My name is Thomas Holman, and as a requirement for a Rhetoric class I have created this blog. I was supposed to choose a controversial topic, one that would engage my fellow classmates, so I have chosen Thelema.
I have been a Thelemite for 8 years. I wanted to get that out of the way. I also want to pledge here and now to keep these blogs as un-biased as possible. That is why I am encouraging people to comment and post as much as they want on this page. I welcome all views, and only ask that they are respected no matter what they are. Whatever your opinion or stance is on any certain issue, it is not the same as someone else's, and therein lies the beauty of the system. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, I would like to start at the beginning.
In April of 1904, a man named Aliester Crowley inked the first copy of "The Book of the Law" ( Also called Liber al vel Legis). He claims to have been dictated the book by an intelligent entity he called Awaiss. Crowley was philosopher, mountain climber, and Kabbalist. There are many sources that cite him as a "satanist" or "anarchist" which is up for debate, but that has no effect on our subject. Crowley claims to have been instructed inside the Great Pyramid at Giza, to enter a certain room and write down everything he heard between noon and one o' clock for three consecutive days. There are a few versions of this story, none of which are any more true than another, but what he wrote was a three chapter, poetic discourse on philosophy. I am aware of how bizarre this sounds, but think about how much more believable it is that this intelligence communicated with this man, than to think that a Jewish carpenter rose from the dead two thousand years ago. Also note worthy, and a fact I think speaks volumes to the authenticity of the book, is that Crowley hated the book at first. He disregarded it almost immediately, and didn't return to its teachings for several years.
No matter the source, the book of the law holds enough wisdom to contemplate for centuries. And yet, I digress.
I feel already that I am doing the story an injustice, so I will skip the origins and simply say that Thelema is a philosophy based on a book. But that too is an injustice.
The best thing about this philosophy is its universality. No one is expected to give up their traditional religious views. Thelema is a great supplement to any religion, and even better all by itself since it stresses eclecticism, equality, and respect for one's self and others.
I don't want to get into particular issues, or teachings in this first post, I just want to give a general overview. So here is the general idea. "Do What Thou Wilt Shall be the Whole of the Law." That is to say that in each of us is a spark of divine Will, and that finding that Will is the beginning of the path of wisdom. But, that means that everyone else has a divine Will as well, and respect for your own will constitutes tolerance for the will of other people. It is a "you do your thing and I'll do mine" kind of view. The Will is often and consistently contrasted against whim. That is to say that indulgence in every passing fancy is not doing your Will. In fact, as I have learned in my short time as a thelemite, doing your Will sometimes means limiting yourself, and sometimes means denying yourself things you really want to feel, or do because it is not vital. It is Whim.
The first step in Thelema is finding your true Will.
So to wrap up the first of many posts, I will give you as my reader something to consider.
What's the difference between Will and Whim? How do you know if something is vital to survival, or just an animal instinct? What if everyone did their true will, and only that? Is it even possible? When was the last time you felt like someone impeded your Will? How could it help you in every day life if you gave up the things that really didn't matter?
Scary thoughts, but definitely worth pondering.
In the next post I will outline the three basic principals of Liber Legis, which are also the three basic principals of existentialism.
Love is the Law, Love under Will.
