Grigori
Thanks for the quote Ross.
Lillie said:The laws of Thelema.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.
Love is the law, Love under will.
Well, there are a thousand ways of interpreting that, some good, some bad. I could make a good case for it being a fair way for everyone to live their lives, but it is just my interpretation and manipulation of the words.
Babylon_Jasmine said:If you look at the laws of thelema out of context there are a thousand ways to interpret them. However they are quotes from the book of the law and taken in that context they are a bit cruel. Crowley is very specific about what the laws mean. They aren't a license to libertinage, but they are a call to cruelty to the weak.
Ross G Caldwell said:I believe thelema can be a license to libertinage, or to the strictest discipline - whatever you will.
If I want to be a libertine, I will.
If I want to be kind to those weaker than I, I will.
I am free.
Babylon_Jasmine said:Then you have not read Crowley's notes on the Law. Want and Will are not the same. Do as Thou Will is not the same as do as thou want. Crowley believed very strongly in a personal higher nature and a true will of each person. Often you don't want to do what you are willed to do. And he also specifically says in the book of the law to be without mercy.
DW: Aleister Crowley is the most controversial figure in tarot ever, I think, with people either worshipping him or hating and fearing him. Why do you suppose he is so polarizing a figure and how would you describe him?
LMD: I spend a great deal of space in my new book, Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, to the character and personality of this complex and highly eccentric character. I think the most concise thing I can say here is that if Aleister Crowley had been born in 1925 instead of 1875, his teachings would have had a much broader appeal and his life-style would have hardly raised an eyebrow. He would have most likely been placed slightly to the right of Timothy Leary and slightly to the left of Joseph Campbell.