From:    Josh Norton                            Area: Thelema
To:      Frater Almost                          27 Jun 92 14:08:00
Subject: Re: Care Bears                         Rec'd UpdReq 

>When the
>transmission went through Therion's nervous System, it came
>out as only he could put it, highly flavoured with his
>personality and knowledge.
I don't see that as an advantage. Particularly not with Crowley as the
filter! What it means is that there is no way to distinguish what parts
of the book are "real" knowledge being provided by Aiwass, the Secret
Chiefs, or whoever, and which parts are merely distortions introduced by
Crowley's personality and memory. From my viewpoint, it provides just
one more reason to distrust the book as the foundation of a moral
system. (And Thelema is just as much a system of morals as is
Christianity.)
>One cannot convey in pure terms
>that which one does not understand.
Maybe not, but one can convey it in plain terms, and/or without cobbling
together stuff from prior sources. It's been done often enough.
Personally, I would find a restatement of these "timeless" truths in
completely new language more convincing.
 * SLMR 2.1a * What does it all mean, Mr. Natural?


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From:    Josh Norton                            Area: Thelema
To:      Michelle Hass                          28 Jun 92 13:09:04
Subject: Lucifer myths                          UpdReq 

>The only problem with all this Testosterone culture is that
>it bred a constant state of war between rival city-states. The
>memory of the old Matriarchal days and their relative peace
>and tranquillity was perhaps the reason the legend of the Fall
>came about.
>Just a thought....feedback?
While I find feminist archaeologists' ideas about a "men's lib" revolt
very plausible, I have to take exception to the presumption that the
earlier cultures were either relatively peaceful and/or idyllic. I took
a closer look at the matter a few years ago after being stimulated by
Merlin Stone's and Rianne Eisler's (sp?) books. And I was disappointed
to find that most of the solid archaeological evidence tends to indicate
that these supposedly non-sexist and/or matriarchal cultures were no
more idyllic and peaceful than later patriarchal cultures. They did have
wars, both for territorial and ideological reasons. And as with cultures
everywhere and everywhen prior to the last few centuries, the typical
person's life was -- with minor variations -- "nasty, brutish, and
short"; a culture's particular mythology and social structure doesn't
seem to have had much effect on this basic fact.
And while I DON'T claim to be widely-read in the feminist archeological
literature, it seems to me that all of the reconstructions of these
cultures that I have seen are based on legends and accounts recorded
AFTER the culture in question had changed or passed away. As such, these
accounts would be subject to the "good-old-days" syndrome: the belief
that the lost past was better than the present. I doubt that our
ancestors were any less subject to the syndrome than we are today.
Of course, the easiest explanation for the longing for an idyllic past
time is to forget all ideas about racial memory and such, and simply go
with the Freudians' belief that the "past" in question was our time in
the womb.
 * SLMR 2.1a * "All systems are true" = "no system is true"


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From:    Frater Almost                          Area: Thelema
To:      Josh Norton                            29 Jun 92 02:56:50
Subject: Re: Care Bears                         Sent UpdReq 

You don't quite seem to understand.... You see, to hear the voice of God is 
not like hearing some-one speak.... It convey's what It wants to convey in 
purely Symbolic Terms with NO WORDS WHATSOEVER! (Nope, not even in Enochian!) 
 God speaks via symbol.
     
Thus, the Liber AL is still Holy as it urges one on to discovering it's 
message for oneself ("Do what thou Wilt....")  That much is apparent.  It is 
quite plain to anyone competent to work The Magick of Light. Pax. 93


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