A Thelemite's Dhammapada (ch.3-4)

Chapter 3: The Mind

xxxiii) The quivering, wavering mind - hard to guard, hard to restrain - is made straight by the wise one like a fletcher makes an arrow shaft.

xxxiv) Like a fish plucked from the water, thrashing about on the land, the mind flaps and wavers in being straightened by meditation; this wavering of Choronzon (see note to chapter 1) is fit to discard.

xxxv) Commendable is the training and taming of the mind, hard to hold down, doing what it likes, going where it wants. A trained mind brings ease.

xxxvi) The wise one may train the mind, which is hard to see, extremely subtle and elusive, doing what it likes and going where it wants. A trained mind brings ease.

xxxvii) Those who will restrain the mind which wanders aimlessly afar, subtly hiding, they are released from the bonds of Choronzon.

xxxviii) Those who have an unsteady thoughts, their thoughts having no serenity, who do not know a pure will*, are not wise.

xxxix) There is no fear for the wide-awake who has a trained mind and steady thoughts - unaffected by both good and bad.

xl) Knowing this body to be a fragile pot of clay, securing this mind as an unconquerable citadel (see Liber AL III:4-7), one may fight Choronzon with wisdom's weapon, guarding one's conquest while being unattached.

xli) Know that this body will soon lie in the earth, thrown aside, without consciousness or value, useless as a burned log.

xlii) More than what an enemy may do to you, more than one with hatred may do to you, the unsteady and untrained mind will bring far worse fortunes.

xliii) More than your mother or father, more than your entire family, a trained mind will bring far better fortunes.

* Here 'will' is the analogue to 'dharma' (or 'dhamma' in Pali) which refers both to the immutable law of the world as well as an individual aspirant's path; it refers here to the latter meaning.


Chapter 4: Flowers

xliv) Who shall conquer this earth and the realm of death, this human realm as well as that of the gods? Who plucks a well-taught word of law* like an expert garland-maker plucks flowers will go beyond the earth, death, the realm of people, and the realm of the gods.

xlv) An aspirant shall conquer this earth and the realm of death, this human realm together with the realm of gods, expertly plucking a well-taught word of law* as an expert garland-maker plucks a flower.

xlvi) Knowing this body to be like transitory foam, of the nature of a mirage, breaking the flower-tipped arrows of Choronzon, one is never again touched by death having gone beyond it.

xlvii) Death takes away the man with a mind full of attachment like a flood sweeps away a slumbering village or those who go around only gathering flowers.

xlviii) Death takes away the man with a mind full of attachment as he sweeps away those caught in the pursuit of pleasure, still gathering and plucking flowers.

xlix) A wise one goes through life like a bee who drinks nectar and flies away, not harming the flower.

l) Do not be concerned with what others do or what others fail to do; give your attention to what you do or what you fail to do.

li) A well-spoken word which is not put into practice is fruitless like a flower that is brilliantly full of color but scentless.

lii) A well-spoken word which is put into practice is fruitful like a flower that is brilliantly full of color and fragrant.

liii) Just as many garlands can be made from a heap of flowers, many fruitful deeds can be accomplished in this life.

liv) The scent of flowers or sandalwood cannot travel against the wind; but the fragrance of virtue spreads everywhere.

lv) No scent of sandalwood nor lotus nor jasmine can compare to the fragrance of the virtue.

lvi) The scent of sandalwood or flowers is faint, but the fragrance of virtue rises high to reach even the gods.

lvii) Being virtuous, earnest, and enlightened, death can never come near the aspirant.

lviii) Just as a fragrant lotus may bloom in the mud or a heap of rubbish,

lix) So does a true aspirant of awakening shine surpassingly with wisdom among the wretched and blind ordinary folk.

* 'Law' here refers again to the word 'dharma,' meaning both the immutable law of the world and the individual aspirant's path.

A Thelemite's Dhammapada (intro, ch.1-2)

... based off of the 1987 translation by John Ross Carter & Mahinda Palihawadana (Oxford World Classics) as well as the 1985 translation by Eknath Easwaran (Nilgiri Press) ...

Introduction

The Dhammapada is a work of about 423 verses, divided into 26 chapters. The word "Dhammapada" means "Verses of Dhamma" which is the Pali term for the Sanskrit "dharma," referring at once to universal law, an individual's path, and Buddha's teachings. It is a concise and extremely practical work of Theravada Buddhism.


Chapter 1: Verse-pairs

i) Our life, our perception, is shaped by our mind; we become what is thought. Suffering follows speech or acts coming from a polluted thought as a cart's wheels follow the ox's foot.

ii) Our life, our perception, is shaped by our mind; we become what is thought. Tranquil joy follows speech or acts coming from a pure thought as a shadow never departs.

iii) "He hated me! He attacked me! He defeated me! He robbed me!" They who fill themselves up with these type of thoughts will never be free from hatred.

iv) "He hated me! He attacked me! He defeated me! He robbed me!" They who do not fill themselves up with these type of thoughts will surely become free from hatred.

v) Hate cannot be stopped by hatred, whatever the occasion; only love can conquer hate. This is an ancient and unalterable law (compare Liber AL I:41 & I:57).

vi) People do not remember 'Every man and every woman is a star' and 'Existence is pure joy.' For those who realize this, all quarrels come to an end. (see Liber AL I:3 & II:9)

vii) Like a wind blowing down a weak tree, Choronzon* prevails over those who remain in a frantic pursuit of the pleasurable, with senses uncontrolled, without faith in themselves, eating too much, and working too little.

viii) Like a wind passing over an unshakeable rocky mountain, Choronzon* cannot prevail over those who are not running frantically in pursuit of the pleasurable, self-disciplined in mind and sense, full of faith in themselves, eating moderately, and working resolutely.

ix) One who calls herself a Thelemite and wears the crown of spiritual royalty, being not free of defilements (see note below) having not purified the mind, devoid of self-control and truth, does not deserve to call herself a Thelemite nor wear the crown of spiritual royalty.

x) But she who is free of defilement, having purified her mind, endowed with self-control and truth, is truly worthy of calling herself a Thelemite and of wearing the crown of spiritual royalty.

xi) Those with improper intentions, considering the trivial and superficial to be essential, are lost in the pastures of their vain fancies, never attaining the essential, highest knowledge.

xii) But the wise, knowing what is trivial and superficial and what is vital and essential, abide in the pastures of proper intention, attaining the supreme, essential goal.

xiii) As rain leaks through the roof of a poorly thatched house, so do impurities (see note below) seep into the untrained mind.

xiv) As rain does not leak through the roof of a well-thatched house, so can impurities not seep into the well-trained mind.

xv) Here she grieves and suffers, being afflicted, having seen the stain of her own impure Will.

xvi) Here she laughs and rejoices, being delighted, having seen the beauty of her own pure Will (compare Liber AL I:44 & II:20).

xvii) Here she grieves and suffers, having gone to a state of woe in seeing the results of her own defiled Will.

xviii) Here she rejoices and is happy, having gone to a state of joy in seeing the results of her own undefiled Will.

xix) Those who recite many spiritual texts but fail to practice the teachings is like a cowherd counting another's cows. They do not partake in the joys of this spiritual quest.

xx) Those who know only few spiritual texts but practice the teachings, having overcome all desire, aversion, delusion, attachment, and fear, living with a mind freed from grasping anything here or any "here-after;" they are partakers of the joy of this spiritual quest.

* Choronzon, the essence of dispersion and failure, here replaces the Buddhist notion of Mara, the tempter whom is equivalent to Satan tempting Jesus with pleasures and attachments. Choronzon/Mara represents all that which can wreck the work of the Thelemite including the impurities or defilements of:

• ignorance,
  
• attachment/craving,
  
• aversion/enmity,
  
• and fear.

The Thelemite works with a pure will, not phased by the pleasurable and un-pleasurable, with tireless energy, and non-attachment to result or purpose (in the sense of mental "oughts" for doing something rather than the natural and holistic Going).


Chapter 2: Vigilant Awareness

xxi) The path to the Deathless State, the City of the Pyramids*, is mindfulness: constant, vigilant awareness. Those lacking vigilance do not escape the path of death. Those who maintain vigilant awareness do not die; they who are dull and unaware are as dead, they can never come to Life.

xxii) Those who are vigilant and wise in meditation and awareness, knowing the death of the unaware, rejoice in awareness, and delight in the City of the Pyramids* with the noble ones.

xxiii) Those who persevere in meditation, forever firm in vigilance, those steadfast ones attain Nothingness*, the incomparable release from all bonds and defilement, the highest joy and freedom.

xxiv) Glory increases for those who stand vigilant and mindful, those of pure action, who with equilibrated deeds and self-discipline in mind, live in harmony with Will being vigilantly aware.

xxv) By standing alert, persistent in meditation, by self-discipline of word, speech, and thought, one makes an island for oneself that no flood can overwhelm (compare Liber AL III:4-7).

xxvi) Those immature people without wisdom, remain in unawareness. But the wise one guards her awareness vigilantly like the greatest treasure.

xxvii) Fall not into slothful unawareness, nor chase mindlessly after pleasures. Those who meditate with vigilance, being aware, attain the highest joyful ease.

xxviii) Overcoming their slothful unawareness through vigilant persistence, they ascend beyond suffering to the peaks of wisdom. They look upon the suffering and immature multitude as one standing upon a mountain looks on the ground below.

xxix) Among the slothfully unaware, she is vigilantly aware; among those who are asleep, she is wide-awake; The one with great wisdom moves like a racehorse, leaving others behind.

xxx) The earnest and vigilance are always respected, the slothful and unaware are never respected.

xxxi) The aspirant who delights in awareness, seeing fearfulness and ignorance in the unaware, Goes, burning away both the subtle and gross fetters*** like a fire.

xxxii) The aspirant who delights in awareness - seeing fearfulness and ignorance in the unaware - will never fall back; she is in the presence of the City of the Pyramids, being Nemo****.

* The City of the Pyramids, or No-thing, is the Thelemic analogue to Nirvana/Nibbana, being the final goal of Buddhist practice; it is the destruction of ignorance. That is, it is the destruction of duality in morality (good & evil), duality in psychology (craving & aversion), and duality in thought (self & not-self); they abide in the unconditioned, unchangeable, un-decaying and impersonal.

** Horus here is used as an analogue to Buddhist Maghavan, the Buddhist form of the Vedic Indra, the latter of which is the leader of gods, also known as the god of lavishness and war, bringer of storms.

*** The "subtle and gross fetters" refer partly to the impurities already mentioned but Buddhists go into more detail, delineating ten major fetters which bind one to a suffering state: belief in a permanent personality, excessive doubt, attachment to rules and rituals, craving for sensual pleasures, malice/ill-will, craving for material existence, craving for supra-material heavens, conceitedness/vanity/arrogance, restlessness/distraction, and ignorance/delustion. It is up to the individual Thelemite to see how these can all be fetters to attainment of one's Will.

**** Nemo, Latin for "no man," is the title of one who attains to the City of the Pyramids, having annihilated all her impurities/defilements and "fetters," especially her personal self or ego in the Impersonal.

Thelemic Mystic Manual - Thelema & Mysticism

I've just released the "Thelemic Mystic Manual" available both as a free PDF download & in paperback print at: http://www.lulu.com/content/2682470

The contents include essays like "Thelema is Zen," "What is 'Do what thou wilt?,'" "Thelemic Upanishads," and "The Beginnings of a Mystic Interpretation of Liber AL."

If you are interested in Thelema, mysticism, yoga, magick, or occultism - this book is a great download/buy!

Thelema: Knowing & Doing one's Will

TO KNOW ONE'S WILL IS TO DO ONE'S WILL

There is always much talk about the Will in Thelemic circles and consequently about how to know what one's Will is and further how to perform that Will.

I submit that, like Plato proclaimed "To know the Good is to do the Good" for his ancient ethical system, Thelema asserts an identity between the knowledge of and the doing of one's Will.

This knowledge is not the knowledge of ideas and facts, where one knows an object to be large or small, a color bright or dark, etc. But this is the Knowledge of Gnosis, the experiential understanding and identification with one's True Motion.

To Mega Therion wrote, "Thou must (1) Find out what is thy Will. (2) Do that Will with a) one-pointedness, (b) detachment, (c) peace." Once we know our Will, our true Self behind the phantom-self of ego, this knowledge expresses itself in action, in Doing & Going.

This Will is naturally one-pointed by virtue of both its supreme Force and that one has destroyed all Duality in the Great Work. Further, it is worked with detachment because all moments are a joyous end in themselves, worked without "lust of result." Finally, the Will is worked in peace for this Movement is One, having united one's conscious will with the inertia of the Universe, wherein even the greatest Conflict is a harmonious facet of the All.

What is "Do what thou wilt"?

Thelema is not about labeling oneself.

The term "Thelemite" is only used once in the Thelemic Holy Books when it is said, "Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word." (Liber AL I:40) It refers only to others labeling those who follow the Way of the Crowned & Conquering Child...

This same line ends with the eleven words, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law"

"Do what thou wilt" is negative & destroying in the sense that it cuts through all

• Morality (as an a priori truth) [AL I:40; III:60]  
• Dogma (metaphysical sophistry as binding to our Going). [AL II:27-34]
  

But it is also positive & creating in the sense that

• it inherently leads us to the ancient injunction, "Know Thyself"
• This is the Great Work wherein we come to know ourselves as Ourselves, without limit and infinite.

 

We must perform the operation of Solve, dissolving into the formless Unity which is Naught, so that we may consolidate our Will in our Way, Coagula. In this, each moment is a new Sacrament, and a new branch of Joy. [AL II:9, 42-44, 66]

Then - being "chief of all" [AL I:23] - the Child of Thelema works her Will, guarding against the phantoms of Morality and Dogmatism with the merciless red flame which is as a sword of Ra-Hoor-Khuit [AL III:38].

Thelemic Upanishads - pt.3: The Book of Six Questions

The Hindu Upanishads represent the true esoteric knowledge of the Self being one with Brahman, the un-differentiated boundless substance of Being, Consciousness, and Bliss (sat-chit-ananda). Their wisdom is timeless although the names and forms which they refer to are continually uprooted, interchanged, and transformed. They have been re-translated (based on Easwaran) to be pertinent to the New Aeon of the Crowned & Conquering Child, Horus.
* * *

The Prashna Upanishad
The Book of Six Questioins

"There is great danger in me; for who doth not understand these runes shall make a great miss. He shall fall down into the pit called Because, and there he shall perish with the dogs of Reason. Now a curse upon Because and his kin! May Because be accursed for ever! ...Also reason is a lie; for there is a factor infinite & unknown; & all their words are skew-wise. Enough of Because! Be he damned for a dog! But ye, o my people, rise up & awake!" - Liber AL II:27-29, 32-34



Six children of earth sought endlessly for Self-realization. Eventually they approached with love a sage - the prince-priest the Beast - for his guidance on the spiritual path. The Beast-sage told them: "Live with me for one year, practicing control of the senses and mind. Ask me questions at the end of the year, and I will answer them."

Question I

After a year, the first child asked the sage: "Master, who created the universe?"

The Beast replied, "The Boundless Lord, the giver of name and form, meditated on Himself and brought forth Energy (prana) with Matter (arayi), Male and Female, so that they would bring forth innumerable creatures for Him.

Energy is the sun; Matter is the moon. Matter is solid, Energy is subtle; the Supreme Self therefore is present everywhere.

The Sun gives Light and Life to all who live. East and west, north and south, above and below: It is the Energy of the universe. The wise see the Hawk-headed Lord of Love in the Sun, rising in all Its golden radiance to give Its warmth and Light and Life to all.

The wise see the Supreme Master in the year, which has two paths, the northern and the southern. Those who seek the Self through meditation, self-discipline, wisdom, and persistence travel after death by the Unitive Path. The path of Energy, to the solar world, supreme refuge, beyond the reach of fear and free from the multiplicity of birth and death.

"...This Lion came forth to proclaim the Aeon of Horus, the crowned and conquering child, who dieth not, nor is reborn, but goeth radiant ever upon His Way. Even so goeth the Sun: for as it is now known that night is but the shadow of the Earth, so Death is but the shadow of the Body, that veileth his Light from its bearer."
- The Heart of the Master, part III

Some look upon the Sun as our Father who makes life possible with heat and rain and divides time into months and seasons. Others have seen him riding in Wisdom on his Chariot, with seven colors as horses and six wheels to represent the whirling spokes of time.

The wise see the Supreme Magus of Love in the month: Matter corresponds to the dark half, and Energy to the bright half. The wise rejoice in the Light of Wisdom, while others suffer in the darkness of ignorance (avidya).

The wise see this Lord of Love in the span of a day: Matter corresponds to the dark night, and Energy the daylight. Those who use their days solely for sexual pleasure consume Energy needlessly, the very stuff of life. But mastered, sex becomes a spiritual force as a weapon of the True Will. They who live solely for sensual pleasures like sex take the lunar path, but those who are self-controlled and truthful to themselves will go to the Bright Regions of the Sun. The Bright World of Ra-Hoor-Khuit can be attained only by those whose will is pure and true, only by those whose will is pure and true."


Question II

Then another child approached the Beast and asked: "Master, what powers support this body? Which of the powers are manifested in it? And among them all, which is the greatest power?"

The sage replied: "The powers are space, fire, water, air, earth, speech, mind, vision, and hearing. All these powers boasted, 'We support this body,' but Will, vital energy, supreme over them all, said, 'Don't deceive yourselves. It is I, dividing myself fourfold, who hold this body together.'

"Hoor hath a secret fourfold name: it is Do What Thou Wilt. / Four Words: Naught-One-Many-All. / Thou-Child! / Thy Name is holy. / Thy Kingdom is come. / Thy Will is done. / Here is the Bread. / Here is the Blood. / Bring us through Temptation! / Deliver us from Good and Evil! / That Mine as Thine be the Crown of the Kingdom, even now. / ABRAHADABRA. / These ten words are four, the Name of the One."
- Book of Lies, ch.2

All the powers including speech, mind, vision, and hearing then sang this song: "The Supreme Will burns as fire; It shines as the sun; It rains as the clouds; It blows as the wind; It crashes as the thunder in the sky. It is the earth, It has form and no form; the Crowned & Conquering Will is immortality.

Everything rests in the Will, as spokes rest in the hub of the wheel: all the holy texts, all our rituals & daily movements, all the merchants and warriors and kings.

O Supreme Will, you move in the mother's womb as life to be manifested again. All creatures pay their homage to you: you carry offerings, bring war, and allow sages to master their senses. All depends upon you for their function.

"Come forth and dwell in me; so that every my Spirit, whether of the Firmament, or of the Ether, or of the Earth or under the Earth; on dry land or in the Water, or Whirling Air or of Rushing Fire; and every spell and scourge of God the Vast One may be THOU. Abrahadabra!"
- Invocation of Horus, used in 1904

You are the creator and destroyer, and our protector. You shine as the sun in the sky; you are the source of all light. When you pour yourself down as rain on earth, every living creature is filled with joy and knows food will be abundant for all.

You are pure and master of everything, O Supreme Will. As fire you receive our acts of love under will: it is You who gives us the breath of life.

O Divine Will, which invisibly pervades the voice, the eye, the ear, and the mind: let our motion be One. O Supreme Will, all the world depends on you. As a mother looks after her children, give us health and strength. Grant us wealth and wisdom: the accomplishment of our True Motion."


Question III

Then a third child approached the sage and asked: "Master, from what source does the Will come? How does It enter the body, how does It support all that is without and all that is within?"

The Beast replied: "You ask searching questions. Since you are a devoted aspirant seeking the Boundless Godhead, I shall answer them.

The Will is born of the Supreme Self. As a man casts a shadow, the Self casts its Will into the body at the time of birth so that the mind's desires may be fulfilled.

"I am Omniciscient, for naught exists for me unless I know it. I am Omnipotent, for naught occurs save by Necessity, my soul's expression through my Will to be, to do, to suffer the symbols of itself. I am Omnipresent, for naught exists where I am not, who fashioned Space as a condition of my consciousness of myself, who am the centre of all, and my circumference the frame of mine own fancy. I am the All, for all that exists for me is a necessary expression in thought of some tendency of my nature, and all my thoughts are only the letters of my Name."
-Liber V vel Reguli

As a king appoints officers to do his work in all the villages, so the Will employs the various energies, each a part of himself, to carry out different functions in the body. As the distributor of energy, it moves through the myriad vital currents radiating from the heart, where lives this Self.

The Sun is the outward form of Energy in the universe, and it rises to bring light to our eyes. The Supreme Self is the source of inner and outer Energy that pervades all things. Those who realize this go beyond death. Those who perceive how the Will rises, enters the body, and serves the Self... they die not; they die not.


Question IV

Then the fourth children approached the prince-priest the Beast and asked him: "O Sage, when a man is sleeping, who is it that sleeps in him? Who sees the dreams he sees? When he wakes up, who in him is awake? When he enjoys, who is enjoying? In whom do all these faculties rest?"

The sage replied: "The dreaming mind recalls past impressions. It sees again what has been seen, it hears again what has been heard, and it enjoys again what has been enjoyed in many places. Seen and unseen, heard and unheard, enjoyed and unenjoyed, the real and the unreal: the mind experiences all these things in a dream-filled sleep.

When the mind is stilled in dreamless sleep, it brings rest and repose to the body. Just as birds fly to the tree for rest, all things in life find their rest in the Supreme Boundless Self. All the gross and subtle elements, what can be sensed, the mind and what it thinks, the intellect and what it knows, the ego and what it grasps, the heart and what it loves, the light and what it reveals: all things in life find their rest in the Supreme Self in dreamless sleep.

"Say thou that He God is one; God is the Everlasting One; nor hath He any Equal, or any Son, or any Companion. Nothing shall stand before His face."
- Liber Ararita, III:0

It is the Lord of Silence & Strength, the Supreme Self, who sees, hears, smells, touches, tastes, thinks, acts, and is pure consciousness. The Self is the Crowned & Conquering Child: changeless and supreme.

Those who know the Supreme Self as formless, without shadow, without impurity, know all and live in all. Those who know this Self, the seat of consciousness, in whom the breath and all the senses live, know all and live in all."


Question V

A fifth approached the sage and asked: "Those who have become established in the Double Word of Power ABRAHADABRA, what happens to them after death?"

The Beast replied: "ABRAHADABRA is both immanent and transcendent. Through it one can attain the personal and the impersonal.

These five syllables when they are separated cannot lead one beyond mortality; but when the whole mantra - indivsible, interdependent - goes on reverberating in the mind, one is freed from fear, awake or asleep.

Established in this cosmic vibration, the awakened child-sage goes beyond fear, decay, and death to enter into infinite peace."

"I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice. My incense is of resinous woods & gums; and there is no blood therein: because of my hair the trees of Eternity."
- Liber AL I:58-59


Question VI

Then the final child-student approached the Beast and said: "Master, the prince of a great kingdom once asked me, 'Do you know the Self with its multifaceted forms?' 'I don't,' I replied. 'If I did, I would certainly tell you.' That prince mounted his chariot and went away silent. Now may I ask you, where is that Self?"

The Beast-sage replied: "Within this body dwells the Self with his multifaceted forms, gentle child. The Self asked himself, 'What is it that makes Me go if I cannot go from myself?' So he created Will, and from it the various urges of Energy; and from this Energy he made space, air, fire, water, the earth, the senses, the mind, and food; from food came strength, austerity, innumerable books, rituals, and all the worlds. Everything was given name and form.

"None, breathed the light, faint & faery, of the stars, and two. For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union. This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all."
- Liber AL I:28-30

As rivers lose their private name and form when they reach the sea, so that people speak of the sea alone, so all these multifaceted forms disappear when the Supreme Self is realized. Then there is no more name and form for us, and we attain immortality.

This True Self is the hub of the wheel of life, and the multifaceted forms are only the spokes. This Self is the paramount goal of life: attain this goal and go beyond death into Eternity!"

"I am the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, yet therefore is theknowledge of me the knowledge of death. I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. "Come unto me" is a foolish word: for it is I that go."
- Liber AL II:7-8

The Beast concluded: "There is nothing more to be said of the true Self, nothing more."

The students adored their teacher and said: "You are our father; you have taken us across the sea to the other shore." Let us adore the illumined sages! Let us adore ourselves and all things as our Supreme Self!

"The end of the hiding of Hadit; and blessing & worship to the prophet of the lovely Star!"
- Liber AL II:79

Thelemic Upanishads - pt.2: Various books

The Hindu Upanishads represent the true esoteric knowledge of the Self being one with Brahman, the un-differentiated boundless substance of Being, Consciousness, and Bliss (sat-chit-ananda). Their wisdom is timeless although the names and forms which they refer to are continually uprooted, interchanged, and transformed. They have been re-translated (based on Easwaran) to be pertinent to the New Aeon of the Crowned & Conquering Child, Horus.
* * *

The Tejobindu Upanishad
The Book of the Drop of Divine Splendour

"How the dew of the Universe whitens the lips!" - Liber VII I:47


Let us meditate on the shining True Self: changeless, underlying the world of change, and realized in the heart in Knowledge & Conversation.

This supreme goal is hard to reach, hard to describe, and hard to abide in. They alone attain Knowledge & Conversation who have mastered their senses, and are free from emotional fluctuations, free from likes and dislikes, without selfish bonds to people, things, and ego.

"Since I am Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof, do ye also thus. Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt. But whoso availeth in this, let him be the chief of all!"
- Liber AL I:22-23

They alone attain Knowledge & Conversation who are prepared to face challenge after challenge in the three stages of meditation*. With persistence & concentration they become united with Heru, the Lord of Love. Called Ra-Hoor-Khuit, who is present everywhere, the three dimensions of space emanate from Him, although He is infinite and invisible. Though all the galaxies emerge from Him, He is without form and unconditioned.

To be united with Horus, the Lord of Love, is to be freed from all conditioning. This is the state of Self-realization, far beyond the reach of words and thoughts. To be united with Horus, one's Angel and Inmost Self - imperishable, changeless, beyond cause and effect - is to find infinite joy. Ra-Hoor-Khuit is beyond all duality, beyond the reach of 'thinker' and of 'thought.'

"The word of Sin is Restriction."
- Liber AL I:41

Let us meditate on our True Shining Self, the ultimate reality, who is realized by the Hermits of Hadit in Knowledge & Conversation.

One's True Self cannot be realized by those who are subject to greed, fear, regret, pity and anger. The Lord of Silence cannot be realized by those who are subject to pride of name and fame or to the vanity of scholarship. It cannot be realized by those who are enmeshed in life's duality.

But to all those who pierce this duality, whose hearts are given to the Lord of Force & Fire, He gives Himself through His infinite wrath; He gives Himself through His infinite grace.

ABRAHADABRA


* The three stages of meditation are the three degrees of concentration that one maintains on the object of concentration. In the first stage one loses identification with the body, in the second stage one loses identification with the mind, and the third stage is Knowledge & Conversation/samadhi. "...the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body." - Liber AL I:26


* * *

The Atma Upanishad
The Book of the Supreme Self

"In the name of the Lord of Initiation, Amen." - Liber Tzaddi, line 0


Ra-Hoor-Khuit manifests in three ways: the outer [body], the inner [mind], and the Supreme Self.

Skin, flesh, vertebral column, hair, fingers, toes, nails, ankles, stomach, navel, hips, thighs, cheeks, eyebrows, forehead, head, eyes, ears, arms, sides, blood vessels, nerves: these make up the outer self, the body, subject to birth and death.

The inner self perceives the outside world, made up of the various elements. The inner self is the victim of likes and dislikes, pleasure and pain, delusion, sorrow, regret and doubt. It knows all the subtleties of language, enjoys dance, music, and al the fine arts; delights in the senses, recalls the past, reads the scriptures, and is able to act. This is the mind, the inner person.

"Hear me, ye people of sighing! / The sorrows of pain and regret / Are left to the dead and the dying, / The folk that not know me as yet... These are dead, these fellows; they feel not. We are not for the poor and sad: the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk."
- Liber AL II:17-18

The Supreme Self, adored in various Holy Texts, can be realized through the path of Union in Magick and Yoga. Subtler than the smallest seed, subtler than the smallest grain, even subtler than the hundred-thousandth part of a hair, this Supreme Self cannot be mentally grasped, cannot be physically seen.

The Supreme Self is neither born nor dies. He cannot be burned, moved, pierced, cut nor dried. Beyond all attributes, the supreme Self is the eternal witness, ever pure, indivisible, and uncompounded, far beyond the senses and the ego. In him conflicts and expectations cease. he is omnipresnet, beyond all thought, without action in the external world, without action in the internal world. Detached from the outer and the inner, this Supreme Self purifies the impure.

ABRAHADABRA

* * *

The Isha Upanishad
The Book of the Inner Ruler


All this is full. All that is full.
From fullness, fullness comes.
When fullness is taken from fullness,
Fullness still remains.


"The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!"
- Liber AL I:45


The Lord of Silence & Strength is enshrined in the hearts of all and pervades the whole universe. Heru-Ra-Ha is the supreme reality. Rejoice in Him by renouncing separateness. Bind nothing! All belongs to the Lord of Infinite Space. Thus working with a pure will, you will live in an eternity; thus Alone, one with your true Child-Self, you will work in real freedom.

The Supreme Self is one. Ever still, this true Self is swifter than thought, swifter than the senses. Though motionless, He outruns all pursuit. Without this Self, no life could exist. This Crowned & Conquering Self seems to move, but is ever still; It seems far away, but is ever near. He is within all, and He transcends all.

Those who see all creatures in themselves and themselves in all creatures know no fear or pity. Those who see all creatures in themselves and themselves in all creatures know no sorrow or grief. How can the multiplicity of life delude the one who sees its unity?

"Come thou, O beloved One, O Lord God of the Universe, O Vast One, O Minute One! I am Thy beloved. All day I sing of Thy delight; all night I delight in Thy song. There is no other day or night than this. Thou art beyond the day and the night; I am Thyself, O my Maker, my Master, my Mate!"
- Liber LXV III:33-36

Horus, the Supreme Self, is everywhere. Bright is this Self: indivisible, untouched by 'sin,' wise, both immanent and transcendent. It is He who holds the Cosmos together.

The face of truth is hidden by your orb of gold, O Sun! May you remove your orb so that I, who adore the true, may see the glory of truth. O Nourishing Sun - solitary traveler, controller, source of life for all creatures - spread your light and subdue your dazzling splendor so that I may see your blessed Self. Even that very Self am I!

May my life merge in the Immortal when my body is reduced to ashes. O mind, meditate on the eternal Hawk-Headed Lord. O God of Fire & Strife, lead us by the path of our True Wills to eternal joy. Deliver us from good & from evil, we who Bind Nothing and drain our blood into the Cup of Babalon.

"Take your fill and will of love as ye will, when, where and with whom ye will! But always unto me. If this be not aright; if ye confound the space-marks, saying: They are one; or saying, They are many; if the ritual be not ever unto me: then expect the direful judgments of Ra Hoor Khuit! ...But ecstasy be thine and joy of earth: ever To me! To me!"
- Liber AL I:51-53


ABRAHADABRA

Thelemic Upanishads - pt.1: The Book of the Great Forest

The Hindu Upanishads represent the true esoteric knowledge of the Self being one with Brahman, the un-differentiated boundless substance of Being, Consciousness, and Bliss (sat-chit-ananda). Their wisdom is timeless although the names and forms which they refer to are continually uprooted, interchanged, and transformed. They have been re-translated (based on Easwaran) to be pertinent to the New Aeon of the Crowned & Conquering Child, Horus.
* * *

The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
The Book of the Great Forest

"Gnarled Oak of God! In thy branches is the lightning nested! Above thee hangs the Eyeless Hawk."
- Liber A'ash, line 1

A wife loves her husband not for his own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays (lila) through him.

A husband loves his wife not for her own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through her.

Children are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

Wealth is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through it.

Philosophers, priests, & theologians are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

Warriors are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

The universe is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through it.

The heavenly beings are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

The earthly creatures are loved not for their own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through them.

Everything is loved not for its own sake, but because the Self of Horus plays through it.

This Self, One with the Crowned & Conquering Child, has to be realized. Hear about this Self and meditate upon It, child. When you hear about the Self, meditate upon the Self, and finally realize the Self, you come to understand everything in life as boundless Light & Bliss.

"To Me do ye reverence! to me come ye through tribulation of ordeal, which is bliss."
- Liber AL III:62

For priests' words confuse, making one regard them as separate from this Self. Warriors' actions confuse, making one regard them as separate from this Self. Heavenly beings' and earthly creatures' appearances confuse, making one regard them as separate from this Self. The universe' appearance confuses, making one regard it as separate from this Self. Everything confuses those who regard things as separate from this Self.

Priests, warriors, heavenly beings, earthly creatures, the universe, everything: these are the Self.

As a lump of salt thrown in water dissolves and cannot be taken out again, even so the separate self or 'ego' dissolves in the identity with Horus: a sea of pure consciousness, infinite and immortal.

The notion of separateness -as one's self being separate from the True Self of Horus - arises from identifying oneself with the body, which is made up of the temporary physical elements; when this physical identification dissolves, there can be no more separate self.

Are you bewildered when I say there is no separate self? As long as there is separateness, one sees, hears, smells, feels, speaks to, thinks of, and knows another as separate from oneself. But when the Self is realized as the indivisible Unity of Life, who can be seen by whom? Who can be heard by whom? Who can be smelled by, felt by, spoken to, thought of, or known by whom? In this state, how can the knower ever be known?

"It is not known if it be known."
- Liber Cheth, line 21

* * *

Two questions were once put forward to a sagely woman who dared claim the prize for being the most knowledgeable star in the kingdom. The first question was 'What are all things in the world - past, present, and future - woven in?' The answer came as 'Space' which satisfied the questioner. Then the second question came, 'In what is Space woven?' The answer came:

Those who are Knowing call it the Crowned & Conquering Child, the Imperishable.

It is neither big nor small, long nor short, hot nor cold, bright nor dark, neither air nor space. It is without attachment, taste, smell, touch, eyes, ears, tongue, mouth, breath, or mind. It is without movement, limitation, inside, or outside. It consumes nothing, and nothing consumes It.

In perfect accord with the Will of Horus the Imperishable, sun and moon make their orbits; heaven and earth remain in place; moments, hours, days, nights, weeks, months, and seasons become years...

This Imperishable Hawk of Light is the seer, though It is unseen; the hearer, though unseen, the thinker, though unthought, the knower, though unknown. Nothing other than the Imperishable can see, hear think, or know. It is in Heru-Ra-Ha, the Imperishable Substance, wherein space is woven.

"I am light, and I am night, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am speech, and I am silence, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am life, and I am death, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am war, and I am peace, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am weakness, and I am strength, and I am that which is beyond them.
Yet by none of these can man reach up to me. Yet by each of them must man reach up to me."
- The Vision & the Voice, 1st Aethyr

* * *

This same Scarlet Woman, earthly emissary of the Crowned & Conquering King-Child, was questioned again by another authority. He spoke:

The sun is the light of mankind by which we sit, work, go out, and come back. But when the sun sets, the moon is the light of mankind. When the moon sets, fire is the light of mankind. When fire goes out, speech is the light of mankind. When the sun & moon set, the fire goes out and no one speaks, what is the light of mankind?

The woman-sage replied:

The Self, the Hawk-Headed Lord of Silence & Strength, is the light of mankind, by which we sit, work, go out, and eventually come back.

Horus is pure awareness, and He shines as the light within the heart, surrounded by the senses. Only seeming to think, seeming to move, the Supreme Self neither sleeps nor wakes nor dreams.

Abiding in this Self, one is free from desire, free from good & evil, free from fear.

As a man in the arms of his beloved is not aware of what is without and what is within, so a person in union with his own True Self is not aware of what is without and what is within, for in that unitive state all desires find their perfect fulfillment. There is no other desire that needs to be fulfilled, and one goes beyond sorrow.

"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains."
- Liber AL II:9

In that unitive state there is neither father nor mother, neither worlds nor people nor even the ancient scriptures. In that state there is neither killer nor killed, neither low nor high, neither sacred nor profane. This Self is beyond good and evil, beyond all the suffering of the human condition.

In that unitive state, one sees without seeing & knows without knowing, for there is nothing separate from Oneself.

Where there is separateness, one sees, smells, tastes, speaks to, hears, touches, thinks of, and knows another. But where there is Unity, One without a Two, that is the world of Horus, Lord of Limitless Light! This is the supreme goal of life, the supreme treasure, the supreme joy. Those who do not seek this supreme goal live on but a fraction of this joy.

"For these fools of men and their woes care not thou at all! They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones."
- Liber AL I:31

The Self is indeed Horus, but through ignorance people identify it with intellect, mind, senses, passions, and the physical elements. This is why Horus, the True Self, is said to consist of this and that, and appears to be everything.

When all the knots that strangle the heart are loosened, the mortal becomes immortal - here in this very life. As the skin of a snake is discarded, so does the normal self die; but the True Self, freed from identification with the body, merges in Heru-Ra-Ha: infinite life, eternal light.

Those who realize this Self enter into the peace that brings complete self-control and perfect patience. They see themselves in everyone and everyone in themselves. Evil cannot overcome the because They overcome all evil. Sin cannot consume them because They consume all sin. Free from "evil," free from "sin" and doubt, they live in the Kingdom of the Crowned & Conquering Child. Children of earth, this Kingdom is Yours!

The Path of Attainment

"Abrahadabra; the reward of Ra Hoor Khut."

- Liber AL vel Legis III:1

What does Attainment even entail?

Man is typically bludgeoned about by circumstance, unaware of a true locus of action within or without himself, unaware of his true identity.

This isn't inherently 'wrong' and certainly not 'evil:' it is the apparently typical human condition. But certain people are impelled to the Path of Attainment by their seemingly hopeless endeavor to find some lasting solace in the realm of multiplicity, or countless other reasons...

"I am the Hawk-Headed Lord of Silence & of Strength; my nemyss shrouds the night-blue sky."

- Liber AL vel Legis III:70

Attainment is two-fold:

1. Solve: the realizing of one's true Identity, the revealing of one's Self to oneself (Silence)
2. Coagula: the manifestation of that Identity in Motion, the performing of one's Will (Strength)

What man thinks is his 'self' and what he thinks is his 'will' are both ridiculously puny conceptions, based in nonsense. Attainment is therefore the identification of the self with the True Self and the aligning of the will with the True Will.

The mastery of Solve is the mastery of Mysticism, identification of Self with All. This is coterminous with understanding the Universe to be Continuous (0).

"I am the Lord of the Double Wand of Power; the wand of the Force of Coph Nia--but my left hand is empty, for I have crushed an Universe; & nought remains."
- Liber AL vel Legis III:72

The mastery of Coagula is the mastery of Magick, causing Change in conformity with Will. That is, Going one's natural & spontaneous Way. This is best done with a healthy, strong, and well-ordered body & mind.

"The ending of the words is the Word Abrahadabra. "
- Liber AL vel Legis III:75

θέλημά - the Will of God

θέλημά is the word used about 40 times in the Bible to designate most often the will of God.


θέλημα - Will

• Matthew 6:10, "Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth."
• Matthew 26:42, "Again, a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cup can't pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done.""
• Luke 22:42, "saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.""
• John 7:17, "If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself."
• John 9:31, "We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him."
• Romans 2:18, "and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,"
• 2 Timothy 2:26, "and they may recover themselves out of the devil's snare, having been taken captive by him to his will."
• Hebrews 10:9, "then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,"
• Hebrews 13:21, "make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."
• 1 John 5:14, "This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us"

θέλημα του θεου ("Thelema ton Theon") - the Will of God

• Mark 3:35, "For whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother." [see Matthew 12:50 below]
• Acts 22:14, "He said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth."
• Romans 12:2, "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God."
• Galatians 1:4, "who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father--"
• 1 Thessalonians 4:3, "For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,"
• 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you."
• Hebrews 10:7, "Then I said, 'Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.'"
• Hebrew 10:36, "For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise."
• 1 Peter 2:15, "For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:"
• 1 Peter 3:17, "For it is better, if it is God's will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil."
• 1 Peter 4:19, "Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator."
• 1 John 2:17, "The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God's will remains forever"
• Revelation 4:11, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of your desire they existed, and were created!""

θέλημα του πατρός ("Thelema ton Patros") - the Will of the Father

The Will conceived of as coming from the Father is a distinctly Judeo-Christian tradition. The father implies discipline on His part and obedience on Our part, the children of God. Our normal considerations of 'want,' our self-will, is nothing until merged with the Divine Will of Thelema. "The Perfect and the Perfect are one Perfect and not two; nay, are none!" (Liber AL I:45)

• Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
• Matthew 12:50, "For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother."
• Matthew 18:14, "Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
• Matthew 21:31, "Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom of God before you."
• John 6:40, "This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
• Galatians 1:4, "who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father--"

θέλημα του κυρίου ("Thelema ton Kurion") - The Will of the Lord

The Will's source conceived of as being a Lord is common in nearly every single tradition. The Lord is the common title of one who commands and controls, the true Divine Will being the true Lord, the true Charioteer.

• Luke 12:47, "That servant, who knew his lord's will, and didn't prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes,"
• Acts 21:14, "When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, "The Lord's will be done.""
• Ephesians 5:17, "Therefore don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
• Ephesians 6:6, "not in the way of service only when eyes are on you, as men pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;"

θέλημα του πέμψαντός ("Thelema ton Pemphantos") - the Will of Him who Sent Me

This is the Will understood as being the power of that which gives rise to all things and to which all return, the Source. The true Divine Will comes from the Source and we act as Divine emissaries, carrying the 'Good News.'

• John 4:34, "Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work."
• John 5:30, "I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don't seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me."
• John 6:38, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me."
• John 6:39, "This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day."

Every number is a mask of the Infinite

"I also am a Star in Space, unique and self-existent, an individual essence incorruptible; I also am one Soul; I am identical with All and None. I am in All and all in me; I am, apart from all and lord of all, and one with all. I am Omniciscient, for naught exists for me unless I know it. I am Omnipotent, for naught occurs save by Necessity, my soul's expression through my Will to be, to do, to suffer the symbols of itself. I am Omnipresent, for naught exists where I am not, who fashioned Space as a condition of my consciousness of myself, who am the centre of all, and my circumference the frame of mine own fancy." - Liber V vel Reguli

Liber AL I:2. The unveiling of the company of heaven.

The Book of the Law is an apocalypse in the sense that it is an unveiling of our true nature. We are stars in the company of heaven, or in other words, "The Book of the Law shows forth all things as God." (Djeridensis Working)

"I am the All, for all that exists for me is a necessary expression in thought of some tendency of my nature, and all my thoughts are only the letters of my Name. " - Liber V vel Reguli

Liber AL I:3. Every man and every woman is a star.

Every man and every woman represents a certain combination of elements - like gases, heat, gravity, and motion in a physical star - in the Body of Infinite Space.

We are viceregents of the Infinite, nonetheless, and we make our joys in earth and heaven.

"I am the One, for all that I am is not the absolute All, and all my all is mine and not another's; mine, who conceive of others like myself in essence and truth, yet unlike in expression and illusion. " - Liber V vel Reguli

Liber AL I:4. Every number is infinite; there is no difference.

Every star may be numbered, even as Master Therion was 666, yet each number is merely a mask of the Infinite... that omnipresent body of Limitless Light.

There is no ultimate difference between these numbers insofar as they all fallibly shadow forth the Infinite in various combinations, and there is no ultimate difference between each human being.

In the sense that we are men and women, centers of force and fire, we are certainly a unique but finite expression of Infinite Potential. "One thing is in the end like all the rest; the seeming not alike comes as a dream from choosing images after one’s own heart to worship them; thus each, though true as one of the All, is false if thought of as one apart from the rest. " (Djeridensis Working)

The formula for understanding there to be no difference is to "Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt." (AL I:22) The sign of success in this endeavor "shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body." (AL I:26)

"I am the None, for all that I am is the imperfect image of the perfect; each partial phantom must perish in the flasp of its counterpart, each form fulfil itself by finding its equated opposite, and satisfying its need to be the Absolute by the attainment of annihilation. " - Liber V vel Reguli

Ethics is complete bosh

"Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them." -David Hume, A Treatise on Human Nature

Kant's categorical imperative is a classic example of setting up Reason in the place of God as our Divine Dictator. To say there is one norm, whether we call it Religion or Reasonable, is to deny the inherent multiplicity of nature. It is to establish another code of conduct on the false edifice of a supposed absolute. Let's not be fooled if our absolute is cloaked in the jargon of reason, being called 'categorical' and our 'Thou shalts' and 'Thou shalt nots' are dressed up as an 'imperative.' The one categorical imperative is that there must be no categorical imperatives. No values, no morality, no set of ethics is absolute.

Yes, yes, ethical proscriptions are relative... I am sure everyone has heard this at some point and understood its implications to varying degrees. The problem that arises from denying the validity of the old forms of altruistic morality and ethical systems is the arising of various egocentric moralities. They are ethics nonetheless and therefore restrictions.

The problem with ethical egoism, that we ought to be motivated by self-interest, is that there are no objective 'oughts.' An 'ought' is only meaningful in relation to a relative standard of value. This also presupposes that the person knows their own self-interest. It most certainly smacks of the old forms of ethics with its 'ought'... implying some absolute standard of conduct.

The problem with rational egoism, that the rational thing to do is always in one's own self-interest, is manifold. It depends on an assumption that a certain line of conduct is 'more rational' than another, another assumption of an absolute standard. "‘Tis not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger. ‘Tis not contrary to reason for me to chuse my total ruin, to prevent the least uneasiness of an Indian or person wholly unknown to me. ‘Tis as little contrary to reason to prefer even my own acknowledg’d lesser good to my greater, and to have a more ardent affection for the former than the latter." (David Hume) It depends on an assumption that the person in question not only knows what their own self-interests truly are, but also that it is possible to know one's own interests completely in the first place. I suggest that our motives will forever lie in the indefinite reaches of the unconscious, with our awareness only being able to grasp the decision at the end of the process.

The problem with psychological egoism, the idea that we always act in accordance with our own self-interest, is not that we apparently perform acts of genuine altruism and therefore the proposition is untrue. Instead, the notion of a coherent ego, or self, to which we supposedly owe our locus of motives should instead be attacked. In the end, the most we can say is that each 'person' is a relatively coordinated, self-sustaining gestalt of impulses & impressions.

The actual motives behind all actions - those unconscious impulses that breach the threshold only after a long process of internal deliberation - do not distinguish between self and other, and most certainly have no rational 'purpose' in mind. The fact that they may intertwine & overlap to form the entities we know as people with their bodies and psyches simply show complex arrangements and interactions, not necessarily entirely selfish entities moving about. Further, each 'person' is an open system - they receive and give, consciously and unconsciously. For every breath we take in, we must breathe out, and for everything we eat and drink, we must excrete something. We always construe altruism in terms of human to human but we never think of how altruistic a person is to their cells, to the fungus which feed on their trash, to the plants fed by their fertilizer, etc. We never consider how even wiping out a human civilization might be considered altruistic to the surrounding flora and fauna.

Thought and Naught

"Thoughts are false." - Book of Lies, ch.5
All fluctuations of the mind have the potential towards being misleading. They often lead to identifications, e.g. "I am A" or "I am not-A." All thoughts have an implicit dualism and all dualism is false. The method for overcoming this handicap is the uniting of each thought to its opposite. This is the basis for koans, paradox, the apophatic Hindu practice of 'neti, neti' and the kataphatic invocations apparent in the writings of St Dionysus the Aeropagite, "Thunder: Perfect Mind" from the old Gnostic gospels, and practically every mystic of the world.

"Identity is perfect; therefore the = of Identity is but a lie. For there is no subject, and there is no predicate; nor is there the contradictory of either of these things." - Book of Lies, ch.11

All words break down, though the Chinese "conception of the tao is still unequaled for clarity on this point." (see Tao Teh Ching, ch.1 & 2)

These are the most nefarious dualisms, especially in learning about Mysticism with all of its talk of 'Unity:'

• I & not-I / self & not-self
• permanent & impermanent
• finite & infinite / limited & unlimited / bounded & unbounded
• imperfect & perfect
• true & false
• conditioned & unconditioned / non-absolute & absolute
• multiplicity & unity
• dualism & non-dualism

Logic depends on the fundamental proposition that A equals A, and A does not equal not-A. While this may be the basis of our dissection of the world, its utility does not mean it is necessarily founded in any sort of objective truth about the world.

"Language was made for men to eat and drink, make love, do barter, die. The wealth of a language consists in its Abstracts; the poorest tongues have wealth of Concretes. / Therefore have Adepts praised silence; at least it does not mislead as speech does." - Book of Lies, ch.24

We may, for convenience, call this view the 'conditioned' view as opposed to the 'unconditioned' view but this sets up an unhealthy dualism. In the 'end' (which is the beginning) both 'conditioned' and 'unconditioned' are 'views,' two sides of one coin. The words are meaningless without each other. This is the basis of viewing the world as "None... and Two" while they are simultaneously One in that Ultimate Naught.

This method of uniting each thought to its opposite appears in the culimination of the Master Therion's work with the Enochian Aethyrs where Horus the Crowned & Conquering Child proclaims,

"I am light, and I am night, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am speech, and I am silence, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am life, and I am death, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am war, and I am peace, and I am that which is beyond them.
I am weakness, and I am strength, and I am that which is beyond them.
Yet by none of these can man reach up to me. Yet by each of them must man reach up to me." - "The Vision & the Voice," 1st Aethyr

The Ineffable Experience: its attainment and qualities

There is a class of human experiences - certain emotions/feelings and correlated perceptions/paradigms - which do not have suitable metaphors in modern, scientific terminology. These are the experiences which are so powerful so as to dissolve the normal parameters of functioning including the most precious notions of time, space, causality, multiplicity of objects, distinction between self and other, or any one thing from any other thing. This experience is genuine 'Mysticism.'

It is a known fact that increased sensory activity lowers self-representational activity. IAO131 discussed this on his blog. This is known as "getting lost in the moment," "losing yourself," "being in the zone," "flow," etc. These are all more mild forms of this class of human experience mentioned above. It is plausible that this "losing yourself" is simply the same phenomenon except at a milder degree.

Often the degree of intensity of sensory activity/emotion necessary for having this 'Mystic Experience' is achieved through gradual means such as religious asceticism of all sorts including yoga, prayer, meditation, etc. It can also occur in short periods as with the use of drugs like the Hindu 'soma,' Native American 'peyote,' and LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, etc. in more modern times. It may also occur spontaneously as evidenced in the literature of Zen Buddhism. Yet most of these people have gone through previous rigorous training, like the previously mentioned ascetics, and only the actual illumination is sudden.

This illumination is often likened to a lightning flash for its power, intensity, destructiveness (to old notions & ideals), and its brightness. The words 'illumination' and 'enlightenment' show that the metaphor of light is naturally intertwined with this new perspective.

And the subjective qualities of this experience are:

1. Ineffability - The experience is beyond words in description, they do not do it justice.
2. Duality dismantling - This is connected with the ineffability of the situation because words work by dualities. The understanding of duality being in truth unity, that 2 is 1, that "Thou art that" (Tat tvam asi) leads inevitably to the realization of the fatuity of language in expressing this Condition.
3. Destruction - The experience is seen as subjectively destructive in the sense that all of our foundations for understanding the world - time, space, causality, separateness, and multiplicity - are seen to be false. All attachments to things external (things and people and places) and internal (ideals and memories), even your notion of 'self', are all stripped away. This is 'ego death.' This is why non-attachment is also counseled by many mystics, for it becomes less of a shock if attachments are discarded voluntarily. This is also the basis for all 'self-denial' for the same reasons.
4. Invigoration - There is always felt an infusing of energy as if from outside of oneself. A power infuses one's awareness that seems infinite and/or omnipotent. Psychologically, unconscious potencies have breached the threshold of consciouss awareness. Also, the apparent destructiveness gives away to a realization that this destruction was necessary for this new-found freedom. The destruction has cleared the obstructions and delusions which obscured our natural boundless potential.
5. Passivity - The highest attainment is always gotten by giving away absolutely everything. Only thereby do you gain everything. In this Mystic Experience, since one is felt subject to such an invigorating energy one feels oneself to be the passive receptacle of the forces. "I am not I; I am but an hollow tube to bring down / Fire from Heaven. / Mighty and marvelous is this Weakness, this / Heaven which draweth me into Her Womb, this / Dome which hideth, which absorbeth, Me. / This is The Night wherein I am lost, the Love / through which I am no longer I." - Book of Lies, ch.15

The Essentials of Yoga (starring Patanjali)

Patanjali was certainly a sage of the highest order, penetrating to the highest mysteries yet retaining a solid and concise intellect. It has been said, "Establish at thy Kaaba a clerk-house: all must be done well and with business way" (Liber AL III:41). Only through a sharply cut diamond (the mind of the aspirant) may the Word reverberate in its original purity. The very form of the text is evidence of the orderliness of his psyche.

We have the entire doctrine summarized in the first four lines:

1-1: Now, instruction in Union [Yoga].
1-2: Union is restraining of the mind-stuff from taking various forms.
1-3: Then the Seer dwells in His own nature [unmodified state].
1-4: Otherwise the Seer is identified with the modifications.

The whole method is contained in the second line, with the first line announcing its arrival and the third & fourth lines being a short explanation of this method. We see now that Yoga, or 'Union,' is accomplished when we restrain the mind from taking various forms, from identifying with various mental 'modifications.' These thoughts, or modifications, are often pictured as ripples in a body of water; Yoga consists in the body of water becoming calm without any ripples; that is, the mind-stuff does not take forms.

Patanjali goes on to list these modifications, or vritti, some painful and some not painful. He then instructs us:

1-12: These modifications [vrittis] are controlled by practice and non-attachment.

Our essential task is then (1) practice and (2) non-attachment. But what are these things? Delightfully, Patanjali concisely explains:

1-13: Continuous struggle to keep the modifications perfectly restrained is practice.
1-15: The subjugation of the thirst for objects seen or unseen is non-attachment.

Therefore we must restrain our mind-stuff from taking forms with persistence and we must subjugate our desires for all things. We must have persistence and remember:

1-21: Success is speedy for the extremely energetic.

Even as it is said, "But exceed! exceed! Strive ever to more! and if thou art truly mine -- and doubt it not, an if thou art ever joyous! -- death is the crown of all." (Liber AL I:71-72)

What are the various impediments to our practice and non-attachment? Patanjali enumerates these:

1-30: Disease, mental laziness (inertia), doubt, lack of enthusiasm, lethargy, clinging to sense enjoyments (sensuality), false perception (mind-wandering), non-attaining of concentration, and falling away from concentration when attained (instability) - these are the obstructing distractions.
1-31: Grief (pain), mental distress (despair), tremor of the body (nervousness), and irregular breathing accompany non-retention of concentration.
2-3: The pain-bearing obstructions are ignorance, egoity, attachment, aversion, and clinging to life.

("Of them, ignorance is the cause, and the other four are the effects." (Vivekananda))

Oh pain! despair! misery! It is said, "Hear me, ye people of sighing! / The sorrows of pain and regret / Are left to the dead and the dying, / The folk that not know me as yet." (Liber AL II:17) What are we to do?

1-32: For the prevention of these obstacles, one should practice on one object.
3-5: Through the attainment of that comes the light of knowledge.

That is, "making the mind take the form of one object for some time will destroy these obstacles" (Vivekananda). This is the practice of 'samyama,' the first stage of which is dharana, then dhyana, then samadhi. We are also counseled to the practice of pranayama, the controlling of prana (life-force) through control of breath. Many meditations and devotions are then given, but ultimately:

1-40: The yogi's mind, thus meditating, becomes unobstructed from the atomic to the infinite.

"My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells." - Liber Tzaddi, line 40

"I am clothed with the body of flesh; I am one with the Eternal and Omnipotent God... Thou art the Lord of Glory, and the unclean dog." -Liber LXV, I:53; II:3

"For Perfection abideth not in the Pinnacles, or in the Foundations, but in the ordered Harmony of one with all." - Liber Causae, line 32

Images, representation, and Self

All we know of the world or the self are the things represented to the consciousness. In other words, only representations or images can be known and therefore consciousness consists of these representations. This perceptual field of representations, or 'consciousness,' is our world.

The faculties of representing cannot be known in themselves, only through their own representations. We say that our consciousness arises from the nervous system, that the nervous system is the system of 'faculties of representing.' But we only know anything about the nervous system through its own representations.

"[All forms are] determined by the structure of the nervous system & thus really a phantasm of it... One may begin again from that standpoint to enquire why the nervous system itself should be conceived as it is, from anatomical indications which themselves depend on the same sensory perceptions which in turn determine the form of the original vision. i.e. Having got "the Universe as I see it is an Image of my nervous system" ask; "Why do I see the nervous system as I do? What is the ultimate meaning of this conception? What does it imply, my imprisonment in this "circular argument'"?'" -Aleister Crowley, "Etyhl Oxide"

Our awareness of 'the world' and ourselves is the interaction and overlapping of several systems of representation; our 'world' is the apparently unified combination of representational maps.

What most people think of the 'self' is a partitioned 'entity' derived from this phenomenal field. An identification with any partial component of this perceptual field results in a world of multiplicity founded on the essential dichotomy of 'self' and 'other' or 'self' and 'environment.' This is 'illusion' - the Hindu 'maya' born of 'avidya,' the Judeo-Christian-Islamic 'sin,' etc. The 'self' and 'other' are both partial facets of the perceptual field, their distinction being a perspective or interpretation of the information of the perceptual field. That is, even the appearance of multiplicity is a device of the Unified Field.

Yoga, the art & science of Union, consists of relinquishing attachment to and identification with any partial image. 'The world,' as we know it, being full of 'things,' 'creatures,' 'entities,' 'substances,' - that is, full of multiplicity - must be shattered.

THAT which gives rise to all images (and consequently consumes them), THAT which cannot be fully defined by any one representation but is known in part through each of its infinite expressions, is the Soul, the True Self, God, Brahman, Tao. One who perceives this truth is the Sage, the Perfect Man, the Buddha, the yogi, the Thelemite. Such a one can proclaim, "I am the Magician and the Exorcist," being both the creator of forms & the destroyer of forms.

The Method of Mysticism

"This is the secret of the Holy Graal, that is the sacred vessel of our Lady the Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations, the bride of Chaos, that rideth upon our Lord the Beast." -Liber Cheth, line 1

The method of Mysticism is the systematic dismantling of all attachments and desires, to rest in the seer's natural, unconditioned state.

The most nefarious desires are:

* The desire to have influence in the world (material possessions and power)
* The desire to survive, propagate life
* The desire to attain, have 'enlightenment'

The most nefarious attachments are:

* The attachment to material objects (wealth)
* The attachment to other people, including friends and family (love)
* The attachment to intellectual maps of any sort - Theological, Moral, Ontological, Epistemological, etc. - though some are more useful than others (e.g. heliocentric > geocentric)
* The attachment to life (health), forms as they are (instead of in their naturally ever-changing, non-substantial state)
* The attachment to God
* The attachment to notions of 'self'

"Now therefore that thou mayest achieve this ritual of the Holy Graal, do thou divest thyself of all thy goods. Thou hast wealth; give it unto them that have need thereof, yet no desire toward it. Thou hast health; slay thyself in the fervour of thine abandonment unto Our Lady. Let thy flesh hang loose upon thy bones, and thine eyes glare with thy quenchless lust unto the Infinite, with thy passion for the Unknown, for Her that is beyond Knowledge the accursed one. Thou hast love; tear thy mother from thine heart, and spit in the face of thy father. Let thy foot trample the belly of thy wife, and let the babe at her breast be the prey of dogs and vultures." - Liber Cheth, lines 7-10

The primary method is meditation. Meditation is the focusing of the mind to 2: the seer and the seen... and nothing else. No other thought may intrude.

And behold! if by stealth thou keep unto thyself one thought of thine, then shalt thou be cast out into the abyss for ever; and thou shalt be the lonely one, the eater of dung, the afflicted in the Day of Be-with-Us." -Liber Cheth, line 12

This is the beginning stage which leads eventually, by various degrees, to the focusing of the mind to 1: seer and seen are one. Desires and attachments disintegrate if they have not already voluntary been stripped away through austerities.

"For if thou dost not this with thy will, then shall We do this despite thy will. So that thou attain to the Sacrament of the Graal in the Chapel of Abominations." - Liber Cheth, line 11

It is said that, "This Path is beyond Life and Death; it is also beyond Love; but that ye know not, for ye know not Love." (Liber Cheth, line 20) This is because "Life and Death" are One in the Serpent's Body which is a Ring; that is, from the annihilation of the self into the Impersonal Unity comes a recognition of the unity of life and death (and other dualities). This Path is also beyond Love because Love requires a 'lover' and a 'loved.' That is, it requires Two things just like Knowledge requires a 'knower' and a thing 'known.' But in this attainment We have annihilated all mutiplicity; therefore it is said, "It is not known if it be known." (Liber Cheth, line 21)

The result of this process is the annihilation of the old 'self' - the ego, everything we thought was our 'self' - and the 'arising' of the True Self, the Crowned & Conquering Child, beyond all dualities. Only when all elements of multiplicity, temporality, and distinction have been annihilated, the One - which is None for it is continuous (Liber AL I:27) - may be perceived. Therefore it is said, "Bind nothing! Let there be no difference made among you between any one thing & any other thing; for thereby there cometh hurt." (Liber AL I:22) Only when this is achieved does one become "chief of all," (Liber AL I:23) recognizing one's True Self as coterminous with the All. Then are all things seen as a joyful sacrament and we may proclaim "Existence is pure joy." (Liber AL II:9)

"Yea! verily this is the Truth, this is the Truth, this is the Truth. Unto thee shall be granted joy and health and wealth and wisdom when thou art no longer thou. Then shall every gain be a new sacrament, and it shall not defile thee; thou shalt revel with the wanton in the market-place, and the virgins shall fling roses upon thee, and the merchants bend their knees and bring thee gold and spices. Also young boys shall pour wonderful wines for thee, and the singers and the dancers shall sing and dance for thee." - Liber Cheth, lines 13-14

In this Path, having come to the End, one recognizes it is one with the Beginning.

" Wherefore I charge you that ye come unto me in the Beginning; for if ye take but one step in this Path, ye must arrive inevitably at the end thereof... Therefore unto Hadit and unto Nuit be the glory in the End and the Beginning; yea, in the End and the Beginning." - Liber Cheth, lines 19, 22

Dispersing the Clouds

The Sun of Truth and Unity shines eternally beyond spatial and temporal dimensions.

Certain types of thought are correlated with 'forgetting' this inherent perspective - ignorance, 'avidya' (Hinduism & Buddhism), or 'sin' (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).

These clouds of darkness should be dispersed:

* God as intelligence that intervenes with humans, judges them, is entirely 'Good' - the Judeo-Christian conception, not pantheistic

* morality as an absolutely condoned course of conduct, sin

* purpose, teleology

* reason (as royal road to Truth)

* free will/agency

* self, ego

* * * * *

God is already largely dying as an idea. Nietzsche proclaimed 'God is dead' about a century and a half ago, the French Revolution enshrined Reason as their Goddess, and the new-Atheist movement has taken hold in America & Europe. It has already been torn down, acknowledged to be a false idol... though we have erected Science in its turn.

Morality was destroyed, also, by Nietzsche again and again, though his flaming sword spoke concisely when it was written, "There are no moral phenomena at all, but only a moral interpretation of phenomena." This is how one steps beyond Good & Evil - rather, they then become the playthings of the Self. When we destroy the notion of absolute values, sin becomes nonsensical.

Setting goals may be economical and efficient but it is a false step to attribute any ultimate purpose to ourselves, let alone to various other animals' actions, the course of evolution, and all 'inanimate' objects like stones, mountains, hills, and rivers. If anything, they are all actualizing their inherent potential, which is simply another way of saying they are doing what they must do. A "law" isn't 'adhered to' by anything, it is simply a description of predictable movements of things. This is why teleology is doomed. Goals inherently limit us, and engender attachment to the intended results; one who can set (and re-set) goals but not be limited by or attached to them walks the Razor Edge.

Reason was erected as the new sacred edifice, the Royal Road to Truth. The problem is that Reason works with Language, and Language has implicit ideas lodged subtly in it that are not necessarily true in themselves. A subject distinct from its predicate; an object separate from a subject; a subject performing a deed distinct from a deed being done, etc. The commonality between the most nefarious presupposed truths in language is "distinction..." or duality. "Things" - or "creatures" in the Judeo-Christian sense - could not exist unless there was some faculty of distinction (the eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge & the naming of the animals in Genesis). Again, it may be useful to manipulate these arbitrary distinctions - as Science has shown clearly - but that does not mean there is any inherent truth in it. We create various useful but ultimately arbitrary distinctions - substances and forces, etc. - and manipulate their relations for utility's sake. Reason is only put in its rightful place when the 'self' is annihilated and the new Perspective is seen to be beyond the limitations of dualistic language (treated later). Reason leads to the false conclusions of teleology, free will, and self and therefore is a harsh master but a useful servant.

Our free will may be an extremely strong intuition from our subjective perspectives yet these are just strong affects arising and interacting. There is no 'free agency' in anything, let alone in your choices or behavior. In other terms, all conscious things are conditioned by unconscious factors. The real power of the psyche lies in its unconscious potency, and therefore all religions have counseled giving up the 'self-will' to the 'Lord,' which is simply that True Self beyond the ego-notions of self, including all things. This is why it was written that one who gives up everything, gains everything. People don't want to give up free will out of a strange pride in agency, but it is completely possible to continue functioning without entertaining this myth. It is a difficult balance between knowing oneself to be the receptacle of forces - no, the forces themselves - and yet using language which insists on implicitly asserting a subject distinct from its doing.

And this sense of agency is also predicated on the fact that we all think we are an 'ego,' an 'I.' We include the body and mind (with its faculties of reason, memory, imagination, feeling, etc.) in this concatenation, but there is no point in claiming ownership beyond utility & economy... That is, there can be a body and thoughts but why claim "they are mine" because there is an awareness of them? Even if we reduce the sense of "I" to this awareness beyond thoughts and body, this consciousness is destroyed in the Mystic Trance of Unity where no difference made between one thing and any other thing. Only in this experience can we know that the old sense of self, the ego containing what we are consciously aware of and remember ourselves to be, is understood to be a small fraction of the new reality of the self, unhindered by duality and any of the above ignorances.

And this Steady Movement - the wheel of Dhamma... the Tao... this Sun of Truth and Unity - continues onward, unhindered by these clouds of ignorance. It is the Path of Power, it is Thelema.

Thelema is Zen

Thelema is a praxis, a way of life.

Thelema is a state of mind. It is Zen, the natural uprushing and outflowing of Will unhindered by Ego or Reason.

The word of the Law is Thelema. This is the Law of Dharma, the Law of the Tao, the Law of the Way-things-are. In this Aeon, we understand It as 'Thelema.'

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay. For there are no 'others' when absorbed in that state of Thelema, of pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from lust of result.

There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt. But who is this "thou?"... Only when the self is entirely enwrapped in the arms of its beloved does the naked child of Thelema awake, arise and come forth.

An outflowing does not necessarily imply purpose - is there not joy ineffable in this aimless winging?

Thelema contains all purposefulness and all unpurposefulness. In each setting of a goal is the possibility of attachment; in each attachment is the seed of suffering, but 'pure will' is executed without 'lust of result.' One should remember that there is joy in the setting of the goal, in the striving towards the goal, in the achievement of the goal, and in the transcending of the goal.

Thelema: bind in your soul the watchwords of Will, Strength, Naturalness, Force, Fire, and Growth. Or rather: cast away the clouds of dispersion, duality, over-thinking, and attachment to allow the natural Joy of Love under Will emanate forth from one's being in all things, even one's death.

Therefore was it given to us to "Die daily," but I say "Die momentarily." That is, every moment is death of the old, it is also the birth of the new - the crest and trough of the undulating Serpent of Life, "for every step is a death and a birth." Hold steadfast, then, on the ever-changing, flowing river of Thelema.


"We attained to be starry grains of gold dust in the sands of a slow river. Yea, and that river was the river of space and time also. We parted thence; ever to the smaller, ever to the greater, until now, O sweet God, we are ourselves, the same... The beat of my heart is the pendulum of love. The songs of me are the soft sighs: The thoughts of me are very rapture: And my deeds are the myriads of Thy children, the stars and the atoms. Let there be nothing! Let all things drop into this ocean of love!"
-Liber Liberi vel Lapidus Lazuli V:17-19, 23-28

Religious Eclecticism in Thelema

Islam

* Liber AL I:49, "Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words and signs. Ra-Hoor-Khuit hath taken his seat in the East at the Equinox of the Gods; and let Asar be with Isa, who also are one. But they are not of me. Let Asar be the adorant, Isa the sufferer; Hoor in his secret name and splendour is the Lord initiating." [Isa is the Muslim name for Jesus in the Quran]
* Liber AL III:10, "Get the stele of revealing itself; set it in thy secret temple -- and that temple is already aright disposed -- & it shall be your Kiblah for ever."
* Liber AL III:41, "Establish at thy Kaaba a clerk-house: all must be done well and with business way."

* Liber Ararita, "Qol: Hua Allahu achad; Allahu assamad: lam yalid walam yulad; walam yakun lahu kufwan achad.'" [this is in Arabic, and is from 'the Chapter of Unity' in the Quran, chapter 112]. Crowley mentions this in Book 4, Eight Lectures on Yoga, Confessions ch.66, and the Cry of the 9th Aethyr in Vision and the Voice. He translates this passage as, "Say: / He is God alone! / God the Eternal! / He begets not and is not begotten! / Nor is there like unto Him any one!"]

Christianity

* LIber AL I:15, "Now ye shall know that the chosen priest & apostle of infinite space is the prince-priest the Beast; and in his woman called the Scarlet Woman is all power given. They shall gather my children into their fold: they shall bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of men." [the Beast and the Scarlet Woman are images from Book of Revelations]
* Liber AL II:57, "He that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is filthy shall be filthy still." [a direct quote from Book of Revelations]
* Liber AL III:14, "Ye shall see that hour, o blessed Beast, and thou the Scarlet Concubine of his desire!"

* Liber Cheth line 1 "This is the secret of the Holy Graal, that is the sacred vessel of our Lady the Scarlet Woman, Babalon the Mother of Abominations, the bride of Chaos, that rideth upon our Lord the Beast."
* Liber Cheth line 11, "For if thou dost not this with thy will, then shall We do this despite thy will. So that thou attain to the Sacrament of the Graal in the Chapel of Abominations."

Hinduism

* Liber AL I:18, "Burn upon their brows, o splendrous serpent!" [a reference to the Ajna chakra between the eyebrows where the Kundalini, the sacred serpent power, arises and settles in enlightenment]
* Liber AL I:56, "Expect him not from the East, nor from the West; for from no expected house cometh that child. Aum! All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little; solve the first half of the equation, leave the second unattacked. But thou hast all in the clear light, and some, though not all, in the dark."
* Liber AL II:26, "I am the secret Serpent coiled about to spring: in my coiling there is joy. If I lift up my head, I and my Nuit are one. If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one."
* Liber AL III:37, "...Appear on the throne of Ra! / Open the ways of the Khu! / Lighten the ways of the Ka! / The ways of the Khabs run through / To stir me or still me! / Aum! let it fill me!"
* Liber AL III:75. The ending of the words is the Word Abrahadabra. / The Book of the Law is Written / and Concealed. / Aum. Ha."

* Liber B vel Magi line 17, "Following which method, it shall be easy for Him to combine that rinity from its elements, and further to combine Sat-Chit-Ananda, and Light, Love, Life, three by three into nine that are one, in which meditation success shall be That which was first adumbrated to Him in the grade of Practicus (which reflecteth Mercury into the lowest world) in Liber XXVII, "Here is Nothing under its three forms." [Sat Chit Ananda are Being Consciousness and Bliss... three non-dual qualities of Brahman, the Godhead. Crowley often attributed them to Netzach Hod and Yesod on the Tree of Life]

* Liber A'ash line 17, "Also concerning vows. Be obstinate, and be not obstinate. Understand that the yielding of the Yoni is one with the lengthening of the Lingam. Thou art both these; and thy vow is but the rustling of the wind on Mount Meru." [the Lingam-Yoni is a Hindu symbol cognate with the Gnostic Father-Mother and many other symbols of the 2-in-1. Mount Meru is the central mountain, the Tree of Life, the World Tree, etc.]
* Liber A'ash lines 34-35, "Now therefore thou knowest when I am within Thee, when my hood is spread over thy skull, when my might is more than the penned Indus, and resistless as the Giant Glacier. / For as thou art before a lewd woman in Thy nakedness in the bazaar, sucked up by her slyness and smiles, so art thou wholly and no more in part before the symbol of the beloved, though it be but a Pisacha or a Yantra or a Deva." [the hood spreading over the skull is a reference to the Kundalini and perhaps Buddha's attainment. The Indus is the mighty river that runs through India. Pisacha, Yantras, and Devas are all sacred objects of worship/meditation]
* Liber A'ash line 40, "So therefore the beginning is delight, and the end is delight, and delight is in the midst, even as the Indus is water in the cavern of the glacier, and water among the greater hills and the lesser hills and through the ramparts of the hills and through the plains, and water at the mouth thereof when it leaps forth into the mighty sea, yea, into the mighty sea." [the Indus is taken as a symbol of the infinite]


Egyptian

* Liber AL I:7, "Behold! it is revealed by Aiwass the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat." [Hoor-paar-kraat is a form of Harpocrates or Harparkrat]
* Liber AL I:14. Above, the gemmed azure is / The naked splendour of Nuit; / She bends in ecstasy to kiss / The secret ardours of Hadit. / The winged globe, the starry blue, / Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!" [this is a poetic transcription of the hieroglyphs found on the Stele of Revealing, an Egyptian artifact. They depict the characters on the Stele]
* Liber AL I:49, "Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words and signs. Ra-Hoor-Khuit hath taken his seat in the East at the Equinox of the Gods; and let Asar be with Isa, who also are one. But they are not of me. Let Asar be the adorant, Isa the sufferer; Hoor in his secret name and splendour is the Lord initiating." [Ra-Hoor-Khuit is the Egyptian Rahorakthy, found on the Stele of Revealing. Asar is a name of Osiris; Hoor is a name of Horus, especially in his form as a child]
etc. etc. etc.

* Liber A'ash line 1, "Gnarled Oak of God! In thy branches is the lightning nested! Above thee hangs the Eyeless Hawk." [The Hawk-headed god Horus]
* Liber A'ash line 8, "For two things are done and a third thing is begun. Isis and Osiris are given over to incest and adultery. Horus leaps up thrice armed from the womb of his mother. Harpocrates his twin is hidden within him. SET is his holy covenant, that he shall display in the great day of M.A.A.T., that is being interpreted the Master of the Temple of A.'. A.'., whose name is Truth." [Isis, Osiris, Horus, Harpocrates, Set, and Maat are all Egyptian symbols/deities. Isis, Osiris, and Horus/Harpocrates form a triad of Mother, Father, Child...]

* Liber Stella Rubeae line 1, "Apep deifieth Asar." [Apep is the destroyer Apophis, personification of darkness and chaos and the one who battled with Ra each day; Asar is Osiris]
* Liber Stella Rubeae line 38, "I, Apep the Serpent, am the heart of IAO. Isis shall await Asar, and I in the midst." [Apep is, again the serpent destroyer; Isis is the prototypical mother and Asar is again Osiris. This is formed into a symbolic word I [Isis] - A [Apophis] - O [Osiris]. Apep as the serpent should be understood in the context of the Heart and the Serpent of Liber LXV]
* Liber Stella Rubeae line 48, "I am Apep, O thou slain One. Thou shalt slay thyself upon mine altar: I will have thy blood to drink."

* Liber LXV I:1, "...On the corpse of Osiris afloat in the tomb! / O heart of my mother, my sister, mine own, / Thou art given to Nile, to the terror Typhon!... / Behold! we are one, and the tempest of years / Goes down to the dusk, and the Beetle appears. / O Beetle! the drone of Thy dolorous note / Be ever the trance of this tremulous throat!..." [Osiris is mentioned and 'the Beetle,' which refers to Keph-Ra, the Beetle which holds the sun in its mandibles. Typhon is equated with Apep/Apophis and the inundation of the Nile river]
* Liber LXV IV:24, "Arise, O serpent Apep, Thou art Adonai the beloved one! Thou art my darling and my lord, and Thy poison is sweeter than the kisses of Isis the mother of the Gods!" [Apep is identified with Adonai here, and the 'poison' or malefic aspect is understood as sweetness. Isis again appears and is understood to be 'the mother of the Gods']
* Liber LXV V:50, "Let not the priest of Isis uncover the nakedness of Nuit, for every step is a death and a birth. The priest of Isis lifted the veil of Isis, and was slain by the kisses of her mouth. Then was he the priest of Nuit, and drank of the milk of the stars."


Greek

*Liber Tzaddi line 23, "Only if ye are sorrowful, or weary, or angry, or discomforted; then ye may know that ye have lost the golden thread, the thread wherewith I guide you to the heart of the groves of Eleusis." [The Eleusinian Mysteries were a popular form of the Greek Mysteries]
* Liber Tzaddi line 32, "Only your mouths shall drink of a delicious wine --- the wine of Iacchus; they shall reach ever to the heavenly kiss of the Beautiful God." [Iacchus was part of the procession at Eleusis; Crowley sees him as Kether/Tiphareth, the highest Part of man]

* Liber LXV I:1, "Thou art given to Nile, to the terror Typhon!" [Typhon was the personification of chaos and powerful forces, being the enemy of the gods of Olympus]
* Liber LXV I:54, "Then said Adonai: Thou hast the Head of the Hawk, and thy Phallus is the Phallus of Asar. Thou knowest the white, and thou knowest the black, and thou knowest that these are one. But why seekest thou the knowledge of their equivalence?"