transcends black-and-white moralisms. And, despite his bluster, he never sought to jettison moral practice.

Instead, Nietzsche’s view is that there is as much to admire in the Homeric and ancient virtues as in the teachings of Jesus, the latter of which Nietzsche thought had been corrupted by those carrying resentment and visions of perfection. Such men insisted on the total renunciation of human nature. Nietzsche’s view of Jesus was more complicated than Cliff’s Notes' hacks frequently depict. But never mind.

The Greys Robes: Love thy neighbor as thyself, dammit.

In short, the Grey Robes are not here to compete with religion. We’re here to complement it. (Besides, we’ll probably ask to rent the local church fellowship hall on Thursday nights.) In our framework, however, the Grey Robes symbolize values that acknowledge our Shadow but put sacred stones around the fires hidden within.

Anywhere, here’s where The Grey Robes go all in on Nietzsche:

The state, I call it, where all are poison-drinkers, the good and the bad: the state, where all lose themselves, the good and the bad: the state, where the slow suicide of all—is called "life."

Just see these superfluous ones! They steal the works of the inventors and the treasures of the wise. Culture, they call their theft—and everything becometh sickness and trouble unto them!

Just see these superfluous ones! Sick are they always; they vomit their bile and call it a newspaper. They devour one another, and cannot even digest themselves.

Just see these superfluous ones! Wealth they acquire and become poorer thereby. Power they seek for, and above all, the lever of power, much money--these impotent ones!

See them clamber, these nimble apes! They clamber over one another, and thus scuffle into the mud and the abyss.

Towards the throne they all strive: it is their madness—as if happiness sat on the throne! Ofttimes sitteth filth on the throne.--and ofttimes also the throne on filth. —Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathrustra

The Grey Robes strive for life over slow suicide.

Striving: Toward the Light, Exploring Shadow

We know that human beings are capable of admirable benevolence and profound malevolence, and we commit to strive for the former. But know that we will always strive. We won’t just practice spells in the tower. The warrior part of our wizard-warrior ethos impels us to act—neither rashly nor entirely selfishly—but act.

We have elsewhere made a case for wrapping the Golden Rule in the practice of Grey Virtues—emphasizing virtues that we think must receive priority in these fraught times. But we will always strive, making no apologies for our creativity and ambition. This is the main way we carry an ember of Nietzsche’s torch, never succumbing to the destructive triad of vice, vindictiveness, or victimhood—all of which are weaknesses we cannot afford as we face down the Managerial Regime.

As we become stronger, we are always becoming.

So, The Grey Robes explores “The Fractal of Unanswerable Questions,” which means we accept moral ambiguity from time to time, pursuing inquiry through the ongoing application of reason, self-discipline, and conscious practice in a process that is as Darwinian as it is dialectical.

Yet paradoxically, we also know we have no choice but to adopt dogma. In other words, we know from the Church and the Masons that there must be virtues and practices around which any durable order can coalesce. Thus:

“The Fractal of Unquestionable Answers.”

Contradictory, you say? Anima, meet Animus.

Grey Dialectics and Dogmas

Finally, we should offer a quick nod to Scottish Rite Freemason Albert Pike, who saw no contradiction in balancing dialectics with dogma. We are, as Alexander Bard says, “methodological Hegelians,” seeking both integration and differentiation in a dynamic process of becoming.

Like the Freemasons, the Grey Robes’ symbolism carries a little mystery. But we are no cult. We are a group of free-thinking, freedom-loving humans who care about the world's future and refuse to belong to any timid herds.

We can also see that we’re all being sucked into the hungry mandibles of a creature that is the unholy offspring of corporation and state. This offspring was summoned from dark dialectics—practiced by a cult in which Klaus Schwab is a high priest.

I guess that means we are the real antifascists.

I guess that makes us the true liberals.

Not a cult, but a fraternal order.

Not perfect, but always striving.

E Pluribus Unum. Ex Uno Plures.