Profound Confusino
-
Ariel, 93,
You'll have to flip your question around in order to get a sensible response. That is, you aren't going to find an external answer. You have to determine one from within yourself, which (from what you've posted here) goes against what you've always been taught: that is, to find an external authority or some sort of consensus that can provide a correct interpretation.
Yes, Crowley was a complete looney. Fortunately, a few others are starting to become the same thing, so there's hope for humanity after all.
Though his time in Egypt was quite limited, all considered.
93 93/93,
EM
-
Ariel,
The key idea here is: When, in any of our writings or ideas, you encounter the name of any god whatsoever, don't assume that it's any god at all except that GOD known most intimately to you.
The rest is just names, or different people talking about their experience in their own language and terms.
Judaism, like most monotheisms, is saturated with what I call "practical polytheism." That is, in the original Hebrew, the Divine is called by dozens of different titles, epithets, proper names, etc. - and these aren't used randomnly but, rather, with distinctive characterization intended in each instance. (The wholly Jewish kabbalistic classics, such as Sha'are Orah, show this splendidly.)
-
Ariel, have you had the chance to read The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin The Mage? You may find some helpful thoughts on this matter as his pupil discusses it at length.
-
93 Ariel,
You would do well to remember(if you have indeed learned it) that any foreign God name you encounter can be allocated to a Sephirah on the Tree of Life - & in the Jewish QBL each Sephirah corresponds to one of the 10 names by which the Creator is called in the Torah. I do not see any problem with simply using the corresponding Jewish name of God in place of the foreign Gods when such a need arises.
93 93/93 -
Most people cling to what seems safe and secure and this often includes inherited religious tradition. Often, though people are scared to turn their back on their inherited religion completely, they feel the need from within to find "what is right for THEM" within the general context of that overarching religious tradition. People make learned dogma "work" for them personally by switching to another version of the same faith. People might turn to a more or less strict version of the same basic religion and not feel that they've offended their god or done anything wrong. Yet, in many ways, it is often the same as turning their back on their inherited religion entirely because the reasoning for more or less strict behavior has everything to do with interpretation of scripture.
At some point, you realize that this is all determined by some other people and your choice simply involves choosing who to believe. But, the truth is that human knowledge is limited to personal experience. Worshiping other gods may a big no-no... or, it may not. You have no way of knowing. When was the last time your god spoke to you? How do you even know your god is the right god? You don't. Everyone believes they have the 'one true god' or the 'right god.' I know that Jews often believe their god is their god and that certainly makes more sense than believing a personal deity is "the one true god," but (forgive me if I'm wrong), don't Jews tend to believe both ideas?
What is the difference between rejecting a few of the ideas you were raised with and possibly offending your god to suit your own needs vs. rejecting ALL of it? Either way, YOU are the one making the choice to believe what you will. Other people may tell you different things, but you make the choice. What you will and won't do boil down to needs, fears and desires. Part of recreating yourself is learning what all of these needs, fears and desires are and controlling them rather than being controlled by them. You don't need to reconcile Thelema with Judaism, you just feel you do. But, there's no need for it. There is only a fear about it which creates the need and controls your actions. Say! Wait a minute! That's exactly why religious dogma was invented: to control people. Even the Old Testament makes that point clear enough.
I know a lot of people don't like Steve Jobs because they hate Apple computers or whatever, but I'd like to close with some thoughts from Steve Jobs:
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
-
Thanks for sharing that quote, I love it. I also use a MAC!
-
@DavidH said
"Thanks for sharing that quote, I love it. I also use a MAC!
"Me too.
... And there's certainly nothing wrong with his famous "Think Different," either. Chris sent me a vid of this speech and some of the stuff he said was so surprising I went and researched him a little more. He just survived pancreatic cancer and I hope he's around for a long time to come. -
@Ariel said
"Someone mentioned a correlation between God names in Jewish and non-Jewish formats. Could I please have that source?"
93,
777, table I, columns V(Hebrew), XX(Complete Egyptian), XIX(Selected Egyptian), XXXIV(Greek), XXXIII(Scandinavian), XXII(Hindu), XXXVI(Christian), XXXV(Roman)...if you need the english translations of column V let me know.www.hermetic.com/crowley/libers/liber777.pdf
- Danny N.
93 93/93
-
Ah, if you know Elohim is plural, then you should have no problem at all with Thelema, as it is built on the Qabalistic framework. The Book of Thoth has diagrams which explain which Godforms go on which sephiroth. Either that or Crowley's 777 book. Most people (I think) see Western Mystery Qabalah and Thelema godforms as something like "archetypes" of one interconnected thing you can call "God" if you want to. Therefore, Elohim fits in perfectly with this. Well, maybe not perfectly since I've seen a few different variations of how El, Elohim and YHVH-Elohim fit on the Tree of Life diagram. And Jewish Kabbalists often seem to be very annoyed by the conclusions of WMT authors... But, I guess that's all the input I can give since I wouldn't want to offend you again and have you beating your head against a brick wall.
-
The previous poster gave a handy link.
I just spoke to a Jewish girl yesterday also named Ariel who does not believe in reincarnation (the name Ariel instantly reminded me of this conversation). But, she is pretty religious (or traditional, I guess) because she asked my fiancee's cousin to convert to Judaism so that they could get married. If this has anything to do with accepting her God or not I have no idea. I think tradition is pretty silly; his tradition is Catholic and he isn't going to convert, so pretty likely their inherited traditions will keep their relationship from developing any further. Just a commentary on tradition and different beliefs within an overarching belief. When she left, someone asked the boyfriend if they "believe in circumcision at least," which I thought was funny. I guess he figured, "Well, if you don't get married, at least you must agree on the cut of the penis! I had to pipe up and say, "Yeah, they invented it, ya know..."