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a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
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a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
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From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (nigris (333)) Subject: Crowley's Character (was Crowley's Racism...) Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 20:37:20 -0700 (PDT) 49990914 IVom a correspondent wrote: # Umm, I may have contributed to this mess with my original comparisons # to Burroughs, Howard and Twain -- and when I was trying to take a # sort of middle ground, I may have seemed to be coming to Crowley's # defense more than I ever intended. ok. that said.... # Aside from the Collects of the Gnostic Mass, Crowley was not a # saint -- I am convinced that he was a very difficult person to # put up with, and I'm mostly glad that I never met him. But I # still consider my self a Crowleian-Thelemite; 'not a saint' should be more specific: liar, cheat, what would probably today be called a neglectful and drug-addicted father, and sadist whose support of what he called 'spiritual activities' would seem to lead to all manner of sociopathogical problems. # meaning that I accept The Book of the Law as my Holy Book, # and I do search Crowley's writings for elucidation of the # Book of the Law and for hints as to the Transcendental # Experience (or whatever you may want to call it). I don't # accept everything he said blindly, but I do think he is an # important occult author. in this last I agree with you, but the fact that so many have taken to "accepting Liber Al as their holy scripture" leads me to wonder whether his important occult contributions come at too high a price. # I look at his writings as a case of "Do what I say, don't # do as I do". but so much of what Crowley does he also says to do. he seems to support becoming an elitist hot shit magician claiming the authority of the cosmos and the gods on one's side and does it too. so many of the cultists in his wake merely wish to follow and not do what he should have said here: go on and create your own religion, lemmings! become your own Master, your own Prophet! write your own damn scripture! take your own damn journey! but his urge for self-aggrandizement was simply too strong. # I do think that authors from the past are held up to an # incredibly high standard (meaning a modern standard), but # Crowley is still deserving of criticism in these areas. moreso, since he claims to have moral superiority in several of his writings. he identifies this as a feature of his RACE and CULTURE and wants these to be respected as superior. he claims to reveal a new ethical and religious standard for the human species. he is not merely an author, he is a cult leader, and as such he should be scrutinized with what amounts to *hyper*-criticism by every self-respecting Thelemite. I think he is an obstacle to the promulgation of the Law with which he would like to become identified rather than merely associated. his ego and flaws got in the way of any sound message being communicated by the gods. this ought to shock all those who have been taken into his cult -- Crowley mangled the message he was sent to convey. instead of liberation, he put his fingers into the pie and mussed it up so that more people are either repulsed by his objectionable character or yanked under by his cult-style leadership than will ever hear a formula of liberation. he set the precious "aeon" of which he wished to be a clarion BACK YEARS. now the occult community has to 'get over' Crowley in the same way that an organism must get over a bad cold. are the gifts it may contain worth its ravage? I am not, as you may surmise by now, convinced of it. # And though a Liberal for most of my 45 years, I am starting # to get tired of all this "Politically Correct" crap -- I # think it's gone a bit too far. I'm not sure what this means. you mean excuse his poor example because you want to be a member of his religion? or do you mean that there are too many cultists seeking to canonize the man? # A friend of mine once said that "the gods picked Crowley # because he was someone that no one could put on a # pedestal" -- I guess that's true. no, unfortunately it isn't true at all. countless cultists are putting this man on a pedestal by overlooking his obvious shortcomings to which he points clearly in his 'autohagiography'. he hated religion so much that he put himself in the prophet seat and said "watch as you worship even a wretched man as me", obviously fulfilling the Christian diatribes about the Beast of the New Testament's "Revelation". his was the challenge meant to show the Herd how insipid it could become. a cruel joke played upon the shallow and easily led -- just one of many of which he told himself in his texts. blessed beast! ______________________________________________________________________ (333) nagasiva@luckymojo.com; http://www.luckymojo.com/nagasiva.html
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