Due to the great difficulty of finding an easy to understand guide to Thelema which does not bore its readers back to whence they came, I have written this. With all due respect to Thelema 101, which does a decent job, I hope that this is something that allows for comprehension even by someone with no prior background knowledge on the subject. This is meant to be *very* general and basic, hopefully not at the expense of too much accuracy.
What is Thelema?
- Spiritual belief system
- People who practice Thelema are called Thelemites
- Thelemic “bible” is called The Book of the Law
- Thelemites tend to believe in some form of reincarnation
- Thelema teaches that everyone has a specific meaning in life, usually called the “True Will.”
- Thelema teaches freedom: that nothing is morally wrong on its own, unless it restricts freedom
- Thelema teaches that “love is the law.”
- Thelema is Greek for “Will”
What is True Will?
- In very simple terms, since each human is a part of “god,” each human’s True Will is a part of the “Will of God.”
- “God” is probably not schizophrenic, so a human’s True Will can not conflict with another’s.
- Only you can know your own True Will.
- True Will is your sole purpose in life, therefore:
- True Will supercedes morality (“right” and “wrong” are decided by whether or not you’re doing your Will.)
- True Will is the sequence of actions that represent your highest potential.
- Doing your Will does NOT necessarily mean doing whatever you want.
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You may “want” to have sex with someone who does not want you, but doing so would constitute rape and perhaps land you in prison. From prison you might “want” to run for president (or even just go for a walk on the beach), but you now can not. Doing whatever you want does not lead to maximum potential. Also, in this case, doing what you want probably violated someone else’s True Will (since you took away their freedom via rape and caused harm to them), meaning it was not a part of your own True Will. True Will is a long-term process.
- If you are really doing your Will, nothing can stop you — you have the “inertia of the universe” behind you.
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“Good luck” and “bad luck” are probably just effects of doing your Will or not doing your Will.
- Thelemites have methods for discovering their True Will, but it is a lot of work.
History of Thelema
- Modern Thelema was started in 1904 by a man named Aleister Crowley
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Thelema as a philosophy dates back to the writings of Rabelais and others, which sometimes differ substantially from the ideas of modern Thelema.
- Aleister Crowley was not “evil” or a “Satanist”. . .he just had a bad reputation in the media
- The word Thelema appears in the Bible to refer to God’s Will, Satan’s Will, etc.
Important Verses from The Book of the Law
- Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. — This means that the sole rule in life is to do your True Will.
- Love is the law, love under will. — Generally taken to mean that the nature of the True Will is love, and also that if you don’t know your True Will, acts of love are a good guideline by which to live your life.
- Every man and every woman is a star. — Every individual is unique with their own “orbit” in the universe. Also, every human being is inherently divine: each his own god.
Please comment if you think anything should be added or modified!
93,
I dont believe in reincarnation at all and Im a Thelemite. I know many Thelemites who dont believe in reincarnation (probably because its a superstition like many ‘spiritual’ things!)… either way, it is not mentioned in ANY Holy Book let alone Liber AL (which quite clearly states that a King will dissolve forever when dead)…
“Thelema teaches freedom: that nothing is morally wrong on its own, unless it restricts freedom”
Uh… no. More like something is wrong if it restricts the Will. The word ‘freedom’ is extremely tenuous.
“Thelema teaches that “love is the law.””
Funny you should mention this but not that Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law or the fact that There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt or Thou hast no right but to do thy will…
““God” is probably not schizophrenic, so a human’s True Will can not conflict with another’s.”
Does schizophrenia imply conflict or vice versa? That is seriously idiotic. Is a chess game schizophrenic because there is intense competition and conflilct? Is conflict even bad (no, no its not).
“True Will is a long-term process.”
II could equally say “True Will is a moment-to-moment process” and I feel like I would be less misleading. True Will isnt to be a Doctor or a Physicist… its not limited to Reason-able stateaments. It is the natural motion arising in each moment when you interact and manifes one of infinite possibilities.
“Thelema as a philosophy dates back to the writings of Rabelais and others, which sometimes differ substantially from the ideas of modern Thelema.”
This is false and false and false. Rabelais didnt create a philosophy of Thelema – he created fictional Thelemites and did not flesh out the philosophy in the least like Crowley did. Beside, both Nietzsche and St Augustine said “do what you will” with Augustine’s caveat of “love”… Why say things that are not true? Thelema is just as close to Hinduism in the Gita as it is to Rabelaisian Thelema.
“Aleister Crowley was not “evil” or a “Satanist”. . .he just had a bad reputation in the media”
Matters what you mean by ‘evil’ and ‘satanist.’ By most people’s definition of satanist (i.e. not a Christian), hes a Satanist. Its hard to be a Satanist if you dont believe in the Jesus-HEaven-Hell-Original Sin-Jehovah-Devil mythos. Crowley did worship Satan but it was a symbol fr the Secret Self, not some demon who fights against the Good God.
This is pretty good but I feel some things are quite misleading. Also, why is the Wikipedia not a fine introduction to Thelema? It also allows you to click on links to learn more about whatever else you like to know about…
IAO131
93,
I really appreciate the helpful feedback.
I didn’t mean to suggest that all Thelemites believe in reincarnation. I do however find that most I have encountered do, and a lot of Crowley’s work seems to suggest it is an important theme. That said, it is true that reincarnation is not in any Class A documents as far as I’m aware, so perhaps I should reword.
On a similar note, I must have previously misunderstood your entry on “New Aeon Initiation” with regards to death as non-cataclysmic, and will most definitely reread it.
“Uh… no. More like something is wrong if it restricts the Will. The word ‘freedom’ is extremely tenuous.”
You’re right, embarrassing typo on my part, I will fix.
““God” is probably not schizophrenic, so a human’s True Will can not conflict with another’s.”
By conflict I meant contradict. I’ll definitely redo this part as well.
“II could equally say “True Will is a moment-to-moment process” ”
How do you feel about long-term moment-to-moment process instead? You’re right though, it is definitely felt in both the individual actions we undergo as well as the eventual outcome.
“Crowley did worship Satan but it was a symbol fr the Secret Self, not some demon who fights against the Good God.”
Could you point me to a location where he claimed to worship Satan? Perhaps in some interpretations of Satan as a symbol (rather than the literal being that Christians see him as), you could make this claim, but I would say that from the Christian perspective this simply isn’t true, unless you’re taking the specific perspective that not being a Christian means worshipping Satan. To take this perspective, however, you would also have to make the point that Ghandi was a Satanist.
The reason for this over the wiki was to provide a quick primer in the form of some brief bullet points that gives a general idea of Thelema. If I were to do one for Buddhism, I might go “Four Noble Truths” with sub bullets for each, then “Reincarnation — But not all modern Buddhists believe in this” and then a bit about Nirvana and methodologies, etc. Obviously there’s much more to it.
I will make some revisions to this article for accuracy, add some things in about Scientific Illuminism as a methodology, and then would love to hear what you have to say about the revised version.
Thanks!
93 93/93
Fr. 333
Wow, this is amazing! Just precisely what I was looking for! A careful, one-page summary with a big of good humor thrown in in simple language! The basics! Enjoyable to read… Many compliments from a new student/researcher of Thelema.
XD
93,
you mentioned that
“Thelemites have methods for discovering their True Will, but it is a lot of work.”
Can you give me an example of one or two?