Theos-Talk Archives (October 1996 Message tl00065)

Jerry Schueler writes>
>To think that
>there is a White=Right Road and a Black=Wrong Road is childish
>and the kind of dualistic thinking that I find so objectionable
>in Chrisitanity.

Richard Ihle writes>
Remind me never to use Aleister Crowley again as an example, good or bad, for
anything.

I agree with your general sentiment, I think.  In another way of looking at
it, perhaps there is neither the Right Road nor Wrong Road, but only ~The
Road~ for each individual . . . and upon which merely right or wrong ~steps~
may be taken.

AC's steps may have been right for him and whatever goal he had in mind;
however, I am quite certain that for me stepping along in "Beast Motif" would
not be so natural.  Anyway, I can't think of any up-front, jolly,
unembarrassed way I could explain what I was doing to my mom or my son.

On the other hand, Crowley's magical-meditative system ("Scientific
Illuminism"?) cannot have been put together without at least some valid
content and--even more importantly--at least some valid content which will
not at the same time damage and degrade the person who practices it.
 Therefore, I remain interested in AC to a degree, but more-so, perhaps, in
the eclectic magicians who say they have been influenced by AC but for some
reason don't themselves look like they have been drained and doomed by what
they have been doing.

The big question in my mind is whether Aleister Crowley ever really
accomplished anything truly "magically preternatural" in his life or
not--anything, that is, that was worth the price that he may or may not have
had to pay for it.  (It is just a guess, naturally, on my part that he didn't
do all the sex etc. and get off scott-free in terms of repercussions--health,
energy, etc.)  He became quite famous, of course, but we may not be able to
give him credit for this without involving the "Catch-22" that I mentioned
earlier--i.e., that the major accomplishment of most of the bigger names in
occultism seems to be ~just precisely~ the mass of writing, speaking, etc.
that they do about their ideas and ~not~ the successful use of their ideas in
the accomplishment of something else.

Thus, if you know of any special power/attribute Crowley developed by means
of his magic, or any clear, extraordinary instance of his Thelema ("will"?)
doing something which otherwise wouldn't have been possible, please let me
know.

And if what you tell me is good enough . . . to hell, then, with my mom and
son. . . .

Godspeed,

Richard Ihle