A deceptively simple essay, The Message of the Master Therion contains in compressed form what may be the most important practical implication of Thelemic theology:
Do what thou wilt—then do nothing else. Let nothing deflect thee from that austere and holy task. Liberty is absolute to do thy will; but seek to do any other thing whatever, and instantly obstacles must arise. Every act that is not in definite course of that one orbit is erratic, an hindrance. Will must not be two, but one.
Note further that this will is not only to be pure, that is, single, as explained above, but also “unassuaged of purpose.” This strange phrase must give us pause. It may mean that any purpose in the will would damp it; clearly the “lust of result” is a thing from which it must be delivered.
But the phrase may also be interpreted as if it read “with purpose unassuaged”—i.e., with tireless energy. The conception is, therefore, of an eternal motion, infinite and unalterable. It is Nirvana, only dynamic instead of static—and this comes to the same thing in the end.
The obvious practical task of the magician is then to discover what his will really is, so that he may do it in this manner, and he can best accomplish this by the practices of Liber Thisarb (see Equinox I(7), p. 105) or such others as may from one time to another be appointed.
Crowley, Liber II: The Message of the Master Therion
Thou must (1) Find out what is thy Will. (2) Do that Will with a) one-pointedness, b) detachment, c) peace.
Then, and then only, art thou in harmony with the Movement of Things, thy will part of, and therefore equal to, the Will of God. And since the will is but the dynamic aspect of the self, and since two different selves could not possess identical wills; then, if thy will be God’s will, Thou art That.
To will without lust of result is to act in a way which is self-unified and autonomous. That is a purely formal requirement of anyone doing their will, regardless of what that will may be. So while it is legitimate to think of one’s will as one’s unique purpose in life, one’s particular will in a particular case can be solved for by asking what action would create the most alignment within oneself between action, speech, and thought. This would be the self-relation you would have to maintain in order to remain in conformity with your own true nature, regardless of whatever happens to be occurring around you.
In other words, in each situation, focus on walking a path of maximum integrity, conscious of your appointed orbit.
One can draw a useful comparison with weightlifting. Many lifters wear a belt when they deadlift to protect their backs. Immediately before lifting the weight, the weightlifter takes a very deep breath into their lower abdomen. The lower abdomen expands and pushes against the belt—with the result that the belt pushes back against the lifter with equal and opposite force. All other things being equal, this turns one’s torso into a cylinder, which is a very strong shape.
The belt on its own does not protect one’s back. Rather it provides a condition to aid one in developing proper structural integrity. Once that integrity is established, lifting the weight is merely a matter of pushing through one’s heels. One doesn’t have to focus on lifting the weight at all. The force will be conducted exactly where it needs to go in order to move the weight through the vertical plane.
Crowley makes a similar point in Liber Aleph, using the metaphor of an archer. The power of the arm’s work (Life/Bull) is transmitted through the engine of the bow and arrow (Love/Dragon) with the aid of the equilibrating and directing control of the eye (Liberty/Man). Thus does the “lust of the archer” (Light/Lion) come to fruition.
I assume what Crowley intends is that the lust should be united with the other three virtues, not striving after the result. The eye should rest on the target, but otherwise all the attention should go into maintaining proper form. Thus is the force conveyed in the proper fashion.
In the theological language we find in Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica, when one is in proper relationship with oneself, the “air” combusts and flows freely through one’s natural vessel. (It’s similar to an internal combustion engine.) The air becomes the “true fire within the reed”. One is taken over by the Holy Spirit flowing through them, and in the ensuing ecstasy, they become unknown to themselves. The divine energy (Hadit) and the divine essence (Nuit) play with one another.
Another name for this condition in which the outer and the inner spontaneously coincide is “beauty”. It is traditionally symbolized by the Sun, a symbol in Thelema of God and the individual made one.