College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Tarotica:

My wholehearted respect for having the courage to incite disagreement - with your beliefs and your opinions - which I'm confident was the overall aim of your essay. A rational discussion based on a literal interpretation of Crowley's Book of the Law is akin to taking any fundamentalist view of any holy text. That is to say, taking a Judeo-Christian text and actually believing that it meant that the world was created in seven days, could be considered a "fundamentalist" view. You will reap what you sow when it comes to the way you view any text.

I will not argue with your opinion. You are welcome to it. In fact, as I've stated earlier, I applaud you for it.

Interpretations are the beauty of the Law. Do what you wilt with your interpretations.

As a general rule of thumb, in any text (from a philosophical point of view), I like to take the writings of Jacques Derrida or, perhaps, Michel Foucault, to heart, and try to understand semiology and grammatology in any given text, or, for lack of a better term, to try to find the "spirit" in which something is written, even if it happens to be a "holy text". If I fail to understand that, then I feel that I fail to understand the author, and, in my opinion, what the author is driving at.

We can quote any text, divorcing it from the whole of the idea, and take from it our own meaning. Also, we can cite any source and consider it as a complete truth, such as one person's idea of Islamic history. Not to say that that's wrong - insofar as subjective interpretation can be considered "wrong" - it simply stands on it's own as a subjective opinion. Any one can take facts and slant them any way they want to, as any elementary school principal can tell you.

If it benefits you in your interpretation of Crowley, by all means, enjoy your benefits. But, as soon as one tries to assign one's opinions as something as objective truth, they seem to become pedantic and oppressive to other people's opinions. Which, in short, is as close to a dictatorship as any one can get, and, in my opinion, a direct antithesis to the object of Thelema. In my opinion, this is how trouble starts, by someone saying that their strict interpretation of ANYTHING is the "right" one. And yes, this is my subjective interpretation of things, whether it has any truth to me lies in whether or not it is beneficial to me.

Reiterating what I've said earlier, if your strict interpretation of Crowley's text means something to you, then, by all means, have your opinion. However, I don't see how your opinion has any objective merit when it comes to being an overall truth. At least, enough of a truth to say that it can be compared, in any rational way, to most people's opinions, Islamic, Thelemic, or otherwise. Unless you also believe that your opinions speak for someone other than yourself. Then, by all means, believe that too.

Again, I applaud you for your unique opinion. Every man or woman is a star. Whether a interpretation has any Truth, will lie in your sphere, plain and simple.

Love is the law, love under will.

Frater 639

@Student Aleph 9 2 said

"Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law

While I have been given marvelous and exalted tasks by the Creator also Am I but a Neophyte, an innocent and helpless Harpocrates Babe in an Egg, and I have much to learn. Having been raised Christian it is difficult for Me at times to accept the Greatness in His Holy Name Satan without fear of eternal fire. He has reached out to Me on so many occassions yet have I spurned Him in My childish folly. This is My labor, and mine alone, but here is what He has revealed unto Me concerning His Nature. In One Satan is the Throne upon which the King rules, Not an Adversary, but a Challenger, the consciousness of the processes of growth and evolution toward success. To fear Him is repression of the Seed by the Soil, the fear of Growth, but it is that fear which once overcome unites Us with His enduring Grace. Now know that when We break through the soil of our insecurity and emerge into the Light, Satan's Name changeth to that of Lucifer. No longer is He the Challenger, but the Bringer of Truth and Light, a Living and complete soul free from the Restrictions of the Struggle Based Genesis. A far as Christians are concerned, it is up to each Aspirant to engage in such Revelation. The Work of Satan is best defined by the Beast 666's Wonderful Poem called: "Crowley "Aha". My struggle with Satan is a struggle with Myself. He has given Me two forms of My bicameral mind, which also are Archetypes of the Nature of My Work. I was foolish and smoked cigarettes, pushing down My Life, supressing My vitality, accosting the force of My Vigor. He has delivered Me from this, but the Great and Supreme God of All Creation Will not in any way force His Child to do that which is best for Him. Therefore surrender all ye have unto Satan and ignore those whom present their folly that He is Evil. They are blind, they are starseeds, they are slaves to their own futile whims, they have potential but deny it. In this I Am Hypocrite, We must be what We are not before We can be what We are.

Love is the Law, Love under Will."

Somebody's been reading Liber Aleph, if I am not mistaken....

I also was raised in a Christian home, and am happily Emancipated. For a While I embraced the other Extreme, touting Satan as Supreme Lord. However, I Discovered after a Short Period of Time that this was only a Reaction to the Imbalance of my Childhood, and soon Realized that the best Path is that of Balance. It the Characteristic Predisposition of Youth to Over-React in any given Direction. Thankfully, my Vigor is no longer Accosted.

@Her said

"Is the date of Crowley's recognition of Aiwass as his HGA known?"

I don't know it.

"I ask because I recently read in chapter 65 of the Confessions that Crowley didn't "consciously" make the connection until about 1920(?)*.

"It is only as I write this that I realize that the poet in me perceived that Aiwaz and mine Angel were one. Till this moment I believed that I had reached this conclusion after many months of meditation in the last three years and accepted it provisionally with the greatest hesitation."
"

I think I read this passage a little differently than you do. I read it as him saying, (1) Up until this moment, I've tended to think that there was a point about 3 years ago that meditation disclosed this to me, but, (2) now I realize that "the poet in me" knew this [presumably unconsciously] long before.

@h2h said

"Jim - thanks for that reminder. I felt an energy shift within 30 minutes of posting my request 😄"

Possibly about the time I saw it 😉

BTW I'll be passing it to all the local groups to add to their healing work for the time period requested.

93, All,

With all due respect:

I don't get this. Any of this. At all. What's the point? I'm glad I'm at work and really have nothing better to do.

Tools. I could care less about how or where a pipe wrench is made as long as I can use it when my sink backs up.

Tarotica: What's your beef? Is nothing in Crowley's writings in general, or in Liber Al vel Legis of use to you? If that's so, why not drop it and move on? Could it be possible that this (as with so much on internet forums) is simply carried out to display to all your superior intelligence? How does any of this help? Can you show me anything constructive about this whole line of thought?

If not, I'll find another way to amuse myself at work.

93s,

Frater LA'AL