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JNorton: ToS, Abyssmal Destruction

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.magick.order,alt.satanism
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva)
Subject: JNorton: ToS, Abyssmal Destruction
Date: 20 Dec 1997 14:17:34 -0800

[technical difficulties enforced delay -- reformatted for your reading]

[from thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org: Josh Norton ]

At 12:40 PM 11/3/97 -0800, Fra. Doubt-Goat wrote:
>93
>
>---Tim Maroney  wrote:
>> Finally, here is (another) smoking gun to demonstrate that 
>> the Temple of Set interpretation of Crowley's view of the Abyss
>> is mistaken. In the comment on II:8, he writes, 
>> "the annihilation of the ego in the Abyss is 
>>  the condition of emancipating the true self, and
>>  exalting it to unimaginable heights." 
>> I doubt if anything would convince Michael Aquino 
>> on this point, but Crowley says directly (and not
>> just here) that the ordeal of the Abyss is the 
>> exaltation of the true self, masquerading as 
>> the destruction of that which one has mistaken for
>> it, rather than the utter and final self-destruction 
>> which Aquino insists was part of Crowley's system.

Aquino has a longtime habit of misrepresenting other people's 
positions, so that he can demonstrate the "superiority" of his 
own view by knocking down the carefully-enfeebled false 
image. E.g., the bullshit description of "white magicians" 
that all his followers like to parrot. Gets rather tiresome, 
especially when he acts like he knows your own position better
than you do yourself.

Crowley's description (if you are quoting him accurately) is 
actually pretty good. Though from my own experience I would say 
that the key element is not the destruction of the "false Self" 
of Tiphereth and the Ruach, but rather that the awareness ceases 
to identify with and cling to it. Once the awareness stops 
supporting it, the elaborate structure of the individuality
falls apart of its own accord, leaving a much smaller structure 
through which the transcended being can act in the world. No need 
to blast it apart.

In a metaphor that occurred to me recently, you might liken the 
individual self and its appurtenances in the Ruach to the temporary 
scaffolding needed to build an arched bridge or viaduct. Once the 
final structure is completed, the scaffolding is no longer 
necessary, and can be disassembled.

Whether what remains after this destruction qualifies as a True 
Self (tm) is open to question, IMO. "Selfness" seems rather a 
misnomer with respect to that state.


>[Fra. Doubt-Goat]
>This is very interesting.  I've always seen the HGA
>(i.e. Tiphereth) as the "true self."  At the abyss,
>the aspirant is abandoned by all, even his HGA. 
>Certainly, the annihilation of the ego is involved as
>well, but I take this adventure to mean that ALL that
>one is, including the "true self," is destroyed in
>the successfull crossing of the abyss.  On return,
>the individual - including the ego - is reconstructed
>with the addition of the universal experience.

For another view of this process than A.C.'s, take a look at:

		http://w3.one.net/~browe/abyss2.htm

If nothing else, it will show that there can be fairly wide 
variation in the way the process manifests in different people, 
and that A.C.'s version isn't the only way it can happen.

Josh

------------------------
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. -- John Lennon

Josh Norton (aka Benjamin Rowe) -- browe@ctd.com or browe@one.net
Magick code: MEN/AS QO++++ a+++ 666* S G Y W C N+++ POT  
Enochian Magick at http://w3.one.net/~browe

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