College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

this is a total beginner question but i'm confused:

what does one mean when they talk about "being" in certain sephirah or moving on the Tree of Life? i take it that it mean states if conciousness/personal perception (this is from reading the post about love above the Abyss), but this is still so vague to me.
i really don't exactly know what i'm talking about here so forgive me, i've been reading through Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah book and she does a great job of listing all of the symbolic correspondences of each part of the Tree but doesn't write much on how to actually apply this knowledge.

i'm still having trouble with this one. can anyone offer some interpretations?

what i understand:
* everyone must be allowed to do their Will and their experiences (even pain) teach lessons, if they aren't trying to work at themselves how can anyone learn their Will.
* if you pity someone you put yourselves above them. while i understand the universe is not egalitarian and can not be forced against itself to be, every person has a Will whether or not they choose to attempt to discover it and that should be respected.

but this passage always seemed to say to me that it against Thelema to help another person. let's say a friend's home is flooded and i decide to help them out, isn't this then antiThelemic?
thank you

thanks for the advice all!
been milling over all these posts and will continue to.
still feeling lost but if this was easy it wouldn't be called the 'Great Work', eh?

** "reason is a lie"
**
one of my own personal demons (so to speak) on the Path is that awful voice telling me things like 'the astral plane doesn't exist, you're wasting time messing with all this hocus pocus" "science can't prove this hole magick business, stop living in a lie" regardless of any results.
normally i would try to personify this aspect and deal with it through meditation or banishing but it won't work in this case because the nature of the problem is something that demands use in everyday mundane life.
does anyone have any advice or personals stories, links, quotes, or anything that can help me break down this wall?
**

i understand now.
i was reading it as someone exposing or revealing someone else's innocence and not as the display of one's own 'innocence'.
thank you

can anyone give me any input into this verse or point to any references? i've been racking my brain trying to understand this.
i figure it must have something to do with "all is ever as it was" but can't put my fingeer on what is trying to be said here.

One of the main questions i have to experienced magicians is:
When you come in contact with some entitiy, how does it manifest?
Is the experience as real as interacting with other people?
What makes you know that this entity is existing in some form independent of yourself (or is the impression that it is projected from within?)

i hope to not offend anyone, i know that people who have never actually done any magick tend to ask the annoying question of "is it real" "does it work" etc. i have done some magick and understand that somehow it does affect reality. i don't know how but it works.

i just get the impression from many magicians that they don't believe in "spiritual" beings or things that can exist on an astral level and so forth but tis seems contrary to the certain ideas central to the occult (HGH experiences, the high levels of the Tree of Life).
thank you for reading my post. much respect.

hello,
this forum seems really informative and full of informative, opinionated people.
i've had an interest in the occult (specifically thelema) for years and done lots of reading/research and magick and am debating commiting deeper (maybe joing the OTO).

hopefully i can give as much as you all give knowledge-wise.
hanks