A little while back, I wrote an article on why I thought it was important to understand Thelemic theology. (You can read it on page 10.) It was a response to an EGC Bishop who claimed that theology should “be rightly spurned and discarded by individual Thelemites, and more importantly by our Church” and that all theological matters should remain “unsettled and diverse”.
Recently I was researching the magical and theological doctrines of our church as they apply to the question of queer Gnostic Mass. Imagine my surprise when I found an article by the very same EGC Bishop, written 7 years ago, claiming that queer mass would not fulfill the “doctrinal purpose” of the Gnostic Mass.
Funny how “settled” and “undiverse” theology suddenly becomes when certain issues are raised.
So let me double down on the claim I made in my Agape article: Thelemites really do need to acquaint themselves with the theology of their church, especially if they’re ordained clergy.
One of the first times I attended Gnostic Mass, a well-intentioned person at my lodge asked me if I had any questions about the ritual.
I really didn’t. Not because I understood everything about the ritual, but because I didn’t understand the ritual well enough to even know what kind of question to ask.
One of the reasons you want to develop competence in Thelemic theology is not just so you can ANSWER questions put to you by new people, but even more importantly, so you know which questions to ASK when individuals—especially those in positions of authority—put forward their own interpretations of magical and doctrinal issues behind the Mass.
I know that for the last three generations (at least) people have been told that the intellect is bad, that it’s the opposite of spirituality, that peace and group coherence are upset when people start forming and expressing opinions on things like this. I understand that it really does seem like having less clarity around theological issues gives individuals the most freedom possible to just enjoy the ritual on their own terms.
I get all of that. I understand why it appears that way.
But that’s only one side of things.
The other side is that if you do not sharpen your own mind and acquire clarity, then you are in a position where you are going to have to trust individuals in positions of authority. And you better hope not only that they’re competent but that they also have totally unimpeachable character, not in the slightest way blemished by prejudice or selfishness (in other words superhuman), because that’s what you’re relying on now for the proper functioning of your church.
You need to start questioning the idea you’ve been fed—not just in EGC but in the culture at large—that nebulosity around key issues somehow magically creates harmony. One persons feelings pitted against another person’s feelings does not create harmony. It creates what we see today in OTO.
I understand that some people are very, very scared of conflict. I don’t like conflict either. For instance, I know that every single time I write a post like this—no matter how civil and rational I am—I’m upsetting someone, either angering them or making them scared. I also know that people screencap them and might try to find ways of using them against me. They can take out their annoyance or aggression on me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop them.
But you need to learn to tolerate the fear of conflict and the fear of being wrong. Because the opposite of persuasion is not individual freedom, it’s either coercion or self-imposed isolation.
When I first read that Polyphilus article in Agape, I laughed when I got to the part where he said such issues ought to be “reserved [and] quarantined” among IX°s. I didn’t even really address it in my rebuttal. It didn’t seem serious.
But then I encountered the identical claim in the article he wrote 7 years ago about queer mass. My jaw dropped. Why didn’t I think he really believed it when he said it? My own naivety, I guess.
Thelema is a spirituality that celebrates shameless strength. Strength isn’t just physical strength, it’s also mental strength and the strength of character you build up by having principled, even heated disagreements with others. And yet I find a lot of excuses bandied about for not developing mental strength—intellectual competence—with regard to even the basics.
Brushing off every disagreement as “drama,” dismissing every claim because issues are “above my pay grade,” or “it’s all relative anyway, just do your will,” is not strength. That’s weakness.
Whatever your opinion or “feeling” on the issue of queer mass or any issue, stop hiding in nebulosity and vagueness. Stand up, put your hands up, sharpen your damn mind. Learn to ask the right questions. Toughen up.