…and the college instructor has responded!
Now, as you very well know, I left Thelema some time ago. I left Thelemic practices behind even longer ago! As I told you earlier, I discovered my last lodge closed in 1998! But, I paid my dues! I paid my dues! lol
But, of course, I did read and study… and, since I’ve been involved with Judaism over a year, I’ve read and studied quite a bit in Judaism (We’ve talked about this amongst ourselves, but here is a link that states it.. If you search down my old videos on magick or remember them, and how I said magick was to get closer to God…. and the fact I haven’t regularly performed ‘magickal practices’ since 1998, but studied… you’ll see how, once again, it proves the point that I was ‘thinking like a Jew’….since most Jewish Kabbalists today are theoretical Kabbalists) So, let’s tackle this:
As you know, my pet peeve when I was a Thelemite was morality. That was what the whole Modern Gnosis idea was about: promoting morality, reasonable interpretations instead of literal ones, etc. Of course, the way I was interpreting things turned out to be Jewish… and, the point you’re making here is too! Click Here for an aish.com podcast
Now, a cookie for you if you were already interpreting part of the Book of the Law that way anyway:
I:29 For I am divided for love’s sake, for the chance of union.
I:30 This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all.
Ah yes, the Book of the Law…. how can we make a short little book, extremely concise, extremely cryptic…make it say some very profound things about Kabbalah, etc…. but yet make a literal reading of it absolutely horrid? Ah yes….here we go!
So, all joking aside, I do think you hit on a good point… and it’s not just about Christianity although C.S. Lewis was a devout Christian writing about what he knew. In any religion, a person has to be motivated to be a good person. If he’s not, he uses the religion as an excuse to be a bad person. Westboro Baptist Church and the 9/11 bombers come to mind. As I think you also rightly judged, heaven and hell are not decent motivators. Most Christians don’t REALLY truly believe that what they’re doing will send them to everlasting torment….or else they’d all be saints.
But, to my original point… before any of that, a person has to have a sense of right and wrong. They get that sense of morality from living in a Christian society, which has a heavily developed sense of right and wrong. They may not agree with everything the society around them does, but they WILL frame their disagreements in opposition to society’s view. It DOES affect them.
I don’t remember the story exactly, but there’s a Jewish parable that a rabbi asked that the “evil impulse” be totally eradicated from his city. God complied, no one lifted a finger to do anything, and everyone died. I think I mentioned that story to you before… but the moral is, what is commonly translated as “evil impulse” (the selfish desires of the body) is what motivates us to do anything at all.
So, what is in it for me? What do I get out of treating others well? What do I get out of performing charity? Again, let’s go back to the Book of the Law:
We have nothing with the outcast and the unfit: let them die in their misery. For they feel not. Compassion is the vice of kings: stamp down the wretched & the weak: this is the law of the strong: this is our law and the joy of the world.
Now, what is one way of interpreting this? The person who refuses to help themselves…you can’t help them. The people who love to complain and talk about how everything is falling down on them…. you can’t help them. BUT, Compassion is the vice of kings. What is a vice? Something that is ok in moderation, but is harmful to the extreme. Compassion is a vice for those strong enough to use it. (In Jewish law, you’re supposed to give 10% of your money to charity, but not more than 20%. Give away too much and you risk harming yourself.) Totally snuff out the wretched and weak. How so? By totally snuffing out wretchedness and weakness. Give those in need their dignity back and help them help themselves. Help a person get out of their situation and stay out of it…don’t just finance their misery.
Now, why would I do this? What’s in it for me? We depend on society for just about everything. By benefiting the individual, we are benefiting the society at large. A healthy society is a prosperous society. If a person has food and shelter, he can start thinking about larger issues. The next Einstein may be begging outside your door. The next Jonas Salk might be asking for a bite to eat.
We are all “in this together”. We are partners in creation with God. The better we make the world, the better the world that we live in.
UPDATE: A Rabbi spoke about something very similar
and, since you are a Thelemite, I’ve been trying to use Thelemic references, but I’ve also found a Crowley reference: “Selfishness is the highest stupidity. I cannot hurt my brother without hurting myself.”
-A. Crowley, Absinthe, The-International-Feb-1918
