It’s one of those persistent squabbles amongst Thelemites: Is Thelema a religion or isn’t it?
Yes, it is. Thelema’s founder and first prophet, Aleister Crowley, was gripped by the problems of religion and was called to renew religion along new-Aeonic lines.
I’m writing here as a practitioner, not as a historian or sociologist. The basic question every Thelemite should be asking himself or herself is, “What are we doing here [in Thelema land]? Why do we bother with all of this?” It’s basically to embody our Godhead.
No Dogma in Thelema
Some who say that Thelema is not a religion point to its lack of dogma.
After all, you don’t have to believe anything in particular to be a Thelemite. Arguably, you must only be committed to the belief that there is a Universal Will, it’s done in a particular way through your incarnation, and it’s your job to discover how.
In other words, a Thelemite knows that he or she is part of some sort of Divine, and embraces the destiny to live that birthright. “There is no part of me that is not of the gods.”
Everything else is up for grabs.
What is a Religion Anyway?
Etymologically, religion means a bond, a binding back (religare) to God / Source / Origin / Cause. In concept, it’s similar to yoga, meaning union with God.
The word contains a dogma in itself–that, in some sense, we used to be one with God, we are not in that state now, and we intend to reestablish that connection.
The Aim of Religion
Aleister Crowley characterizes his inner school, the A.’.A.’., by saying that it embodies “The Method of Science. The Aim of Religion”. What, for Crowley, is the aim of religion?
As he writes in “Berashith: An Essay on Ontology”, the aim of religion is to “grasp the immediate causes of our being”. This turns out to be Crowley’s version of “binding back” to the Divine realm.
In the same essay, he implies that the object of religion is to be joined as one with that Cause. He writes that exoteric Christians and Hindus are “blinded by the thirst for life and individual existence, the most formidable obstacle of all, in fact a negation of the very object of all religion”. To desire separation from the Origin is the opposite of religion’s aim.
Your Thoughts?
What have I missed that’s crucial, in your view? Email me at pjch381@gmail.com Thoughtful replies will be posted here.