98 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
98 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
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Liber II
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{Book 2}
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The Message of
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The Master Therion
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This Epistle first appeared in The Equinox III(1) (Detroit: Universal,
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1919). The quotations are from Liber Legis--The Book of the Law.--H.B.
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``Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.''
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``There is no Law beyond Do what thou wilt.''
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``The word of the Law is Velhma.''
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Velhma--Thelema--means Will.
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The Key to this Message is this word--Will. The first obvious meaning
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of this Law is confirmed by antithesis; ``The word of Sin is
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Restriction.''
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Again: ``Thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that and no other
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shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from
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the lust of result, is every way perfect.''
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Take this carefully; it seems to imply a theory that if every man and
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every woman did his and her will--the true will--there would be no
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clashing. ``Every man and every woman is a star,'' and each star moves
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in an appointed path without interference. There is plenty of room for
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all; it is only disorder that creates confusion.
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From these considerations it should be clear that ``Do what thou
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wilt'' does not mean ``Do what you like.'' It is the apotheosis of
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Freedom; but it is also the strictest possible bond.
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Do what thou wilt--then do nothing else. Let nothing deflect thee from
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that austere and holy task. Liberty is absolute to do thy will; but
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seek to do any other thing whatever, and instantly obstacles must
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arise. Every act that is not in definite course of that one orbit is
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erratic, an hindrance. Will must not be two, but one.
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Note further that this will is not only to be pure, that is, single,
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as explained above, but also ``unassuaged of purpose.'' This strange
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phrase must give us pause. It may mean that any purpose in the will
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would damp it; clearly the ``lust of result'' is a thing from which it
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must be delivered.
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But the phrase may also be interpreted as if it read ``with purpose
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unassuaged''--i.e., with tireless energy. The conception is,
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therefore, of an eternal motion, infinite and unalterable. It is
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Nirvana, only dynamic instead of static--and this comes to the same
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thing in the end.
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The obvious practical task of the magician is then to discover what
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his will really is, so that he may do it in this manner, and he can
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best accomplish this by the practices of Liber Thisarb (see Equinox
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I(7), p. 105) or such others as may from one time to another be
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appointed.
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Thou must (1) Find out what is thy Will. (2) Do that Will with
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a) one-pointedness, (b) detachment, (c) peace.
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Then, and then only, art thou in harmony with the Movement of Things,
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thy will part of, and therefore equal to, the Will of God. And since
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the will is but the dynamic aspect of the self, and since two
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different selves could not possess identical wills; then, if thy will
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be God's will, Thou art That.
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There is but one other word to explain. Elsewhere it is written--
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surely for our great comfort--``Love is the law, love under will.''
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This is to be taken as meaning that while Will is the Law, the nature
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of that Will is Love. But this Love is as it were a by-product of that
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Will; it does not contradict or supersede that Will; and if apparent
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contradiction should arise in any crisis, it is the Will that will
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guide us aright. Lo, while in The Book of the Law is much of Love,
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there is no word of Sentimentality. Hate itself is almost like Love!
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``As brothers fight ye!'' All the manly races of the world understand
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this. The Love of Liber Legis is always bold, virile, even orgiastic.
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There is delicacy, but it is the delicacy of strength. Mighty and
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terrible and glorious as it is, however, it is but the pennon upon the
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sacred lance of Will, the damascened inscription upon the swords of
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the Knight-monks of Thelema.
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Love is the law, love under will.
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