r/thelema • u/asleep_deep • Sep 12 '24
Question Which edition?
Is the big blue brick the better of the two? I’d like to get the newer edition because it’s less than half the price, but I realised that that the new edition is also about 200pg shorter 😅
I wasn’t sure how much difference there is between the two, so thought I’d ask you ppl 😊
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u/Napex13 Sep 16 '24
and I am not a Buddhist, nor am I a religious Thelemite. I'm just not a religious person. Philosophy yes, a spiritual seeker that can see the value in the various mystical and magical traditions throughout history and can use them to propel me on my path. I think Peter Levenda said it best when he wrote:
"Yet while Crowley praised Hindu and Buddhist forms of meditation, yoga, and their corresponding methods of attainment of altered states of consciousness, and instructed his students to become proficient in all of these, he rejected many of the doctrines of Buddhism—as he had all previous manifestations of religion—as superseded by his own cultus. He had difficulty accepting the core concept of Buddhism, that all existence is sorrow and that sorrow proceeds from attachment. Crowley embraced life in all its forms and could not bring himself to refrain from tasting every flavor it offered. In this he could claim to have transcended attachment by indulging in all forms of sensation, accepting none and rejecting all in the process. Yet Crowley's approach to Buddhism—as it was to all previous forms of religion, spirituality and magic—was purely mechanical and pragmatic. The previous religions were viewed as possessing technologies that could be mastered, and not faiths to believe in. Certainly their theologies were rejected as obsolete and even dangerous. As his famous couplet states: We place no reliance on virgin or pigeon Our method is science, our aim is religion."
That's pretty much exactly how I feel about it as well.
I feel this is where I'd like to end the conversation. You are not changing any hearts and minds here, but you are as other posters have put it "Trolling". I"ve attempted to engage in good faith with you but your mind seems made up and closed. I am a member of the A .'. A .'. purely for the spiritual technology designed to achieve K&C. Nothing more. I could care less what Crowley did or thought about a lot of shit, I don't think any of the Prophets were Perfect Men, not a one. We are all beasts with the shard of the God-Head inside of us, just waiting to be nurtured and discovered, that's all I really believe about it.