Thelema is a spiritual philosophy (referred to by some as a religion)[1] that was developed[2] by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley. He came to believe himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus,[3] based upon a spiritual experience that he and his wife, Rose Edith, had inEgypt in 1904.[1] By his account, a possibly non-corporeal or "praeterhuman" being that called itself Aiwasscontacted him and dictated a text known as The Book of the Law or Liber AL vel Legis, which outlined the principles of Thelema.[1][4]
The Thelemic pantheon includes a number of deities, focusing primarily on a trinity of deities adapted fromancient Egyptian religion, who are the three speakers of The Book of the Law: Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. The religion is founded upon the idea that the 20th century marked the beginning of the Aeon of Horus, in which a new ethical code would be followed; "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law". This statement indicates that adherents, who are known as Thelemites, should seek out and follow their own true path in life, known as their True Will[5] rather than their egoic desires.[6] The philosophy also emphasizes the ritual practice of Magick.
The word "Thelema" itself is the English transliteration of the Koine Greek noun θέλημα: "will", from the verbθέλω: to will, wish, purpose. In the New Testament as well as the works of Plato, Thelema includes the ideas of will, choice, inclination, desire, including sexual desire, and pleasure. As Crowley developed the religion he wrote widely on the topic, producing what are collectively termed the Holy Books of Thelema. He also included ideas from occultism, Yoga and bothEastern and Western mysticism, especially the Qabalah.[7]
The word θέλημα (thelema) is rare in classical Greek, where it "signifies the appetitive will: desire, sometimes even sexual",[8] but it is frequent in the Septuagint.[8] Early Christian writings occasionally use the word to refer to the human will,[9]and even the will of God's opponent, the Devil,[10] but it usually refers to the will of God.[11] One well-known example is in the "Lord's Prayer" (Matthew 6:10), “Your kingdom come. Your will (Θελημα) be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” It is used later in the same gospel (26:42), "He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." In his 5th century Sermon on 1 John 7-8, Augustine of Hippo gave a similar instruction:[12] "Love, and do what you will" (Dilige et quod vis fac).[13]
In the Renaissance, a character named "Thelemia" represents will or desire in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of the Dominican monk Francesco Colonna. The protagonist, Poliphilo has two allegorical guides, Logistica (reason) and Thelemia (will or desire). When forced to choose, he chooses fulfillment of his sexual will over logic.[14] Colonna's work was a great influence on the Franciscan monk François Rabelais, who in the 16th century, used Thélème, the French form of the word, as the name of a fictional Abbey in his novels, Gargantua and Pantagruel.[15] The only rule of this Abbey was "fay çe que vouldras" ("Fais ce que tu veux," or, "Do what thou wilt"). In the mid-18th century, Sir Francis Dashwood inscribed the adage on a doorway of his abbey at Medmenham,[16] where it served as the motto of The Hellfire Club.[16] Rabelais' Abbey of Thelema has been referred to by later writers Sir Walter Besant and James Rice, in their novel The Monks of Thelema (1878), and C.R. Ashbee in his utopian romance The Building of Thelema(1910).
Aleister Crowley (/ˈkroʊli/ kroh-lee; 1875–1947), born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as bothFrater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic andceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other fields, including mountaineering, chess and poetry. In his role as the founder of the Thelemite philosophy, he came to see himself as the prophet who was entrusted with informing humanity that it was entering the new Aeon of Horus in the early twentieth century.
Born into a wealthy upper class family, as a young man he became an influential member of the esotericHermetic Order of the Golden Dawn after befriending the order's leader, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. Subsequently believing that he was being contacted by his Holy Guardian Angel, an entity known as Aiwass, while staying in Egypt in 1904, he "received" a text known as The Book of the Law from what he believed was a divine source, and around which he would come to develop his new philosophy of Thelema. He would go on to found his own occult society, the A∴A∴ and eventually rose to become a leader of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), before founding a religious commune in Cefalù known as the Abbey of Thelema, which he led from 1920 through till 1923. After Mussolini evicted Crowley from Cefalù, Crowley returned to Britain, where he continued to promote Thelema until his death.
Crowley was also bisexual, a recreational drug experimenter and a social critic. In many of these roles he "was in revolt against the moral and religious values of his time", espousing a form of libertinism based upon the rule of "Do What Thou Wilt".[1] Because of this, he gained widespread notoriety during his lifetime, and was denounced in the popular press of the day as "the wickedest man in the world."
Crowley has remained an influential figure and is widely thought of as the most influential occultist of all time. In 2002, a BBC poll described him as being the seventy-third greatest Briton of all time.[2] References to him can be found in the works of numerous writers, musicians and filmmakers,[3] and he has also been cited as a key influence on many later esoteric groups and individuals, including Kenneth Anger, Jimmy Page, Kenneth Grant, Jack Parsons, Gerald Gardner, Robert Anton Wilson and, to some degree, Austin Osman Spare.[4]
The second precept of Thelema is "Love is the law, love under will"—and Crowley's meaning of "Love" is as complex as that of "Will." It is frequently sexual: Crowley's system, like elements of the Golden Dawn before him, sees the dichotomy and tension between the male and female as fundamental to existence, and sexual "magick" and metaphor form a significant part of Thelemic ritual. However, Love is also discussed as the Union of Opposites, which Crowley thought was the key toenlightenment.
No comments:
Post a Comment