3 May - (Earth) Liber LXV, 1:55-56
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55. And he said: That my Work may be right.
56. And Adonai said: The strong brown reaper swept his swathe and rejoiced. The wise man counted his muscles, and pondered, and understood not, and was sad.
Reap thou, and rejoice! -
56 is, without a doubt, my most favorite verse from this work.
Reap thou, and rejoice!
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@JustitiaEtFortitud said
"56 is, without a doubt, my most favorite verse from this work.
Reap thou, and rejoice!"
In other words: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
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Reflection:
Stop analyzing things so damn much and just do what thou wilt. -
55. And he said: That my Work may be right.
56. And Adonai said: The strong brown reaper swept his swathe and rejoiced. The wise man counted his muscles, and pondered, and understood not, and was sad.
Reap thou, and rejoice!In other words, don't worry about right or wrong, just act!
Is it possible to do anything other than what one is capable of doing? About once a month, or once every two months, my wife will wake in the night, panic stricken that she, somewhere in her past took the wrong turn, and in doing so, strayed from her destiny—failing at her life's work, lamenting all the wasted time. This passes. But it's clear to me in those moments that this fear is irrational and much more harmful than any supposed wrong she might have made in the past; also, the only thing to be done now is simply to keep acting, boldly, without always second guessing your actions as to whether they be right or wrong.
Related concepts are working 'without lust of result,' Karma Yoga, and in terms of this forum: post thou, and rejoice!
The philosophy of the second chapter of The Book of the Law permeates this and several other lines already posted. I thought about pasting some of the more appropriate verses, but as I looked to make a selection it seemed I would have to post most of the chapter...
Love and Will
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@Jim Eshelman said
"
In other words: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."So, I posted my last post and then got up to make my second cup of coffee, and promptly fell into a hole.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
What does this mean?
I ask because, to just rattle it off and then go about your life as if nothing of importance had just happened—to make your second cup of coffee as you always do, it being your morning habit, is wrong. It's acting like the proverbial hummingbird who promptly forgets that something—on which the whole of your life hangs—was just communicated.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
What does this mean?
It can cure, and it can kill. To just throw the phrase out at the drop of a hat, to take the words superficially, that's masturbation (not that I have anything against masturbation as a sexual practice, but as a way of referring to self-indulgent and self deceptive practice, it's an appropriate term), imho. I am of course only speaking for myself in this. But the nature of improvisation requires many thing if it is going to result if a great evening of Jazz—energy, preparation, awareness, and commitment. In other words, Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law is a terrible discipline, a great responsibility, unparalleled joy. It's not an excuse to go back to sleep...Love and Will
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I don't think the strong brown reaper went back to sleep right away, either.
Reap thou, and rejoice!
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In a similar vein, Dar, I got the impression that you were moved by the image of a strong, shirtless, sweaty, muscles-rippling brown laborer swinging his thing
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"I don't think the strong brown reaper went back to sleep right away, either.
"I wish there was a "like" button for this.
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@Dar said
"Experience has taught me to withhold appreciate of such a one until he opens his mouth."
Alternately, just gag them immediately, and only remove the gag when they promise not to say a word.
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The imagery of the reaper and grapes from these verses immediatley impresses the imagery of the Book of Revelations to me. I used to have great amount of fear and a sense of terror in the way I read that book and also the way it was taught. That terror stays with me, but is different now since I choose to read into it differently. This fits in nicely and logically with what is described as the view from Neshamah (joy) rather than the Ruach (terror) - even though for me that is all theory as I haven't transcended the terror.
The strength and will of the reaper is juxtaposed against the strength and will of a Man. The difference I see is that the reaper's reward is directly tied in to the earth and nature in general rather than the physical body of Man. The reaper strikes me as more mystical who's reward is in communion with these surroundings. The work being steadfast the reaper has the joy of striking down and gathering the reward.
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"I wonder what Adonai would say about that?"
ask him
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55 and 56 are a continuation of 53 and 54.
The question was “Why seekest thou the knowledge of their (night and day) equivalence?So he answered “That my work may be right”
Adonai then says; Don’t ponder whether what you do is right (light) or wrong (darknes) but do as thou wilt and reap your rewards.
The relationship to churches telling a person to do what they say and to question what others say, seems to be relevant to the man counting his muscles which is possibly knowledge or wisdom of what they have been taught and pondering about stuff that does not seem to make sense.
The stuff that makes no sense seems to make the person confused because he feels that he does not have a true understanding and when he asks questions to a minister (or teacher) he is pointed to other verses that do not clarify the confusion. This confusion saddens the person.
Muscles can also be used by churches as strength in the Church or Strength in the Lord etc. When a perosn has done so much that the church feels is good then he is considered a strong man... Sad but strong.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"**55. And he said: That my Work may be right.
- And Adonai said: The strong brown reaper swept his swathe and rejoiced. The wise man counted his muscles, and pondered, and understood not, and was sad.
Reap thou, and rejoice!**"
Analysis: The "wise man" knows that the colors are many, but the light is one. Having spent a life trying to understand the perfection of this one light, he cannot understand the sense in moving backward into the opposites again, and is sad. He has forgotten the joy of purely manifesting his own ray. He now incorrectly perceives manifestation as error and departure from the pure light.
The "strong brown reaper" rejoices in his work - the reaper here represents change/rebirth and stands in for the sum effect of the diversity of colors interacting together. Each color, as it is purely manifested and projected will naturally interact lawfully with other colors, and will each manifest a slightly different effect on the matter on which they fall, depending on the frequency and its interaction with the matter's composition.
Reflection: Some "error" is required in the equation of manifestation - if diversity is to be regarded as error. But diversity is as necessary for love as it can be a hinderance to it.
- And Adonai said: The strong brown reaper swept his swathe and rejoiced. The wise man counted his muscles, and pondered, and understood not, and was sad.
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@Aegis55 said
" Some "error" is required in the equation of manifestation - if diversity is to be regarded as error. But diversity is as necessary for love as it can be a hinderance to it."
This thought may keep me from sleeping... or shoud I say that the picture of this thought will keep me awake.
Why???? Because it keeps reforming or reshaping... Thanks for the thought.