26 May - (Air) Liber LXV, 2:37-44
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(I think it's just 37 and 38 today
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**37. Behold! the Abyss of the Great Deep. Therein is a mighty dolphin, lashing his sides with the force of the waves.
38. There is also an harper of gold, playing infinite tunes.
39. Then the dolphin delighted therein, and put off his body, and became a bird.
40. The harper also laid aside his harp, and played infinite tunes upon the Pan-pipe.
41. Then the bird desired exceedingly this bliss, and laying down its wings became a faun of the forest.
42. The harper also laid down his Pan-pipe, and with the human voice sang his infinite tunes.
43. Then the faun was enraptured, and followed far; at last the harper was silent, and the faun became Pan in the midst of the primal forest of Eternity.
44. Thou canst not charm the dolphin with silence, O my prophet! **I woke feeling much better. The following thoughts seem to give me some relief from my previous mental turmoil. They also speak to something in today's passage. I can at least attempt to become still and listen for the music, which was not an option yesterday.
IMAGES:
Images cannot be interpreted—an image is silent; images only have meanings we give them, and this meaning will by necessity have nothing to do with the image. Images suffer because we think we understand them when we don’t.Interpretation is generally inspired by two distinct impulses: 1. a liberal impulse or 2. a conservative impulse. The liberal impulses are sentimental and usually have to do with what feels good—we feel this sort of interpretation is right because it is easy. The conservative impulse is a power trip and has to do with the exercising of reason and the invocation of logic, and the establishing of relationships with other images.
Both are sources of falsehood, though I feel the conservative route is superior to the liberal because it can sometimes lead to a collapse of the whole system. Ultimately, one is left with the understanding that interpretation is impossible.
The problem for the pre-adept is this: all we have is this activity of interpretation.
The solution is simple or hard depending on whether you are more inclined to be liberal or conservative in how you understand it. And the solution the the impasses is this: basically, you have to be told what the image means! The angel has to phone it in…
The mind may still object that this guidance from a deeper, spiritual authority may still not be what the image really means, but this objection is moot for two reason: 1. The image was presented as a means to make a connection with the higher self, so regardless of what it means it still does what was originally intended; and 2. The mind can only access this wisdom because it had agreed to stop trying on its own and listen, as such, it must continue to be true to this decision or backtrack into its previous darkness.
I think I may have more to add on today's meditation, after I have allowed it to sink in and I have practiced not imposing anything from here below.
Love and Will
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@AvshalomBinyamin said
"(I think it's just 37 and 38 today
)"Still works for me.
Love and Will
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@AvshalomBinyamin said
"(I think it's just 37 and 38 today
)"I was on the fence about posting the whole bunch so, whomever, please feel free to edit, delete, whatever - no hard feelings whatsoever. The reason for me posting so many at once, is that I've been inclined to see them as a whole for a while now; a habit based on the following commentary by Crowley:
"37-44. This passage is a parable with several applications.
I. It describes the method of attaining Concentration by “the Ladders” (See Liber Aleph).
II. It indicates how to deal with people whom one wishes to initiate.
III. It gives a method for passing from one state of mind to another at Will.
The main idea in all three matters is that one must apply the appropriate remedy to whatever malady may actually exist, not some ideally perfect medicine. The first matter must be brought step by step through each stage of the process; it is useless to try to obtain the Perfect Tincture from it by making the Final Projection.
IV. It describes the whole course of Initiation."
I hope my posting is taken as a symptom of the enthusiasm that these daily meditations has inspired in me.
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Robert,
My point of reference on the interpretation of these images: for me it's not so much a question of liberal versus conservative, as if the liberal interpretation could replace the conservative, both being relative.
This is a true allegory. Each person, place, thing represents something else. Each representation is given in the comment. In its pure form, it's meant to give us both the meaning of the symbols as well as a plotline that demonstrates their natural, healthy transformations. This is authorial intent - or "conservative interpretation." It's designed to make its own imprint on your mind with the symbolism. You don't get any more hard an allegory than one that has its own comment with it published by the author.
One technique is to just let it make its grooves on you, without necessarily understanding.
Another is to pour over the content analytically, making sure you follow the author's own thoughts precisely to understand the communication perfectly.
A third technique is that of creating projective stories. We do similar things with Rorschach or Thematic Apperception Tests (tell a story about the image). These can be valuable if one has the ability to react honestly, without repressing ideas or emotions - and then the ability to go back and analyze the personal, projected reactions, using the hard "conservative interpretation" as a guide. This technique uses the hard interpretation of the symbols in order to understand and better process the emotional stories we've made with them. But the idea is to let the original images and their meanings eat into emotions creating the projective stories, not vice versa.
Anyway, my thoughts.
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@El Nath said
"One technique is to just let it make its grooves on you, without necessarily understanding.
Another is to pour over the content analytically, making sure you follow the author's own thoughts precisely to understand the communication perfectly.
A third technique is that of creating projective stories. We do similar things with Rorschach or Thematic Apperception Tests (tell a story about the image). These can be valuable if one has the ability to react honestly, without repressing ideas or emotions - and then the ability to go back and analyze the personal, projected reactions, using the hard "conservative interpretation" as a guide. This technique uses the hard interpretation of the symbols in order to understand and better process the emotional stories we've made with them. But the idea is to let the original images and their meanings eat into emotions creating the projective stories, not vice versa.
Anyway, my thoughts."
I don't think your post really has anything to do with mine. Though your listing of methods was interesting. Maybe I shouldn't have used the terms liberal and conservative, but I was thrashing about for some terms that suggested the kinds of idiocy the mind in its darkness is prey to.
At the core of my thoughts is a simple question: what passes for inspiration?
Every image I look at these days seems like something that can mean almost anything. Unaided by my intuition my efforts to figure out what is correct will most likely involve me in one of two kinds of darkness: scholarly or superstitious (or what I dubbed conservative or liberal—better terms could have been devised).
Simply, there is no help in either of these directions. No help at all, regardless of the method I may choose to use, unless there is an opening so that I receive something from a deeper/higher perspective to help me understand. Or all I am doing is adding to the noise—discourse without light.
@El Nath said
"Robert,
My point of reference on the interpretation of these images: for me it's not so much a question of liberal versus conservative, as if the liberal interpretation could replace the conservative, both being relative.
This is a true allegory. Each person, place, thing represents something else. Each representation is given in the comment. In its pure form, it's meant to give us both the meaning of the symbols as well as a plotline that demonstrates their natural, healthy transformations. This is authorial intent - or "conservative interpretation." It's designed to make its own imprint on your mind with the symbolism. You don't get any more hard an allegory than one that has its own comment with it published by the author.
"See, you have already made some decisions about the meaning of the images. I wish you all the best in this and I hope that you are being led by your angel in all that matters. From my perspective I could not think the above thoughts without being painfully aware that I had to decide to accept certain things. And my decision would have been based on one of two reasons: it either made the most sense, logically; or I decided to take refuge in a New Age, possibly even a Thelemic platitude because this is supposed to be true, and besides, it made me feel all warm and sanctimonious. Both are dead ends, though one is perhaps a little deader than the other.
Love and Will
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@Tinman said
"I was on the fence about posting the whole bunch so, whomever, please feel free to edit, delete, whatever - no hard feelings whatsoever. The reason for me posting so many at once, is that I've been inclined to see them as a whole for a while now
"Do what thou wilt
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Edited. But thanks for posting! (This has truly become a community project.)
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In another thread today, someone brought up Liber Tzaddi, which also has this quote
"33. I reveal unto you a great mystery. Ye stand between the abyss of height and the abyss of depth.
- In either awaits you a Companion; and that Companion is Yourself."
We can all take a little time to play with ourselves every so often.
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This seems like a happier description of the abyss than most. Possibly because it comes from a place above the abyss viewing downward at the rest of the Tree. The dolphins swimming in the abyss and splashing their waves feels positive to me and to think of it makes me think of the deep sea hovering over them in their joy. All the while the harper of gold plays infinite tunes and again this feels like a serene joy. Not sure what the dolphin symbolism means, but the obvious correspondence is to water. Not sure what to make of that. The harper of gold is possibly the HGA who sets the mood with his/her tune and joy. Gives off an overall positive feeling to me.
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As an aside, dolphins and harps are often used in heraldry. If you imagine the arms of Mary I, Queen of Scots,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/Mary_I_(Dauphin_impaled).PNGaltered to include the harp of Ireland, it might look like this one,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/England_Arms_1603.svg
but with dolphins. (The last one is the arms of James VI, King of Scots.) -
"37. Behold! the Abyss of the Great Deep. Therein is a mighty dolphin, lashing his sides with the force of the waves."
There's something really sublime about this line. I read it over and over again last night and I kept trancing out while I was reading it. Ideas like playfulness, freedom, limitlessness, going with the flow spring forth from a deep part of myself.
"38. There is also an harper of gold, playing infinite tunes.
"The music of the soul moves me with great vigor through the infinite tides of the Great Sea of NOTHING
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" 37. Behold! the Abyss of the Great Deep. Therein is a mighty dolphin, lashing his sides with the force of the waves. "
Water" 38. There is also an harper of gold, playing infinite tunes. "
Infinite tunes = many at one time" 39. Then the dolphin delighted therein, and put off his body, and became a bird. "
Air" 40. The harper also laid aside his harp, and played infinite tunes upon the Pan-pipe. "
(again) Infinite tunes = many at one time" 41. Then the bird desired exceedingly this bliss, and laying down its wings became a faun of the forest. "
Earth" 42. The harper also laid down his Pan-pipe, and with the human voice sang his infinite tunes. "
Infinite tunes = many at one time" 43. Then the faun was enraptured, and followed far; at last the harper was silent, and the faun became Pan in the midst of the primal forest of Eternity. "
All that is missing is fire. Does this mean that Pan represents fire?" 44. Thou canst not charm the dolphin with silence, O my prophet! "
Although the Harper played infinite or many tunes at once. The listener chose what it wanted to listen to. This is evident in each of its choices amongst an infinite amount of choice.
Moral: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law". This cannot be done unless there is a choice. One cannot find an understanding of things without having many understanding to choose from. Here it seems to say that you will not have any listeners unless you speak.
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@Shadonis said
"
"37. Behold! the Abyss of the Great Deep. Therein is a mighty dolphin, lashing his sides with the force of the waves."There's something really sublime about this line. I read it over and over again last night and I kept trancing out while I was reading it. Ideas like playfulness, freedom, limitlessness, going with the flow spring forth from a deep part of myself. "
Yes, thank you. There is something un-analyzable in this image. It has always moved me. Exactly what it means has eluded me, but that never seemed to matter to me. I realize after reading your thoughts that I never wanted to fully understand what it referred to, if anything...
In fact, the idea of naming it would kill it. As with many images that haunt us, as soon as you provide an interpretation it stops having that special power to move us. A bad bargain if you ask me—exchanging a potent, living symbol for a dead exegesis. Your word 'sublime' is a very good word here.
I'm still thanking you as I write this because I acknowledge a realignment for me in this observation. It returns me back to myself, so to speak, and delivers me from a cold, and ultimately arbitrary, analytical approach. It makes sense for me to say, by way of comment on this appreciation for 'the thing in itself,' that Crowley himself is not the final authority on what these images mean. After all, he wasn't even the author!
Love and Will
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"At the core of my thoughts is a simple question: what passes for inspiration?"
This question - in isolation - has been in my thoughts for a few days now. I feel compelled to comment on it. I am so thoroughly familiar with the question of "Biblical Inspiration" from my own days among the moderate Evangelical academics that I'm fascinated by the way in which my own understanding of the term has evolved over time to this point, with The Book of the Law and other importantly classed documents.
I think I can say it pretty simply. I no longer care for spiritual authority based arguments of "divine inspiration." It's too easy for me to quickly relativize both "divine" and "inspiration." I'm looking for genius. I want to tune into the organizing genius.
I will say that the genius of our meditation text has me feeling rather dumbfounded and naked recently.
Regarding the ravishing of Ganymede. It's a marking, you know. When you have sex with someone, hormones are released that make you feel more and more connected to that person. It creates a certain stability and fixedness in the relationship. That imagery is shocking, I'm sure, but that's the heart of it. He is ravished and inwardly bonded and branded with love for Adonai.