Theos-Talk Archives (March 1995 Message tl00385)

Arthur:
>Right now I am reading Emerson and he speaks of natural law
>quite frequently. Could you please explain to me the
>quote below. If my memory serves me I have heard this in
>thelmatic throught? Crowley or somewhere like that. Is it
>similar to Augustine's Love God and do what you please. or
>has it different inferences?
>
>>My world, inner and outer, is mine, and I make
>>it what I will.  You make yours what you will.
>>Perhaps the only truly universal law is Do What
>>Thou Wilt?

Sorry, but yes, I borrowed from Crowley here.  But I
suppose that it is ok, because he borrowed the phrase
himself.  As you say, it goes back to Augustine, although
the ancient Egyptians also had the idea ("see yourself as
one who comes forth into light, and come forth to take your
every pleasure upon the Earth among the living" - last
sentence on Stele of Revealing, my own trans. in my Egyptian
Magick p 168.  The phrase "take your every pleasure" could
also be "do your every will" or simply "do what you will").

This universal law, which Crowley adopted and many good
folks have thus ignored, seems a bit selfish or harsh on
the surface.  In fact, modern wiccans have changed it to
"an' in harm none, do what thou wilt" so folks won't get the
wrong idea.  Actually, the "an' it harm none" is implied in
the law itself once you understand exactly what the "thou"
is - it is not the personality or ego.  The "thou" refers to
the Self in the Jungian sense of the total psyche, or to the
theosphical idea of Ego (cap E) or higher self, which magic
calls the True Self and Enochian Magic calls the Holy
Guardian Angel (a poetic term that is so outlandishly
childish that it serves to shake the mind out of its normal
grooves and reminds us that it is, after all, but a name,
which is better than a lot of other names which all too
often give us a false impression of knowing what the name
refers to.  But, I am digressing, and the occult theory of
names is another story).

The four words of this law, rather like the four letters of
the Hebrew tetragammaton, are a condensation of an entire
worldview.  According to this worldview, life is rather like
a joyous and fun game, an exciting adventure, a 'lila' or
dance (almost in the spirit of Shakespear's "all lifes a
stage" etc).  This worldview says that we are not here to
learn anything because we are already perfect and eternal in
our essence, and that consciousness descends to the lower
planes of manifestation in order to express itself in
spacetime, rather like an artist painting a picture (I hope
Keith notes my reference to art here).  Our spiritual ascent
is one of going back to our original spirituality (our
original face, as Zen has it), a return to the point where
we left off, and the idea of spiralling forever upward (and
thus growing spiritually forever) is silly nonsense because
one can only 'grow' by definition in spacetime (all growth
or progress is, by definition, a process over time, and
without time such concepts are meaningless).  Spirituality
is beyond or outside of any spacetime continuum, and
according to this worldview,

    spirituality=eternity=timelessness

and also

    spirituality=infinity=spacelessness.

Although this worldview is somewhat difficult to phrase
properly (I am trying my best) it has been shared, at least
in part, by virtually all mystics throughout history.  The
Zen Master D.T. Suzuki once said that when we do return to
our spiritual essence after countless lifetimes in the lower
planes, or when we recover our original face, we will be a
victim of the great Cosmic Joke - the realization that we
never really went anywhere after all.  In this worldview,
God not only plays dice (sorry Einstein) but is a true
gamester at heart.  This mystical worldview really has to be
seen or experienced before it can be adopted.  It is one
that our human minds will rebuke as illogical without a
direct perception of some kind (it is the kind of worldview
that inspires flames on a network, for example).

So, if we have this very esoteric (because it is so
devilishly hard to put into words) worldview, we will tend
to act accordingly.  By this I mean that, if we are here to
express something within us, then it becomes imperative for
us to find out exactly what that is, and then set about
expressing it.  Some who have done this, for example,
discover that they are messengers of the Lodge, and then
they must start teaching.  Some become writers, and some
poets.  Some serve in charitable organizations.  Everyone is
different.  But, until we know what the impulse was that
brought us into birth at this point in spacetime, we are
simply whistling in the wind, so to speak; that is, our
actions and words will not be authentic.  A person who is
authentic, knows exactly what they are doing.  BTW, such
a person will have no regrets or guilts about how their
lives went when they face their own death, and they usually
die with a very contented smile.  Do What Thou Wilt thus
means that you should express whatever the impulse was that
brought you into this life and damn the consequences (e.g.,
the hatred, rebuke, and condemnation that you are likely
to receive from those you are trying to help).

I am not familiar with Emerson, but being a poet and mystic,
he quite probably adopted a worldview something like this
one.

Hope this helps.

    Jerry S.

ps. The idea of me and my world vs you and your world is
explained in my Enochian Physics.  The several postings that
I made here about it received such a cold response that I
would rather not go into it.