NOTOCON VIII Keynote Address: Manifest Thy Glory.

Address delivered by National Grand Master General Sabazius X° to the Eighth National Conference of the U.S. O.T.O. Grand Lodge, Saturday evening, August 6, 2011 E.V., Dearborn, Michigan

Brothers and Sisters,

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

 The governor of the great state of Texas has designated this day a “Day of Prayer and Fasting.”

Some wag on Facebook has responded by declaring today a “Day of Debauchery and Gluttony.”

Given that we Thelemites have our head above the heavens and our feet below the hells, and making full use of my God-given indecisiveness, I hereby declare this evening an Evening of Prayer, Fasting, Debauchery and Gluttony. I trust you’ll all be able to figure this out.

[Thanks, congratulations, news updates omitted.]

This past fiscal year, we experienced a net increase in overall active membership of about 60 members, representing about a 5% net increase in membership. This counters the drop we experienced over the last couple of years due to changes in policy regarding membership inactivation, and I think it represents an encouraging sign that we can continue to grow and thrive even during interesting times.

The fifth Collect of the Gnostic Mass describes the nature of sainthood in our Church with respect to our concept of the Lord.

“Lord of life and joy, that art the might of man, that art the essence of every true god that is upon the surface of the Earth, continuing knowledge from generation unto generation, thou adored of us upon heaths and in woods, on mountains and in caves, openly in the marketplaces and secretly in the chambers of our houses, in temples of gold and ivory and marble as in these other temples of our bodies, we worthily commemorate them worthy that did of old adore thee and manifest thy glory unto men.”

My Brothers and Sisters, you are (in various stages of manifestation) these true gods upon the surface of the Earth. “Deus est Homo.” “There is no god but Man.” It is our shared and individual essence, continuing knowledge from generation unto generation, that is that secret and most holy Lord of life and joy adored by us and our saints–our Lord in ourselves, whose name is Mystery of Mystery.

Understanding this is the true basis of the Law, and the true foundation of all human rights. Realizing this is the essence of true kingship. Manifesting its glory is the essence of true Sainthood.

How can there be any higher measure of success than to understand and realize one's own divine essence, and to manifest its glory? To accomplish the Great Work? To do your True Will as a god upon Earth? The wealth, status and fame so coveted by some are mere vain baubles in comparison: drugs to soothe a blind ego that cannot perceive, or will not recognize, its own essential divinity.

You partake of the same divine nature as the world’s wealthiest plutocrats, the world’s most powerful dictators, the world’s most beloved celebrities, and the world’s most impoverished beggars.

True kingship is realizing this.

He who believes himself to be a slave is in fact, a slave. But there are slaves and slaves. The Beast himself was the prophet and slave of the beauteous one. One can be a slave through passion and devotion, and never flag in the understanding that one is accomplishing one’s Will in noble service, as very god of very god. But the slave who serves unwillingly, with resentment in his heart, has turned his back on his own divine nature, his own True Will. No one can free such a slave but he himself, because he is in fact a slave to his own ignorance, to his own blinded ego.

If we know ourselves each to be elaborations and extensions of the divine, then how can anyone have undue power over us? How can we be dominated by any other creature without our sovereign consent? We can be deprived of our money, our property, our health, our limbs, our loved ones, even our individual lives; but, once we understand our true nature, we can never be deprived of that.

And this makes us rather dangerous.

There have always been, and will always be, a class of slaves who will vainly attempt to palliate their myopic egos by amassing and wallowing in greater and greater pigsties of material ostentation, who will seek to profit—in their own pathetic way—by sowing ignorance and superstition and fear and confusion and guilt and shame among the people, struggling to hide from them the truth of their divine nature. Like the vampires of folklore, their design is to reduce the humble villagers to a state of cowed subservience, that they may be more easily preyed upon.

They thrive on the lifeblood of a populace that has been conditioned by deceit and threat to labor and kill for their betters in exchange for toys, spectacle, transient pleasures, and false honor—things that numb their pain of division, without satisfying it—a populace without self-understanding or consciousness of individual Will, a populace that has submitted to voluntary spiritual castration, a populace, as it were, of zombies.

This is why we must promulgate the Law of Do What Thou Wilt: the Law of the Strong, the Joy of the World. This is why we must manifest the glory of the Lord–by learning and teaching; by reading and writing and speaking; by painting, drawing, carving, and moulding; by song, by dance, by building and by steadfast resistance; with ecstasy and passion and strength; individually–and with our arms linked in fraternity.

Several weeks ago, Sekhet-Maat Lodge in Portland was subjected to an attack by an arsonist. We do not know yet the arsonist’s motivation. But we do know that you, Brothers and sisters, came to the Lodge’s aid, donating over $2,000, sufficient funds to cover the all repairs in one day after the Lodge put out a request for assistance. Fraternity.

We are attracting attention, Brothers and sisters. Our efforts are being noted by friend and foe alike. Eyes are turning our way.

We live in increasingly interesting times. Prepare yourselves. Understand, realize, and manifest thy Glory. 

Love is the law, love under will.