(no subject)
On one of the mailing lists I'm on -- some of you may know T93 -- someone, actually a couple of people, suggested that "economic stability [is] a direct reflection of success in both magick and Thelema."
Now, maybe it's because my own economic stability seems so tenuous at times that I have a problem with this, but it seems all wrong.
Yes, people can be blatantly irresponsible with money, as they can be blatantly irresponsible with anything. I would be hard pressed to argue that irresponsibility isn't a character flaw. But does doing your will necessarily result in economic stability? I think not. Doing your will might mean laying down your life, taking a path that's materially unrewarding, or that's socially isolating in contrast to other, less authentic choices. Of course, being poor, or self-sacrificing, or despised by one's peers is no indication that one is doing one's will either. That's not what I'm saying. I'm also not saying that money is the root of all evil -- having money is a good thing in general, although people do seem to make a horrible mess of it quite regularly. Doing your will just means doing your will. It's not like there's some watcher out there, waiting to reward you for being a good boy or girl and doing what you ought. Will fulfilled is intrinsically good, it's not good because it leads to some other value. If you're doing your will, I should think (as I am certainly no expert) economic stability might be secondary to continuing to do it. Of course, there's the argument that one needs a certain economic stability before one can do anything else with one's life, and there's a certain amount of truth to that, but it's hardly a "direct reflection of success." It's kind of like saying that people who are doing their will would never get sick or crapped on by a pigeon or disappointed by a loved one, because everyone knows that once you are doing your will, everything just mystically falls into place, and traffic parts for you, and hot people want to have sex with you as often as you like, and the Universe just gives you a pass on unpleasantness generally. Ha. That's what I call wishful thinking; it's supersition. Perfectly saintly people die in tenements and get run over by trucks.
Anyway, this is a long preamble to a link I wanted to post, so if you made it this far, you're worthy to meet my new intellectual hero, George Monbiot. Yeah, you probably already know him, but let me have my thrill of discovery.
Now, maybe it's because my own economic stability seems so tenuous at times that I have a problem with this, but it seems all wrong.
Yes, people can be blatantly irresponsible with money, as they can be blatantly irresponsible with anything. I would be hard pressed to argue that irresponsibility isn't a character flaw. But does doing your will necessarily result in economic stability? I think not. Doing your will might mean laying down your life, taking a path that's materially unrewarding, or that's socially isolating in contrast to other, less authentic choices. Of course, being poor, or self-sacrificing, or despised by one's peers is no indication that one is doing one's will either. That's not what I'm saying. I'm also not saying that money is the root of all evil -- having money is a good thing in general, although people do seem to make a horrible mess of it quite regularly. Doing your will just means doing your will. It's not like there's some watcher out there, waiting to reward you for being a good boy or girl and doing what you ought. Will fulfilled is intrinsically good, it's not good because it leads to some other value. If you're doing your will, I should think (as I am certainly no expert) economic stability might be secondary to continuing to do it. Of course, there's the argument that one needs a certain economic stability before one can do anything else with one's life, and there's a certain amount of truth to that, but it's hardly a "direct reflection of success." It's kind of like saying that people who are doing their will would never get sick or crapped on by a pigeon or disappointed by a loved one, because everyone knows that once you are doing your will, everything just mystically falls into place, and traffic parts for you, and hot people want to have sex with you as often as you like, and the Universe just gives you a pass on unpleasantness generally. Ha. That's what I call wishful thinking; it's supersition. Perfectly saintly people die in tenements and get run over by trucks.
Anyway, this is a long preamble to a link I wanted to post, so if you made it this far, you're worthy to meet my new intellectual hero, George Monbiot. Yeah, you probably already know him, but let me have my thrill of discovery.