Do What Thou Wilt: Split from Book of Law Study Group 1.5

Abrac

To me the so-called true self isn't all that mysterious, but spiritual and mystically-minded philosophies tend to confuse things considerably.

In virtually all mystical schools and the majority of religions it is said that the ego self is bad and must be sacrificed for the cause of something more noble. Whether this something is taught with words, arrived at through meditation and prayer or by magic, the goal is the same- stop thinking for yourself.

The idea of spirit guides telling you what to do is not different or unique. Rather than following spirit guides or angels, the truly enlightened thing to do is kill them. Then you will be doing something different, then you will be throwing off superstition and following your true will - both what you will and what you want - there really is no difference.

The only reason I can think of for talking to angels is so you can find their weaknesses and promptly dispose of them. })
 

Aeon418

Abrac said:
This really gets at the heart of it as far as I'm concerned. The Holy Guardian Angel is either yourself or it's not. You can't play both sides of the fence.
Then don't play both sides. The Angel is your real Self. That thing that you normally identify as your self - the ego, the personality, the body, - is just a tool for gaining experience. It's a temporary mask, a construct, for interacting with matter. The Great Work is realization of this fact. Liberation.

Some drunkards, doting on the dream,
Despair that it should die, mistake
Themselves for their own shadow-scheme.

The more perfectly we understand that the office of the human personality is to serve as a vehicle for cosmic forces, the more freely does the Primal Will behind all manifestation find expression through us. To others we may seem to have a very strong personal will. We ourselves will learn from our practice that the strength of our volition is measured by the degree of our willingness to let life find unobstructed manifestation through us.

Tha Tarot: A key to the Wisdom of the Ages ~ Paul Foster Case. (p.99)
 

kwaw

Thou who art I, beyond all I am,

Abrac said:
... The Holy Guardian Angel is either yourself or it's not. You can't play both sides of the fence.

5 Thou art ASAR UN-NEFER ("Myself made Perfect"):

Line 5

He acclaims his Angel as "Himself Made Perfect"; adding that this Individuality is inscrutable in inviolable. In the Neophyte Ritual of G: D: (As it is printed in Equinox I, II, for the old aeon) the Hierophant is the perfected Osiris, who brings the candidate, the natural Osiris, to identity with himself. But in the new Aeon the Hierophant is Horus (Liber CCXX, I, 49) therefore the Candidate will be Horus too. What then is the formula of the initiation of Horus? It will no longer be that of the Man, through Death. It will be the natural growth of the Child. His experiences will no more be regarded as catastrophic. Their hieroglyph is the Fool: the innocent and impotent Harpocrates Babe becomes the Horus Adult by obtaining the Wand. "Der reine Thor" seizes the Sacred Lance. Bacchus becomes Pan. The Holy Guardian Angel is the Unconscious Creature Self - the Spiritual Phallus. His knowledge and conversation contributes occult puberty. It is therefore advisable to replace the name Asar-Un-Nefer by that of Ra-Hoor-Khuit at the outset, and by that of one's own Holy Guardian Angel when it has been communicated.

Liber Samekh
 

Aeon418

Abrac said:
The only reason I can think of for talking to angels is to find their weak spots spots so you can dispose of them.
You seem to taking the concept of the Angel too literally. In another thread I said:
It's also helpful to remember a couple of the reasons why Crowley opted to use the term Holy Guardian Angel in his system.

1) It's so simple that even a child can understand it.
2) It's so stupid only a moron would take it at face value.
The Angel is an anthropomorphization of the inner spiritual self that stands behind the mask of your personality. It's a tool to help the mind deal with something that is beyond it's normal level of comprehension. The human mind is not very good at dealing with abstract concepts, but it is very good at dealing with forms. Especially human-like forms. Humanity has done this same thing throughout history in it's personification of natural forces as Gods.

The goddess Venus is a personification of Love. The god Mars, is war personified. In each case an abtract principle has been given a face. A face we humans can relate to. Get it?
In modern English we say that a person is a genius; but the ancient Greeks and Romans, who originated the word, said a person has a genius, by which they meant a protective and instructive spiritual being - a holy guardian angel, one might say - that awakens, and fulfills us each.

The word "genius," at root, means, "that which begets and gives birth." Whether anthropomorphized, as an angel or spirit or god - whether understood as a force of nature, or as cosmic consciousness or, for that matter, as any other thing whatsoever - there is THAT within each of us, immortal and infinitely creative, which truely gives us birth. Something in us knows, instinctively, that we must (each in our own ripe time) seek this, embrace this, and surrender to this as we would to the most overpowering and fulfilling love. And then we must give it expression in our lives and our work, must pour forth the very essence of ourselves into that which we love most. I say "must," because it feels deeper than a biological imperative, and, in time, grips us with an inner conviction before which the best reasoned logic is impotent.

The Mystical and Magical System of the A.'.A'. ~ James A. Eshelman.
 

Aeon418

Abrac said:
both what you will and what you want - there really is no difference.
Nope! Want originates within the ego. Will comes from the the True Self.
 

Aeon418

Tiphareth in Yetzirah (Suit of Swords) could be said to represent the human ego. It looks down at the four sephiroth below it and believes that to be all that there is. The four elements of the senses. Netzach - Fire. Hod - Water. Yesod - Air. Malkuth - Earth.

But a little way above Tiphareth is Chesed and Geburah. These are the first points of contact with the Holy Guardian Angel. From Chesed via the path of the Hermit comes the light (Lamp) of guidance that we feel through love and unity. It's that innate sense of "rightness". It is the gentle Hand of guidance and teaching, pointing the way ahead through the events of life.

From Geburah comes the corrective aspect of the Angel through the path of Adjustment. Even though we have free will and can do anything the ego wants, we are still guided back to the way of the True Will by the instrument of Karma. This is the Angel in it's role as Shepard. The built up karma is not a punishment for straying from the path. It's direct and sometimes painful instruction, that is designed to lead us back to the path of the True Will through the events of life.

The three highest sephiroth, Kether, Chokmah, and Binah, lay beyond the Abyss. They are the spiritual force behind life. As such they represent a completely different order of being. So long as the ego continues to to fix it's whole attention exclusively on the objects of sense - the four lowest sephiroth - it is not capable of apprehending the influence of the Supernal Triad.

But if the gaze is directed upward (inward) then spiritual guidance may be found. From Binah through the path of the Lovers comes the Spiritual Intuition. The silent call for the divided (Zain - Sword) to return home by the Method of Love under Will.
The goddess Babalon - The Scarlet Woman, representing a lower form of the infinite Nuit.

From Chokmah the True Will is transmitted through the infinite possibilities of the goddess Nuit - The Star. But the True Will is only manifested in the Doing and the Going. AL 2:4 Yet she shall be known & I never.
The god Therion (All Father Chaos), representing a lower form of the infinite Hadit.

From Kether via the Path of the Priestess comes the intermediary, the Holy Guardian Angel, as initiator to the Mysteries of the Silver Star.
The Moon in it's highest aspect representing the Three in One Trinity beyond the veil. Nuit, Hadit, Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
 

ravenest

similia said:
This line really caught my eye. I've been thinking a similar thing during our study so far. Just how is Thelema different to other religions whose doctrine is to give control of your life over to some higher power?
....
How is the foundations of Thelema, specifically the concept of the HGA, the same as other spiritual systems. How is it different? Is it different?

Dang! Again I dont have the time (nor the money for high IT cafe fees) to get fully involved in this interesting discussion (and to think I spent most of winter in a house in the city looking at a boring uninspired computer screen! :laugh: )

One of the main differences I have found in the expression of (my particular flavour) of Thelema comes from the two types (generally) of 'conciousness\religious movements throughout history ... basically , the power of and liberation of the individual on one hand and the submission of the individual and mass conciousness (usually subservient) on the other. Thelema deffinatly relates to the first (and so do some other movements in history, its not the only one) In a nutshell, thats the main thing. We believe in the power and ultimate good of the individual. We dont think that we need to live in a directed obedient herd ... sheep and goats ... the 'Lord' leads the gentle sheep (when I was a 'kid' ;) and they used to tell me that I'd think: "yeah ... all the way to the slaughterhouse". I'm a goat ... I'll look aftermyself thanks ... with the help of some other goats maybe.
 

Always Wondering

Myrrha said:
It sounds like in Thelema the god that is yourself could look (and behave) quite different from the god that is also someone else's self.

Good point. And in a way, the beauty of this thread. EVERYONE has given me lots to think about. I am all stirred up again. But I slept like a baby for 12 hours straight in my tailored pj’s. :grin:

One Star in Sight said:
One star can summon them to wake
To self—star-souls serene that gleam
On life’s calm lake.


Aeon418 said:
From Geburah comes the corrective aspect of the Angel through the path of Adjustment. Even though we have free will and can do anything the ego wants, we are still guided back to the way of the True Will by the instrument of Karma. This is the Angel in it's role as Shepard. The built up karma is not a punishment for straying from the path. It's direct and sometimes painful instruction, that is designed to lead us back to the path of the True Will through the events of life.

Helpful insight on karma.

AW

Good to hear from you Ravennest.
 

ravenest

Abrac said:
Do what thou 'wilt' sounds different on the surface, but when you start to investigate what it's really saying it's no different from any other self-sacrificial dogma that teaches one to sacrifice their will to another supposedly more enlightened will.

No sacrifice needed anymore. We are talking about Crowley's and Thelema's concept of THE TRUE WILL. Instead one might read; be true to the reason YOU incarnated. The choice WAS yours and STILL IS. The only thing needed to be eliminated (in oldaeonspeak - sacrificed) is any false 'true' will that has been instilled in you from outside of your original choice and path that causes an occlusion or interruption of your True Will.

Maybe your difficulty arises from the conflict that everyday 'free will' sometimes causes when it appears to be in conflict with 'True Will'.

Are you going to get uptight because you have to 'sacrifice' the 'free will' to sleep in late in bed because it conflicts with your 'supposedly more enlightened will' that had previously decided you would undertake a programme of dawn yoga and meditation?
 

ravenest

similia said:
Maybe when its really broken down, its different is only structural, the removal of the "Priest"?

??? I am an ordained 'Thelemite' Priest in the OTO's Thelemic Gnostic Catholic Church (E.G.C.)