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TOP | RELIGION | THELEMA | PHILOSOPHYThelema, history of
To: thelema93-l@bitsy.hollyfeld.org
From: Jeffrey Smith
Subject: Re: Thelema, history of
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 19:38:20 -0400 (EDT)
Actually I was thinking of Stoicism, Epicureanism, and the other
non-Platonic forms which dominated intellectual life in the Hellenistic
states, the late Roman Republic, and the early Roman Empire, which
reduced the gods of the cultural religion to vapid nonentities, and
elevated Fate and Providence to a rather abstract divinity. Indeed,
given the role of Fate in these systems, some of which reduced the
individual Will to a powerless tool under the duress of Destiny (or
whatever), one could call them fairly unThelemic.
OTOH, Stoicism is a fine vehicle for training the will. See for example
the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and the apothegms of Epictetus.
As to the term itself, Will/Thelema did not play an important role in
Greek thinking--at least in the way that we think of. If it came up at
all, it was merely as a means in discussions about the ends. See, for a
good example, the Symposium (Plato's, not Xenophon's), and Socrates'
report of Diotima's teaching. One could read Will into there, and
paraphrase in those terms, but Plato did not write it up that way. Plato
has Socrates analyze courage and justice and human language, among other
things, but never Will per se.
Will in fact is a concept for which we are indebted to the Bible. Will
first appears in the teaching that became the Jewish Bible. It also
appears in the Zoroastrian tradition--whether one imported the idea from
the other, or if the two developed it independently, and which one is the
earlier one, is a question not very easy to answer, and for our purposes,
not relevant, since it was the Jewish tradition which had the major
influence, especially after the Xtian writers expanded on the topic. But
the Scriptures are essentially a body of writing devoted to analyzing the
concepts of human will, divine will, and the interaction of the two. The
two famous axioms--love is the law/do what thou wilt--can be defended as
very Biblical. The Caliphate may not be Xtian, but Thelema is Biblical.
In a way.
Be well.
Jeffrey Smith f901030k@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us
"On this spot in 1897 NOTHING HAPPENED"--Historical marker, Home Savings
Bank building, Hollywood, FL.
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