From a discussion elsewhere:—
I agree that, in general, the human species seems to be evolving in the direction of greater awareness.
This is neither here nor there. This would be true regardless of the number, order, or type of spiritual revelations throughout human history. Most scientific perspectives see a trend toward complexity and homogeneity as history progresses. As one individual put it (my paraphrase): science tells us that the universe is winding down as the species is winding up. Whether or not there will ever be a true critical mass where one extreme meets the other remains to be proved.
The 19th century Britons were more evolved culturally than the 5th century Huns but that wasn't because of the Book of the Law.
I don't see the relevance here to this discussion. However, that said, while it certainly wasn't the Book of the Law, it was religion and philosophy in general that drove that cultural evolution. All of the major five (and the intermediate three) religions have had enormous impact on diverse cultures all over the globe. Some to a lesser or greater extent, some with divergent or common goals as the indigenous culture, but enormous nonetheless. There has never been and never will be a single global religion as some of the more fantastical mystics and gurus might have hoped, but that doesn't mean that any single push from a major force is not influential.
Maybe it's not only the word "Thelema" that gets in the way. Maybe we are all so predisposed to see Liber AL as a major revolutionary force that we're willing to attribute to it changes that may well be the result of evolutionary forces. There are many possible causes.
I see these sentiments in places and I can only shake my head in amazement. It's little wonder that so many Thelemites jump off the journey and run to other religions like Buddhism or Hinduism. I've even seen more than one run toward Catholicism. (And there is a precedent with C.S. Jones there too) The problem I have with this approach is that if Thelema is some kind of underlying premise of all "evolution" or all "natural impulse" then there is no reason for (1) the Book of the Law or (2) any discussion over the concept itself. Such underlying premises or first principles have been discussed and debated to no end for thousands of years to no avail. Might as well discuss it within a more philosophical or scientific element than fringe occultism. But, if Thelema provides a specific worldview and framework of life itself, then we have something here that is isolated and unique to itself, then we have something to discuss, then we have something important in and of itself. But what we find is that—so far—the only framework that has been provided is faulty and holds to an individually unrewarding journey [ed. note: I wasn't clear here that I meant Crowley's framework of the O.T.O./A\A\]. So people leave to take refuge in the Three Jewels or take Holy Orders—Christian or Gnostic or both or other—or take vows to one or more of the Hindu sects. If Thelema says nothing more than "you are an individual, unique and sovereign unto yourself," then Thelema has nothing to actually offer anyone that is of worth. I can find that same message elsewhere. I can find it with all the trappings of religion and "God" or I can find it without those relics.
One only has to stop by a typical occult bookstore to see that there are probably as many Paths available as there are Souls to follow them. That's a good thing. Anything that brings the general populace closer to the goal of "Know Thyself" (and keeps them off the streets) is probably a positive influence.
Really? Aside from the thelemic mantras of mythic isolation and individuality—"I am the only God of only God" or "I am alone: There is no God where I am"—the only possible way that someone can "know them self" is in relation to some external "thing" like another human being or a group or a rock. So, I think it very much does matter what "path" is available for that soul to follow because if I find that the only way to "find myself" or "know myself" is in relation to an insane man, then I don't know if he is "normal" or if I am.
But I doubt it all stems from Thelema or from the publication of the Book of the Law.
I think the focus is wrong here. It stems from something deeper, to be sure, but to focus on some sheets of paper on which to lay the blame for human evolution isn't even logical. They are little more than symbols. Thelema and the Book of the Law is a manifestation of this change just as much as the Law of Moses was a manifestation of certain changes at a specific point in time. But it is not the stone tablets, specifically, from Sinai that are important but the changes they heralded and provided a written law by which men could begin to see things in a different light. But, also, what we find when we look into that same general time period (and I mean, 500-1000 years either side of that even) is not merely one set of stone tablets from a mountaintop but similar "laws" cropping up all over the world with the same basic principles in play. Historically they are nifty and important, but there are very few in the civilized world that are unfamiliar with the Ten Commandments as a legend of a people and the basis for common social relations. Only a small percentage, relatively speaking, would be as familiar with the Code of Hammurabi even though it's only about 300-500 years older. However, as a symbol of that point in evolution, spiritual or otherwise, there is no stronger symbol of that change than the tablets of Sinai and the push they brought throughout history. In that sense, they are important as a relic, as a talisman, as a text, as a whatever. But, for whatever reason that I can't seem to explain, Thelemites are all about trying to get around their particular text rather than embracing it and put it into practical application. If Thelemites put as much energy into exploring and understanding and applying the Law of Thelema as they do trying to get around it, hide from it, and find what's "under" it so they can just latch on to "that" instead, then we might actually get somewhere in a matter of years instead of centuries.
