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True Will is a term found within the mystical system of Thelema—established in 1904 with Aleister Crowley's writing of The Book of the Law—and is defined at times as a person's grand destiny in life and at other times as a moment to moment path of action that operates in perfect harmony with Nature. This Will does not spring from conscious intent, but from the interplay between the deepest Self and the entire Universe. Therefore, the enlightened Thelemite is one who is able to eliminate or bypass one's ego-created desires, conflicts, and habits, and tap directly into the Self/Universe nexus. Theoretically, at this point, the Thelemite acts in alignment with Nature, just as a stream flows downhill, with neither resistance nor "lust of result."
Thelema
Thelema roughly means "will" in greek. The phrase True Will does not appear in the Book of the Law, the central sacred text of Thelema. Nevertheless, Aleister Crowley's various commentaries on the Book routinely postulate that each individual has a unique and incommensurable True Will that determines his or her proper course in life. This invention of Crowley's appears to be an attempt to explain how some actions may be wrong (or "false") when "There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt." Liber AL III:60 Actions that conform to True Will are thus considered to be correct, while willed actions that deviate from True Will may nevertheless be wrong.
Writings
In Crowley's essay "The Secret Conference" (written under the pseudonym of Gerald Aumont, and prefaced to The Heart of the Master), he suggests that a technique may (indeed, must) be devised, by which a child's True Will may be discovered at birth, or as early as possible in life, in order to permit the correct ordering of society. We can speculate that Crowley had an astrological method in mind, although subsequent historical developments may lead us to consider genomics as a better candidate for the hypothetical technique.
In Crowley's ethical treatise "Duty", he identifies True Will with the Nature of the individual. This capitalized "Nature" may be compared with the "Perfect Nature" of earlier Gnostic systems, which was another term for the personal daimon or augoeides, usually referenced by Crowley as the Holy Guardian Angel. (For this use of the term "Perfect Nature," see Henry Corbin's Man of Light in Iranian Sufism.)
"The Message of the Master Therion" (Liber II) is a seminal document that attempts to delineate the doctrine of True Will. By reference to "Liber Thisharb", Liber II suggests a theory of metempsychosis, whereby the individual True Will is the resultant of a person's prior incarnations. But here as elsewhere, Crowley stops short of asserting objective validity for memories of past lives. He recommends developing "the magical memory" as a means to an end, namely, connecting the aspirant's abilities and remembered past with some purpose. By definition, the aspirant's True Will must fit the aspirant's nature.
In "De Lege Libellum" (Liber CL), Crowley defines True Will as the will which does not "rest content with things partial and transitory, but ... proceed* firmly to the End," and in the same passage he identifies that "End" as the destruction of oneself in Love.
Quotations from Aleister Crowley
- "The most common cause of failure in life is ignorance of one's own True Will, or of the means by which to fulfill that Will." (from Magick, Book 4, p. 127)
- "A man who is doing his True Will has the inertia of the Universe to assist him." (from Magick, Book 4, p.128)
- "One cannot do one's True Will intelligently unless one knows what it is." (from Magick, Book 4, p.174)
- "Know firmly, O my Son, that the True Will connot err; for it is thine appointed Course in Heaven, in whose Order is Perfection." (from Liber Aleph, p. 13)
- "True Will should spring, a fountain of Light, from within, and flow unchecked, seething with Love, into the Ocean of Life." (from Little Essays Towards Truth, p.76)
See also
References
Sources
- Thelemapedia (2005). True Will. Retrieved 5 April 2005.
"True Will"