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Thelema and Society
THELEMA AND SOCIETY
Issued by the
Thelemic Order and Temple
of the Golden Dawn
(Novus Ordo Aureae Aurora)
By James Newman
Copyright © 1991 e.v.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
As part of the initiatory Oaths of the Thelemic Order of the
Golden Dawn we have dedicated ourselves to the building of a New
Society. The failure of the entire spectrum of Old Aeon world
views is a real and observable phenomenon in each day's news. As
the environment crumbles around us our politicians stand up with
asinine views on sexuality, drug use, freedom of expression,
crime and punishment, education and a dozen other issues. This
failure can be addressed and remedied with practices and concepts
presented in The Book of the Law and other Thelemic documents.
Presenting a religious solution to a material problem is idiocy.
We need to keep our levels separated and respond physically to
the physical and magically to the magical. Ritual will prove as
ineffective as prayer when facing tough issues like world hunger,
drugs and AIDS. However, Thelema applied in the physical realm
can offer innumerable practical solutions.
To begin with we can address issues such as AIDS, drug use, and
education free from the moral baggage they carried in the Old
Aeon, and we can encourage our society to do the same. When
problems are addressed as what they are, and not as some form of
punishment or warning of a Divine Will, then a good step has been
made towards finding a solution -- be that solution increasing
research funding, educating ourselves and others or modifying our
behavior. If we cop out into a moral condemnation of
Homosexuality or the use of drugs, or pretend that this is
somehow the will of God speaking to draw us together then we are
still in the denial stage of problem solving. Solipsisms should
never be swallowed in the place of solutions.
Our individual empowerment as Thelemites is the greatest
component of our solution to the world's problems. By involving
ourselves constructively in the fulfillment of our own wills, we
reduce the amount of scattered and unfocused energy that is
helping to drag us down into chaos and useless conflict. This
empowerment comes through expansion and action. By educating
ourselves we cease to be slaves to system information as
represented by public education and the mass media. By acting and
challenging ourselves constantly we become powerful participants
in our society -- the secret few who rule the many and the known.
Through adventure, invention, and creative expression we feed the
current of liberation which is thriving naturally in this New
Aeon of Horus.
Magick must be more than ritual, it must be more than the careful
study of Tarot cards or The Book of the Law. The Magician is a
Master of Nature and must study Nature's laws through science as
well as the movements of the subtler forces of the Universe.
Excessive focus on the spiritual level of operation is one of the
flaws in Old Aeon thinking. The realization that Physics and
Psychology, properly applied, are as spiritual as the subtle arts
is a realization for our New Aeon.
Approaching the issue of Thelema within society from another
angle we come to the question of how a Thelemic individual should
appear and move in the world. The obvious answer to this is
"However he or she Wills," and this is the only answer
appropriate where our Wills speak on these matters. However, we
should remember that one of the classic powers of a Magician is
the ability to move at will in many different environments. If it
serves an artist's ultimate Will to appear as a businessman for
an important meeting with a financer or critic, then what is the
use of insisting on some infantile self expression at the expense
of self fulfillment? Not that conformity should be respected as
a value, but as Magicians we should be able to choose our manner
of appearance as it best suits our True Will in each situation.
We should be secure enough in our own foundations to be able to
enter the limited reality tunnels of others so as to bring their
energy to our own ends.
This same responsibility exists for the formal presentation of
Thelemic Orders. While shock value and freedom of expression are
both fun and rewarding paths to pursue, let's admit that the
Hells Angles have never received any significant degree of public
acceptance or influence. A basic rule in influencing people is
that you must first move towards them, before you can draw them
step by step, comfortably towards you. On gaining trust you can
begin to introduce new elements and patterns to their thinking.
These ideas should appear threatening, but push yourselves in
their application and remember that freedom is an internal as
well as an external state of being, and you shall be as one of
the members of a New Society whose Law is Liberty.
Love is the law, love under will.
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