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Aleister Crowley on Atheism

Atheists are of three kinds.

The mere stupid man. (Often he is very clever, as Bolingbroke, Bradlaugh and Foote were clever). He has found out one of the minor arcana, and hugs it and despises those who see more than himself, or who regard things from a different standpoint. Hence he is usually a bigot, intolerant even of tolerance.
The despairing wretch, who, having sought God everywhere, and failed to find Him, thinks everyone else is as blind as he is, and that if he has failed—he, the seeker after truth!—it is because there is no goal. In his cry there is pain, as with the stupid kind of atheist there is smugness and self-satisfaction. Both are diseased Egos.
The philosophical adept, who, knowing God, says “There is No God,” meaning, “God is Zero,” as qabalistically He is. He holds atheism as a philosophical speculation as good as any other, and perhaps less likely to mislead mankind and do other practical damage as any other. Him you may know by his equanimity, enthusiasm, and devotion. I again refer to Liber 418 for an explanation of this mystery. The nine religions are crowned by the ring of adepts whose password is “There is No God,” so inflected that even the Magister when received among them had not wisdom to interpret it.

Mr Daw, K.C.: M’lud, I respectfully submit that there is no such creature as a peacock.
Oedipus at Colonus: Alas! there is no sun! I, even I, have looked and found it not.
Dixit Stultus in corde suo: “Ain Elohim.”

There is a fourth kind of atheist, not really an atheist at all. He is but a traveller in the Land of No God, and knows that it is but a stage on his journey—and a stage, moreover, not far from the goal. Daath is not on the Tree of Life; and in Daath there is no God as there is in the Sephiroth, for Daath cannot understand unity at all. If he thinks of it, it is only to hate it, as the one thing which he is most certainly not (see Liber 418, 10th Æthyr. I may remark in passing that this book is the best known to me on Advanced Qabalah, and of course it is only intelligibile to Advanced Students).

This atheist, not in-being but in-passing, is a very apt subject for initiation. He has done with the illusions of dogma. From a Knight of the Royal Mystery he has risen to understand with the members of the Sovereign Sanctuary that all is symbolic; all, if you will, the Jugglery of the Magician. He is tired of theories and systems of theology and all such toys; and being weary and anhungered and athirst seeks a seat at the Table of Adepts, and a portion of the Bread of Spiritual Experience, and a draught of the wine of Ecstasy.

(Emphasis added.)

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by michele ricketts on September 21, 2012 at 10:16pm

I keep returning to the term collective unconscious. I'm not even sure it corresponds exactly in the way Jung means it.
Words are symbols for what they are.Music and intuition have another dimension on a cognitive word or words. When I think of collective unconscious this is what happens: it's a catch all.
I have been wondering about looking into Crowley as a form of guided intuition. Although I liked his fiction when I came across it 30 years ago. I thought then that there is more to the man than his satanic public image.
I would appreciate if you could post a title of his on where to start.

Permalink Reply by Tammy S on September 21, 2012 at 10:39pm

'Gems From the Equinox' is my favorite, published by New Falcon Publications. Would that I could afford the entire Equinox, I've only seen the complete set for sale in person once... 'Eight Lectures on Yoga' is another great investment.

Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on September 22, 2012 at 8:38am

I like The Law is For All. It must be read after reading Liber Legis, which is the seminal work on which all that follows is but explanation or illustration. The Law is For All is an explication of Liber Legis. There is a lot to appeal to an atheist in The Law is For All. It appeals to the freethinker, and yet it also presumes a knowledge of mysticism, usually anathema to an atheist.

Permalink Reply by michele ricketts on September 22, 2012 at 11:52am

You're right about the anathema-its my sense too.
I proposed a discussion on Was Rasputin An Atheist ( they plonked it in the introductions forum I hadn't found my way around the site yet to put it in a group.)
I suspect it is considered too wacky to read. Seems plausible to me. What I label ( label being the word here) the astral body does seem to have a polarity betwixt a sublimation ( God for Mr Rasputin) and a withdrawal of sublimation to quite will-full own Self-centeredness. From this dynamic it could increase a third inner self in neutral detachment in the place where meditative mind takes place. Atheist in direction as Bhuddist masters do.
Unassailably Rasputin was a mystic. Redressing his debauchery with God but not in guilt because of the more private inner self. Secondly the sect he was involved with under the name of Greek Orthodoxy was considered suspect by G.O. establishment but how nefarious they could not judge because the sect was secretive.
I just want to add there are tons of works on spirituality nothing on this " astral" body".Quite pitiful in fact. Although the dangers are to be consumed by self-ish-ness which the masses can't be trusted with. ( Even Rasputin which is why he is hated or feared.But i think all that lime-light was too much for him in the end. Perhaps he lost his sense of humour in a sense./ in sense) Hence the Indian based yoga sects I was involved once say Astral body is the Desire body somewhat undesirable as they are all religious sublimators.And why there is so much code and symbol that has to be intuited which I think I will run across reading Unkie Al.

Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on September 22, 2012 at 2:26pm

Now that I think about it, perhaps Magick in Theory and Practice is a better starting point. This anthology of essays and rituals, one of the works in Book Four, went into public domain for a while and was available in an inexpensive edition from Dover. When he wrote the Gnostic Mass, Old Crow included a section called "The Collects," in which he lists a veritable host of famous and infamous -- notorious -- persons who thought for themselves, including the explorer, Sir Richard Burton, who said (Thelemically): "He lives best and dies best who keeps his self-made laws." The Great Beast also put in one of the Borgias, Nietzsche, and leaders of Gnostic sects. I did a who's who of the saints in a magazine piece and just researching the matter took weeks.

Permalink Reply by Tammy S on September 22, 2012 at 3:32pm

I just looked up our copy of Book 4 on Amazon and just about had a coronary! I think we paid $49.95 @ Mountain Books in Michigan many years ago and now the same edition is selling for over $120.00! But yes, Book 4 I would concur, is one of our favorites and we quite enjoyed Magick in Theory and Practice and of course I like the big ol' Golden Dawn doorstop edition as well even though Israel does tend to drone on... ;)

Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on September 22, 2012 at 5:40pm

Earlier editions of Crowley works tend to increase in value over the years. You probably can get Book 4 for less used. Do you have the old Weiser ed.? I made a mistake, I think, saying Magick in Theory & Practice was part of Book 4. I think it is a part of a four-part compendium titled Magick. A work like Eight Lectures on Yoga can be of value to the reader even if she is an atheist. I am certainly no expert on Crowley writings, and those I have met were insufferable.

Permalink Reply by michele ricketts on September 22, 2012 at 6:40pm

Insuffarable like jazz getting "too out there". All that right brain delving has that side.

Permalink Reply by Tammy S on September 22, 2012 at 10:46pm

Yeah it's the Weiser ed. 1994 printing and Part III is Magick in Theory and Practice you were correct. Book Four is comprised of Part I Mysticism, Part II Magick (Elementary Theory) and Part III we've already mentioned, Part IV is Thelema - The Law. I'm the one breaking the books up in memory LOL you were on track. I actually had to go get the book out to be sure!

I think I was thinking of his letters to his students, which if memory serves, is Magick Without Tears.

Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on September 22, 2012 at 11:33pm

Yes, and probably edited by Regardie. I may still have my copy of the Weiser Book 4.

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