Ontology and Thelema:

 

Ontology and Thelema:

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

As I was musing over the idea of pure consciousness, after my son had asked me what Hadit is; and I tried to explain ontology to a seven-year-old. I thought that I would try and figure it out for myself. From my understanding, the closest a person can come to Anatta as Buddha called it, or what Thelemites refer to as Hadit expanding into the infinite body of Nuit, is to get a glimpse of it. It is the complete unfolding of being, wherefrom self is shattered as a consequence of direct experience. So, the question for me becomes, how does this transcendent union occur, or what are the pieces that need to be perfectly in place for this state to be reached?

I guess a person has to look at the constituents of the soul to find a good enough theory, these are--the physical body, the sub-conscious, the ego, the intellect and the unconscious and then there is Hadit. Hadit is in a sense tied up with Aether, but Hadit is deeper than the unconscious, as it was him who created it. As a newborn my first experience was light, no thought, just light, this interaction created the sub-conscious and all my experiences from that point onwards were stored in this part of my being. From the time I am able to differentiate between the world and myself, or when I become self-conscious, the ego is formed and starts to develop along with the unconscious creating the sub-conscious. For lack of a better word: I use sub-conscious for this part of the psyche, and unconscious for the deeper one as the unconscious is already established in the womb. Even before the ego is formed intelligence is apparent, as development is dependent on learning and certain infants learn faster than others, which means they are smarter.

Aether according to Orphism is light/brightness, therefore it may have something to do with the mindless interactions of an infant and its relationship with the world. The child’s senses and intuition are its primary means of cognition, if the child experiences any pleasure or discomfort, it must be perceived or filtered through these lenses, although there is no need to intellectually understand any of it, the child cries or giggles, depending on the type of stimulus it experiences. This is still very much purely Hadit’s interaction with Nuit and Aether, (the latter, which is more often referred to as L.V.X. is what unites all souls and our individual experiences in the realm of pure feeling) and it’s through the relationship of these three that the unconscious is created. The reason for differentiating between the unconscious and sub-conscious, is that the sub-conscious is to an extent deliberately created by the ego and intellect, although some of what bubbles up into the sub-conscious, more than likely comes from the unconscious. However, I presume, to a larger extent, repressed emotions and impulses occupy this space and for this to be the case, a person needs to be self-aware. In other words: a person needs to have already developed prejudices and these can only be found in someone who has an ego.

Hadit’s unfolding and his final expansion into the body of the Goddess may according to the logic here presented, be compared to a newborn experiencing consciousness for the first time. And if this is true; sense perception, lack of prejudices, the unconscious perceiving as intuition, and the ego no longer in control, makes it direct experience between subject and object. Since a person at this level of experience is not hindered by the ego and intellect, one could say that it is a falling away from self into nothingness. This expansion is made possible by Hadit, who--without the ego serving as a barrier between him and Nuit, becomes undifferentiated consciousness, and brings about the phenomenon which some call oneness with God. I assume that when all the different parts of being have been perfectly equilibrated. The pressure of these faculties being in perfect harmony and working as one, becomes so overwhelming, that the intellect and the ego cannot cope with the experience, leaving the most primordial elements intact and leads to the annihilation of self, which culminating in the above experience, nothing is perceived as everything.

Note: It is worth noting that the intellect must be a part of the experience as this faculty is necessary for recalling the experience and it is via this faculty, that the self must be reconstructed. The intellect is also not something that can leave the body such as the ego, which is an abstract construction of individual consciousness. Therefore, the intellect must remain intact throughout, albeit overwhelmed by the intensity of realization. However, in a sense, the ego is destroyed, if only for the time being. The pressure which results in the experience more than likely results from the fact that complete union is at odds with the ego, which is a reflection of the world of duality, thus the world of contraries must be at odds with experiencing pure Being or Universal Oneness, although driven by momentum, the pressure keeps building until release is found in annihilation.

“Love is the law, love under will.”

Mnemonics and the Magickal Link:

 

Mnemonics and the Magickal Link:

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

Within the practice and theory of Thelema, the aspirant is given the task of memorizing chapters from specific Holy Books that correspond to specific grades. He or she is tasked to do this without necessarily delving deeper into the meaning of these texts, although he/she must study them as prescribed. The reason for this is simply to prepare the aspirant for initiation into our philosophical system, by which, this activity works as an ordered system of mnemonics.

The soul is not just the unconscious, ethereal body of light, or even that which is sometimes called the spirit, nor is it entirely the intellect, or the physical, sensual body. The soul are all of these parts working in unison to foster development towards the ultimate perfecting of the individual, and wherefrom being is unfolded. The Holy Books are prescribed to be remembered and in Liber Nu it is written, that the first chapter of The Book of the Law should be learnt in the aspirant's heart. The heart corresponds to the soul, or Thelemically, it is associated with the god Ra-Hoor-Khuit of the last chapter of the Book of the Law and suggests the Great Work of an adept. Hence, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, in a sense, symbolizes the soul, or more accurately the soul’s relationship with the divine and the world around it.

When we memorize and recite the texts, we are enlivening every part of the soul. The unconscious, through the archetypal symbolism inherent in these texts, the intellect, via the intellectual activity of memorizing the texts, the physical and emotional bodies are enlivened by the act of reciting these texts regularly throughout the grades, and the spirit, via the passion that is invoked by this practice. Hereby, one is inspired by a feeling of being where he or she belongs and where they were always meant to be, overwhelmed by certainty, the enlivening of passion serves to fortify the aspiration.

This passion is the faculty by which a magickal link is forged. As mentioned, it is via this practice that one’s aspiration is affected and as the passion is attributed to the Will, the Logos of the Western Esoteric Tradition, and Thelema its modern expression, a magickal link is established with tradition. The establishment of this link with tradition corresponds to Binah and the Great Mother, with whom the Neophyte in Malkuth unites to conceive the soul, which will serve as the vehicle for his Great Work.

Thelema is by no means a thing that dropped out of thin air, it is a continuation of the Western Esoteric Tradition, and a new vehicle with which to preserve it. Crowley for all his faults, was not a conman, as so many would be Thelemites have stated, and our tradition is, in fact, as old as the Magi themselves. Luckily, today, anyone may attain to the promises, if they do the work, and that is Crowley’s gift to the world. He resurrected the White School of Magick and gave us a vehicle for attainment, which is second to none.

“Love is the law, love under will.”