The Book of the Law Study Group 2.35

Grigori

I'm liking this verse. :thumbsup:

It seems we've finally done with the drudgery of 'because' and together with the preceding verse we've moved on from some Thelemic "Don'ts", and are getting ready for the much more interesting Thelemic "Do's"

Joy and Beauty is a lot more attractive than Because :)
 

Probie

Another nice point about it: the combination of precision, euphoria, and aesthetics. An unusual combo as most people think of a laid out system as confining & stemming their flow, but the text seems to suggest that an exact liturgy/ritual can be done in such a way that it's also fun and looks good too.

Reminds me of Psalm 119 where the author talks about the Law (often seen as a rigid, dead-letter code) can be beautiful, a source of guidance, and brings a sense of well-being.

AL here seems to be making a similar counter-intuitive move: rule + fun + pretty.
 

Aeon418

Joy and beauty? Sounds like the opposite of your average church service. It's all very solemn and dignified, as you would expect from a cult that glorifies death, suffering, and redemption in the "life to come".

But Thelema is life affirming, and so it's ritual must reflect that fact.
 

Grigori

Aeon418 said:
Joy and beauty? Sounds like the opposite of your average church service. It's all very solemn and dignified, as you would expect from a cult that glorifies death, suffering, and redemption in the "life to come".

But Thelema is life affirming, and so it's ritual must reflect that fact.

I saw the most interesting Catholic priest on TV the other day, an older gent, who guest spots on a comedic TV show here to tell some amusing tales. He was telling his life story for Easter, about how he joined the priesthood, simply because it was a stable job in a difficult time, and he was unable to become an officer in the army as an orphan with no financial backing. So pragmatic!

Then he discussed his ideas on Christ, that rather than a savior redeeming his flock, he saw this more as a way of God saying "I am one of you, as you are one of us, so lets live joyfully and with love for one another". It was quite striking and beautiful I thought, I'd love to see him preach in his church. No robes, no collar, and I can imagine there would be a beer or two involved. The whole TV conversation was not a nary mention of the ugly death part of the story, despite it being an Easter special.

Afterwards I was thinking about why this slightly odd fella so appealed to me, and its because he practices a religion about life, and not death.
 

Aeon418

Grigori said:
Afterwards I was thinking about why this slightly odd fella so appealed to me, and its because he practices a religion about life, and not death.
But can he reconcile his views with his own scriptures. ;)
 

Grigori

Aeon418 said:
But can he reconcile his views with his own scriptures. ;)

'Tis hard to do when your scriptures don't reconcile with each other. I like his take on them though :)
 

thorhammer

I like the inclusion of the word "rightly". The right hand is associated with the "good" of things and validation and empowerment, for want of better terminology. Performing the rituals "rightly" is a declaration of Thelema as being a totally valid and "serious" spiritual approach, and is indicative of a certain maturity that comes when you can define yourself in terms of what you are, instead of setting yourself against something else (for example, reactionary anti-Christian satanism etc.).

Does that make sense?

\m/ Kat
 

Grigori

I like that Kat :)
 

thorhammer

Grigori said:
I like that Kat :)
Oh, good, it's not just me :p

Also, it being "rightly" performed negates all need to be invoking that pesky "because" ;) dunnit?

\m/ Kat