Gays, Thelemites, Mormons and Government
Every Brother is expected to use all his influence with persons in a superior station of life (so called) to induce them to join the Order. Royal personages, ministers of State, high officials in the Diplomatic, Naval, Military, and Civil Services are particularly to be sought after, for it is intended ultimately that the temporal power of the
( Read more... )
This isn't, however, as simple as a criticism of the current leadership. I believe it was Germer who specified that the Order should file for legal recognition in a '48 letter to McMurtry sited in This Court Case.
My immediate belief would be that we would not care for a government recognition which conferred bonds and created a group liability, with the only (apparent to me) upside being that our big brother the US Government will get our backs on things like copyright law.
I'm not so vain as to think I know more than so many people who came before me, however, I will not hesitate to say what I think, in the hope that I might be corrected and better understand why the hell people are doing this, because honestly, I don't get it.
As an aside, if we did have a psychedelic sacrament. I'd say that while the RFRA is still being tried, I PERSONALLY would (and have, in the past when I've personally used Ayahuasca with some friends from Brazil) do what I do, and be prepared to fight on legal grounds when I needed to. That being said, I also believe in fighting things out in the courts, ("for it is intended ultimately that the temporal power of the State be brought into the Law, and led into freedom and prosperity by the application of its principles.") just not in waiting till it's settled to take my own actions. (although I wonder how much court battles are "the application of it's principles", but I'll have to think on that quite a bit before I have anything I would say with certainty)
The key difference I believe comes down to the mentality of guerrilla tactics vs those of a part of an existing stable structure. In various guises, the OTO has played both parts. Personally, I think the guerrilla parts make for much better stories ;)
-- James
Reply
I'm glad to hear that you won't hesitate to say what you think. I hope that I can provide some small amount of perspective in responding.
I don't think the actions of OTO are contrary to the goals set out in CI. At least, not this one, and I think that even in the cases where I do see a contradiction, that is just my own perspective and disagreement. The people enacting these decisions believe that they are making the most effective choices to implement the BE model. We may disagree with those choices, but saying that the goals of OTO are contrary to CI is jumping to conclusions on little information.
I think you'll find that in areas where the OTO's very existence is considered potentially threatening to the government (like for example, Greece, Israel, Germany, France, etc.), you'll find much more of the more entertaining type of story about how they avoid getting shut down.... though generally I tend to hope those stories don't come out until the people involved are relatively safe from harm that might come as a result of the stories being told. Thankfully we enjoy much greater freedom of religion here than in many places, though we still have plenty to worry about here.
A couple other upsides to getting the sanction of governments where possible: 1) the credibility of our claim to be the OTO Crowley founded is increased in the minds of newer people, 2) tax-exempt donations, 3) as a byproduct of the copyright issue, that the books published are high quality and make Crowley's ideas, not Motta's or Grant's or whomever's, primary.
Reply
2.) I don't think anyone will complain about this ;)
3.) I must admit that I really do like the newer copies of much of the
material, as the footnoting and introductions that Sabazius and HB have done are pretty impressive bits into and of themselves, but at the same time, they can't seem to keep book 4 in print, and my Confessions, Magick without Tears and a the like all had to be bought used because they're not available new. In a land where anyone can go onto lulu and keep books in print for under $100 a year, I would say that the books are actually amazingly LIMITED because of the fear of lawsuit, rather than helped by the publishing efforts of the OTO proper.
I have pirated copies and PDF's of things you just can't buy these days, and it's not because I didn't want to buy them, but because they're not available.
I would say that these are all distractions, but they're not. Especially the books. If we are to claim that the OTO's purpose is to promulgate the law of Thelema, but we're serving to keep books out of print, I think we're at very least horribly confused and internally conflicted.
Check out the link above on copyright, provided to me by my own insidious sources, battling in the dark of the interwebs against the forces of... um... something. ;)
-- James
Reply
1) Only in the minds of those to whom we are promulgating the Law, which is typically the people who have yet to join the Order. I guess what I'm saying is, it's PR.
2) I'm not sure to what "this" refers. :)
3) This is the part where I had the lengthy response. Here's the short synopsis:
a) OTO has of course numerous agreements with various publishing houses who can put books on the shelves in brick-and-mortar stores. How quickly would you suggest they burn those bridges in favor of online sales?
b) Publishers determine when to publish based on cold calculus, with loan interest and warehousing costs on one side and consumer demand on the other. If anything is "keeping the books out of print," it's a lack of demand. OTO's involvement is generally limited to their work in preparing new editions and in creating the demand. I'm doing my part in creating more demand, and I think that the government of OTO is doing so as well.
Incidentally, you know, popular books go out of print all the time. Publishers can't even keep the works of William Blake in print reliably. If and when we ever do promulgate to such an extent that there is a demand enough to keep ABA constantly in print, if it is within my lifetime, I will die a happy man.
c) You complain about lack of availability yet you mention having the books in PDF form. Do you see OTO persecuting hermetic.com or sacred-texts.com for making these available? Of course not.
d) if you look at the timeline of what has been published and when, since Grady took over, you'll see a record of regular and relatively frequent preparation of books that subsequently go into print. Take for example the recent paperback edition of III:1 or the new Parsons volume. OTO is to thank, not Naylor or Motta or Grant or Koenig, for Crowley and related titles consistently going into print.
Reply
-- James
Reply
Leave a comment