New Aeon and Tradition.
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I thought I would share with you a forum reply that I wrote a "long" 3 years ago. Which shows the point at which my perspective on Thelema shifted, from finding a way for individuals to live without contextual tradition, to Thelema must create a new tradition. (Which is well and good, Crowley said that
progress can be understood as a series of reversals of one's held beliefs. ? !)
I was heavily influenced early on by liberalism and post-modernism, Chaos magick/discordiansim,
and all that entailed, but eventually I was able to crack down the defenses than those "memes"
had built, and at the time of writing this I had started reading more right wing information Ayn Rand, Evola, and examining traditional conservative positions, like Aristotle and Plato in relation to the system of the OTO.Well here it is
"I really like this MacIntyre, It is true that ethics is a matter of discovering that it is proper to do, and to know what is proper to do you have to have a context, you have to know what is your role to play in the story of your life.
However, what he does not address, atleast in this little I have read" is what about the postmodernist who rejects all narratives, or rather attempts to deny that any narrative is superior to any other narrative.
And there is a close kin to this postmodern view,which I find myslf apart of. The anarchist/iconoclast, who doesn't want to play any roles, he doesn't want to be part of a story that predates him, he wants to write his own narrative, to be author of his own life. He rejects his role as son, brother, nephew, citizen, patriot, guild member, etc. He wants to do define himself, not to be defined by others. He also does not want to be defined by his opposition to popular narratives,nor does he want to be defined by adherence to unpopular narratives such as subcultures and counter-cultures.
How is such a "FREE MAN" to act, With the total rejection of all narrative contexts, what can be his teleos, what factors define his actions. May he build his own narrative from an ecletric mixture of other narratives, no that would be like writing a story by cutting up other stories and pasting them together. Shall he simply switch from one narrative to another like a vagabond without a home, no then he is not the author of his own being, he is an obsessive reader, a critique with no talent of his own.
These are the difficulties that await the path of the Thelemite, which is to say those of us who aspire to the art of magick, which is the art of becoming author of one's own narrative.
We are entering an era in which the old narratives are breaking down. It seems that the motto of magick is becoming the motto for all. "Do what thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
This phrase to me is a prophesy that soon, the "LAW" which is to say narrative context will drop out from under us and DO what Thou Wilt, is all that will remain.
This is why the practice of magick is important, it is the art of learning to survive without narrative support from others."
I have found the answer to my own Questions, man can not live well if he alienates himself from tradition, we have a name for people like that, psychotics and crack pot bums, The book of the law calls them "Outcasts and unfit".
Thelema can not be lived as animosity of every individual against all forces that limit, frame, or define who one is. However Thelema does seek to establish a new plot line in the Story of tradition. Where for example the OTO may devise it's own culutre, roles, etc. in which people volunteer to break away from the Orthodox traditional story of life, and lead new lives with roles defined in relation to other Thelemites, and the myths, roles and tradititons established based on the book of the law.So I guess questions for the forum are.
At what ways has your progress with Thelema radically changed you and your pre-thelemic beliefs.
Do you believe that it is necessary that Thelema produce such radical changes.
and how do you suppose Thelema should address the questions of traditional narratives breaking down. -
**In what ways has your progress with Thelema radically changed you and your pre-thelemic beliefs?
**I used to live my life for everyone else, and it didn't do me or anyone a bit of good (rather, a lot of bad).
Now I live my life for myself, and it's done me and everyone else in my life a lot of good (and very little bad).**Do you believe that it is necessary that Thelema produce such radical changes?
**Only if one is off course.**How do you suppose Thelema should address the questions of traditional narratives breaking down?
**Ideas shouldn't go around answering questions on their own. -
**At what ways has your progress with Thelema radically changed you and your pre-thelemic beliefs. **
I can only share my perceptions at present, as much of my work was done before coming to Thelema through many Crowley popularisers and related Saints etc, so in a way my pre-Thelemic work had already laid much of the groundwork in terms of beliefs, but it seems the more I progress into Thelema itself (as seen as separate from more general Occult/Yogic practices) the more I get the feeling that at least half of it is a giant elaborate joke.
A truly wonderful one at that however. 
**Do you believe that it is necessary that Thelema produce such radical changes. **
Yes.and how do you suppose Thelema should address the questions of traditional narratives breaking down.
I like AvshalomBinyamin's answer and it closely matches my own thoughts.
However the best response I can give would be to place my sandals on my head (yet again) and walk away.
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**At what ways has your progress with Thelema radically changed you and your pre-thelemic beliefs. **
My head positively exploded. I had thought that I was at the end of my progress, whatever that means; I had thought that I was almost done learning and that I would have "the answer" sooner rather than later. I did, but "the answer" was just a giant exclamation mark, pointing in the direction of The Path. Before Thelema, I thought that intellectual growth and pursuit of knowledge were the highest and most noble avenues of action, whereas now I see them as more by-prodcuts of spiritual growth.
I thought there was nothing in the universe to answer to.**Do you believe that it is necessary that Thelema produce such radical changes. **
I believe it is. I forget where I read it, but I read somewhere that Initiations that are easy are looked at very skeptically; Initiation is supposed to be a crisis, an overwhelming and cathartic experience. In just a hair over 100 years, the world has been changed dramatically; in the past 30 years, the world has been turned upside down and flipped inside out. If the current of Thelema can do that for the world, imagine what it can do for little old me if I place myself in its way.
and how do you suppose Thelema should address the questions of traditional narratives breaking down.
I'm not quite sure I grasp the question, but I think that as traditional narratives and concepts break down and become invalid and impotent, they will be rearranged and subsumed into Thelema itself, or will at least become part of its manifestation.
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I guess as far as the question of how Thelema should address the breakdown of narratives.
What I mean is.Should a Thelemite view their True Will as totally autonomous and coming from within, or should the WILL be seen in terms of one's social role in a larger community. While the traditional narratives are breaking down, The role as part of a community and family under God, is breaking down, The very ties to one another, the definition of self as part of a family, community, religion, race, nation etc. are challenged to the point that people believe that they are who they are, as if self identity springs forth from within, rather than is a construct of a larger system (Traditionally under God's WILL, or Natural law).
Do you believe Thelema should accept this notion of a boundless and undefined self, or should Thelema create a new social order under a new variation of tradition that redefines Self and thus redefines normative ethics under a Thelemic Tradition, under the New Child God, Horus. Perhaps with the EGC playing the role that the Catholic Church played in the previous 2000 years of tradition.
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@Froclown said
"I guess as far as the question of how Thelema should address the breakdown of narratives.
What I mean is.Should a Thelemite view their True Will as totally autonomous and coming from within, or should the WILL be seen in terms of one's social role in a larger community. While the traditional narratives are breaking down, The role as part of a community and family under God, is breaking down, The very ties to one another, the definition of self as part of a family, community, religion, race, nation etc. are challenged to the point that people believe that they are who they are, as if self identity springs forth from within, rather than is a construct of a larger system (Traditionally under God's WILL, or Natural law).
Do you believe Thelema should accept this notion of a boundless and undefined self, or should Thelema create a new social order under a new variation of tradition that redefines Self and thus redefines normative ethics under a Thelemic Tradition, under the New Child God, Horus. Perhaps with the EGC playing the role that the Catholic Church played in the previous 2000 years of tradition."
Ra-Hoor is the product of both Hadit & Nuit
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Yes,
but Hadit and Nuit are neither real, they are not actual.You can for example graph any vector as the sum of 2 imaginary vectors. say a 45 degree vector is the sum of 2 perpendicular vectors. The imaginary vector of Hadit (Subject) and of Nuit (Pure object) sum up to actual events which are inspectoratly a combination of the two which taken as a whole is Heru-Ra-Ha
Heru-Ra-Ha then manifests as speech and silence as action and rest. Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-Paar-Kraat.
So since the Had is merely the manifestation of Nuit, and Nu is merely the hiding of Hadit. That is to say that IT is not subject nor object, IT is Heru-Ra-Ha, so that who one is is a product of one's environment as much as ones environment is a projection of whom one is.
Thou art IT, Had and Nu!
This is both Idealism and Materialism at the same time, it transcends both.
Yet it avoids phenomenology, by accepting both, rather than rejecting them. -
@Froclown said
"Yes,
but Hadit and Nuit are neither real, they are not actual.You can for example graph any vector as the sum of 2 imaginary vectors. say a 45 degree vector is the sum of 2 perpendicular vectors. The imaginary vector of Hadit (Subject) and of Nuit (Pure object) sum up to actual events which are inspectoratly a combination of the two which taken as a whole is Heru-Ra-Ha
Heru-Ra-Ha then manifests as speech and silence as action and rest. Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-Paar-Kraat.
So since the Had is merely the manifestation of Nuit, and Nu is merely the hiding of Hadit. That is to say that IT is not subject nor object, IT is Heru-Ra-Ha, so that who one is is a product of one's environment as much as ones environment is a projection of whom one is.
Thou art IT, Had and Nu!"
Thou art not AlOne.