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Mob psychology robs all the human beings in the mob of their individuality. And mobs come in all sizes and shapes. For that matter, so does peer pressure and the motive to ‘keep up with the Jones’. Yet in Christianity & in Thelema, there is strong assertion in their most sacred scriptures that only the ‘few’ can reap the benefit of the teaching. So how is it that such a large mass of humanity can call themselves Christian? And how is it that Thelemites can be so concerned with reaching a mass audience? Do they really expect any genuine message to be able to make it through unscathed?
Please see the sermon video below, and the notes used to deliver the sermon below that.
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Populist Religion & the Few
Notes
AL:I.10 “Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many & the known.”
Matthew 7:14 “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Matthew 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Luke 13:23-24 “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
1. Liber AL & the New Testament share the concept of the “few.” And in both cases, popoulist expressions must be considered absurd.
1A. Especially, in terms of Christianity, how can it be even remotely possible that the may billions throughout history have attained?
1A1. It seems that Christians are deliberately ignoring these NT verses.
1B. Wtih the Internet & Social Media, it seems also that the growing body of Thelemites are doing the same.
1B1. The “few must rule out the idea of a widespreasd cultural agent that could actually express Thelemic ideals on doctrine to a mass audience. Otherwise, it would be making the same mistake that the Christians have made.
1B1a. This is also why Liber AL states in AL.III.42 “…aregue note; convert not, talk not overmuch!”
2. The first problem, then is of attainment; whether that be called Gnosis or Salvation or even individuation. The pull of the mob creates a zeitgeist that makes it all but impossible for most souls to step outside their natal conditioning.
2A. So for our chursch, all we can and should do is to create a spiritual “sense of place” without holding out a false carrot for our congregation.
2A1. We can hold out our lamp in the dark & let those weary travelers find us.
3. It is a moral question of principals. The problem of populism in mass culture reduces all profundity to absurdity; absed by the tryanny of the ‘lowest common denominator.’
3A. The message is complicated and loses its veractiy when over-simplified.
3B. Worse yet, the message is an affront to the common man.
3B1. Indeed, in AL, the few are set to rule over the common man.
3B1a. The rulership may be compassionate, as AL calls this the vice of kings; but it must necessarily be a condescension.
4. Especially today, in our anti-intellectual age, the elitism of the few can expose those to the violence of the mob; forcing an intellectual underground.
4A. Our church becomes, as an oasis of light in a desert of darkness.
4A1. But we remain in the midst of the common man & they can never trust us; always holding our light in fear.
5. The three grades of Thelema then speak to us today, as they did to the ancient Gnostics.
The Hermit–Pneumatic
The Lover–Psychic
The Man of Earth–Hylic
5A. Indeed, in any society, all three are necessary.
5B. The Pneumatic provides the spiritual leadership that the psychics; believers in the church who draw inspriation from it, can promulgate, while the hylics manage the practical matters of the community & its material resources.
5B1. Note, believers in teh church are not manufacturing any doctrine of fatih, but holding to the viability of our community.
5B1a. These psychics hold a sensitivity of the Pneumatics that they then translate to the hylics.
6. The Hermit, as Pneumatic generates the spiritual current of our church; holding the lamp of light.
6A. He or she (they) are sequestered in that they generate the new Gnosis that is the spiritual blood of our unfolding resurrection.
7. The Lover, as Psychic is sensitive to this new Gnosis and is directly inspired by it.
7A. He or she (they) directly proclaim thhis new Gnosis, as the greatest fidelity & virtue; reaching into the hearts & minds of the Hylic.
8. The Man of Earth is the Hylic, as the Hylic finds the practical necessity of this virtue & practices its ethics in his or her daily life, [he is enobled].
8A. The church then thrives in family & community life.
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