My Religion
MY UNDERSTANDING OF
LIBER L. vel LEGIS
(The Book of the Law)

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Here follow excerpts from my diary — somewhat edited for clarity — over several months when my primary practice was daily meditation on the 220 individual verses of Liber Legis, or The Book of the Law.

The meditations were undertaken as a formal practice of Gñana Yoga. The method was that I would meditate deeply on the verse, then take pen to journal and begin writing my thoughts. After these were down (and only then), I would read Aleister Crowley’s commentaries on the same verse and incorporate into the record my reactions thereto. Mostly, this was done on a schedule of one verse per day, five days per week. (At this rate, it takes 44 weeks — about 11 months — to go through all 220 verses.)

For over 20 years, The Book of the Law has been a major topic of my study, thought, and teaching. Yet, I had never gathered all of my primary thoughts on the Book into one place. This made it difficult to remember prior realizations or discoveries, and to build on them. The present practice began with the idea of creating an evolving notebook where I could record and update my opinions as needed, a cumulative reference for myself on my relationship to these 220 verses. 1994 was the year that I finally got around to doing it.

I have decided to make these available to my students and other interested parties who request a copy. This action is controversial within the social, and perhaps the religious, philosophy of Thelema, and warrants some brief explanation.

Something I consider fundamental to the religious philosophy of Thelema is that each person must, ultimately, draw his or her own conclusions as to the meaning of our scriptures. Yes, there is a level where Aleister Crowley’s reporting of the more or less “objective” meaning of the verses must be considered, because he was the channel through whom the transmission passed, the individual whose mind and vocabulary and imagery formed the menstruum for its manifestation. In short, he was the only witness! There are passages which, therefore, no one alive or dead could understand except Aleister Crowley. Furthermore, as the one person for whom the Book was most personally written — the one whose entire life was devoted to its understanding and explication — Crowley’s understanding of these verses must rank well ahead of anyone else’s. His commentaries must be regarded as the first and most important.

At the same time, the essence of these verses — the real meaning behind the words — is of Neshamah (super-consciousness). Their interpretation requires direct intuitive perception, which can only come from the individual reader. And, like the best of poetry, the ultimate meaning of these words is to be found in their impact on the soul of the reader, independent of the Author’s original intention.

It is, therefore, a commonplace “rule” that Thelemites do not tell each other what this Book means. The authority for this often paranoid avoidance of discussing The Book of the Law rests in the so-called Class A Comment which Crowley appended decades later. It advises against the study of the Book, its discussion — even against keeping it on hand and intact after the first reading.

Despite this, Crowley regularly insisted that newcomers “study often” The Book of the Law. He even ritualistically sealed these instructions in ceremonies written, or at least substantially rewritten, after “The Comment” was penned.

I must confess that I have never been at all sure that this Comment was at all Class A. I shall not review the historic details here, for they are lengthy and readily obtainable; but I will remark that it is abundantly clear that all-too-human grief and despair were the sponsors of its dour tether.

In any case, let me make clear that my purpose in what follows is absolutely not to tell anyone what any part of Liber Legis means to them. No one will ever receive from me a copy of this unless they first request it. Nor was it written as a “commentary,” but as my own meditations — please keep that very much in mind! I didn’t write this for you. I wrote it for me.

It is a work in progress (even as I am!). I will likely revise and rewrite these pages until the day I die.

There is no human field that can prosper and progress if its caring and capable students are unable to exchange views with each other.

The virtue of the usual social prohibitions against discussing Liber Legis is that they resist sectarianism, philosophical tyranny, and distortion. Its condemnation is that it stultifies all sincere exchange of views and creates a ridiculous atmosphere of knee-jerk distrust.

With this prelude, I therefore offer these pages to those who express an active interest in their content.

You will notice that my name is nowhere on these pages. Although my identity is not a secret, neither is it the issue. It doesn’t matter who had these thoughts. They are either useful to you, or they are not.

I request certain courtesies in your redistribution of this material. Put simply, do not print or distribute this information at all. Instead, refer people to the present URL. That way, they, too, will have to dig through this tedious preamble before getting down to the links to the information. Without this ambling preamble, the information is not complete. These pages are not secret; however, the piecemeal dissemination of them out of context (among several other possible things that could go wrong!) would only make them the object of debate and controversy, which is exactly what I want to avoid. The understanding of Liber Legis is properly in the domain of receptive reflection, not mental gaming. If you want to repeat some of these opinions in conversation, go ahead and call them your own — after all, if they haven’t become your views, please don’t repeat them on my account!

As a formality, I will note that the entire contents of these pages, except where explicitly stated otherwise, is my personal work product, and I reserve all legal rights thereto that may be reserved under the law. (I am the individual who owns the domain on which these pages appear.) Also, even if you have my permission to disseminate a copy to someone, that permission is totally void unless this introductory letter prefaces it.

Thank you for your interest and your courtesy.

Love is the law, love under will.