I’ve been accused of being unstudied in Thelema because I’ve come to different conclusions than others. Sure, it’s based on my experiences with Hermetics and the Thelemic writings of Aleister Crowley that have spanned almost 30 years now, but what do I know?
Fortunately it came from brothers in the Order, so the implication was given in a fraternal manner. 😀
I of course took this advice seriously, and decided to do some pondering. I began with some basic questions… Am I unstudied in Thelema? Have I actually been paying attention? Am I wrong in my conclusions? Does it matter?
Soon, I was off on a tangent. When did I start thinking like a Thelemite? How could I even know?
Looking back over my experiences, I realized that although it took a while to think of myself as a “Thelemite,” I understood “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law” from my early teens. It was obvious. People broke their societal roles and responsibilities all the time, and got away with it. My parents sinned against their god and hypocritically failed to live up to their espoused ideals all the time. And god didn’t kill them with lightning. Society, culture, interactions, people, religions, rules of law, philosophies, belief systems of all types were just games people played, vocabularies they learned with syntax and form that gave them the ability to justify and rationalize doing whatever they wanted and feeling fine about it. Even murderers can come to Jesus in jail and get a pass, right?
So one of the things about Thelema is that, unlike all the other belief systems I found, it makes no bones about it. The “Good News” of Thelema is “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” That’s it. It even explains that Love is the Law. It’s true for you, and everyone else, and that’s the best ethics system ever, doing what you want while not impeding anyone else from doing what they want. It is the key to the universe, personal happiness, health and wealth, and joy and peace, for ourselves, and for everyone else when we give them room to do what they will too. You come to enlightened self interest with this stuff, eventually, and walk away exercising illuminated compassion because you understand how that matters.
Thelema solves all the problems that come from organized religion, politics, and competing philosophies, if it’s applied equally by all and for all.
Not that such a thing would ever happen, of course. But it’s an ideal.
So if I already was thinking like a Thelemite at 13, what is necessary to help a Thelemic mind grow? I mean, if I can do it on my own without a lodge, Order, or AA member in my family and friends, anyone can do it. And maybe most people know it at their core.
But I have kids, and I want their minds to blossom Thelemically too. So I give them the tools, take them to lodge events they can attend, and explain what I can when they ask. I’ve taken an active role in “making them Thelemites,” and what I’ve found is that they are already Thelemites, and all they’re getting from me is an understanding and a vocabulary that aligns with what they already feel to be true.
So I’ve come to the tentative conclusion that the “Blossoming of a Thelemic Mind” is not something that needs to happen, as much as it is something that is more useful to acknowledge and use in our regular approaches to manifestation. It clarifies the thoughts, eliminates the need to explain, rationalize, or justify. It leaves us free, it is the Law of Liberty, for real. People just need to know it’s ok to do their will.
N.B. – These are blog post thoughts, not doctrine or anything more than an opinion, and do not necessarily represent the opinions, thoughts, or approaches of anyone in the US Grand Lodge, or the EGC (except me, I’m in it).
