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To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (nigris (333)) Subject: Is the Law for All? (was basic Thelemic tenets?) Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 11:47:34 -0800 (PST) 5000207 IVom Hail Mara! > It seems from most of the Thelemic writings I have read on the > 'net, most tend to downplay the literal meaning of those passages. promoting metaphorical interpretation, almost ANY interpretation becomes acceptable. with any interpretation available to the cult member, the cult text can be used as a bludgeon to inspire additional conversions and beat down the opposition with fervor. what a useful tool! > ...Crowley in his commentaries does the same thing... interpreting > these passages in such an abstract way while downplaying their > literal meaning. But the literal meaning is still there. I've > seen people do the same thing with the Bible and other religious > writings, and to me it seems that there's a limit to which you can > ignore the literal meaning of something in favor of abstraction > and numerical language games. religious persuasion uses ambiguity in scripture to promote the particular point of the raver. the Evul Book is a tar baby on account of its exascerbation of this quality as well as its many tweaking recommendations against proselytizing (the Comment, "argue not, converteth not", etc.). simultaneously it makes available the most potent weapon for fundamentalism available (for the promotion of the Crowleyan cult) and condemns it as evidence of corruption (emphasizing the individualism inherent to the Crowleyan Thelemite). this is a clear trap which inspires fundies to make themselves visible to the actual Thelemites so as to be avoided and shoved to the sidelines of any organized Thelemic pursuit. those who have an interest in group-expressed will without such fundamentalism will valuably make use of "Liber Al vel Legis" as a kind of test to determine who is worthy of continued membership in projects of genius and liberation. winnowing out the fanatics as noncomprehending of the Law. > So, why do you think those passages are there? Is there > anyone on here who actually agrees literally with these > "Nietzsche on meth" passages? "Liber Al vel Legis" was Crowley's Bi(b)le. considered more than this, it is over-rated. there are some cultists who think that all passages in that text are "absolutely and irrevocably true" (if properly understood). who shall gainsay them? it wouldn't be worth my time. > ...characteristic of Western religions in that they all have > parts of the holy texts that even the most devout tend to > skip over or downplay or interpret in some intensely abstract > way. Look at some of the stuff in the Bible about burning > people alive and stoning people for what most would see as > rather modest 'sins' while at the same time Kings are > glorified for committing genocide against whole nations. I > don't know of any Christians who aren't a little uncomfortable > with some of this. It's like almost all western religions > require one to apologize a bit for one's God... "yeah, he tends > to go off on these crazy rants sometimes... but he's really a > good guy once you get to know him..." the Law is different for the God than for the man, say the religions of the Old Aeon. New Aeon cults make no differences, affirming that the Law is do what thou wilt and nothing more. it is this which makes them valuable sources of inspiration and symbolic implication of the divinity of living beings > The Eastern faiths seem to be the only ones in which a person > of sound mind can accept everything in their holy texts. where you are drawing your 'Eastern' and 'Western' lines would seem to influence the truth of this assertion. there are crazy scriptures in Asia and India too, you know. look to the life story of Padmasambhava as told by Yeshes Tsogyal in "The Tantra of the Great Liberation" (one of my favorites, though I have so far only read it as translated by Evans-Wentz). Padmasambhava, like some other bodhisattvas, goes on rampages where he kills people, lives in charnal grounds, eats human flesh, and wears their skins as clothing. as in 'the West', what is told of the elevated or elite spiritual is not always to be emulated or adored. the Law is different, say the religious, for the saint and exalted, accomplished adept. but should it be? how shall we discern the former from the latter? blessed beast! ______________________________________________________________________ (333) nagasiva@luckymojo.com; http://www.luckymojo.com/nagasiva.html I don't read everything here; cc me if you absolutely want a response.
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