The Book of the Law Study Group 2.59

Professor X

This verse kind of reminds me of the Fool card in the tarot. The Fool sets off on the journey of enlightenment and knowledge to better the spirit which symbolized by the fact that the card represents the element of Air. The Fool is only useful to the querent if the question at hand is a spiritual one,the element of air is too unstable and changeable to be of any use for physical type of questions. As long as the question is spiritual how can anyone be hurt which goes along with what this verse implies. As long as you are spiritual or "king" like how can you be hurt on your journey to knowledge.
 

Aeon418

The love spoken of in this verse seems to be the opposite of love under will. Instead of a dynamic, active force of union and change under the direction of the Will, this verse seems to indicate a very passive form of love that leads to a potentially mollycoddling, hands off approach that is afraid to act and cause change.

Magick is the science and art of causing change (Love) in conformity with Will. But if we were to stop and ask, "what if", we begin second guessing any potential changes and essentially baulk the Will. (See AL II:30) Maybe yonder beggar is a King. Then it will be a meeting of equals, so what's to fear?

There's a section from letter 46 in Magick Without Tears that sheds some light on this issue from a different angle.
Aleister Crowley said:
The word "compassion" is 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 as 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 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.

Love is the law, love under will.
Click to expand...
 

RLG

Dwtw

This is the only verse in Liber CCXX that contains 93 letters.

Litlluw
 

Grigori

I've been trying to reconcile my reading of this line with the Crowley's comments in Magick Without Tears that Aeon provided. And again I am having little brain implosions :D

I guess for me it's coming down to the idea that you cannot hurt a King by your actions, this is clear from the BoL line. A King would throw off your "charity", and engage brotherly battle to defend his own will.

By contrast a beggar may be hurt by your show of charity, as it can support the "slave" mentality or offend, and serves only to raise you above others in your own mind which would be a delusion. However that doesn't rule out acts of charity, if the recipient of the charity is treated like a King and not a beggar.

Which means we're back to treating everyone as a King alike.
 
Book recommendations on alchemy (for Thoth) The Fool & The Magician