A. Crowley's Insightfull Take on The Kabbala
I found this writing very interesting because it reminds me very much of what was going on in my mind once back in my early-teen years when I was entering a high- fever delirium state. I had these very insightfull and lucid thoughts right before an episode of full blown delerium-pychosis that pulled me down into the hell realm with a very vivid impression of damnation, or being damned by god.
Funny thing before this happen I was taking egoic pride in ownership over these thoughts cuz I thought I was the first person to come up with these thoughts...apparently I was Not!
anyways...here's the piece..
"THE NAPLES ARRANGMENT"
The Qabalists expand this idea of Nothing, and got a second kind of Nothing which they called "Ain Soph"----"Without Limit" (This idea seems not unlike that of space.) They then decided that in order to interpret this mere absence of any means of difinition, it was necessary to postulate the Ain Soph Aur---"Limetless Light". By this they seem to have meant very much what the late Victorian men of science meant, or thought they meant, by the Luminiferous Ether. (The Space Time Continuum?)
All this is evidently without form or void; these are abstact conditions, not positive ideas. the next step must be the idea of Position. One must formulate this thesis: If there is anything except Nothing, It must exist within this Boundless Light; within this Space; within this inconceivable Nothingness, which cannot exist as Nothingness, but has to be conceived of as a Nothingness composed of the annihilation of two imaginary opposites. Thus appears THE POINT, which has "neither parts nor magnitude, but only position"
But this position does not mean anything at all unless there is something else, some other position with which it can be compared. One has to describe it. The only way to do this is to have another Point, and that means that one must invent the number Two, making possible the line.
But this Line does not really mean very much, because there is yet no measure of length. The limit of knowlege at his stage is that there are two things, in order to be able to talk about them at all. But one cannot say that they are near each other, or that they are far apart; one can only say that they are distant. In order to discriminate between them at all. there must be a third thing. We must have another point. One must invent THE SURFACE; one must invent THE TRIANGLE. In doing this, incidentally, appears the whole of Plane Geometry. One can now say A is nearer to B then A is to C
But. so far, there is no substance in any of these ideas. In fact there are no ideas at all, except the idea of Distance and perhaps the idea of Between-ness and of Angular Measurement; so that Plane Geometry, which now exixts in theory, is after all compleatly inchoate and incoherent. There has been no approach at all to the conception of a really existing thing. No more has been done than to make definitions, all in a purely ideal and imaginary world.
Now comes THE ABYSS. One cannot go any further into the ideal. the next step must be THE ACTUAL. There are three points, but there is no idea of where any one of them is. A fourth point is essential, and this formulates the idea of matter.
The Point, the Line, the Plane. The fourth point, unless it should happen to lie in the plane, gives THE SOLID. I f one wants to know the position of any point, one must define it by the use of three co-ordinate axes. It is so many feet from the north wall, and so many feet from the east wall, and so many feet from the floor.
Thus there has been developed from Nothingness a Something which can be said to exist. One has arrived at the idea of MATTER. But this existance is exceedingly tenuos, for the only property of any given point is its position to certain other points; no change is possible; nothing can happen. One is therfore compelled, in the analysis of known Reality, to postulate a fifth positive idea, which is that of MOTION.
This implies the idea of Time, for only though Motion and in Time, can any event happen. Without this change and sequence,nothing can be the object of sense. ((It is to be noticed that this # 5 is the number of the letter He' in the Hebrew alphabet. This is the letter tradionally consercrated to the Great Mother. It is the womb in which the Great Father, who is represented by the letter Yod, which is pictorially the representation of an ultimate Point, moves and begets active existance).
There is now a concrete idea of the Point; and, at last, it is a point that can be self-concious, because it can have a Past, Present and Future. It is able to define itself in terms of the previous ideas. Here is the number Six, the centre of the system; self-conscious, capable of experience.
At this stage it is convenient to turn away for a moment from the strictly Qabalistic symbolism. The doctrine of the next three numbers (to some minds at least) is not very clearly expressed. One must look to the Vendant system for a more lucid interpretation of the numbers 7, 8, and 9, although they correspond very closely with the Qabalistic ideas. In the Hindu analysis of existance the Rishis postulate three qualities; Sat, the Essence of Being itself; Chit, Thought or Intellection; and Ananda (usually translated Bliss), the pleasure experienced by Being in the course of events. This ectasy is evidently the exciting cause of the mobility of pure exixtence. It explains the assumption of imperfection on the part of Perfection. The Absolute would be Nothing, would remain in the condition Nothingness; therefore, in order to be conscious of its possibilities and to enjoy them, it must explore these possibities. One may here insert a parallel statement of this doctrine from the document called The Book of the Great Auk to enable the student to consider the position from the standpoint of different minds.
""All elements must at one time hve been separate.--that would be the case with great heat.--Now, when atoms get to the sun, we get that immense,extreme heat, and all the elements are themselves again. Imagine that each atom of the element possess the memory of all his adventured in combination. By the way, that atom, fortified with memory, would not be the same atom; yet it is, because it has gained nothing from anywhere except this memory. Therfore, by the lapse of time and by virtue of this memory, a thing could become something more than itself; thus a real development is possible. One can then see a reason for any element deciding to go through this series of incarnations, because so, and only so, can he go; and he suffers the lapse of memory which he has during these incarnations, because he knows he will come though unchanged.
"Therefore you can have an infinite number of gods, individual and equal though diverse, each one supreme and utterly indestrutible. This is also an explanation of how a Being could create a world in which War, Evil, etc. exist. evil is only an apperance, because (like "Good") it cannot affect the substance itself, but only multipy its combinations. This is something the same as Mystic Monotheism, but the objection to that theory is that God has to create things which are all parts of Himself, so that their interplay is false. If we presuppose many elements; their interplay is natural"
These ideas of Being, Thought and Bliss consitute the minimal possible qualities which a point must possess if it is to have a real sensible experience if itself. These correspond to the number 9, 8 and 7. The first idea of reality, as known by the mind, is therefore to conceive of the Point as built up of these previous nine successive developement from Zero. Here then at last is the number Ten.
I found this writing very interesting because it reminds me very much of what was going on in my mind once back in my early-teen years when I was entering a high- fever delirium state. I had these very insightfull and lucid thoughts right before an episode of full blown delerium-pychosis that pulled me down into the hell realm with a very vivid impression of damnation, or being damned by god.
Funny thing before this happen I was taking egoic pride in ownership over these thoughts cuz I thought I was the first person to come up with these thoughts...apparently I was Not!
anyways...here's the piece..
"THE NAPLES ARRANGMENT"
The Qabalists expand this idea of Nothing, and got a second kind of Nothing which they called "Ain Soph"----"Without Limit" (This idea seems not unlike that of space.) They then decided that in order to interpret this mere absence of any means of difinition, it was necessary to postulate the Ain Soph Aur---"Limetless Light". By this they seem to have meant very much what the late Victorian men of science meant, or thought they meant, by the Luminiferous Ether. (The Space Time Continuum?)
All this is evidently without form or void; these are abstact conditions, not positive ideas. the next step must be the idea of Position. One must formulate this thesis: If there is anything except Nothing, It must exist within this Boundless Light; within this Space; within this inconceivable Nothingness, which cannot exist as Nothingness, but has to be conceived of as a Nothingness composed of the annihilation of two imaginary opposites. Thus appears THE POINT, which has "neither parts nor magnitude, but only position"
But this position does not mean anything at all unless there is something else, some other position with which it can be compared. One has to describe it. The only way to do this is to have another Point, and that means that one must invent the number Two, making possible the line.
But this Line does not really mean very much, because there is yet no measure of length. The limit of knowlege at his stage is that there are two things, in order to be able to talk about them at all. But one cannot say that they are near each other, or that they are far apart; one can only say that they are distant. In order to discriminate between them at all. there must be a third thing. We must have another point. One must invent THE SURFACE; one must invent THE TRIANGLE. In doing this, incidentally, appears the whole of Plane Geometry. One can now say A is nearer to B then A is to C
But. so far, there is no substance in any of these ideas. In fact there are no ideas at all, except the idea of Distance and perhaps the idea of Between-ness and of Angular Measurement; so that Plane Geometry, which now exixts in theory, is after all compleatly inchoate and incoherent. There has been no approach at all to the conception of a really existing thing. No more has been done than to make definitions, all in a purely ideal and imaginary world.
Now comes THE ABYSS. One cannot go any further into the ideal. the next step must be THE ACTUAL. There are three points, but there is no idea of where any one of them is. A fourth point is essential, and this formulates the idea of matter.
The Point, the Line, the Plane. The fourth point, unless it should happen to lie in the plane, gives THE SOLID. I f one wants to know the position of any point, one must define it by the use of three co-ordinate axes. It is so many feet from the north wall, and so many feet from the east wall, and so many feet from the floor.
Thus there has been developed from Nothingness a Something which can be said to exist. One has arrived at the idea of MATTER. But this existance is exceedingly tenuos, for the only property of any given point is its position to certain other points; no change is possible; nothing can happen. One is therfore compelled, in the analysis of known Reality, to postulate a fifth positive idea, which is that of MOTION.
This implies the idea of Time, for only though Motion and in Time, can any event happen. Without this change and sequence,nothing can be the object of sense. ((It is to be noticed that this # 5 is the number of the letter He' in the Hebrew alphabet. This is the letter tradionally consercrated to the Great Mother. It is the womb in which the Great Father, who is represented by the letter Yod, which is pictorially the representation of an ultimate Point, moves and begets active existance).
There is now a concrete idea of the Point; and, at last, it is a point that can be self-concious, because it can have a Past, Present and Future. It is able to define itself in terms of the previous ideas. Here is the number Six, the centre of the system; self-conscious, capable of experience.
At this stage it is convenient to turn away for a moment from the strictly Qabalistic symbolism. The doctrine of the next three numbers (to some minds at least) is not very clearly expressed. One must look to the Vendant system for a more lucid interpretation of the numbers 7, 8, and 9, although they correspond very closely with the Qabalistic ideas. In the Hindu analysis of existance the Rishis postulate three qualities; Sat, the Essence of Being itself; Chit, Thought or Intellection; and Ananda (usually translated Bliss), the pleasure experienced by Being in the course of events. This ectasy is evidently the exciting cause of the mobility of pure exixtence. It explains the assumption of imperfection on the part of Perfection. The Absolute would be Nothing, would remain in the condition Nothingness; therefore, in order to be conscious of its possibilities and to enjoy them, it must explore these possibities. One may here insert a parallel statement of this doctrine from the document called The Book of the Great Auk to enable the student to consider the position from the standpoint of different minds.
""All elements must at one time hve been separate.--that would be the case with great heat.--Now, when atoms get to the sun, we get that immense,extreme heat, and all the elements are themselves again. Imagine that each atom of the element possess the memory of all his adventured in combination. By the way, that atom, fortified with memory, would not be the same atom; yet it is, because it has gained nothing from anywhere except this memory. Therfore, by the lapse of time and by virtue of this memory, a thing could become something more than itself; thus a real development is possible. One can then see a reason for any element deciding to go through this series of incarnations, because so, and only so, can he go; and he suffers the lapse of memory which he has during these incarnations, because he knows he will come though unchanged.
"Therefore you can have an infinite number of gods, individual and equal though diverse, each one supreme and utterly indestrutible. This is also an explanation of how a Being could create a world in which War, Evil, etc. exist. evil is only an apperance, because (like "Good") it cannot affect the substance itself, but only multipy its combinations. This is something the same as Mystic Monotheism, but the objection to that theory is that God has to create things which are all parts of Himself, so that their interplay is false. If we presuppose many elements; their interplay is natural"
These ideas of Being, Thought and Bliss consitute the minimal possible qualities which a point must possess if it is to have a real sensible experience if itself. These correspond to the number 9, 8 and 7. The first idea of reality, as known by the mind, is therefore to conceive of the Point as built up of these previous nine successive developement from Zero. Here then at last is the number Ten.
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