Creation of Genius
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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."
