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From: john.crow@nashville.com (John Crow)
Newsgroups: alt.magick
Subject: Re: Thelemic Con Artists
Date: 10 Apr 95 02:06:00
Organization: The Nashville Exchange BBS 615-383-0727
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Distribution: world
Message-ID: <00001EF000001DE5@nashville.com>
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In a prepared statement, Tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.c claimed that:

 Oc> I'm just curious, is there something Un-Thelemic about conflict? Is
 Oc> not the nature of all existence conflict? You want harmony? You speak
 Oc> of those who are blind, are they not in conflict? with themselves,
 Oc> with you maybe? Thelema may not be all conflict, but conflict is
 Oc> certainly a part of it.

 Ty> Something about orbital conflict in Crowley's writings, I think.  That
 Ty> is, when a star/person interferes with another star's orbits (why
 Ty> aren't these planets?), then the conflict is 'unthelemic', yes.

They aren't planets because planets orbit around a sun, whereas stars in
a galaxy orbit around their collective barycenter. Thelema does not, per
se, posit the existence of a central governing law in the archaic sense
of the word, but instead a "law" in the modern scientific sense: Will is
a description of behavior rather than a force controlling behavior. The
orbits of stars around a galactic center simply makes a better analogy
than that of planets around a sun. (Which latter, ironically, would
probably be a perfect analogy for the Christian version of things.)

Of course, taken this way, it is impossible to violate one's own Will or
that of another; it is only possible to *appear* to act in violation of
Will. Gravity always pulls mass towards mass, yet things act contrary
this tendency all the time without violating the law of gravity ---
airplanes spring to mind.

It would appear to follow from all this that knowledge of and obedience
to the Will is not an end in itself, but a means to an (unspecified)
end. Restriction is, therefore, a sin not because it is a violation of
Will --- an impossible act --- but because the apparent resistance to
Will slows the overall tendency of the thelemic entities to progress
towards the Great Unknown ordained by [insert your favorite god here].

Cheers,
John


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