Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law

I’m in a bad mood today and Crowley suits my mood. What are you meant to do when you’ve tried to sort out issues in your own life and someone interprets a “self-enhancing” action as “them-destroying”? Th reason? Because you didn’t come to them for assistance, because you might want to stand on your own two feet, they interpret it as rejection. People, on the whole are stupid. Crowds moreso.

It reminds me of the utter stupidity of adults who lay a whup-ass on their kids and when the kids say “What have I done?” the adult invariably replies “Oh, don’t play stupid with me!”

I was the recipient of more than one can of whup-ass ignorance during my early years. I came away with the welts of a leather belt and in some cases never knew what I did wrong. Partially for this reason I support the idea that “spanking” is something reserved for consenting adults in the privacy of their bedroom and not something applied to children in punishment for them being naughty.

If another adult was “bad”, would you strike them? No, of course not. What about a short adult? Still no? Okay, why is it okay for an adult to strike a child? Exactly, it’s not okay.

• Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law

Possibly the most famous Crowley quote, and later co-opted by the Wiccan cult.

Crowley was a nutter, this much we know, but he did come out with some fabulous quotes which I guess he borrowed and stole along the way.

• Love is the law, love under will.

I interpret this as Agapē. Love which is not sexual or filial. I interpret it as a non-discriminating general affection for everyone. The feeling of enjoying helping others without reward (a lot more apparent in these days of the Internet), of contributing to society (e.g. the Free software movements), of not complaining of hardships because you know others have it worse.

• I do not want to father a flock, to be the fetish of fools and fanatics, or the founder of a faith whose followers are content to echo my opinions. I want each man to cut his own way through the jungle.

A surprising quote here and I agree with it. I abhor the idea of a cult of personality (though I have it fully esconced in the notes in Qabal). Everyone must make their own stand in this world and we cannot always depend on others to be there for us. To a degree, this also tells us to not keep all of our eggs in one basket. Trusting only one person will lead you to ruin.

• The customer is usually wrong; but statistics indicate that it doesn’t pay to tell him so.

Not to be limited to monetary transactions but in any transaction: of ideas, of love and affection, of goods, of time. Any time there is a transfer and receipt, there is opportunity for the recipient to be disappointed. That said – sometimes it’s best to disappoint rather than further a sham.

• The supreme satisfaction is to be able to despise one’s neighbor and this fact goes far to account for religious intolerance. It is evidently consoling to reflect that the people next door are headed for hell.

Pick a topic that polarises. God or Allah. Mac or PC. Apple TV versus XBox. iPod versus Zune. Green, White and Orange versus the Red, White and Blue. D20 versus everyone else. I enjoy intellectual conflict for the pure exercise of my mind. I enjoy debate and the sharp edge of a sarcastic wit. I may shout and scream In CAPITALS during a debate but I’d still buy the next round if we were down the pub. Debate and disagreement do not equal hate. Or at least they should not.

• As soon as you put men together, they somehow sink, corporatively, below the level of the worst of the individuals composing it. Collect scholars on a club committee, or men of science on a jury; all their virtues vanish, and their vices pop out, reinforced by the self-confidence which the power of numbers is bound to bestow.

It’s not just men though my experience is heavily biased towards believing that men can be both the best and worst of people. Sadly the latter more often.