It will be seen that the formula - 'Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law' has nothing to do with 'Do as you please.' It is much more difficult to comply with the Law of Thelema than to follow out slavishly a set of dead regulations.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the complexity of true freedom and will in the context of Thelema, contrasting it with mere hedonism.
Aleister Crowley's quote draws a distinction between superficial freedom, represented by 'Do as you please,' and the deeper, more challenging concept of 'Do what thou wilt,' which signifies following one's true will in alignment with the Law of Thelema. This thought proposes that genuine personal freedom requires introspection, growth, and responsibility, making it a more profound journey than simply indulging in one's whims.
In practice
In a discussion on personal development, one might quote this to highlight the importance of pursuing one's true passion.
People think that talking is a sign of thinking. It isn't, for the most part' on the contrary, it's a mechanical dodge of the body to relieve oneself of the strain of thinking, just as exercising the muscles helps the body to become temporarily unconscious of its weight, its pain, its weariness, and the foreknowledge of its doom.
There is a single main definition of the object of all magical Ritual. It is the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel; or, in the language of Mysticism, Union with God.
I was not content to believe in a personal devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the word. I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his chief of staff.
Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's conditions. It is the Art of applying that understanding in action.
I do not want to father a flock, to be the fetish of fools and fanatics or the founder of a faith whose followers are content to echo my opinions. I want each man to cut his own way through the jungle.
The essence of independence has been to think and act according to standards from within, not without.
He thought that in the history of the world it might even be that there was more punishment than crime but he took small comfort from it.
The main vice of capitalism is the uneven distribution of prosperity. The main vice of socialism is the even distribution of misery.
The general population doesn't know what's happening, and it doesn't even know that it doesn't know.
Handle even a single leaf of green in such a way that it manifests the body of the Buddha. This in turn allows the Buddha to manifest through the leaf.
If bodies please thee, praise God on occasion of them, and turn back thy love upon their Maker; lest in these things which please thee, thou displease. If souls please thee, be they loved in God: for they too are mutable, but in Him they are firmly established.
I don't know -- maybe the world has two different kinds of people, and for one kind the world is this completely logical, rice pudding place, and for the other it's all hit-or-miss macaroni gratin.
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