Aleister Crowley (Essay Sample)

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Aleister Crowley
The world became a better place for Aleister Crowley on October 12, 1875 as Edward Alexander Crowley in Leamington Spa, England. He grew up with a thorough biblical understanding and disdain of Christianity as his parents were members of Plymouth Brethren, a strict Christian sect of fundamentalists. Later in life, he became an influential poet, ceremonial magician, mystic, mountaineer and English occultist. He was given other names including “The Great Beast”, “Frater Perdurabo” and “The Wickedest Man in the World”.
Crowley’s Niche
Crowley met George Cecil Jones, a member of Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who had great influence and impact in the way Crowley turned out in life. The Golden Dawn was a society that practiced occultism with MacGregor Mathers as its leader. They learned and practiced many things including qabalah, magic, alchemy, astrology and tarot among other hermetic subjects. The society gained influence and fame due to its many notable members that led to the development of modern western occultism.
Crowley is mostly remembered for his immense contribution and influence towards occultism. He saw himself as a prophet that was entrusted with informing the humanity of a new dawn of true religion. He was to transition them into the Aeon of Horus, a period of religious revelation, in the early 20th century.
Thelema Philosophy and Religion
Thelema philosophy is one of the most remembered philosophies that Crowley founded and implemented. Thelema is a word that emanates from Greece meaning “intention” or “will”. The term has gained acceptance and dominance in defining the new spiritual philosophy that has gained popularity over the past centuries. In fact, the new spiritual philosophy is gradually becoming established and practiced in many corners of the globe (Chappell, n.pag).
Thelema philosophy is founded on three essential elements of beliefs. Firstly, “every man and every woman is a star”. This belief is based on individuality of every human being. Every being is unique in different aspects of life from one another. They are stars in their own way, meaning that they are destined for great things individually in their capacity regardless of gender. The realization of these special qualities, talent and features in every person, whether male or female, contributes to a diversity in coexistence. Both men and women are accommodated in the spacious universe where they are free to move without collision (Chappell, n.pag).
Secondly, every person possesses the True Will that forms the overall motivation to exist. Thelema expresses this belief through advocacy in “Do what thou wilt” and “Do thy will”. It is a mandate given to man to exercise their True Will in order to obtain freedom from restrictions of nature and be fulfilled in life. This belief prohibits “Every man and every woman is a star” from interfering with another man’s True Will as chances of two true will being in conflict are zero. It is also the duty of every man or woman to tread upon their own self-made or followed paths in discovering their True Will. Every will is unique and different from one person to another due to varying point-of-view in every man. For this reason, one must discover their True Will for themselves.
The third important element of Thelema is love. Love forms the basis for one to unite with their unique destinies (stars) and True will. All conscious beings coexist with one another in love as it enables the formation of bonds, cords and rapports that are mindful of others and the society in whole. It is the reason Thelema believes in “love is the law, love under will” to emphasize on freedom, individuality and self-exploration.
The Book of Law
“Do what thou wilt” is the basis of the Abbey of Thelema, which Aleister Crowley played a vital role to ensure its fruition. Various prominent and visionary thinkers had the Abbey of Thelema in mind and writing, but few of them saw its implementation. Crowley dared to be different and followed his guts to implement it. He wrote numerous articles, poems and books in support of Thelema that gradually became famous and widely practiced in the western nations. He had the means and necessary channels to get a target audience through his writing, influence and social status (Chappell, n.pag).
Developing and reinforcing the basis of Abbey of Thelema, “Do what thou wilt” and “The word of the law is Thelema” was instrumental to Crowley. It made him spent most of his time writing the many chapters and verse of what later became The Book of the Law. There is voluminous output of literature works and commentary on these 220 Chapters that revolves around magic, yoga, qabalah, mysticism and other subjects in occultism. Crowley’s writing has influence of Thelema as he interpreted and understood it in his capacity as the only true prophet of New Aeon at the time, which focused on human spiritual evolution.
Every Chapter in The Book of Law has different characteristics and features that emphasize a different thing. For example, the first chapter deals with Aeon of Isis that lays value on the archetype of female divinity. Chapter two is closely related to the preceding one as its emphasis lies on when the slain god archetype becomes prominent and the establishment of the patriarchal religions of the world. The third chapter talks of the dawning of a new era ruled by the Aeon of Horus born of Isis and Osiris. The era is instrumental as it forms the platform through which humanity get the revelation of the philosophy of Thelema and become established through spiritual evolution of the species as the primary paradigm (Jones, n.pag).
Crowley and Magick
Magick is an art and science of causing change in line with the Will. It is among the practices of many Thelemites in the doctrines of Thelema as a religion. Magick gives emphasis on following the True Will towards self-discovery of own purpose in life. The addition of the letter “k” at the end of the term “magic” serves to distinguish the spiritual weight and discipline of Thelema from the stage magic. Aleister Crowley included magick doctrines when he experienced them first-hand in Egypt during Aiwass.
The rituals of magick are either performed individually or as part of a group in order to achieve its purpose. A ritual is a series of actions that are predestined and include chants, gestures, visualization, meditation and recitation of invocatory lines among others. They are often carried out in designated settings deemed sacred, declared holy or consecrated for the rituals. The requirements of magick rituals differ from one another as there are some that accommodate incense, candles and magical implements while others do not. They are used in one way or another to imprint the desired change in the magician’s consciousness.
Humanistic Psychology
Human psychology is the psychological approach of human nature and behaviors that are inclined in understanding the whole person and his or her uniqueness. It is also known as humanism and deals with psychoanalysis aimed at understanding the unconscious factors and motivations behind behavior. Behaviorism studies all the conditioning processes that necessitate the emergence of certain behaviors. For this reason, humanistic psychologists see the human behavior in the observer view as well as through the eyes of the person involved in the behavior.
There are three elements that form the basis of humanistic psychology. Humanism offers a new set of values that approach an understanding the human condition and nature. It expands a horizon of methods that inquiry of how the human behavior is studied. It also gives a range of more effective methods used in the professional practice of psychotherapy (McLeod, n.pag).
Human psychology holds four beliefs in explaining and making people understanding psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Firstly, human beings are all equipped with free will, and not all behavior is determined. This is because determinism removes dignity, freedom and devalues the human behavior. Deterministic psychology gives a low opinion to the uniqueness of human beings and interferes with their freedom to achieve their destiny when general laws of behavior are created and given emphasis. In addition, deterministic psychology reduces the responsibility of every person.
Human psychology holds that all human beings are unique and have an inborn drive that helps them realize their full potential. Every person has different abilities, talents and strengths from the other. The diversity is a common feature that adds value to living as the strengths of others compliment the weakness of others. The drive towards achieving the full potential is of different magnitude, and every being has it. It is innate and passed on from one generation to another.
Thirdly, human psychology holds that a proper understanding of human behavior can only be achieved by properly studying human beings and not animals. Human behaviors are unique to human beings. It takes a deeper analysis and study in order to understand the motives and drives behind the behaviors of human beings. Lastly, the study should be based on an individual case (idiographic) rather than the average group performance (nomothetic). Proper results can only be achieved when an individual is used in conducting the psychoanalysis and not group study (McLeod, n.pag).
Humanistic Psychology and Thelema Comparison
Differences
The only important difference in these philosophies is their origins. The origin of Thelema philosophy dates many centuries back in the United Kingdom. Evidence of its practice first became public t...