During a recent philosophical conversation, a friend of mine asked: “Do we really create our own realities?” That’s a tough question to answer directly because it depends on the precise definitions of the words “we”, “create”, and “reality”, none of which are reliable when the topic at hand is one that purports to dismantle the entire framework of conscious perception. That said, what follows is a somewhat roundabout approach to a possible answer.
]]>Many years ago, while corresponding with my good friend Hagios Xao, I came up with the idea of composing a little treatise on the relationship between magick and Thelema. I never got around to pinning down the subject matter, but I had a notion that the headline would play on the title of Magick Without Tears.
There were a few ways I could go with that: “Thelema Without Magick” for instance, or perhaps something like “Thelema Without Crowley.” A clever literary device, if somewhat obvious. But inasmuch as my aim would be to prompt a re-examination of the assumptions that underlie our thinking on these topics, some such provocative title would fit the bill nicely. Or at least that was the plan…
]]>I’ve concluded after more than two years of experience of daily “silent sitting” meditation that it may well be impossible (or, at least, very unproductive) to seriously engage in the practice of ceremonial magick without also engaging in some sort of non-conceptual contemplative practice on a regular basis. By “regular”, I mean more than the cursory five- or ten-minute session once or twice a week. The rule of thumb for physical exercise, two or three times a week for at least twenty minutes each time, doesn’t seem like enough to overcome the poor attentional habits most of us have built up over the course of our lifetimes.
]]>The Center of Pestilence website project has existed in visionary form for the last two years, the domain having been registered in May of 2020 in the midst of a real-life pestilence. The original intent was to provide a forum where participants could freely discuss parallels and contrasts between Thelema, as both a religion and a philosophy, and other popular systems of thought and belief. Such discussions would inevitably center around passages from The Book of the Law and other Holy Books, as well as the background from which Crowley may have developed his ideas and practices.
Given the admonition against any discussion of The Book of the Law, as expressed in the Class A comment on the book, one may be forgiven for wondering why anyone would participate in a forum such as this or, even worse, to start such a forum with the express intent of enticing participants to flaunt the common tradition.
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