MikeTheAltarboy said:
Since the Thoth tarot is based on Kabbalah, and since he's explaining it in those terms, you just need to allow him to do that. JHVH isn't the name of *God Proper*; it's the name of him *as he acts through Chesed.* He's not saying that the Christian God isn't God; he's saying that the fullness of God isn't displayed under that name. When you read the Hebrew scriptures, you can see a difference in the way "The Lord" operates, and the way "God" does. We say it's the same being, but the kabbalists say that distinct names were used for a reason.
Good stuff, Mike. There are different sources for the OT, Priestly/Elohist (and what's the other one?) that treat the God concept differently. Hence the repetitiousness of the Torah - they all get their space. In the Creation myths this is apparent,
creatio ex nihilo- creation from nothing - versus God creating form from existing matter. There's also a story where an OT character meets God walking down a road and has a conversation with him. We go from that to "No man shall see me and live." Then there's the story in
The Gospel of Judas where Jesus laughs at the disciples for saying grace to the "wrong god" (Demiurge?). (I've
got to get that book!)
IMHO Duquette is speaking from Crowley's theory of spiritual evolution - who is definitely not the only one to address this, as you know, and I fully agree with all of that, without necessarily buying into many of Lon Milo's conclusions. His swashbuckling atheism has a slightly hollow ring. He may be making a mild trace of Crowley's being outrageous for effect, no? There's some rather self-indulgent "show-biz personality" here. I don't know much of DQ's personal history, but he could be waxing profanely from the truly unenviable position of one who's never seen his life pass before his eyes. He may never have had to say "I don't believe in grace, but if there is such a thing, could I have some right about now?" That's all right - there's more in Thoth than in even AC's and DQ's science.
~B~