Kicking and screaming
I was dragged into this world;
naked, toothless and bald.
And when this shadow world
drags me, kicking and screaming,
through the carnival of life…
I contemplate in the mirror
the fruits and profits of a life:
the naked smile
the balding mind
the raw nerve of a true heart.
From a “social contract” perspective, the source of rights is often seen as relying on the ability to enforce them. This does not necessarily mean that they have to be enforced by violent force, all the time. There are other means of coercion, depending on the situation at hand (e.g., perception control, belief manipulation, persuasion, economic threat or incentive, etc.). Nonetheless, when all the surface factors collapse, force is posited as the deciding factor under this view.
However, there is also the Kantian perspective to be considered. From a “there is no god but man” perspective, the source of a right could be a logical necessity of sorts. For example, the idea that “Thou hast no right but to do thy will,” as in Liber Oz, could be seen as implying that the right to do your will logically emanates from the pure will itself. Especially if we consider the idea that the pure will is identical with one’s true nature.
Now, continuing with a Kantian perspective, and Crowley’s discussion of this topic in the magical theorems presented in Magic in Theory and Practice, to assert one’s right to do one’s will is logically and intrinsically connected to accepting everyone else’s right to do their will. In this sense, the source of rights is the acceptance of the Law in its innermost sense. To assert my own right is to accept the rights of others, and vice versa (per Liber Nu). Of course, it could be argued that “there is no god but man” equates the “god” with one’s true nature. Viewed this way, the inner god is the source of Thelemic rights, but at the same time it can be said that there is no external source for them.
Suffering is nothing but the shadow cast by the light of the Sun upon the Earth. The Sun within itself, in its unity, does not cast a shadow. The shadow of suffering is only the natural result of the interference.
The Absolute is, when in its true center, not subject to division and therefore not subject to suffering. The suffering of the Absolute is only a result of the division caused by the descent through the Abyss. Duality and division are caused in that descent of the Absolute into each and every one of us (who host or carry that consciousness, that light of the Star which is truly our deepest nature).
To immerse oneself in the little suffering of one’s own shadow, and to declare such little suffering to be the true nature of existence is to close your eyes to the light of your true nature.
If you do that, you simply perpetuate the misery of your own lie, as if your shadow is real (negating even the necessary truth of the light that must shine for a shadow to emerge).
What is this terrible anxiety that makes people angry when others think differently? Where does this insecurity come from that makes people bully, belittle, and attack all differing thought? Why feel threatened or insulted if others don’t see things your way?
Use thought as a tool, no more and no less. Use it to test reality, to question, to analyze, and to play poetic games.
Do not trust thought to reflect truth. Do not hang on to a belief as if it were your true self.
To expect others to think like me is like wanting everyone else to dress like me. I am not my thoughts, they are but mere tools for the mind.
These are the Four Pillars of Ego:
In the light of day,
ego casts a long shadow
that grows into night.
Such is my ego,
standing up to greet the light
of the Morning Star.
Faithful companion,
will serve until the last breath
for love’s sake alone..
Despised pestilence,
condemned by all holy writ,
guarding the most high.
(Herein is the secret for controlling the Four Princes of Evil under the sacred authority of your Holy Guardian Angel)
I look all around,
at the cleansing of nature,
the meeting of times.
What is happening?
The birth-pangs of Mother Earth.
The coming of Light.
What’s our charge in this?
Present in the shifting dream,
to witness and steer.
Here is the third and last commandment left by Ce Acatl Topilttzin Quetzalcoatl to his four high priests:
“Do not waste the time given to you by Ometeotl, the divine dual-trinity, on this world. Labor day and night towards the good without wasting time, for you shall not know if you will live again, if you shall know your true visage there in the world of true existence. Take prudent advantage of your lifetime.”
We Toltecas learn to use death as an advisor. This doesn’t mean we brood over the certainty of death, nor that we adopt metaphysical views about it. We simply use the certainty of the end of all things, including the end of this dream of life, to help us know that this moment is of extreme importance.
More in Tolteca 3:
The god-fearing are victims of their ignorance. Ignorance is not knowing who you truly are. Ignorant of their true nature, they believe the little gods of their imagination have created them. The more they fear, the more they channel the force of fear to create a world full of evidence that they are powerless. They become trapped by the power of their own ignorance. The gods they created are placed as guardians of their prison.
The free human being does not draw from the power of fear.
The people of knowledge, free from ignorance, do not hold guards to keep them trapped. They are free from belief, and free from fear.
The source of suffering is in you, and the solution is also in you. Hold on firmly to the knowledge of truth within yourself, and resist the seductive allure of the stories of Maya. Only then can you be a beacon of hope and refuge for others. Their essence will see in your essence the effect truth has on you, and they will naturally seek relief from darkness under the light of your spirit.
What is this, penetrating me over and over again?
What is it that pulls me out of myself, over and over again? What is impregnating, causing me to give birth to words and stories and thoughts? What presence is sending these words out to see if any survive, to hear some of them coming back to die in the vastness of my mind?
Thousands of children created, all living inside myself; a few of them daring to come out in words, in teachings, in thoughts and stories. What is their life like out there? I don’t know. All I know is the swelling in me that sends them out; and they go out there not knowing why I sent them. I can’t tell them that. They cannot know why. That is for me to know. That yearning is mine, and I send them out, each one with its own orbit, to live and die, to one day come back.
More and more are created in me, from the pulling of that Goddess-priestess––her silver touch pulling all the way down to my womb. And that sun God! Harsh, brilliant and penetrating, hitting my flesh, burning.
This womb of my heart is ready to swell, to live, to yearn, perhaps one day to surrender into that vast thing I call the ocean, when I can no longer see it because it’s too big, when I can no longer hear it because it’s drowning me, when I can no longer remember myself stepping into the waters.
