Saturday, April 19, 2008

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

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