One of the most evocative figures in the history of art is Richard Wagner. Wagner composed many extraordinary operas within his time, yet one of the most monumental productions of his is The Ring of the Nibelung. With The Ring, Wagner attempted to create a national epic for the German people formed from several texts of Nordic and Teutonic sagas and folk-tales. In doing so, Wagner not only revived an ancient, traditional way of life, but he also infused several modern elements with these elder worlds. One of the greatest influences on Wagner throughout his life was his interest in India and the Orient, which preceded the further encouragement of this interest by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. Though the interpretation of Eastern philosophy has often been erroneous, in Wagner's time this was mainly due to the general lack of authentic translations or any at all. Wagner seems to find common ground between ancient German and Indian Traditional culture (both being scions to an original Indo-Germanic culture) - for instance, the notion of gradual decline of the gods throughout the Ring and the forewarned destruction of Walhall. This decline is one of the major facets of the Eastern religions - the belief in the cyclical nature of history which begins with a "Golden Age" and ultimately decays internally to an age of cultural fragmentation and decadence, the last cosmic age before the end of civilization. This last age, known as Kali Yuga to the Indians and ma-fa to the Chinese, was known as Fimbulvetr to the Norse, and the following cosmic destruction was known as Ragnarok or Götterdämmerung, the doom of the powers. In addition to the non-creedal (or non-dogmatic) Pagan remnants of ancient Teutonic spirituality in the Ring and the inclusion of Aryo-Indian spirituality (which differ only superficially), elements of modern philosophy may also be found in his Ring. This is significant because the core tenet of Perennialism is that the Perennial Philosophy is a "[...] common inheritance of all mankind without exception [...]" (Coomaraswamy). All major religious traditions originally extend from this Perennial Philosophy, which has become misrepresented, distorted, and ultimately forgotten over time by all except for esoteric and mystical sects which have retained this tradition. Perennialism not only includes the Pagan religions of India and ancient Europe, but also Middle-Eastern religions, including Christianity. However, aside from the underlying Christian aspects, modern philosophical influences are also seen in The Ring, most notably the influence of Arthur Schopenhauer, whose philosophy of the denial of the will to live was supported by the examination and unfortunate misinterpretation of Buddhist and Brahamical beliefs by himself and other earlier Oriental scholars. Although many of Schopenhauer's interpretations were off, his most important contribution to philosophy was a reintroduction to Western thought of a system of cosmic ideology, which greatly influenced Wagner's works, including The Ring. This paper will attempt to analyze some of the Perennial aspects of the Ring which are derived from its Indo-Germanic spiritual basis, including European Paganism and Indian Buddhism, within the light of modern Schopenhauerian philosophical components which were introduced to the opera via the composer himself, Richard Wagner.
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