Civilization of course, implies organization up to a certain point. The freedom of any function is built upon system; and so long as Law and Order make it easier for a man to do his True Will, they are admirable. It is when system is adored for its own sake, or as a means of endowing mediocrities with power as such, that the “critical temperature” is attained.
Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears, Chapter LXXV: The A∴A∴ and the Planet
they believe that Bush was chosen by God to lead the country against the infidels or whatever the fuck it is. Power needs a narrative to operate even if it only exists for its own sake, and this story never ends no matter how old it is.
Epicureanism asks us to temper our insatiable desires for more power, wealth and possessions. But it also releases us from superstition and challenges us to know the world through science; to look deeply into the secrets of nature. To investigate.
Luke Slattery, Reclaiming Epicurus [Amazon]
Since when was power goodness, or cleverness truth?
Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library]
The myth of Antigone, as told by the Greek playwright Sophocles, is one of the most well known of the Greek myths and one of the most meaningful for feminism and for revolutionary politics. She has become an icon of resistance. Of pitting personal conviction against state law. Of speaking truth to power.
Helen Morales, Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library]
Mysteries of other worlds, hidden forces, strange revelations, mysterious illnesses, exceptional faculties, spirits, apparitions, magical paradoxes, hermetic arcana, we shall say all, and we shall explain all. Who has given us this power? We do not fear to reveal it to our readers.
Éliphas Lévi, trans Aleister Crowley, Liber XLVI The Key of the Mysteries
Chesed corresponds to the creative aspects of leadership, and early texts are one-sided in characterising this by love, mercy and majesty. Gevurah corresponds to the conservative aspects of leadership, to the power to preserve the status-quo, and the power to destroy anything opposed to it. These two aspects go hand-in-hand – try to change anything of consequence in society, and someone will invariably oppose that change. To bring about change it is often necessary to have the power to over-rule opposition. Consensus is an impossibility in society – there will always be someone whose opinions are at best ignored and at worst suppressed – and Chesed and Gevurah represent respectively the kingly obligation to seek what is good for the many (enlightened leadership of course!), and the power to judge and punish those opposed to the will of the king.
Colin Low, Introduction to the Kabbalah, “Gevurah and Chesed”
We should therefore attempt to remove all external impediments which are in the way of our spiritual development and live in a state of purity. Our thoughts should be continually directed inwardly and within ourselves; for within ourselves is the element of consciousness, knowledge, and power. Nothing hinders us to develop and exercise our own powers, except our misconceptions, imaginations, and external desires. Therefore the divine influences will only come to him who liberates his soul of all such hindrances, carnal desires, prejudices, and hallucinations. A diseased eye cannot bear to look at the light; an impure soul is repulsed by the divine light of truth.
Franz Hartmann, In The Pronaos of The Temple of Wisdom
poverty is an economic catastrophe, inseparable from the power of greedy oligarchs and avaricious plutocrats indifferent to the misery of poor children, elderly and disabled citizens, and working people.
Martin Luther King Jr, The Radical King [Amazon, Publisher, Local Library]
Business for the Emperor. I don’t think he ever saw the Imperial City as people and lights—to him it was just power and opportunities.
Timothy Zahn, The Last Command [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library]
