27 August (Spirit) Liber LXV, 5:37-40
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37. O ye that are beyond Aormuzdi and Ahrimanes! blessèd are ye unto the ages.
38. They shaped Doubt as a sickle, and reaped the flowers of Faith for their garlands.
39. They shaped Ecstasy as a spear, and pierced the ancient dragon that sat upon the stagnant water.
40. Then the fresh springs were unloosed, that the folk athirst might be at ease. -
Clearly, Doubt is depicted as superior to Faith here. As Crowley said in The Soldier and the Hunchback, that Doubt is vital and even passionate, searching actively for answers even though it will cut them to pieces later.
All of these concepts, which are definitely supra-rational, are shown as weapons that have a definite purpose: climbing to ever-higher heights and thoroughly enjoying the ascent, not letting any prior attainments stop them from climbing.
93, 93/93.
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@Ash said
"Clearly, Doubt is depicted as superior to Faith here."
Strange. Not clear to me at all. (I guess I have more doubt about it than you <vbg>.)
I read it as doubt being a pathway to faith and its fruits.
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**37. O ye that are beyond Aormuzdi and Ahrimanes! blessèd are ye unto the ages. **
The two contending powers of Zoroastrianism?
**38. They shaped Doubt as a sickle, and reaped the flowers of Faith for their garlands. **
Clearly 'O ye that are beyond' in 37 is different than the 'They' in 38 & 39.
This is a practical restatement of the stability in change notion. High standards of proof leading to a deeper conviction in the end. The attitude is one of abandon—fear nothing, hide nothing, subject yourself to all things!**39. They shaped Ecstasy as a spear, and pierced the ancient dragon that sat upon the stagnant water. **
In other words, they also trusted experience—they were not simply theory heads, but tempered their intellectual process with actual personal experience. They were atheists until they experienced Gnosis, and then they were something else consistent with that experience.
40. Then the fresh springs were unloosed, that the folk athirst might be at ease.
A dialectic process between Hod and Netzach, the two basal points of a triangle, transcending both.
EDIT: re: #40. Imagine the first mystics, and then all those who came after... Those of of us who have not had these experiences don't really know for sure what to expect, but we listen to the weight of anecdotal evidence and are open to the possibilities enough to make practical experiments of our own. In our turn, should we confirm the stories we have been told we will add our voices to those other that came before—fresh springs, that the folk athirst might be at ease.
Love and Will