Reader responses on God in Thelema and Christianity

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

There were a few responses to the first post which was called “God in Thelema is not the morbid God of Christianity.” We include one comment here from a pastor and a response:

Pastor Tom the “revenator” wrote, “Truth can only be found when we realize that we are created beings. This makes us lower than God and we must always look up to Him, His way, His will and His authority. To think that a fallible lowly human being is god raises self to a level that in not achievable. We are so limited. We are not all knowing, all powerful or always present. Since your religion believes we are all god then there really isn’t a god because even a second god would eliminate a true god.”

The body & mind of the soul may be created things but the Soul in its purity is one with God. We need not look up to Him but look with even eyes… no, the same eyes! God ‘sent’ Jesus to show that God & Man are & can be One.

It is indeed achievable to be one in identity with Godhead, but only – as foreshadowed by Jesus’ own teachings – when one given up attachment to all things. All things being within my Body, I am omnipresent [all-pervasive]; All forces being within my Body, I am omnipotent [all-powerful]; All relations being within my Body, I am omniscient [all-knowledgeable]. This is spoken of in our own writings in places like Liber 418 & Liber Cheth.

In a sense there is no ‘second’ god but there are also Infinite Gods or infinite expressions of God. God is All, is in All, is express through All and each Soul has the potential to burst the sinful restriction-bar of separateness to become that All. Every man and every woman is a star and divinity is “above & in” each one of them.

Pastor Tom continues, “What happens when your god thought opposes my god thought? The strongest god thought will survive. Do what you wilt has been eliminated by the stronger willt!”

Truly! I agree! Therefore one needs to be in harmony with the thoughts & movements of all things so that there is no opposition but a Unity of Motion.

And finally he writes, “Face it, the only way for man to survive is to voluntarily submit to the One True God and come back into right standing with Him through the One Way He has made for us to come. I know this sounds narrow to the broad way of everyone doing what they will but truth is a hard pill to swallow.”

I actually agree with you, except I know that man can merely ‘survive’ without God. We want more than that: For man (and woman!) to be expressions of beauty, strength, joy, and laughter through expressing their own Godhead, their natural birthright. The difference between us is what we believe constitutes ‘submitting to the One True God’ and who that ‘One True God’ is. As I’ve said, Thelema does not simply deny all things Christian but actually brings many of the ideas to fruition & perfection!

We do not interpret God as some Entity that responds to prayer-petitions so we have no need of proving ‘His’ existence – we are with you on all counts of denying the existence of that God. Frankly, I would not even like to use the term ‘God’ as it brings up all of those associations of the Paternal Man-in-the-Sky who created & judges the world. As it has been said: “The keystone to this arch some have called God, some Brahma, some Zeus, some Allah, some even IAO the God of the sounding name; but in truth, O seeker, it is Thy-SELF.”

We don’t “follow” anything but see truths revealed in Thelema. There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt. That is both a freedom from the incessant demands and dogmas of past religions & philosophies while simultaneously being a call to “Know Thyself” for you can’t Do what thou wilt if you don’t know who ‘thou’ really are. The Book of the Law reveals a simple & concise Law that has the solution to personal, social, sexual, emotional and spiritual freedom.

Your comments along with all others that have contributed to the conversation are much appreciated!

Love is the law, love under will.

Thelema has Certainty of Experience, not Superstitious Faith & Belief

“I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.”
–The Book of the Law

We must have faith! This is what innumerable Christians say & parrot all day long. We must believe! We must have faith! Faith that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. This is nothing but a surrender of our God-given faculties of experimentation & reasoning to blind adherence!

This blind faith has lead to the indiscriminate slaughter of people who simply do not espouse belief in the same God, or simply use a different name for God! The Book of the Law acknowledges “Every man and every woman is a star” in the company of Heaven. This Heaven is not some place attained after we die but is here & now, even as Jesus tried to explain: “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)

This blind faith has lead to restriction of the freedom of others – such as the prevention of equal rights for homosexual couples – innumerable times. The Law of Thelema enjoins us to “not repress or restrict any true instinct of your Nature; but devote all in perfection to the sole service of your one True Will.” (Duty)

This blind faith has lead to the infinite suffering of uncountable souls, who worry endlessly about their fate in some “here-after” instead of enjoying their life here & now on Earth.

This blind faith has lead people to commit atrocious acts and childishly negate their responsibility for them, saying “God told me to do it.” But if there is no god but man, you are still responsible!

In Thelema we abide by the certainty of our own experience, not blind faith. We only speak of God when we know God (and become God!). We might as well kiss Hank’s ass if we are working from faith!

“It all depends on your own acceptance of this new law [Do what thou wilt], and you are not asked to believe anything, to accept a string of foolish fables beneath the intellectual level of a Bushman and the moral level of a drug-fiend. All you have to do is to be yourself, to do your will, and to rejoice.” (Law of Liberty)

If we have faith, it is faith in ourselves. It is a faith in our Will to meet each moment with skillful and strong Love. This is a faith of action which is alive & dynamic instead of a faith of belief which is dead & stagnant. Not worrying if every action is sinful and guilt-ridden, we experience the pure joy of existence in each moment, having discarded the phantoms of fear and abiding in the strength & simplicity of the Law of Liberty, Do what thou wilt.