Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trw-unix!trwspp!urban From: urban@trwspp.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: An Introduction to Thelema Message-ID: <81@trwspp.UUCP> Date: Fri, 5-Aug-83 16:44:57 EDT Article-I.D.: trwspp.81 Posted: Fri Aug 5 16:44:57 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 8-Aug-83 23:48:11 EDT References: unc.5642 Lines: 32 Your universe model is unusual, I'll say that. I'm going to restrict myself to one point to which I react strongly. .... As the Book of the Law puts it, "For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union." Love consists of the ecstatic union of opposites. That is as close to a literal de- finition as I can muster. Basically, Love is a phenomenon ob- servable in a variety of situations, the most obvious being the ecstatic union of male and female (a Thelemic sacrament, I might add). Another obvious example is when a particle meets its anti-particle and they combine to become a photon. The biggest consideration is that, all philosophy aside, this formula works in the production of ecstasy. I hope the electron and positron are happy together. But seriously, there's an underlying model there that's pretty troublesome. In what sense do you consider that male and female are "opposite"? This sort of assumption is the basis of a mythical view of the sexes (the positive, bright, strong, active male principle [god of the sun] versus the negative, dark, weak, passive, female principle [goddess of the moon]) that has been with us too long already. If male and female are opposite, then man and beast are even more opposite, and bestiality should be an even more holy union, right? Seems to me that defining love and ecstasy in terms of `joining of opposites' is pretty flimsy, although in your model it's necessary since you have to make sense of the "joining of Will with Restriction" (i.e. incomplete control of the universe; or did I fail to follow the metaphysics completely). Oh well, at least it's a different USE of this idea. Mike