Magick without tears, ch. Selfishness
Selfishness? I am glad to find you worrying that bone, for it has plenty of meat on it; fine juicy meat, none of your Chilled Argentine or Canterbury lamb. It is a pelvis, what's more; for in a way the whole structure of the ethics of Thelema is founded upon it.
There is some danger here; for the question is a booby trap for the noble, the generous, the high-minded.
'Selflessness', the great characteristic of the Master of the Temple, the very quintessence of his attainment, is not its contradictory, or even its contrary; it is perfectly compatible (nay, shall we say friendly?) with it.
The Book of the Law has plenty to say on this subject, and it does not mince its words. AL,11: 18, 19, 20, 21:
These are dead, these fellows; they feel not. We are not fo r the poor and the sad: the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk.
Is a God to live in a dog? No! but the highest are of us. They shall rejoice, our chosen; who sorroweth is not of us.
Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious /anguour, fo rce and fire, are of us.
We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of Kings: stamp down the wretched and the weak; this is the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world.
That sets up a standard, with a vengeance! (Note "they feel not," twice repeated. There should be something important to the thesis herein concealed.)
The passage becomes exalted, but a verse later resumes the theme, setting forth the philosophical basis of these apparently violent and arrogant remarks. "It is a lie, this folly against self." (A L. II: 22)
This is the central doctrine of Thelema in this matter. What are we to understand by it? That this imbecile and nauseating cult of weakness-democracy some call it-is utterly false and vile.
Let us look into the matter. (First consult AL. II: 24, 25, 48, 49, 58, 59, and III: 18, 58, 59. It might be confusing to quote these texts in full; but they throw much further light on the subject.)
The word "compassion" in its accepted sense-which is bad etymology-implies that you are a fine fellow, and the other so much dirt; that is, you insult him by pity for his misfortunes. But "Every man and every woman is a star"; so don't you do it! You should treat everybody as a King of the same order as yourself.
Of course, nine people out of ten won't stand for it, not for a minute; the mere fact of your treating them decently frightens them; their sense of inferiority is exacerbated and intensified; they insist on grovelling. That places them. They force you to treat them as the mongrel curs they are; and so everybody is happy!
The Book of the Law is at pains to indicate the proper attitude of one "King" to another. When you fight him, "As brothers, fight ye!" Here we have the old chivalrous type of warfare, which the introduction of reason into the business has made at the moment impossible. Reason and Emotion; these are the two great enemies of the Ethic of Thelema. They are the traditional obstacles to success in Yoga as well a s in Magick.
Now in practice, in everyday life, this unselfishness is always cropping up. Not only do you insult your brother King by your "noble self-sacrifice," but you are almost bound to interfere with his True Will. "Charity" always means that the lofty soul who bestows it is really, deep down, trying to enslave the recipient of his beastly bounty!
In practice, I begin afresh, it is almost entirely a matter of the point of view. "That poor chap looks as if a square meal wouldn't hurt him"; and you chuck him a half-crown. You offend his pride, you pauperize him, you make a perfect cad of yourself, and you go off with a glow of having done your good deed for the day. It's all wrong. In such a case, you should make it the request for a favour. Say you're "dying for someone to talk to, and would he care to join you in a spot of lunch" at the Ritz, or wherever you feel that he will be the happiest.
When you can do this sort of thing as it should be done, without embarrassment, false shame, with your whole heart in your words-do it simply, to sum up-you will find yourself way up on the road to that royal republic which is the ideal of human society.
...
P.P.P.S. An amusing coincidence. Just as I was polishing up this letter the lady whom I had just engaged to help me with some of my work irritated me to the point when my screams became so heartrending that the village will never sleep again as smoothly as its wont. They split the welkin in several places; and although invisible menders were immediately put on the job it is generally felt that it will never more be its own original wholeness. And why? Just because of her anxiety to please! She asked me if she might do somefhing; I said "Yes"; she then went on begging for my consent, explaining why she had made the request, apologizing for her existence! She could not understand that all she had to do was to try and please herself-the highest part of herself-to be assured of my full satisfaction.
P.P.P.P.S. "But the A:. A:. oath; aren't you - we - all out to improve the race, not counting the cost to ourselves?" Pure selfishness, child, with foresight! I want a decent place to live in next time I come back. And a longer choice of first rate vehicles for my Work.
- Magick without tears, ch. Selfishness
April 6, 2020
Pure Selfishness, with foresight
Labels:
8=3,
ego,
magick without tears,
Magister templi,
master,
self,
selfishness,
selflessness
January 9, 2020
One Teacher, One Order, One Truth Bullshit
Thelema came knocking on my doors in early 1996. Reflecting upon those first years and seeing how my focus was almost completely directed onto the outer realities (meaning, I was alone, wanting to belong, to be someone and to do something special, etc.), I am glad that I did not align myself with some outer structure (read: social or some other Order.) If I had, I would have just slowed down my growing up process.
Growing up is quite important, in my opinion. In modern terms that would be defined as individualization and self-actualization or breaking out of social, institutional, educational, family influences by becoming, well, a grown-up person, independent and free from bowing down to some authority.
In Thelema lore, this exact process and the resulting grown-up personal traits are mirrored in various texts, in Liber OZ for example.
Observing dynamic situations in the Thelema Orders around the world today, I am particularly intrigued by the notions of the One Holy and True Order, One Teacher, insistence on hierarchy, or shall we say theocracy, covering up or denying that rapes, emotional and mental abuses are taking place, etc.
No, I am not angry, frustrated or appalled by what I am observing, it just doesn't compute:
Is Thelema, one of the most direct and quite loud doctrines out there regarding personal responsibilities and liberties, being squandered by personal ego trips, astral (emotional) glamour and neurotic tendencies by the very same people that are publicly proclaiming: "Do what thou wilt."?
<deep sigh>
And then, of course, we have the childish and immature old-aeon notions and games called: "Please, save me, for I am incapable to progress on my own.".
I am always surprised by what I see here online or in real life and in-person as well: "advanced" aspirants, who have been involved in mystical and magickal practices for decades, a priori and without even bothering to examine which neurotic inner tendency they are being played by, bow down to, and put on a pedestal, some author, lineage "leader", or head of an Order.
Excuse me?!
What the hell?!
LOL
(laughing out loud)
Donating precious life energy to others is what is really happening in such cases, it seems. Instead of looking deeply within and finding what is most alive there (whatever that is, maybe even, god forbid, quite apart from what Order rules state), most human beings look outside…
…and a priori and without ever bothering to really examine what they say and do, follow some authority.
And although the greatest spiritual masters in human history (not only our Master Therion but the Buddha, Krishna, Mohamed, Krishnamurti, etc. as well) have all said to NOT do that, a lot of human beings still meekly bow down to some authority.
Well, in my opinion, that’s just a phase in the process of growing up, nothing more. A little child does that, a real grown-up person doesn’t need to, does she/he.
These are all just little games that egos admire so much, in my opinion. In reality, NO outer authority can initiate you, give you or grant you, well, anything, really. So, what's with the One Teacher, One Order, One Truth notion?
I don't know, but it really does smell to me like total bullshit.
Besides the term 'total bullshit', there is an even better term for these mindless ego-trips: idiot magick.
Idiot Magick
I guess no one wants to be an idiot, most of us just want to be high-level magicians...
...at the same time, however, knowing all there is to know about someone whom we have never even met in person, the ability to quote sacred texts by heart,
performing Star Sapphire, Reguli and 25 on a daily basis, drinking morning coffee with obligatory Thoth tarot spread for the day ahead,
evoking Goetia spirits for money
and at the same breath refraining from quitting the dead-end job because of some unfavorite astrological conjunction - basically NOT having a real-life at all...
...and at the same time proudly and meekly following some rules laid down by some head of the Order living thousands of miles away...
...politely and meekly waiting for an invitation to progress along the degrees of the aforementioned True and Sacred Order...
...and honoring some obviously delusional "authority" of the One True Order, hoping that it will bring some progress in the future...
...well, that spells out to me as IDIOT MAGICK.
Hmm...
Who am I and what shall be the sign?
Far beyond childish little games and immature ego-trips of "high degree magicians", might stand this line of thought:
"Any organization, group, or a person claiming a connection to the A.'.A.'. can only connect you to the external and temporal A.'.A.'.
Connecting with the sempiternal A.'.A.'. is a process of self-initiation and no one in this plane can give that to you.
Any group claiming to be the A.'.A.'., regardless of how legitimate and how effective it is, can only provide you with the training and resources of the external, temporal A.'.A.'.
Initiation is an internal process between you and the true A.'.A.'. ..."
- Ricardo F.
And to drive the point I am trying to make today right in:
“The Sempiternal A.’.A.’. Order is beyond political and personal human projections, hopes and dreams. Only inner and intimate transpersonal realizations can link one with this Inner Order,
no outside authority can do that. It is a matter of complete freedom of self-regulated spiritual development. There is no ‘One True Lineage’ or ‘One True World Teacher’, for such exclusiveness exists only in the vivid child-like human imagination.”
- me
What do YOU feel/think?
:)
Growing up is quite important, in my opinion. In modern terms that would be defined as individualization and self-actualization or breaking out of social, institutional, educational, family influences by becoming, well, a grown-up person, independent and free from bowing down to some authority.
In Thelema lore, this exact process and the resulting grown-up personal traits are mirrored in various texts, in Liber OZ for example.
Observing dynamic situations in the Thelema Orders around the world today, I am particularly intrigued by the notions of the One Holy and True Order, One Teacher, insistence on hierarchy, or shall we say theocracy, covering up or denying that rapes, emotional and mental abuses are taking place, etc.
No, I am not angry, frustrated or appalled by what I am observing, it just doesn't compute:
Is Thelema, one of the most direct and quite loud doctrines out there regarding personal responsibilities and liberties, being squandered by personal ego trips, astral (emotional) glamour and neurotic tendencies by the very same people that are publicly proclaiming: "Do what thou wilt."?
<deep sigh>
And then, of course, we have the childish and immature old-aeon notions and games called: "Please, save me, for I am incapable to progress on my own.".
I am always surprised by what I see here online or in real life and in-person as well: "advanced" aspirants, who have been involved in mystical and magickal practices for decades, a priori and without even bothering to examine which neurotic inner tendency they are being played by, bow down to, and put on a pedestal, some author, lineage "leader", or head of an Order.
Excuse me?!
What the hell?!
![]() |
Please, Order Leader, save me |
LOL
(laughing out loud)
Donating precious life energy to others is what is really happening in such cases, it seems. Instead of looking deeply within and finding what is most alive there (whatever that is, maybe even, god forbid, quite apart from what Order rules state), most human beings look outside…
…and a priori and without ever bothering to really examine what they say and do, follow some authority.
And although the greatest spiritual masters in human history (not only our Master Therion but the Buddha, Krishna, Mohamed, Krishnamurti, etc. as well) have all said to NOT do that, a lot of human beings still meekly bow down to some authority.
Well, in my opinion, that’s just a phase in the process of growing up, nothing more. A little child does that, a real grown-up person doesn’t need to, does she/he.
These are all just little games that egos admire so much, in my opinion. In reality, NO outer authority can initiate you, give you or grant you, well, anything, really. So, what's with the One Teacher, One Order, One Truth notion?
I don't know, but it really does smell to me like total bullshit.
Besides the term 'total bullshit', there is an even better term for these mindless ego-trips: idiot magick.
Idiot Magick
![]() |
Confusing Babalon with mommy |
...at the same time, however, knowing all there is to know about someone whom we have never even met in person, the ability to quote sacred texts by heart,
performing Star Sapphire, Reguli and 25 on a daily basis, drinking morning coffee with obligatory Thoth tarot spread for the day ahead,
evoking Goetia spirits for money
and at the same breath refraining from quitting the dead-end job because of some unfavorite astrological conjunction - basically NOT having a real-life at all...
...and at the same time proudly and meekly following some rules laid down by some head of the Order living thousands of miles away...
...politely and meekly waiting for an invitation to progress along the degrees of the aforementioned True and Sacred Order...
...and honoring some obviously delusional "authority" of the One True Order, hoping that it will bring some progress in the future...
...well, that spells out to me as IDIOT MAGICK.
Hmm...
Who am I and what shall be the sign?
Far beyond childish little games and immature ego-trips of "high degree magicians", might stand this line of thought:
"Any organization, group, or a person claiming a connection to the A.'.A.'. can only connect you to the external and temporal A.'.A.'.
Connecting with the sempiternal A.'.A.'. is a process of self-initiation and no one in this plane can give that to you.
Any group claiming to be the A.'.A.'., regardless of how legitimate and how effective it is, can only provide you with the training and resources of the external, temporal A.'.A.'.
Initiation is an internal process between you and the true A.'.A.'. ..."
- Ricardo F.
And to drive the point I am trying to make today right in:
“The Sempiternal A.’.A.’. Order is beyond political and personal human projections, hopes and dreams. Only inner and intimate transpersonal realizations can link one with this Inner Order,
no outside authority can do that. It is a matter of complete freedom of self-regulated spiritual development. There is no ‘One True Lineage’ or ‘One True World Teacher’, for such exclusiveness exists only in the vivid child-like human imagination.”
- me
What do YOU feel/think?
:)
Labels:
bullshit,
ego games,
ego trip,
idiot magick,
naiveness
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