Hackers Underworld 2: Forbidden Knowledge/Hackers Underworld 2: Forbidden Knowledge.iso/OCCULT/B161.TXT

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BAPHOMET XI°

Liber CLXI

{Book 161}

Concerning the
Law of Thelema

The following epistle first appeared in The Equinox III(1) (Detroit:
Universal, 1919), and offers specific instances of the application of
the various programs and policies outlined in other papers such as The
Open Letter. As remarked elsewhere in this issue, certain programs
have yet to be implemented, and some will require modification in
order to conform with the laws governing non-profit religious
organizations in various countries.--H.B.

Issued by Order: BAPHOMET XI° O.T.O., HIBERNIAE IONAE ET OMNIUM
BRITANNIARUM, REX SUMMUS SANCTISSIMUS

AN EPISTLE WRITTEN TO PROFESSOR L-- B-- K-- who also himself waited
for the New Aeon, concerning the O.T.O. and its solution of divers
problems of Human Society, particularly those concerning Property, and
now reprinted for General Circulation.

My Dear Sir,--

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

I was glad to receive your letter of inquiry with regard to the
Message of the Master Therion.

It struck you naturally enough that on the surface there is little
distinction between the New Law and the canon of Anarchy; and you ask,
``How is the Law to be fulfilled in the case of two boys who want to
eat the same orange?'' But since only one boy (at most) can eat the
orange, it is evident that one of them is mistaken in supposing that
it is essential to his Will to eat it. The question is to be decided
in the good old way by fighting for it. All that we ask is that the
fighting should be done chivalrously, with respect to the courage of
the vanquished. ``As brothers fight ye!'' In other words, there is
only this difference from our present state of society, that manners
are improved. There are many persons who are naturally slaves, who
have no stomach to fight, who tamely yield all to any one strong
enough to take it. These persons cannot accept the Law. This also is
understood and provided for in The Book of the Law: ``The slaves shall
serve.'' But it is possible for any apparent slave to prove his
mastery by fighting his oppressors, even as now; but he has this
additional chance in our system, that his conduct will be watched with
kindly eye by our authorities, and his prowess rewarded by admission
to the ranks of the master-class. Also, he will be given fair play.

You may now ask how such arrangements are possible. There is only one
solution to this great problem. It has always been admitted that the







ideal form of government is that of a ``benevolent despot,'' and
despotisms have only fallen because it is impossible in practice to
assure the goodwill of those in power. The rules of chivalry, and
those of Bushido in the East, gave the best chance to develop rulers
of the desired type. Chivalry failed principally because it was
confronted with new problems; to-day we know perfectly what those
problems were, and are able to solve them. It is generally understood
by all men of education that the general welfare is necessary to the
highest development of the particular; and the troubles of America are
in great part due to the fact that the men in power are often utterly
devoid of all general education.

I would call your attention to the fact that many monastic orders,
both in Asia and in Europe, have succeeded in surviving all changes of
government, and in securing pleasant and useful lives for their
members. But this has been possible only because restricted life was
enjoined. However, there were orders of military monks, like the
Templars, who grew and prospered exceedingly. You recall that the
Order of the Temple was only overthrown by a treacherous coup d'ètat
on the part of a King and of a Pope who saw their reactionary,
obscurantist, and tyrannical programme menaced by those knights who
did not scruple to add the wisdom of the East to their own large
interpretation of Christianity, and who represented in that time a
movement towards the light of learning and of science, which has been
brought to fruition in our own times by the labours of the
Orientalists from Von Hammer-Purgstall and Sir William Jones to
Professor Rhys Davids and Madame Blavatsky, to say nothing of such
philosophers as Schopenhauer, on the one hand; and by the heroic
efforts of Darwin, Huxley, Tyndall, and Spencer, on the other.

I have no sympathy with those who cry out against property, as if what
all men desire were of necessity evil; the natural instinct of every
man is to own, and while man remains in this mood, attempts to destroy
property must not only be nugatory, but deleterious to the community.
There is no outcry against the rights of property where wisdom and
kindness administer it. The average man is not so unreasonable as the
demagogue, for his selfish ends, pretends to be. The great nobles of
all time have usually been able to create a happy family of their
dependents, and unflinching loyalty and devotion have been their
reward. The secret has been principally this, that they considered
themselves noble as well in nature as in name, and thought it foul
shame to themselves if any retainer met unneccessary misfortune. The
upstart of to-day lacks this feeling; he must try constantly to prove
his superiority by exhibiting his power; and harshness is his only
weapon. In any society where each person has his allotted place, and
that a place with its own special honour, mutual respect and self-
respect are born. Every man is in his own way a king, or at least heir
to some kingdom. We have many examples of such society to-day, notably
universities and all associations of sport. No. 5 in the Harvard crew
does not turn round in the middle of the race and reproach No. 4 for
being merely No. 4; nor do the pitcher and catcher of a crack baseball
nine revile each other because their tasks are different. It is to be
noted that wherever team-work is necessary social tolerance is an
essential. The common soldier is invested with a uniform as well as
his officer, and in any properly trained army he is taught his own
canons of honour and self-respect. This feeling, more than mere
discipline or the possession of weapons, makes the soldier more than a
match morally for a man not so clothed in proper reverence for himself
and his profession.








University men who have passed through some crisis of hardship or
temptation have often told me that the backbone of their endurance was
the ``old shop.'' Much of this is evidently felt by those who talk of
re-establishing the old trade guilds. But I fear I digress.

I have, however, now placed before you the main points of my thesis.
We need to extend to the whole of society the peculiar feeling which
obtains in our most successful institutions, such as the services, the
universities, the clubs. Heaven and hell are states of mind; and if
the devil be really proud, his hell can hurt him little.

It is this, then, that I desire to emphasize: those who accept the New
Law, the Law of the Aeon of Horus, the crowned and conquering child
who replaces in our theogony the suffering and despairing victim of
destiny, the Law of Thelema, which is Do What Thou Wilt, those who
accept it (I say) feel themselves immediately to be kings and queens.
``Every man and every woman is a star'' is the first statement of The
Book of the Law. In the pamphlet, The Law of Liberty, this theme is
embroidered with considerable care, and I will not trouble you with
further quotation.

You will say swiftly that the heavenly state of mind thus induced will
be hard put to it to endure hunger and cold. The thought occurred also
to our founder, and I will endeavour to put before you the skeleton of
his plan to avert such misfortune (or at least such ordeal) from his
adherents.

In the first place he availed himself of a certain organization of
which he was offered the control, namely, the O.T.O. This great Order
accepted the Law immediately, and was justified by the sudden and
great revival of its activities. The Law was given to our founder
twelve years ago; the O.T.O. came into his hands eigh