"Self improvement is masturbation"
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This afternoon my wife and I sat in the car in the parking lot of Trader Joe's, and had a spontaneous heart-to-heart conversation. We talked about internalized guilt responses and anxiety and all the subconscious behaviors we engage in...
and we realized
...echoing the notion that "a house divided against itself cannot stand", we often internalize self-defeating beliefs to that point that part of our consciousness is engaging in active conflict with other parts of our consciousness, and we suffer for it.
and
While internalized criticism or verbal abuse from others, or ill-advised mental mechanisms, or even some life hack or self-improvement methods can run like added layers to our core, a program like the A.'.A.'. is designed with the opposite goal in mind: to strip away layers. A person seeks to understand the "foundation" of their being, then learn to control it, and eventual learn to let it go as a transient thing, in exchange for a deeper, core identity.
and then it hit us:
"Becoming" is illusory. It implies either (in the false sense) affecting additional (false) layers of identity, or (in the true sense) stripping away (false) layers of identity, to return to a state of pure truth. In other words, the only true "becoming" is really "unbecoming"....
(thoughts, critique, etc?)
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One thing is the methods connected to breaking away from the ego.
One thing is the methods connected to constructing an ego that can serve as a perfect vehicle for the Will.This is quite clear in Liber AL vel Legis..
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You don't have to be sick to get better.
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Is attainment a construction, or a self-discovery?
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That depends on which attainment you mean. They aren't all the same.
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A house divided upon itself is still but a single house.
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@FraterIgnatius said
"A house divided upon itself is still but a single house."
Yes, but it's a duplex.
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@FraterIgnatius said
"A house divided upon itself is still but a single house."Yes, but it's a duplex."
Unless you rent it out, it's still your house. It is when the doors and walls no longer exist at your slightest pleasure that they become oppressive and restrictive; as opposed to a confined, controlled space for growth and exploration.Traditional Japanese housing is an exemplification of this ideal: the walls are temporary and illusory, literally made of paper. They may be moved and destroyed at the whim of the owner to create a new, more desired environment.
I've come to see Thelema not so much as an abhorrence to walls, but a means by which to identify those walls we did not build ourselves. The choice of what next to do with such constructions is purely the will of the individual.
Some choose to destroy them, some choose to integrate them, some choose to ignore them, but all make a choice.
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Why is masturbation always given such a bad rap?
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@Bryan said
"Why is masturbation always given such a bad rap?"
No kidding, at it's worst it's a fun past-time...
The reference in the title is to the book/movie, Fight Club. (sorry if I'm stating the obvious)
The story seems to reference magick. The narrator, starting in malkut, defines his identity in terms of possessions (which Ikea items define him as a person). Tyler appears to be his HGA. His process of initiation with Tyler is about stripping away his false concepts of identity. They pity the Calvin Klein underwear models they see in ads, and I believe it's around here that Tyler makes the comment, meaning that it's a fruitless activity. (later the narrator questions where his HGA is taking him, and things get a bit messy for him...)
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By the way that book is better than most of the so called books on magick on the market.
The point is still there however:
Yes. You want to rip yourself apart.
Yes. You want to make yourself the perfect vehicle for that trancendental Will that lies beyond yourself.There is no contradiction here.
This is Thelema.Before reaching Will there is no need to do anything but work towards it.
When that´s done one might change dysfunctional ideas, emotions, activities.
No need to do that before; if one does one is just wasting time one could use for the great work... Further. This is also why I emphasize the qliphothic initiation. Anyone interested in Thelema should also read books like Kenneth Grants Nightside of Eden or Thomas Karlssons Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic.