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What is Thelema?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Thelema ("THEL-ay-mah") is a Greek word meaning "will" or "intention". It is also the name of a new spiritual philosophy, which has arisen over the past several hundred years and is now gradually become established worldwide.
One of the earliest mentions of this philosophy occurs in the classic Gargantua and Pantagruel written by Francois Rabelais in 1532. One episode of this epic adventure tells of the founding of an "Abby of Thelema" as an institution for the cultivation of human virtues, which Rabelais identified as being squarely opposite the prevailing Christian proprieties of the time. The sole rule of the Abbey of Thelema was: "Do what thou wilt". This has become one of the basic tenets of Thelemic philosophy today. |
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Although touched upon by various prominent visionary thinkers in the following few hundred years, the seeds of Thelema sown by Rabelais eventually came to frution in the early part of the century when developed by an Englishman Aleister Crowley. Crowley was a poet, author, mountaineer, magician, and member of the occult society know as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In 1904, while traveling in Egypt with his wife Rose, Crowly became inextricably involved in a series of events which he claimed to inaugurate a new aeon of evolution. These culminated in April when Crowley entered a state of trance and wrote down the three chapters of 220verses which came to be called The Book of the Law (also known as Liber Al and Liber Legis). Among other things, this book declared: "The word of the Law is Thelema" and "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."
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Some of the essential elements of belief in Thelema are: "Every man and every women is a star." This is usually taken to mean that each individual is unique and has their own path in a spacious universe wherein they can move freely without collision. "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" and "thou hast no right but to do thy will." Most Thelemites hold that every person possesses a True Will, a single motivation for their existence. The Law of Thelema mandates that each person follow their True Will to attain fulfillment in life and freedom from restriction of their nature. Because no two True Wills can be in real conflict (according to "Every man and every woman is a star"), this Law also prohibits one from interfering with the True Will of any other Person. The notion of absolute freedom for an individual to follow his or her True Will is a cherished one among Thelemites. This philosophy also recognizes that the main task of an individual setting out on the path of Thelema is to first discover his or her True Will, giving methods of self-exploration such as magick great importance. Furthermore, every True Will is different, and because each person has a unique point-of-view of the universe, no one can determine the True Will for another person. Each person must arrive at the discovery for himself or herself. "Love is the Law, love under will." This is an important corollary to the above, indicating that the essential nature of the Law of Thelema is that of Love. Each individual unites with his or her True Self in Love, and so empowered, the entire universe of conscious beings unites with eery other being in Love. |
Of coarse, with the emphasis on freedom and individuality inherent in Thelema, the belief's are likely to differ from those of any other. In the Comment appended to the Book of the Law it is stated that: "All questions of the law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings, each for himself." Although Thelema is sometimes referred to as a religion, it accommodates the full range of individual beliefs, from atheism to polytheism. The important thing is that each person has the right to fulfill themselves through whatever beliefs and actions are best suited to them (so long as they do not interfere with the others), and only they themselves are qualified to determine what these are.
Love is the Law, love under will.
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