Creation of Genius
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“Science, art, philosophy and the like are our prime care…We must intensify, concentrate, exalt this side of our nature.” – Aleister Crowley, letter to Jane Wolfe
“So the adept has military genius, or much knowledge of Greek; how do these attainments help his purpose, or the purpose of the Brothers?” – Liber Thisharb
I've been reading the Story of Civilization by Will Durant and going over the works I haven't read yet, mostly from the Renaissance on. It's amazing how many people have contributed to make mankind, and our civilization, what it is today. We have so many great geniuses contributing to mankind: Erasmus and Machiavelli, Spenser and Moliere, Diderot and Rousseau.
My interpretation of Crowley's corpus is that he was trying to create genius. This idea is put forth most bluntly in Postcards to Probationers:
@Postcards to Probationers said
THEOREMS
I. The world progresses by virtue of the appearance of Christs (geniuses).
II. Christs (geniuses) are men with super-consciousness of the highest order.
III. Super-consciousness of the highest order is obtainable by known methods.
Therefore, by employing the quintessence of known methods we cause the world to progress.From there, the methods given are his works, all the Libers and documents and books which serve the purpose of serving mankind.
I've been trying to create my own methods for the creation of this genius as well. I believe it involves discipline and work. I've read a lot of "success" books and have tried out what I could to see what would work from a non-esoteric standpoint. Crowley, Nietzsche, Vivekananda and the others can take care of the esoteric, dharmic aspect of it.
In my theory the first aspect of this is the compound effect. Little is accomplished instantaneously. But hard work over time wields results. According to Malcolm Gladwell the world's experts get 10,000 hours of deliberate practice before they attain mastery.
If one were to work 3 hours a day at a task they could have 10,000 hours of deliberate practice in as little as ten years. Even people further along in life could become a world expert at something entirely new within ten years.
This expertise would certainly require a lot of willpower to push oneself into the task. Luckily there are methods to increase willpower from a scientific standpoint. These include exercise, proper nutrition, meditation and proximity to nature (The Willpower Instinct, 2011). Doing each of these things increases willpower and the likelihood you will train at your appointed task.
Once you get good at something you are more likely to like doing it. This idea stems from the book So Good They Can't Ignore You (2012). Your expertise compounds.
I think there is a lot to be done for mankind. We have people seriously pushing the envelope. Elon Musk is trying to get people into space, all the information in the world is available at our fingertips on this device, and all it takes is to do it. If you have a Truth that is not in line with the current everyday reality, that does not negate that Truth. It just means you might have create the conditions for that truth yourself. That might involve work, raising your standards and serving mankind.
According to Tai Lopez, a lot of the work to be done for those starting out is to learn as much as you can. Once you have learning, you will know enough to be able to make a contribution to humanity. A lot of people think Tai is a scam-- why wouldn't they-- but I think a lot of people of my generation are lost and this is helping. He recommends to read a book a day. As a reader I like this. It only takes a few hours and you feel stronger every day. I personally want to have passive income streams and I know I'll feel better about that if I am providing a genuine value and service to humanity.
I'm still going over my reading of all the world's geniuses and influencers, but am finding that it's entirely different to be in a world populated by these geniuses than by "what other people are thinking" or your inner critic. According to 20th century self-help guru Jim Rohn we are the sum of the five people closest to us. It's better to be closest to the great geniuses that carved their own way through history than to those you hate.
"Always in our company. - Everything that is of my kind, in nature and history, speaks to me, praises me, spurs me on, comforts me - everything else I don't hear or forget right away. We are always only in our own company."- Nietzsche, The Gay Science
I'm finding more and more the task is to raise mankind. We still cannot think properly, and one cannot think alone. So much of our thought is based on left-right, up-down, binary thinking.
Further I perceive ill-health. Man needs to become healthy. Nietzsche, another body-based, somatic thinker, stressed health: "I will myself healthy." We take on the characteristics of those around us-- we take their disease and we take their health. We want sentiments and nobility (Plutarch's Lives) and the White School of Magick. Also healthy animal spirits, Greek.
If we lived in a healthy society
What are you doing to contribute to history and make your mark on humanity?
I want to make humanity healthy for the purpose of filosophy and new values, new judgments, new methods and new sentiments. Maybe I'll have to become a doctor.
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@LD330 said
"My interpretation of Crowley's corpus is that he was trying to create genius."
"Create"? Genius is inherent in every living thing. It is the medium/means by and through which it can be expressed that spawns its shape and apparent lack.
@Takamba said
"Whatever your demons look like, battle them and then control them. Whatever your gods are, enjoin often. There are means and means but there is help and hope in other spells (even the DIY self-help spellers).
Keep going."
I second that.
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"What are you doing to contribute to history and make your mark on humanity? "
Raise mankind you say?
Im just a little dot over here in the woods playing with my dogs and swinging on the swing by myself.
Mankind is easy to raise.
Ill just sing a song
And dance along
Totally unawares.I used to chase my dog when it ran away
But that was something I learned from my motherDo what thou wilt
Love is the LawThats all the Genius I need
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@LD330 said
"I'm finding more and more the task is to raise mankind. We still cannot think properly, and one cannot think alone. So much of our thought is based on left-right, up-down, binary thinking."
Agreed. Basically, we can say that the collective Next Step is to develop and refine Rooah, so that it functions to the fullest and highest of its potential - which is to serve as a channel/bridge/harmonious-centralizer-and-mediator between Neshamah and Nefesh.
In this light, I wouldn't say the aim of structured Initiatory Work is to create Genius, as much as it is to awaken the inherent Genius that * already exists*, but is mostly "sleeping", deeply hidden within, existing only as potential in the great majority of population.
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I liken it to a combination of things. One is likened to ministry. It is your obligation to everywhere proclaim your association and methods (cf oath of the probationer). This spreads the word, this lets you live by example. The other method is likened to the "hundredth monkey" theory. "My cup overfloweth and light pours onto the world that it may see." By continued growth of the associations of the A.'.A.'., the light itself extends by nature.
This is the creation of the evolution of mankind.
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@danica said
"In this light, I wouldn't say the aim of structured Initiatory Work is to create Genius, as much as it is to awaken the inherent Genius that * already exists*, but is mostly "sleeping", deeply hidden within, existing only as potential in the great majority of population."
Agreed for the most part, though I wouldn't say that it is the Genius that is "sleeping". "Ignored" might be a better way of putting it, it is still implicit in every sentient being at all times.
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I recall Jim saying in a video - and I hope I remember the phrasing correctly:
"The True Will is where your deepest gladness meets the world's deepest need."
(Where has Jim gone, by the way?)There are many - perhaps infinite - ways to raise mankind. If we stick to our True Wills, we are very likely to be doing just that.
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@FiatYod said
"I recall Jim saying in a video - and I hope I remember the phrasing correctly:
"The True Will is where your deepest gladness meets the world's deepest need."
"This is a quote from Parker J. Palmer's book Let Your Life Speak.
Here's Jim's amazon review of the book:
@Jim Eshelman said
"I wish I had written this book. Since I didn't, I'm thrilled that Parker J. Palmer did. It encompasses every instruction I have ever given a member of our Order on the pathway to meet, embrace, and resolve the mystery of True Will; and in his patient, considered authorship, he does it vastly better than I ever have.
This is a personal, human, moving, insightful, practical work on the discovery of True Will, and living life in conformity with it. While it enumerates principles, most of the book is autobiographical - the author notes that while everyone's journey is unique, instructive insights are commonly found in, rather than veiled by, the details of someone else's trip. Palmer is a Quaker, and a noted education writer. He is also an Adept as sure as any A.'.A.'. 5=6 (though he would likely never own the title), who understands, from experience, what we call the Holy Guardian Angel, even though he calls it something else.
A feeling for this book can, perhaps, be gotten from a series of brief quotations: "Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent." "True self, when violated, will always resist us, sometimes at great cost, holding our lives in check until we honor its truth." "...self-care is never a selfish act - it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others." "The attempt to live by the reality of our own nature, which means our limits as well as our potentials, is a profoundly moral regimen." "One dwells with God by being faithful to one's nature. One crosses God by trying to be something one is not. Reality - including one's own - is divine, to be not defied but honored."
He writes of finding "the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need." Where Liber Legis tells us that, "There is division hither homeward," Palmer speaks to the process of finding "the courage to live divided [against ourselves] no more."
One chapter explores how limitation and ordeal conspire to discover us to ourselves. He understands projections and how to approach them. He also understands that "the way to God is down" - down into the depths of ourselves - and is found only in embracing all aspects of what is found, without judgment. He explores the mystery of depression and - though speaking of a level way, way below "the Dark Night of the Soul" - insightfully addresses its understanding and resolution by means indistinguishable from those that apply to the sojourning of that most profound abyss. His moral thrust is reflected in a quote from John Middleton Murry: "For a good man to realize that it is better to be whole than to be good is to enter on a strait and narrow path compared to which his previous rectitude was flowery license."
My worst criticism of this hardbound little book is that it could benefit from a better binding, but that is the only weakness in its manufacture. Its contents can transform a life. I give it the highest of recommendations."
