Le Premiere Homme
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Allo mon freres.
I had been listening to the Duncan Trussell Family Hour podcast for years now, hearing him mention Aleister Crowley and the idea of the Great Work from time to time, when I listened to the Wasserman podcast describing the rough outline of what Thelema is about. Shortly thereafter, I was wandering through the local bookstore when I found a copy of The Book of Lies waiting in the stands for me for about five dollars. I read it and reread it which led me to a number of other associations which led me to hermetic.com --- finally a compendium of Crowley's copious writings within my grasp.
I started my interests in mysticism when I was around 14, after a consciously induced astral projection experience. I bought Robert Bruce's Astral Dynamics and began meditating and trying to consciously put myself into a deep enough trance state again to consciously astral project. Then I was introduced to Cannabis and from 15 to 23 my connection with the Spirit evaporated into dust. So, during this time I set my major subject of study to psychology.
When I was 23 my father died of cancer, icing a cake of "Fear and Trembling; Sickness unto Death" that I had been slowly manifesting over the previous decade. The rug had been swept out from under me, and that is where I reside now. I can't help but contemplate Life and Death. It forces me to do so. The mystical path sucked me up the river of its own accord.
I decided to call myself "Le Premiere Homme" firstly because I'm enamored with the French language at the moment, and secondly because I am currently beginning at the beginning --- Asana after reading the first section of Book 4. And I guess, in a way, I feel like I'm beginning again. Crowley is, for me, a light in the darkness, the contrary of everyone I talked to about him that would tell me that he was a satanist, baby-killer, pervert, and all that nonsense.
The intro to Magick in Theory and Practice was an eye opener for me. I've always seeked self-control, the affirmation of life, the higher planes of experience, amidst the wasteland of my birth into modern american life. I feel in my bones that there is a Way, but it is like grinding one's way through swamp and mud, insects and vermin chewing at every turn. I am infinitely grateful for the Work of the Great Beast.
I know so little, and there is so much to know. So I begin again, at the beginning...
Anyway, I thank you for approving my membership. Never in the history of Man have such resources been so readily present for our elucidation.
Be Well.
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Welcome and glad to have you here.
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@Le Premiere Homme said
" Never in the history of Man have such resources been so readily present for our elucidation."
Veriliy so!
Welcome to the forum
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@Le Premiere Homme said
"Allo mon freres."
Bienvenu !
@Le Premiere Homme said
"I feel in my bones that there is a Way, but it is like grinding one's way through swamp and mud, insects and vermin chewing at every turn."
V.I.T.R.I.O.L !
@Le Premiere Homme said
"I am infinitely grateful for the Work of the Great Beast."
So am i. Remember though it is Nuit who made it possible in the first place, and Her Work surpasses even that of the prophet whose is just a finite manifestation, as great as it may be. And as Hermes said "everything is in the all and the all is in everything". Therefore there is infinite truth in everything and everything is true. As the Book of the law changes color with each ordeal, so does everything else !
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What is hilarious to me, thinking about it today, my interest was "cute" at first, but the more I learn, more I realize it's all true, more my jaw drops. I reread the Comment on the Book of the Law again with Eyes instead of Lids. "We are Children"
The only Law is Do what thou wilt?
That must by definition be political anarchism, mustn't it?
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I guess that depends on what it is your will to do.
Most days, the government and I are on pretty good terms. Maybe you're different.
"..thou has no right but to do thy will."
Here's a photo of somebody who felt no other right.
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/buildings/cost3.jpg
Martin Luther King, Jr. - Birmingham, Alabama (1963) -
Well, that's what I mean. The only Law is Do what thou wilt. The law of any man can only be valid to another if it is the will of the slave who follows it. "The slaves shall serve"
Am I interpreting that correctly?
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Correctly? It's everyone for himself or herself. But sometimes we discuss interpretations, which is ...cautioned against. So, maybe don't listen.
Personally, I like speed limits. They don't conflict with my will. In fact, they are usually quite tangential unless it's an emergency - in which case, officer, please feel free to follow me until I get to my destination.
Personally, I like laws that prosecute thieves. In fact, I'm obeying that law right now without even thinking about it. Does that make me a slave to it?
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I must not be interpreting it entirely correctly. (I'm sure I don't interpret anything entirely correctly at the moment.)
Does that pertain to mental slavery, perhaps?
Mental servitude, to an idea, a fixed way of thinking?
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Well... in my view, that is precisely what we are supposed to question and think deeply about, each for oneself.
You walk with it, think about it, meditate on it... different verses come to mind in different situations. But in the end (again, in my view) your interpretation of the The Book of the Law is between you and your own Will.
Some people, I know for sure, would HATE that I used a photo of Martin Luther King, Jr. to exemplify someone doing their Will. He was a Christian. He was a pacifist. He preached compassion. He fought for equality. And all of these concepts have been the very things used to enslave the minds of a great many people and keep them restrained. Personally, I admire anyone who sets their sites on their own goal, according to their own nature, and works toward it relentlessly - especially if they fully and concretely succeed. So... you're getting a LOT of my interpretation, part of which is that there's a lot of Thelemic political and religious folk-dogma that just makes people a different sort of slave (to Crowleyism) until they figure out that it's really deeply about their journey with their own Will alone more than the external forms of religions, political systems,etc..
Probably what you need to do is start a thread on this in the "Thelema" forum below. A lot of people just kind of ignore the Introductions. Most people will say "Hi" and nothing else ever, so some stuff gets missed. But that way, you'll get more than my version, which some people hate! lol... Feel free to do so yourself.
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Thanks for the feedback!
I agree with your definition. I will probably lurk some more in the Thelema sub-forum before I start any conversation as the last thread I went through there was controversy galore for me to aid my digestion for now, not without its fiery and contentious debate.
On the issue of "Crowleyianity", I'm guessing such a thing is possible, as anything is possible, I did not come to be interested in Knowledge to have Faith.
45 of the Book of Lies hit home for me when I first read it. "I slept with Faith, and found a corpse in my arms on awaking; I drank and danced all night with Doubt, and found her a virgin in the morning."
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Currently i hate most people as much as i love them and i dont care at all nor think about it, all at the same time. There is no contradiction though. Everything is true but not everything is useful. Everything has to happen in Nuit but not for everyone anytime.
Sure it can be a fascinating path whatever it may be. Words mean things so different for everyone, according to so much factors. Aknowledging the real potential freedom alone could drive most people crazy, to an extent there's no way back. And there's no way back anyway once you have bitten the fruit.
An apparent paradox is the more one advances, the more one needs balance... though it may be more and more secret kind of balance, for in appearance and on even more deep level one may be totally crazy and unbalanced and as long as it fits in Nuit there's nothing wrong about it.
Each one has a unique combination of truths, a unique formula that unveils gradually. What a wonderful and terrible thing. Dont assume anything for anyone cause you may get in many troubles. People have no idea to what extent a brother can be different and the same at the same time. It's all true !
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@Le Premiere Homme said
"The only Law is Do what thou wilt?
That must by definition be political anarchism, mustn't it?"
No, not necessarily at all.
The Law of Thelema is Do what thou wilt. The laws of society are something entirely different. They're stipulations that groups of people have dreamed up so as to maximize the benefits for the cooperative group (these laws work in similar ways to the laws and social structures that other cooperative animals, such as packs of wolves, abide by).
It's very natural for people to make laws -- just like it's natural for wolf packs to make laws -- so there's no necessary conflict with Thelema for people whose Will it is to create laws in order to shape the kind of society that makes it easier for them to accomplish their True Wills.
After all, it's an enormous help to my doing my True Will to have easy access to food and clean drinking water every day. In a state of nature, accomplishing one's "True Will" might be consumed almost entirely by doing things to survive. But in a cooperative society run on laws, one has all of this extra leisure time to pursue other aspects of the True Will, such as posting to internet forums and blogs.
As far as temporal laws go, the Law of Thelema gives you every right to violate those laws, but it equally gives other people the right to catch and punish you for violating them.
The Law of Thelema just isn't a political philosophy, Crowley's rather childish attempts to design Thelemic Utopias notwithstanding. The Law of Thelema is an entirely individual philosophy of action that holds that the only standard of action for the individual is that individual's own True Will.
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Wow ! I agree with Los !
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Me too. Lol.
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Liber Oz is an anarcho-capitalist statement, if universalized to all people, would be an ethical system for people to live:
hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib77.html
I saw nothing in this statement about the initiation of force. Which is the claim of government. "The divine right of kings" to "the divine right of the elected by a 51 percent majority"
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I like my team. Wanna fight about it? It's your Divine right.
Alliances can be powerful.
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I like how you put that, calling a spade a spade.
My problem is with all the other sheep who don't.
But sheep don't speak, so I don't know why I mention it.
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@Le Premiere Homme said
"I like how you put that, calling a spade a spade."
Oh, you'll find that I have a gift for bullshit.
Every thought may be contradicted - every thought - everything I've said, for sure. It's an interesting game though.
Quelle est votre raison d'être?
Faire cette chose.
