The Thelema and meditation

After posting last nights entry I decided to catch up with some reading material I had been meaning to read. The Thelema is a collection of books mostly attributed to Aleister Crowley the famous Occult author. So far I have only read up to Liber IV ( considering the volumes go as far as CMLXIII and I dont even know what number that is) I can see I have a lot of reading ahead of me.

I found Liber I to be something vaguely similar to the kabalistic tree of life (maybe crowleys interpretation) and I from my observations I guess it would really only make sense to someone who is highly educated in occult symbology which is not what I wish to learn.

Liber II states in a nutshell that every man and woman is a star and if you beleive in fate or predertemination then each and everyone of us if we follow our true will (The trick being you have to figure out what your true will is) then we will find that we move freely and easily in our orbit through life. 'Do what you will' does not mean 'do what you like' and and once you find out what it is you want 'do nothing else' as pure will must be 'one' not 'two'.

All of this seems to make sense as long as you beleive in predetermination but even the most scientific mind has to admit that if the laws of nature are definate then surely there must be a pattern as the universal computer works out the exact trajectory of a raindrop to the ground or the amount of years of raindrops it would take for the ground to erode to a river. As we are all biproducts of the laws of nature who is to say that each of us does not have our own tradjectory?

Magic and occultism seeks out to understand the patterns behind the experiences of life. The illusions and contradictions between matter and thought can only be explained contradictory any explanations. For example if god is powered by faith wouldn't any proof of his being in the same instant destroy the logic that binds him? If god was proven true he would also in turn be proven false by his own logic and thus we seek to understand the contradiction hence: if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it does it make a sound? If nobody was there could the tree even be said to have existed at all as there is no proof yet we surmise that at least we know from our observations a sound would be made. Thus is the logic of magic.

I found liber III even more interesting that Liber II. Titled as "An instruction for the control of speech, action, and thought." I found the methods quite extreme and I think it may be a long time before I decide I wish to follow through on any of the rites. My favourite being that to controll ones power over his words which goes like

1. Here are practices. Each may last for a week or more.
2. (a) Avoid using some common word, such as "and" or "the" or "but"; use a paraphrase.
(b) Avoid using some letter of the alphabet, such as "t", or "s". or "m"; use a paraphrase.
(c) Avoid using the pronouns and adjectives of the first person; use a paraphrase.
Of thine own ingenium devise others.
2. On each occasion that thou art betrayed into saying that thou art sworn to avoid, cut thyself sharply upon the writs or forearm with a razor; even as thou shouldst beat a disobedient dog. Feareth not the Unicorn the claws and teeth of the Lion?
3. Thine arm then serveth thee both for a warning and for a record. Thou shalt write down thy daily progress in these practices, until thou art perfectly vigilant at all times over the least word that slippeth from thy tongue.
Thus bind thyself, and thou shalt be for ever free.

Here we have a typical mind conditioning that by associating these 'sins' with truama your not likely to forget or slip up very often. I think the method is more important than the result as any behaviour anyone wishes to rid themselves of could easily been done using this self punishment method. I wonder if maybe that removing these very common words that many people could not function without would maybe force the mind to perfom a complete rewiring of how the perceives language as a whole and would perhaps create some kind of split personality as a bew thought structure is created which to me is worrying as the true effects of this are not revealed in this book.

Liber VI is split into 4 parts and so far I have only read the first book. I won't go into it too deeply as there is too much information for me to even do a synopsis but there is one part I did try which is called ASANA.

ASANA is a form of learning to understand that your body will never ever find a comfortable position and that any prolongued stillness will result in itchy noses and fidgeting. It teaches you techniques to sit completely motionless for as long as you can as your position becomes agonising. On my first attempt I managed to sit motionless for nearly two and a half hours and I must admit I was pretty impressed by my own determination. The book outlines many of the mental blocks that are associated with doing this and how to overcome them eg. feeling like you should try an easier position completely destroys the point of the excercise as all positions are uncomfortable and encourages you to start off uncomfortable and in your head assume that you are allready a master of it.

I found the experience of ASANA to be a powerfull one indeed as I overcame the mental blocks that tried to convince me to give up I felt invigorated and full of strength. Like the potential energy of a spring being compressed as I sat still. I must say it really didnt feel like 2 and a half hours and I am definatly gonna try again tonight.

HowToConASewer