The Dead And The Dying
"Hear me, ye people of sighing!
The sorrows of pain and regret
Are left
to the dead and the dying,
The folk that not know me as yet."
Liber al vel Legis 2:17
This little poem is the start of a package of enlightenment that Hadit said would "devour men and
eat them up with blindness."
At first glance, it appears to be a warning not unlike that of organized religious fear systems.
If you don't know the god, you are among the dead and dying.
But this is out of context. If we include Verse 18 we get a better picture: "These
are dead, these fellows; they feel not. We are not for the poor and sad: the lords of the earth are our kinsfolk."
Hadit is calling to a world of suffering humanity with words of assurance that there is something
better. "Hear me," he summons of "ye people of sighing." The sorrow brought on by physical and mental pain is but a shadow.
"Existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done. (2:9)"
The warning is that if we enjoy our pain and turn away from the offer of a life of free will and
pure joy of existence, then we fall among the masses. And they are, to Hadit, "the dead and the dying." There is no life in
them because they refuse to accept it. They would prefer to wallow in their suffering.
Nuit proclaimed in 1:31: "For these fools of men and their woes care not thou
at all! They feel little; what is, is balanced by weak joys; but ye are my chosen ones."
Thelemites are ordered to separate themselves from the "fools of men and their woes." Not only that,
but we are not to pity them because "they feel little." Indeed, if we look closely, we are surrounded by close-minded pseudo-intellectuals
and thick-headed, beer-drinking media addicts that find personal gratification in strange places. They are unthinking, uncaring
zombies that move through their daily tasks, hating their jobs, hating their lot in life, but unwilling to consider an alternative.
They are programmed by their society to conform and they choose not to break free from the mold.
They are, to Hadit, "the folk that not know me as yet." There seems to be an open door in this line.
As long as we live, there is always time to seek the light within ourselves.
In the meantime, he instructs: "We are not for the poor and sad: the lords of the earth are our
kinsfolk." If we know ourselves and seek our will, we understand the supreme power within us. As stars, we recognize that
we are part of Nuit's magnificent universe, with the power of Hadit lighting our souls. Thus we are "lords of the Earth" and
kin to the others like us!
Our problem for now: we are forced to live in a world controlled by the dead. The religious belief
systems create fear-based life styles, establish enslaving laws, and force individuals to live in encumbering boxes.
Thus, for us, the very act of following our will sometimes requires the cunning of the gods.
Copyright - James Donahue
