Share via Share via... Twitter Facebook Pinterest WhatsAppRecent ChangesSend via e-MailPrintPermalink × What Is Thelema? by T Polyphilus Presented on 29 March, IV xvi in Thelemic Symposium VII at Sekhet-Maat Lodge, Portland, Oregon I maintain that Thelema is first and foremost the formula of spiritual development most suited to our cultural and historical circumstances. It includes a philosophy informed by supra-rational experiences; it provides a basis for sacred observance that syncretizes the best elements of so-called “world religions.” As I see it, Thelema is more Christian than Christianity, and more Satanic than Satanism. Aleister Crowley’s prophetic status is an integral feature of Thelema, and I have no interest in “rescuing” the Thelemic movement from its founding figure, or in getting “beyond” his influence. “Blessing and worship to the Prophet of the lovely star!” At the same time, the Prophet's virtues include the obviousness of his shortcomings: he was a god the way any man might be. Thelema also has key literary and philosophical antecedents in the work of such figures as Augustine of Hippo, Francesco Colonna, Francois Rabelais, Sir Francis Dashwood, Friedrich Nietzsche and Anna Kingsford; and Thelemites can benefit from consideration of those earlier strata. Since Thelema involves the initiatory progress of individuals through tasks of spiritual attainment, there are necessary differences between the exoteric interpretations of non-adherents and beginning aspirants on the one hand, and the esoteric perspectives informed by initiatory experience on the other. However, I am willing to throw out a short laundry list of teachings that I consider indispensable to Thelema, and which serve to make it distinctive as a religio-philosophical matrix. The first of these is the importance of initiation itself. Crowley referred to the most important initiatory event as “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel,” and he identified it as the “Next Step” for humanity. This attainment involves an entity that is presumably unique for each individual— the “personal genius,” a spirit which attends the individual’s most fundamental character or True Will. The technical phrase “Knowledge and Conversation” is a misleading translation, and often misunderstood. The Latin conversatio does not mean dialogue or discussion, but rather a “way of life,” associated especially with religious orders and monastic vows. Attainment to “Knowledge and Conversation” is thus not merely an encounter with the “God of one’s personal universe,” but actually a discovery of and conversion to the idiosyncratic pattern of observance befitting that being which is set over the aspirant’s highest personal destiny. Another key doctrinal feature of Thelema is global syncresis. In this respect, we draw on a long tradition that goes back to the classical Hermetic fusion of Greek and Egyptian wisdom, the Rosicrucian ideal of a General Reformation to unite Islam and Christianity, and the efforts of the Theosophical Society to inform European occultism with Buddhism and other Asian traditions. “All words are sacred and all prophets true, save only that they understand a little.” Such syncresis is not mere eclecticism driven by the superficial tastes and appetites of individuals and local groups. Received earlier materials must be tested against and integrated with the core symbols and teachings of Thelema. The cosmopolitan and dialectical qualities of Thelema set it at odds with those schools that emphasize the “purity” or primordial authenticity of their teachings. And speaking of dialectic, a key element of Thelema is its sacred meta-narrative of human history, under the symbolic figure of the precession of the Equinoxes. According to our teachings, the current world age or Aeon began in 1904, and is still finding its full expression. We are thus post-Apocalyptic in our perspective, holding that the old order was destroyed by fire a century ago, and that it is our responsibility to manifest the Aeon of the Crowned and Conquering Child, for which the Law of Thelema is the principle and plan. In our view, history is neither a degeneration from an original paradise, nor a progress toward the static perfection of a New Jerusalem. But we affirm the existence of change on levels sufficiently deep to impact the spiritual condition of humanity as a whole. Without supposing that I have exhausted the most important components of Thelemic doctrine, the last one I want to remark is the idea of Magick. In contrast to most contemporary philosophical and religious systems, Thelema asserts the positive value of Magick as such. Crowley’s definition of Magick, “The art and science of causing change in conformity with will,” makes it rest upon will, that is to say Thelema, which is “will” in Greek. Augustinian psychology marked out will as one of the three fundamental powers of the soul, and identified it with desire. Crowley’s theories also emphasize the role of the “magical link,” a concept pioneered in the work of the Renaissance martyr Giordano Bruno, who outlined the erotic basis of magical forces. Thus Thelema, under the contentious idea of Magick, advances the primary value of disciplined desire, and—-in a certain fashion-—the erotic foundation of all human activity and accomplishment. Altar Call Sermons, Expatiations and Discourses Vigorous Food & Divine Madness Last modified: 2017/04/24 10:47by John Bell