"A Thelemic Utopia"
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Might an idea of true-based-societal roles exist without necessarily taking a specific kind of form? Mightn't the society that the people contribute towards resemble any number of models at any given place, time and culture? Couldn't this even function in a place with fairly flat distribution of wealth and quality of life? So the biggest mistake would be for a person to misunderstand their own role. For example, they might be a warrior with an idealist constitution, ready to serve society. But they might imagine themselves to be a king, and try to impose there own mistaken vision of form - when that's really a king's job.
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Man, I'm a romantic at heart too. There's a lot in what you say that makes sense, but I'll reveal my heart to you. There's this:
"According to time and circumstances, the society of sages communicated unto the exterior societies their symbolic hieroglyphs, in order to attract man to the great truths of their Sanctuary.
But all exterior societies subsist only by virtue of this interior one. As soon as external societies wish to transform a temple of wisdom into a political edifice, the interior society retires and leaves only the letter without the spirit. It is thus that secret external societies of wisdom were nothing but hieroglyphic screens, the truth remaining inviolable in the Sanctuary so that she might never be profaned.
In this interior society man finds wisdom and with her All--- not the wisdom of this world, which is but scientific knowledge, which revolves round the outside but never touches the centre (in which is contained all strength), but true wisdom, understanding and knowledge, reflections of the supreme illumination. -An Account of A∴ A∴ sub figurâ XXXIII *"
At some point, there comes a necessary link between the initiatory society and the power of the kings. Until someone can find a way to bridge the gap between the man who wrote the above words and the man everybody thinks came to create some form of ultimate political power, I'm gonna argue against it. I don't know what else to do. In this book, he's described too clearly the substance of my own heart, if not the present purity or refinement.
So, until then, I'm gonna put in Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail, and I'm going to laugh at us one more time, doing all of this again.
"King Arthur: I am your king.
Peasant Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.
King Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Peasant Woman: Well, how'd you become king, then?
[Angelic music plays... ]
King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king.
Dennis the Peasant: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis the Peasant: You can't expect to wield supreme power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! Oh but if I went 'round sayin' I was Emperor, just because some moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away.
Arthur: [grabs Dennis] Shut up! Will you shut up?!
Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!
Arthur: [shakes Dennis] Shut up!
Dennis: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!
Arthur: Bloody Peasant!"And then I'm going to put in Life of Brian and maybe cry a little bit. But for sure laugh.
Peace.
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Ah, yes the account of the A.'.A.'. which is taken directly from "the cloud upon the sanctuary" this is a Christian mystic account of the same Traditionalism that Evola and his line are talking about. The King is initiated into the inner sanctary and reflects or transmits those values to the external society over which he rules. In the cloud upon the Sanctuary, the word Prophet is used where Evola uses the term King and Crowley the term Magus. It is dscribed that one must develope special faculties to be aware of the "spiritual" nature by all three authors. It is also claimed that there is a secret or subtle link between all who have attained these faculties where by they act towards the same goal but express that goal in a unique way depending on the conditions of their own flesh, their race, class, culture etc. that is Krishna expressed the same inner truth as Mohammet only they seem externaly divergent because the same "spiritual" truth manifests externally in different guised to suit the mentality of the race which it is assigned to.
These Prophets or Kings are the linc between the appearance and the truth, the world of the Gods, archetypes, anscestors, etc and the mundane world of external society. They embody the trnscendent realm in rituals, customs, etc. the Tradition which are symbolic acts which render the reality which is not seen by the un-initiated into a visible form. The priests then keep that visible tradition, and admuinister the virtues of that tradition to the masses, thus aligning them with the "secret sanctary" or the "Great white brotherhood" or the "Hyperborean race" or Atlantis, or Thule, or the kingdom of heaven. All different ways of expressing the same inner idea. When the times have changes significantly, that the rituals are no longer effective at creating that connection to the archtypical world, the people lose faith in the religion and rituals. This collapse has been called modernism, the failure of the enlightnement, God is dead. As Yeats put it "the Falcon can no longer hear the falconer"; Nothing is True; and nihilism, hedonism, psychological distress, postmodernism, appear as the values of the peasant class, ie the most mundane, the men of earth with not the slightest faculty to connect to the archtypical, who do not even seek attainment. The peasant are the last men as Nietzsche calls him the "last man, an apathetic creature, who has no great passion or commitment, who is unable to dream, who merely earns his living and keeps warm."
Again in Nietzsche the Prophet or King is described as the ubermensch and bulk of humanity is describes as those who are between the peastant lastman and the unbermensche King. Nietzsche was aware that the Christrian formula had failed, that few really believd in it, many gave lipservice at church out of fear or habit, and that the teachings where no longer relevent to people. That all the values of the past were crumbling away, and it was time for a new formula a new major prophet of the new order. He cast himself in the Role of the Hermit, directly from the Tarot card. His Mad Man, who carries a lantern and fortells doom that others are unable to see and they mock him. He forsees the Tower but the masses have no spiritual vision and so they see no economic hardship at the present and no violence approaching and chace him away as a madman, as they do not understand spiritual dangers. the destruction of values and traditions.
so again we have in Crowley the account of a violent ending to the old aeon and a new aeon appearing, in Evola we have the regression of castes that collaspe society and a new golden age appears form the ruins, in the Cloud upon the sanctuary, we have the periodic changing of the rituals where the old shells are religion are swept away, in Nietzsche we have the death of God and the birth of a new type of man/a new type of king. In Theosophy we have the council where Jesus is a board member but his role if interchangable (Equinox of the Gods) the same in the "I-Am" movement.
I could go on like this, showing that though the many external religions are different, there is one secret inner tradition that unites them all, where through True initiation and succession from the previous initiates, Kings are made that direct the course of society and history, creating societies based on individual links to that inner tradiditon.
So to say Crowley was some kind of radical liberal thinker is not particulrally correct. Thelema is rather left wing, in traditionalist circles, but it is in no way modern progressive liberalism (A endancy towards brining all down o the equal level of biology, ie to the peasant level) Rather Crowley was a prophet of the larger tradition and one link in a chain that goes back to antiquity, often associated with king Melchizedek.
In any event it is perfectly reasonable to include in your thelemic studies the cannon of Traditionalism, and it is not reasonable to attempt to separate Crowley from this linneage of which he obviously included himself and derived his claims to authority by relation to his role in that tradition.
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Okay, these are my real questions:
It sounds like you assume that this is not, and has not always been, the current state of affairs. Should kings and heads of state publicly submit their degrees for approval or execration by the masses? It would seem to me that initiations and Orders are secret for this very purpose. Any man or woman is free to take initiation of their own accord, to the degree they choose, to the degree of secrecy they choose.
No one official body can authorize all monarchs, prime ministers, and presidents together because as soon as this body were put in charge of that office, they would instantaneously and by definition become a "political edifice," become the focus of ambition, intrigue, and political maneuvering, causing the A.'.A.'. that inspired this particular, Crowley-authored, A.'.A.'. document to withdraw, leaving only the shell (qliphoth) remaining.
So, the way that I understand it, in your post-apocalyptic version of the world, where there is an official, recognizable, initiating body for monarchies - this same body will be only a shell of an initiatory body, disconnected from the particular A.'.A.'. that inspired Crowley's document. However, this same shell of an initiatory body will be placed in charge of the spiritual instruction and psychological training of the monarch - leaving the monarch to make a true connection with the A.'.A.'. on his or her own.
Or, at least that's the kind of thing I'm trying to understand about your ideas. For the process to work like you envision it on a practical level, it would seem to me that the A.'.A.'. would have to become the one thing it can't become while still preserving its core nature.
So, while I guess you can make an argument for going ahead and doing it anyway, from this particular A.'.A.'. document, Liber 33, I don't think you can associate it in any way with the A.'.A.'.
The way I envision it, the A.'.A.'. exists in the heart of the Sun, and in the heart of every human being, slave or free, and in the heart of every star. The slaves must be as free to participate in it knowingly as the monarch, and its purity should be defended from the corrupt machinations of of politics.
Thoughts?
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Politics just means the rule of the people, it has come to mean underhanded tricks focused on securing one's own power and title, and that is what politics must become in a democracy where securing the votes is more important than upholding the values, rituals and customs of the people.
I never said that the Initiating order would destroy itself by getting involved politically, everything that anyone ever does is ultimately political. A human alone is nothing and might as well fall to dust. The value that a human has is found in the contribution to a greater social cause. Thus all this "it's just my personal spiritual path" nonsense is pointless. The purpose of religion is not to give bliss to individuals, it is to create an ideal which binds the aspirations and moral of the people to a common identity and purpose. This lesser part of this is that each individual finds a place and purpose in which it work out it's individual character, a niche in which it fulfill it's Will.
Now the A.'.A.'. is a prime example, one criteria for advancement from 7=4 to 8=3 is that the initiate put forth his exposition on the workings of the universe and develop a school of thought, a philosophy, religion etc, and tend to a school of adherents. Thus, the initiate is already building on external order with members, of course it is still under the Original Magus, it more or less a franchise order or sect. The Magister then annihilates all of his personality and basically becomes the spirit of the order itself, he must kill off all outside influences and be fully dedicated to that sect or school of thought. The Magus then, has the option to create a totally system that is not directly linked to the old one.
If we look at Crowley as an example the A.'.A.'. was his work as a Golden Dawn Adept, while it was the O.T.O project which became his Magus work. It was after he attained Magus that he realized the true importance of the O.T.O as on external social order. A political order. Though the what we term as political all the mud slinging and such is not what it really means. An organic social order is one ruled by a leader the members choose to follow because he expresses fully the qualities they want to develop in themselves. Honesty, skill, confidence, integrity, leadership under pressure, etc.
The King does not need the people, they need him. Thus he is not corrupted into abusing his power, if he were to be less of a man, the people would abandon him. The king should embody Thelemic values Pride, courage, self confidence, lust for life. Not the Christian values, modesty, fear of the lord, self debasement, obsession with sexual impurity, etc.
So there may be many Thelemic orders, nations, communities, not just the O.T.O.
As we read in Liber B vel Magi the expression of the word of the Magus will reflect his Race, the character of the people his word rules over. Jew, Hindu, or Islam, etc. Thus those who attain Magus, would speak the word on which would be founded social orders under the greater aegis of Thelema.We have Parsons, Nema and Aquino all making such claims. (I am not sure of the legitimacy) but one would expect to say many new organic society systems appearing as the current old aeon systems begin to crumble.
The kings need not publicly express their grade or their link to the school in which they are initiated, by their fruits ye shall know them. The masses don't need to know anything about it, you assume they do because your head is stuck in democracy. In an aristocratic system the masses should not be informed of things having to do with higher class leadership. It will only confuse and upset them and encourage paranoids and busybodies to stick their noses into business that is not appropriate for them.
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Let me chew on that one.
Enjoy your 4th, man...!
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As yes, the anniversary of independence for a nation that defines itself by what we will not follow.
A rag tag rebellion of a nation caught up in breaking all bonds of service and order, that it's people can only define themselves by what they buy at the stores. Where values are in the style of one's close not kept in the heart nor expressed in action. Where one's honor and one's bank account are synonyms. Where addiction, promiscuity, gluttony and rudeness are promoted by the media as social values, even while the less vocal laws and statutes still penalize these actions. A land where no one is better than anyone else, except the hucksters who sell lies from Hollywood. Were the people choose the leaders and the leaders are all crooks and degenerates. Where people watch reality TV shows about incompetent people doing things that the people should be doing rather than watching TV. America where we take pride in fast food and fast cars and we regulate trans fats and speed limits. America a nation of conflicting values where no one wants to follow anyone, nor respect history, the elderly, race, intelligence, or skill, but we respect the fashion trends and tabloid news.One might think America would have been better off under the British monarchy, if not for the fact that the UK is just like US.
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Brother, we would not be allowed the liberty of this public discussion were it not so.
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The so called liberty in America is only allowed because the people are too complacent and apathetic to do anything about their opinions. The worst anyone does is shout their opinions loudly in protest, in the police sanctioned protest zones, believing that if the government sees they are unhappy it will stop doing those things. As if it is the happiness of the people that drives the government's behavior.
Now, a wise and kind king may be moved by the pleas of his people, also a wise king would not fear his people's public expression of their discontent as only this way can he get the feed back he needs to rule effectively. Further the king being a good king will need not worry that his subjects will libel him or his rule, for he shall be beloved of his people and if he is not, it shall be a point of honor that he change his behavior. The wise king also does not make himself the centre, is the Tao says, when the sage acts well, the people say "We ourselves have done it".
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I'm not sure that any idea of a Thelemic Utopia isn't just our ego imagining its favourite scenario - that of being King of the World and getting to dictate the rules.
All these caste systems or meritocracy based on "Spiritual Experience" still smacks heavily of Divine Right to Rule.
Claiming Right to Rule because a Blue Footed HGA told you so, is no different than claiming the right based on descent from King David, or the Annunaki or Nephilim or Lizards living in the Centre of the Earth or any other manner of silly story those whose ego would reign can come up with.
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Most certainly the attainment is the means by which one attains the divine right, which is to say one becomes chartered by the secret chiefs with the authority to rule.
Since attainment is a matter of science and not superstition such as Race superiority over other races or lineage from heredity. One must earn one's attainment and blessing from the Secret chiefs, not by birth right nor by pulling a sword from an anvil, nor even the descent of a dove as one bathes publicly, or any other such nonsense. Attainment is discerned by a program of efforts and tested with a rigorous scientific method.
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If one is truly doing their Will, are we to be bothered at the Rule of others? In other words, aren't all the stars in the heavens appointed their celestial orbits - and our egos are all that seem to be arguing against the case?
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A star is not appointed it's orbit by divine power, over billions of years and interactions even many collisions, the Gravity of one body pulling the other and another body pulling them apart. Over time, all the stars and celestial bodies discovered their limits and like water sought their natural level. Now when we look at the sky all the stars are in their proper place and orbit. They had to discover their True orbits, as we must discover our True Will.
If the whole cosmos had but one star, then it would have no orbit, if it was alone there would be not relative motion at all, the star would be fixed in place, it would just exist and have no motion or definition at all. What defines the motion and magnitude of one star is it's dynamic interaction with all the other stars which it influences and which have an influence on it. If the sun where to disappear, the earth would no longer orbit at all it would continue straight in a line tangent to it's location in orbit the instant the sun's gravity no longer effected it. Also the sun moves in the larger galaxy under the attraction of the galactic center, and the location and movement of all the other solar systems in our region of the galaxy are effected by our star, as it's orbit is effected by the other stars.
Thus the solar system is the society of bodies that organize around the sun as it's King. Their distance of orbit is a result of their mass, velocity, constitution, as it is effected by the gravity and light of the sun. if you moved Jupiter, the sun would move and change, also all the other planets including the earth would change orbits and most likely all life on earth would die. Even if the moon where to move from it's place we would all die.
Thus, it is not a matter of each star or heavenly body internally going any which random course it so chooses to, that would be chaos. Also in such a case there would be no life, and there would be no means to define this or that star or planet, since their true properties their dynamic WILL is relational to the others, and a star out of all relations with the rest of the universe would be un-defined.
So the sun is the center of our galaxy and it's gravity holds each of the 8 planets in orbit, the nature of each planet discerns the nature of it's orbit and relation to the sun, that is it's caste in the heavenly kingdom.
Likewise is the True King the center of the society on earth, and his light and guidance help each individual to find his proper orbit or Caste according to the contribution of the individual WILL to the society, that is the relation between the King and the HGA of his subjects discern their caste and purpose, creating divine order out of chaos. -
Just glossing over this page.
They must have drawn upon Thelemic sources to construct the Sith philosophy.
Even so much as re-constructing the brotherhood so that only the master and pupil know each other, exactly the change Crowley made in the A.'.A.'. from the old G.'.D.'. brotherhood system.
I am putting this here to show how hollywood is always on the averse side from Thelema. The Jedi are made out to be the good guys with their Osiris aeon values. While the Sith are made into satanic forces of evil.
So what you might say, but Star wars is a major cultural influence in the lives of a large portion of the population, not just the fanatics. It's not just star wars either, in all media forms they twist the Philosophy which informs Thelema and always place it with the protagonist, give him a black hat or a scar and an maniac's laugh.
You think the popular media would ever accept a Pro-Empire storyline of star wars. There have been a few episodes of star trek like that, but they were given evil goatees and defeated by the "good" universe crew.
There needs to be a transvaluation of values on the public scale. At this time we are half way and most people give up on values and prefer apathy to confusion. A strong leader displaying Aristocratic Thelemic values could bring us back from the precipice of nihilism, at least on the small scale.But first we have to banish from our lives the influence of hollywood and liberal progressivism. There is a reason why Crowley's first order at the abbey was to ban all newspapers. We would need to ban almost all popular media.
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But would not the Warriors claim their Right to Rule through the justification that Warfare is is the heart and soul of a nation and its Society?
And the Merchants would claim their Right through the justification of trade being the lifeblood of a nation.
And so on.What evidence would you be able to produce for the people of the Spiritual Right to decide their fate and rule them?
The say-so of other Mystics who qualify their own status with no evidence presentable for examination beyond their own inner-circle?
People would have the right to demand to see the Securities. Can you produce the Secret Chiefs at will for others to examine?
Without that external proof, what (in the mind of the common man whose loyalty is being demanded) separates the claims of the High Priests from those of the past of Kings etc who claim descent from Lizards or Space-Gods? -
Froclown,
A.'.A.'. and the' Sith philosophy' - as you said - have nothing in common.
the only seemingly 'similarity' is that of the structure - one-on-one relations between a student and teacher, but it's not even remotely the same.
in the A.'.A.'. only Probationers should not know each other; but this is just a practical advice for that Grade, and the reasons are clear; and you can of course socialize with whoever you will, from the Order or not. and all the aspirants are adviced from the start that ''mystery is the enemy of Truth'', so to speak openly of their connection to the Order.
that does differ in so many ways from the mentioned ''Sith order'' that the comparison is a bit absurd.
there is, of course, one superior for one aspirant, but the aspirant is 'lead' by the superior (assisted is a better word) until 5=6, after that no human guidance is necessery.
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Well, the Kings do not demand obedience and they do not continually reference their connection to the inner order as a proof of authority. The people choose to follow the kings, as his right to rule is evidently manifest in his character. Yes each caste will believe their own is the most important, that way their is not so much class warfare, as when people believe they the grass is always greener in some other better social caste.
The King whose rule comes from science is of course able to demonstrate the benefits of his rule. He need not simply appeal to authority or superstition, instead he provides evidence. If the actuality fails to meet the hypothesis the king then must try something else. This rule by science, is the basis of skinner's Walden 2, and the method of science is an important part of Thelema.
(As to sith philosophy and Thelema they have allot in common. "Stomp down the wretched and weak", "There is no ethical principle", "I want none of your faint approval or faint dispraise; I want blasphemy, murder, rape, revolution, anything bad or good, but strong.", Thelema teaches not to transcend the passions rather to bend them to the WILL. "Success is thy proof") I could go on, clearly social Darwinism informs Thelema.
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Ehh... See, I think you took a wrong turn there toward the end.
Is it possible to back up and go back to the part where you were talking about an adept going and doing his or her own thing, and I was talking about how any political edifice created couldn't be considered affiliated with the A.'.A.'. but would be considered an empty shell.
Think of it like this: if we were writing a book together, I think this is where there would be room to play. The timeless has to enter the world of time somehow, and science fiction is the canvas on which we paint our possible futures.
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yes there is allot of rhetoric about the A.'.A.'. and it's timelessness and it being non-physical chiefs etc.
Those metaphysical things simply do not exist. However, it is possible to unlock certain potentialities in the brain, which produce the effects of making symbolic connections and archetypes evident where they are not understood by those who have not "turned on" those aspects of the brain. One aspect of this state of mind is that the awareness of time is altered in strange ways, where time seems cyclical even eternal, or that there is real time and illusionary time such that one can be both in the past and the present as 2 different people.
These states can have disorienting effects on the mind. But they also open the individual to the potential awareness of subtle encoded symbols that others can not see, a new faculty. Consider the benefits of a man with one eye leading the blind. He may not understand what sight is, having just acquired it and dimly, but because he has sight he can lead the people more effectively, that is if they don't think him afflicted with a madness the cure for which is the sharpened rod.
Colin Wilson speaks of occult faculty,
It is the faculty of seeing the forms of Plato
Leary-Wilson describe it an opening the 5th-8th neuro-circuits.
Evola calls it initiation into the Hyperborean tradition
some mystics call it Ascension other Samadhi.
It has been called the key to the mysteries of the rose and cross
and the stone of the wise.
Sherlock Holmes called it Elementary, Watson called it brilliance.
Some have called it evidence of dementia praxesUnder whatever name, it is a faculty of dealing with symbols in ways that relate back into practical reality creating astonishing effects. The Clavicus of Solomon calls this the art of Magic, Crowley calls it Magick. The art, science and philosophy of the Magi, or Kings.
If we look at Mathematics, numbers are but one type of symbol which we abstract from the natural world, we manipulate the pure symbols in ways that in higher mathematics have no correlation to actual processes possible it the original physical objects. Once these calculations are completed on the pure symbols they are re-introduced to the physical world and we get near perfect predictions and results. To those who do not understand mathematics it seems miraculous that anyone could discern what the mathematician had done. So too in a culture where most are ignorant of reading, a man stares at a book intently for hours, in his minds eye he is on a great adventure, to the savage the man appears struck with an obsession he stare at leaves of paper with scribbles on them and claims to go on a spiritual journey, even more strange the man can know things about the content of boxes and where things are buried, only by staring at scribbles.
These are example of how science/magick have given people abilities that seem miraculous and help to guide those who do not have them. So much more then one would thing for the symbolic manipulations of Kabbalah, astrology, psychological archetypes, the astral plane etc. The ability to abstract information, process it according to say the Enochian tablets and the interaction with "angelic" servitors in the mind acting as a sort of co-processor or higher faculty. Then to discern truths about the natural world via this complex symbolic processing.
Is a magick working with a candle wand and dark mirror, really so different from what the mathemetician does with pencil and paper. And does not this faculty, the ability to process this type of information give one an advantage over other, a clear insight into the natural world and the methods of making predictions outside the scope of common sense and mere intuitive guess work.
The danger is getting lost in the abstraction or becoming difficult to understand, or not able to fully form your ideals in a consistent way. This can appear as madness or just like a math professor, you may appear a disorganized and confuddled genius who can't even dress himself. Confusing the planes is a danger as well as getting disconnected. The other danger is that people will not understand and believe you are in concourse with devils or that you are just crazy, and find some cure analogous to the pointed stick to cure the visions of the one eyed man mentioned before. Lobotomy was a popular practice at one time and Electro-convulsive therapy is not unheard of today. But it is typical of the Iron age (Kali yuga) that the people would kill and torture their rightful leaders. However, the establishment of Thelema and the guidance of others who have developed these faculties, should help to produce true kings as well as a social body willing to accept their rule.
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I am the peaceful warrior:
Settle scores on dance floors,
Where I eat you up;
Shit you out,
You roll and writher,
Scream and slither,
Of how you always want more
Bending bodies, tracing forms
Occult meaning relayed
By dub-step beat that playedOh shut up and listen to your heart beat!
Let that be what moves your feet
And contorts you towards,
That treasured horde,
"Why are we still thinking?"