Book of Law Study Group 1.21

Grigori

OK no takers yet so I'll get started :)

I find this line fascinating. It says a lot to me about exactly what we mean by the "goddess" Nuit. Though its not something that I'm finding easy to get my head around, or express in a way that I'm happy with.... But I'll try anyway.

It seems to say that neither the worshiper/adorer (I assume this means us, or religious people in general) or the God they adore (whatever religion you belong to) are aware of Nuit. Nuit is the nothing, the space in between. She is not a Goddess in the sense of a traditional personable Goddess or deity as in a religion. She is not a Heavenly Goddess, but rather she is only heaven. She is the playing field, and all the people and Gods are the various players. She is connected to each of these players via Hadit, the god within, and so connects them all within herself.

This is a really hard concept for me to express, but in a way, I am seeing Hadit as the spark of divine within the God (or figure of worship). I may be worshiping Zeus (a random example) and that is all well and good, but Nuit is not where Zeus is, and Zeus does not know Nuit. Zeus contains within him the spark of Hadit, which via Hadit's lover Nuit, connects him to everything else in creation. And so the worshiper of Zeus also contains the spark of Hadit, which via Nuit connects them to everything else, including the God Zeus. Nuit and Hadit are the web.

But Hadit is not a God, or spirit, or any other of the spiritual entities usually described, and neither is Nuit. Nuit is the everything and Hadit the point where any entity/thing connects to Nuit.This makes it clearer to me how people can follow Thelemic ideas, and consider them non-religous, or even complementary to their religion that has a different pantheon.

If I believe in a polytheistic world, I can see Nuit as the expanse of creation, and Hadit the point that connects each being (regardless of their role or spiritual level) to that expanse. Including my god/s.

If I believe in the one true creator god, then Nuit is the expanse of their creation, the thing that connects us all in the divine plan, and Hadit is the point of connection. Or Nuit is the Ain, the nothing that came before, but she is not where the God is.

I'm not sure I'm making sense... :|
 

Aeon418

I always think of the imagery on the Stele at this point. Above there is Nuit and Hadit (In chapter 2 the latter identifies himself as the "worshipper". AL 2:8). Below there is the God Horus and the worshipper, Ankh-f-n-Khonsu. The two scenes are the same, but on different levels. The important point is that the Horus worship scene takes place within the Arch of Nuit.

A visual symbol might help here. The point within the circle, symbolic of Nuit and Hadit. Now suppose that the point looks outward and focuses on One specific point on the circumference of the circle. That's essentially the level of western religion with it's dogma of the One True God. That's the Horus/Solar level of worship. It's the first point of contact with the divine. One star in the body of Nuit. All the gods of humanity are, in a certain sense, true gods. But behind each of these "singular and diverse points of contact" is the Ultimate Infinite Deity, Nuit. "there is no other God than me, and my lord Hadit".

This is why the Book of the Law promotes two different cults, or levels of worship. The worship of the One, Horus, is the stepping stone to the worship of the None, Nuit.
Note that there can be no cult of Hadit. He is the worshipper, the one that goes.

The Horus level of worship can be accomplished with any gods from any pantheon or religion you like. (Nuit, Horus, Jesus, Vishnu, Ganesha, Venus, etc.) This is why Crowley used the concept of the HGA, the individual, personal god. But behind all of these personal deities is the impersonal, ultimate reality of Nuit and Hadit.

Thelema, properly understood, is the reconciliation of all religion.
 

Always Wondering

I take 1:21 as, if I worship Zeus, then I am only experiencing Zeus’ experience of Nuit, not my own. But then again, all this talk about Horus is confusing the heck out of me. :confused:

AW
 

ravenest

Then ignore it ... concentrate on the Nuit aspect and try not to nut out every Horusy reference. Horus might make more 'sense' when you get to analysing Ch 3 the same way as you are Ch 1, then you will have the previous material 'integrated' (to some extent ;) )
 

Aeon418

Nuit is the infinite. Unless you can wrap your brain around infinity, any idea of Nuit you may have will fall short of the reality. As soon as you begin to "think" about the infinite, it ceases to be infinite.

Any conception of Nuit that you can imagine without the aid of higher levels of conscious awareness is a limited conception of Nuit. In our normal state of awareness it's impossible for us to comprehend deity as infinite nothing. It just doesn't make any sense, does it? But deity conceptualised as The One comes very naturally to us. We can wrap our brains around that idea, grasp it and hold onto it. And that's the level most of naturally bring Nuit down to in our fledgling efforts to understand her. It's the divided finite level of Us and Her, the God and the Adorer.

With the God & the Adorer I am nothing: they do not see me.
 

Always Wondering

:lightbulb I didn't realize that Thelema was presented as solar. Sneaky.
This religion stuff is sneaky too. :laugh:

But I am starting to feel reconciled.
It helps thinking of Horus as the HGA. And the sun as a star.

I thought it would be helpful to go back and re-read parts of this study. Seems someone has been hard at work organizing it for us. :thumbsup: Similia. You saved me lots of searching.

AW
 

Grigori

Your welcome AW

After thinking more about this, and reading a bit further, I have an alternate comparison on how this fits in to the conceptions of the divine in other philosophies and religions. Its similar to my thoughts from earlier as to how people who believe in a particular one true god, can follow thelema as a philosophy without conflicting with their religion, but also a little different.

I'd like to try and compare this Thelemic idea to Jewish/Christian ones. I'm a bit wary about it, as it means setting aside any thoughts about different aeons and variant ideas about what/who God is within sects of those faiths... (so read this very loosely please). But for the sake of putting my thoughts into a cultural context more familar to me so I can express what I'm thinking, I hope you'll all forgive me :)

In a way, I can see Nuit is being similar to the modern Christian conception of God, in the sense of being an infinite unknowable loving thing that cannot be comprehended by our human brains. The stories of those who saw God's true face and went mad fit in with that also. As an infinite unknowable God is not able to fit into our human conception, symbols are needed that we can aspire towards union with. Burning bushes, thundering clouds, personified angels, even Christ the messiah etc.. All conceptions or aspect/faces of the infinite that better fit into our human understanding.

This is interesting to me, when reflecting on the Jewish aversion to idols and idolatry. This is often dismissed as the posturing of a jealous god, competing with the pantheon of other faiths, but I think it could also be seen as a reminder, that the infinite communicates with us via finite symbols, and that we should not confuse the symbol with what it represents.

A personal story from my childhood and my current symbol of the idea of Nuit and Hadit. When I was quite young (toilet training time) I would frequently have a kind of nightmare, or more often sensation on waking in the middle of the night (while deciding should I get up to pee, or just stay in bed and let mum deal with it in the morning :laugh: Sorry for sharing this story everyone }) and sorry to my Mum for the nights I was too scared to get out of bed). In this sensation, I was aware of myself as a tiny little thing, not even a small body or anything with definable borders, but very much like a point. The point-me, was set in empty space, and surrounded in all directions in nothingness that goes on forever. As a child it was a terrifying feeling, complete isolation and seperateness. Looking back on it in light of our recent studies, I can see it as a metaphor of my being a Hadit in the body of Nuit, not yet having reached tipareth and so feeling isolation rather than union. Perhaps also its significant because of the timing, and related to when my Ego became a stronger force in my life.

The really interesting thing, is that as I got older I could create that same sensation while wide awake, by rubbing the back of my bottom teeth with my tongue. I used to always think to myself, I wonder physiologically, what there could be that would connect my teeth, to the sensation of being a dot in an infinite nothingness.

I've not thought about this for years, but remembered it for some reason today. This brings an extra layer to the "shin/tooth" and its attribution to the Aeon card. The card being another symbol of something similar, the dot within the all, related to a tooth.
 

Always Wondering

Wow, Similia. I get a true feeling of reverence with this. It hearkened me back to the day, at about the same age, I found these tiny furry balls underneath the family cat. I thought something was horribly wrong with her and was very upset. My mom explained they were kittens. I was so overwhelmed because I did not understand this at all. Didn’t know how I could ever possibly begin to understand.
I still get overwhelmed, easily. :laugh: In case you didn’t notice. I get dizzy and make fun of myself, but maybe that is my way of whistling in the dark. Maybe it would do me good to just stand there and silently be overwhelmed. Kind of like, if you will forgive me also, “Be still and know I am God.”
I guess when we get right down to the two year old truth of ourselves any star is a help and a comfort.

AW
 

Grigori

Always Wondering said:
Wow, Similia. I get a true feeling of reverence with this. It hearkened me back to the day, at about the same age, I found these tiny furry balls underneath the family cat. I thought something was horribly wrong with her and was very upset. My mom explained they were kittens. I was so overwhelmed because I did not understand this at all. Didn’t know how I could ever possibly begin to understand.
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In a way its like remembering "the fall" I s'pose. Suddenly realizing your in this world that doesn't always make sense, and isn't always nice. Maybe I'm remembering a silly recurrent dream, or maybe it is my "fall". My Mum did want to call me Adam :laugh:

I still get overwhelmed, easily. :laugh: In case you didn’t notice. I get dizzy and make fun of myself, but maybe that is my way of whistling in the dark. Maybe it would do me good to just stand there and silently be overwhelmed. Kind of like, if you will forgive me also, “Be still and know I am God.”
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I'm the same, it helps to be able to laugh at yourself. And things are less scary when they're funny. But its a way of distancing yourself from the experience I guess.

I guess when we get right down to the two year old truth of ourselves any star is a help and a comfort.
AW
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Nightlights will never look the same to me :)
 
Best daily practices Book of Law Study Group 1.22