Aldrich
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I've made a few posts here but haven't really introduced myself yet.
I hail from Ontario, north of Toronto. Having been raised Roman Catholic, the world occultism carried negative or evil connotations. However, eventually fundamentalism began to irritate me and so I went through periods of agnosticism and eventually atheism, until my friend, whom I consider a rather apt philosopher, got me interested in occultism. At this point, while the word still carried negative undertones, I just thought them to be the result of uninformed demonization on the part of more extremist or fundamentalist belief systems. However I still thought the whole practice in general to be silly, given that most science as we know it offers little support to occultism (Feel free to correct me here).
Then I got into Robert Anton Wilson, whose tirades against "fundamentalist materialism," as he called it, resonated with me and converted me to a worldview of skeptical empiricism - or, "agnosticism against everything."
So my curiosity has been piqued, and while I have been wandering blind for a while I've decided to start following the Thelemic tradition, one of the most sound, unified, and well-established frameworks I have found, though I still have issues with some aspects of it that are perhaps best suited to their own thread.
This seems like a very intelligent forum of discussion from which I could learn much, and I consider it an honour to be here, though I fear I will have little to contribute.
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Welcome Aldrich
Do as thou wilt is the whole of the law
Researching the bible caused me to question it more. I mean telling people that “Thou shalt not kill” and then telling them to kill every man, woman and child seems to be contradicting.
A lot of what Crowley wrote seems to be weird and negative at first glance, but as you start to get your own understanding of what he wrote you may start to understand why he wrote it the way it was written
Love is the law, love under will
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@Zeroed O said
"
Do as thou wilt is the whole of the law
"psst.... it's actually: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
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What RAW have you read?
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Well, if any input would be useful, I would say "Prometheus Rising" is the perfect sketch of his ideals, while "Cosmic Trigger" is the prefect sketch of the origin of his ideals. I just know that there is much to be learned from picking his brain, as it was gigantic and riddled with veins of pure gold. I couldn't recommend him enough.
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Thanks for the warm welcome everyone
I've read RAW's Prometheus Rising, as well as listened to "Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything," which is another interesting exposition of his views on, well, everything, as well as the background behind them.
