Liber Aleph
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I recently started to re-read Liber Aleph, and as usually happens, the bits I brushed over the first time bite me in the ass the second time around.
From the first chapter of Liber Aleph:
Firstly, then, I would have thee to know that Spiritual Experience and Perfection have no necessary connection with Advancement in our Holy Order. But for each Man is a Path: there is a Constant, and there is a Variable. Seek ever therefore in thy Work of the Promulgation of the Law to discover in each Man his own true Nature.
For in each Man his Inmost Light is the Core of his Star. That is, Hadit; and his Work is the Identification of himself with that Light.
It is not every Man who is called to the sublime Task of the A.'.A.'., wherein he must master thoroughly every Detail of the Great Work, so that he may in due Season accomplish it not only for himself, but for all who are bound unto him.First off, which "Holy Order" is Crowley refering to here? I'm assuming it's not the A.'.A.'. because he mentions that particular order later on in a way that rules it out. Is he refering to Thelema in general or maybe the OTO?
There's a section in the above quote that puzzles me. "Spiritual Experience and Perfection have no necessary connection with Advancement in our Holy Order". I'm assuming that what Crowley is talking about here is the discovery of the True Will. But doesn't the discovery of the True Will through the methods laid down by Crowley entail some measure of "perfecting" and spiritual experience?
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@Her said
"First off, which "Holy Order" is Crowley refering to here?"
That's a specific reference to O.T.O. It matches other things he says in official O.T.O. instructions, and is the common language between him and Achad when speaking of O.T.O.
"There's a section in the above quote that puzzles me. "Spiritual Experience and Perfection have no necessary connection with Advancement in our Holy Order". I'm assuming that what Crowley is talking about here is the discovery of the True Will. But doesn't the discovery of the True Will through the methods laid down by Crowley entail some measure of "perfecting" and spiritual experience?
"Yes, and therefore even that isn't what he's talking about.
I recommend you read the specifically O.T.O. signed documents in the Blue Equinox, such as Liber CLXI - here is a representative quote:
"Even intellectual eminence and executive ability are at a certain discount in the Order. Work is invariably found for persons possessing these qualifications, and they attain high status and renown for their reward; but not advancement in the Order [i.e., by Degree], unless they exhibit a talent for government, and this will be exhibited far more by nobility of character, firmness and suavity, tact and dignity, high honour and good manners, those qualities (in short) which are, in the best minds, natural predicates of the word gentleman."
There's another passage that I can't find at the moment - perhaps in Confessions? - where he specifically says that in the O.T.O. spiritual advancement is no basis for advancement in degrees but, instead, good manners are a better mark.
Remember that the underlying purpose of O.T.O. was the building of a new society - not spiritual advancement per se.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"That's a specific reference to O.T.O. It matches other things he says in official O.T.O. instructions, and is the common language between him and Achad when speaking of O.T.O."
Thanks Jim. Knowing that it is a specific reference to the O.T.O. puts everything into perspective.
But it kind of raises a few questions about modern day developments. But maybe it's better not to go there....
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@Her said
"I recently started to re-read Liber Aleph, and as usually happens, the bits I brushed over the first time bite me in the {@$$} the second time around."
I just began re-reading Liber Aleph as well & am going through the same thing. Liber Aleph was one of the first Thelemic texts I read, & returning to it after having read so many others & seeing all that went over my head the first time I am wondering what it was that I could have possibly gotten out of it on the first read...an examble being in the chapter called 'Beta'(De Arte Kabbalistica). A.C. states:
"The Tendencies of thy Mind lie deeper far than any Thought, for they are the Conditions and the Laws of Thought; and it is these that thou must bring to Nought."
I had no idea, upon the first reading(2 years ago), that A.C. was referencing samkhara(predisposition from past impressions), one of the five skandhas of Buddhism...I'm sure I thought I understood something of the text but I certainly could not appreciate it for its full worth(which I am still probably not doing);)
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@Her said
"I recently started to re-read Liber Aleph, and as usually happens, the bits I brushed over the first time bite me in the {@$$} the second time around.
From the first chapter of Liber Aleph:
"Firstly, then, I would have thee to know that Spiritual Experience and Perfection have no necessary connection with Advancement in our Holy Order. But for each Man is a Path: there is a Constant, and there is a Variable. Seek ever therefore in thy Work of the Promulgation of the Law to discover in each Man his own true Nature.
For in each Man his Inmost Light is the Core of his Star. That is, Hadit; and his Work is the Identification of himself with that Light.
It is not every Man who is called to the sublime Task of the A.'.A.'., wherein he must master thoroughly every Detail of the Great Work, so that he may in due Season accomplish it not only for himself, but for all who are bound unto him."First off, which "Holy Order" is Crowley refering to here? I'm assuming it's not the A.'.A.'. because he mentions that particular order later on in a way that rules it out. Is he refering to Thelema in general or maybe the OTO?
There's a section in the above quote that puzzles me. "Spiritual Experience and Perfection have no necessary connection with Advancement in our Holy Order". I'm assuming that what Crowley is talking about here is the discovery of the True Will. But doesn't the discovery of the True Will through the methods laid down by Crowley entail some measure of "perfecting" and spiritual experience?
"It is neither A.'.A.'. nor O.T.O., nor any other physical manifestation of that Aethyric Order of which Crowley speaks, nor is it even that Aethyric Order of which he speaks.