Post by loke on Jun 26, 2010 20:12:54 GMT -6
This is from the Book Of Thoth (Aleister Crowley), (this is not a direct quote, as I have switched a few words in attempt to make it more "readable" to some, and I omitted a couple of small parts that I thought would only confuse one who may not know of the Egyptian Tarot), a section which relates to the idea of Zero, Absolute Zero, which turns out on examination to mean any quantity that one may choose, but not, as some may at first suppose, Nothing, in the "absence-of-anything" vulgar sense of the word.
" The Naples Arrangement "
The Qabalists expanded this idea of Nothing, and got a second kind of Nothing which they called "Ain Soph"-"Without Limit" ; ( This idea seams not unlike that of Space. ) They then decided that in order to interpret this mere absence of any means of definition, it was necessary to assume the Ain Soph Aur-"Limitless Light". By this they seem to have meant very much what past Victorian-era scientists meant, or thought that they meant, by the Luminiferous Ether. (Possibly, The Space-Time Continuum.)
All this is evidently without form and void; these are abstract conditions, not positive ideas. The next step must be the idea of Position. One must formulate this thesis: If there is anything except Nothing; it must exist within this "Boundless Light" within this Space; within this inconceivable Nothingness, which cannot exist as Nothingness, but has to be conceived of as a Nothingness composed of the annihilation of two imaginary opposites. Thus appears The Point, which has "neither parts nor magnitude, but only position".
Except position dose not mean anything at all unless there is something else, some other position with which it can be compared. One has to describe it. The only way to do this is to have another Point, and that means that one must invent the number Two, making possible The Line.
Except this Line dose not really mean very much, because there is yet no measure of length. The limit of knowledge at this stage is that there are two things, in order to be able to talk about them at all. Though one cannot say that they are near each other, or that they are far apart; one can only say that they are distant. In order to discriminate between them at all, there must be a third thing. We must have another point. One must invent The Surface; one must invent The Triangle. In doing this, incidentally, appears the whole of Plane Geometry. One can now say, "A is nearer to B than A is to C".
Except there is no substance in any of these ideas. In fact there are no ideas at all, except the idea of distance and maybe the idea of Between-ness, and of Angular Measurement; so that Plane Geometry, which now exists in theory, has begun, though is not yet coherent. There has been no approach at all to the conception of a really existing thing. No more has been done than to make definitions, all in a purely ideal and imaginary world.
Now then comes The Abyss. One cannot go any further into the ideal. The next step must be the Actual-at least,an approach to the Actual. There are three points, but there is no idea of where any one of them is. A fourth point is essential, and this formulates the idea of matter.
The Point, the Line, the Plane.The fourth point, unless it should happen to lie in the plane, gives The Solid. If one wants to know the position of any point, one must define it by the use of three co-ordinate axes. It is so many feet from the North wall, and so many feet from the East wall, and so many feet from the floor.
Thus there has been developed from Nothingness a Something which can be said to exist. One has arrived at the idea of Matter. Except this existence is exceedingly small, for the only property of any given point is its position in relation to certain other points; no change is possible; nothing can happen. One is therefore compelled, in the analysis of known Reality, to assume a fifth positive idea, which is that of Motion.
This implies the idea of Time, for only through Motion, and in Time, can any event happen. Without this change and sequence, nothing can be the object of sense.
There is now possible a concrete idea of the Point; and, at last, it is a point which can be self-conscious, because it can have a Past, Present and Future. It is able to define itself in terms of the previous ideas. Here is the number Six, the centre of the system: self-conscious, capable of experience.
At this stage it is convenient to turn away for a moment from the strictly Qabalistic symbolism. The doctrine of the next three numbers (to some minds at least) is not very clearly expressed. One must look to the Vedanta system for a more lucid interpretation of the numbers 7, 8 and 9, although they correspond very closely with the Qabalistic ideas. In the Hindu analysis of existence the Rishis (Sages) assume three qualities: Sat, the Essence of Being itself; Chit, Thought, or Intellection; and Ananda (usually translated Bliss), the pleasure experienced by Being in the course of events. This ecstasy is evidently the exciting cause of the mobility of pure existence. It explains the assumption of imperfection on the part of Perfection. The Absolute would be Nothing, would remain in the condition of Nothingness; therefore, in order to be conscious of its possibilities and to enjoy them, it must explore these possibilities. There is also a parallel statement of this doctrine from the document called The Book of the Great Auk to enable the student to consider the position from the standpoint of two different minds.
"All elements must at one time have been separate.-That would be the case with great heat.-Now, when the atoms get to the Sun, we get that immense, extreme heat, and all the elements are themselves again. Imagine that each atom of each element possesses the memory of all its adventures in combination. By the way,that atom, fortified with memory, would not be the same atom; yet it is, because it has gained nothing from anywhere except this memory. Therefore, by the lapse of time and by virtue of memory, a thing could become something more than itself; thus a real development is possible. One can then see a reason for any element deciding to go through this series of incarnations, because so, and only so can it go; and it suffers the lapse of memory which it has during these incarnations, because it knows it will come through unchanged.
"Therefore you can have an infinite number of gods, individual and equal though diverse, each one supreme and utterly indestructible. This is also the only explanation of how a Being could create a world in which War, Evil, etc., exist. Evil is only an appearance, because (like "Good") it cannot affect the substance itself, except only multiply its combinations. This is something the same as Mystic Monotheism; except the objection to that theory is that "God" has to create things which are all parts of "Himself", so that their interplay is false. If we presuppose many elements, their interplay is natural."
These ideas of Being, Thought and Bliss constitute the minimum possible qualities which a Point must possess if it is to have a real sensible experience of itself. These correspond to the numbers 9, 8 and 7. The first idea of reality, as known by the mind, is therefore to conceive of the Point as built up of these previous nine successive developments from Zero. Here then at last is the number Ten.
In other words, to describe Reality in the form of Knowledge, one must assume these ten successive ideas. In the Qabalah, they are called "Sephiroth", which means "Numbers".
IGROG OZRA, INHA RITEE DAERA!!!!
" The Naples Arrangement "
The Qabalists expanded this idea of Nothing, and got a second kind of Nothing which they called "Ain Soph"-"Without Limit" ; ( This idea seams not unlike that of Space. ) They then decided that in order to interpret this mere absence of any means of definition, it was necessary to assume the Ain Soph Aur-"Limitless Light". By this they seem to have meant very much what past Victorian-era scientists meant, or thought that they meant, by the Luminiferous Ether. (Possibly, The Space-Time Continuum.)
All this is evidently without form and void; these are abstract conditions, not positive ideas. The next step must be the idea of Position. One must formulate this thesis: If there is anything except Nothing; it must exist within this "Boundless Light" within this Space; within this inconceivable Nothingness, which cannot exist as Nothingness, but has to be conceived of as a Nothingness composed of the annihilation of two imaginary opposites. Thus appears The Point, which has "neither parts nor magnitude, but only position".
Except position dose not mean anything at all unless there is something else, some other position with which it can be compared. One has to describe it. The only way to do this is to have another Point, and that means that one must invent the number Two, making possible The Line.
Except this Line dose not really mean very much, because there is yet no measure of length. The limit of knowledge at this stage is that there are two things, in order to be able to talk about them at all. Though one cannot say that they are near each other, or that they are far apart; one can only say that they are distant. In order to discriminate between them at all, there must be a third thing. We must have another point. One must invent The Surface; one must invent The Triangle. In doing this, incidentally, appears the whole of Plane Geometry. One can now say, "A is nearer to B than A is to C".
Except there is no substance in any of these ideas. In fact there are no ideas at all, except the idea of distance and maybe the idea of Between-ness, and of Angular Measurement; so that Plane Geometry, which now exists in theory, has begun, though is not yet coherent. There has been no approach at all to the conception of a really existing thing. No more has been done than to make definitions, all in a purely ideal and imaginary world.
Now then comes The Abyss. One cannot go any further into the ideal. The next step must be the Actual-at least,an approach to the Actual. There are three points, but there is no idea of where any one of them is. A fourth point is essential, and this formulates the idea of matter.
The Point, the Line, the Plane.The fourth point, unless it should happen to lie in the plane, gives The Solid. If one wants to know the position of any point, one must define it by the use of three co-ordinate axes. It is so many feet from the North wall, and so many feet from the East wall, and so many feet from the floor.
Thus there has been developed from Nothingness a Something which can be said to exist. One has arrived at the idea of Matter. Except this existence is exceedingly small, for the only property of any given point is its position in relation to certain other points; no change is possible; nothing can happen. One is therefore compelled, in the analysis of known Reality, to assume a fifth positive idea, which is that of Motion.
This implies the idea of Time, for only through Motion, and in Time, can any event happen. Without this change and sequence, nothing can be the object of sense.
There is now possible a concrete idea of the Point; and, at last, it is a point which can be self-conscious, because it can have a Past, Present and Future. It is able to define itself in terms of the previous ideas. Here is the number Six, the centre of the system: self-conscious, capable of experience.
At this stage it is convenient to turn away for a moment from the strictly Qabalistic symbolism. The doctrine of the next three numbers (to some minds at least) is not very clearly expressed. One must look to the Vedanta system for a more lucid interpretation of the numbers 7, 8 and 9, although they correspond very closely with the Qabalistic ideas. In the Hindu analysis of existence the Rishis (Sages) assume three qualities: Sat, the Essence of Being itself; Chit, Thought, or Intellection; and Ananda (usually translated Bliss), the pleasure experienced by Being in the course of events. This ecstasy is evidently the exciting cause of the mobility of pure existence. It explains the assumption of imperfection on the part of Perfection. The Absolute would be Nothing, would remain in the condition of Nothingness; therefore, in order to be conscious of its possibilities and to enjoy them, it must explore these possibilities. There is also a parallel statement of this doctrine from the document called The Book of the Great Auk to enable the student to consider the position from the standpoint of two different minds.
"All elements must at one time have been separate.-That would be the case with great heat.-Now, when the atoms get to the Sun, we get that immense, extreme heat, and all the elements are themselves again. Imagine that each atom of each element possesses the memory of all its adventures in combination. By the way,that atom, fortified with memory, would not be the same atom; yet it is, because it has gained nothing from anywhere except this memory. Therefore, by the lapse of time and by virtue of memory, a thing could become something more than itself; thus a real development is possible. One can then see a reason for any element deciding to go through this series of incarnations, because so, and only so can it go; and it suffers the lapse of memory which it has during these incarnations, because it knows it will come through unchanged.
"Therefore you can have an infinite number of gods, individual and equal though diverse, each one supreme and utterly indestructible. This is also the only explanation of how a Being could create a world in which War, Evil, etc., exist. Evil is only an appearance, because (like "Good") it cannot affect the substance itself, except only multiply its combinations. This is something the same as Mystic Monotheism; except the objection to that theory is that "God" has to create things which are all parts of "Himself", so that their interplay is false. If we presuppose many elements, their interplay is natural."
These ideas of Being, Thought and Bliss constitute the minimum possible qualities which a Point must possess if it is to have a real sensible experience of itself. These correspond to the numbers 9, 8 and 7. The first idea of reality, as known by the mind, is therefore to conceive of the Point as built up of these previous nine successive developments from Zero. Here then at last is the number Ten.
In other words, to describe Reality in the form of Knowledge, one must assume these ten successive ideas. In the Qabalah, they are called "Sephiroth", which means "Numbers".
IGROG OZRA, INHA RITEE DAERA!!!!