Do what thou wilt...

[reign3]

Originally posted by Aleister Crowley
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

I just thought about this. I've been looking into a lot of this stuff on Aleister Crowley and Thelema. That was the quote which the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis) uses as their "motto" if you will.

Note the lines in Lateralus. Feed my will to feel this moment drawing way outside the lines. I read about what Crowley's quote meant. It is not permision to go around and do whatever you like. It is meant to encourage people to accomplish their true will, their true desires, which will lead to them becoming enlightened. They believe that if everybody did their true will, their would be no conflict because everybody would be concerned with achieving their goals. I'm not sure if it really fits, but it has some relevance.

How do you think this relates to the lines in Lateralus? We all know that the guys from Tool read into this stuff. Is it just a coincidence? Or does it have some relevance?

[yllwcrystlstr]

i dont know....the lyrics to the song aenima are taken almost word for word from bill hick's arizona bay cd. Of course "as above so below" is in lateralus, but thats the only lyric i see taken from some other direct source. who knows...

[axe4moe]

Originally posted by reign3
I just thought about this. I've been looking into a lot of this stuff on Aleister Crowley and Thelema. That was the quote which the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis) uses as their "motto" if you will.

Note the lines in Lateralus. Feed my will to feel this moment drawing way outside the lines. I read about what Crowley's quote meant. It is not permision to go around and do whatever you like. It is meant to encourage people to accomplish their true will, their true desires, which will lead to them becoming enlightened. They believe that if everybody did their true will, their would be no conflict because everybody would be concerned with achieving their goals. I'm not sure if it really fits, but it has some relevance.

How do you think this relates to the lines in Lateralus? We all know that the guys from Tool read into this stuff. Is it just a coincidence? Or does it have some relevance?

READ "Do what thou wilt": A life of Aleister Crowley By Lawrence Sutin

In the introduction he explains that "Thelema" is greek for "will" (Thelema being the religon he basically founded).
To feed his will is to give inspiration or as crowley explains "imagination". Lawrence wirtes on to say:

"the training of the will- which crowley so stressed, thus placing himself square in that tradition (the human psyche)- is the focusing of ones energy, ones essential being.......The will and the imagination must works synergistically. for the will, unilluminated by imagination, becomes a barren tool of earthly persuits. and the imagination, ungoverened by s striving will, lapses into idle dreams and stupor."

the will is useless unless imagination is brought upon. to "feed" his will is to give him imagination.
Crowley states that high conscisness is meerly hightened emotions through practices of the will and imagination, hence the word "feel". drawing way outside the lines is basically the outcome of will and imagination combined, forming an experiecne not commonly known by average man.

in MY personal opinion he sings of stuggling with the imagination side of finding himself and his own desires. later in the song he says "to feel the rythum....", so personally i draw from this that feeding his will is his own musical inspiration.

Regin3, you are very on the mark here. well done boy!
i would encourage you to read the book quoted above unless you already have.

[paraflux]

311 song "Offbeat Bare-Ass"

...sing along to the cry of a mandatory sentence for a crime with no victim
When everybody knows jail terms should be picked in
Order of the pain that they cause, you know,
DO WHAT THOU WILT shall be the whole of the law
Until you violate the rights of another,
Respect the space of your sister and your brother
The war on drugs may be well intentioned,
But it falls fuckin flat when you start to mention
An overcrowded prison where a rapist gets paroled
To make room for a dude who has sold
A pound of weed, to me that's a crime
Here's to good people doin time, y'all...

[BenMaras]

"as above so below" is also part of the Wiccan spell for casting a circle, which furthers the theory that it came in essence from Crowley. Yes, I'm aware Crowley wasn't wiccan, but he did study it along with his occult studies/practices.

-ben