Aleister and Augustine – morality through love

One of these men was the most evil person who ever lived.
But that was before Peter Singer was born.

“Love and do as you will” – St Augustine

“Love is the law, love under will” – Aleister Crowley

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”  – Aleister Crowley

“Oh Lord, grant me chastity and continence, but not yet.” – St Augustine

Aleister Crowley gets some bad press, much of it generated by him.

Apparently proud to declare that his mother saw him as The Beast he adopted the number 666 as his own.

Openly bisexual at a time when homosexuality was not only illegal but something that horrified polite society, Crowley promoted sex magick – particularly gay sex magick – as a path to ultimate truth. He made no secret of his post-Nietzschian contempt for Christianity, famously remarking “One would go mad if one took the Bible seriously; but to take it seriously one must be already mad”.

It’s little wonder the tabloids of his time dubbed him ‘the wickedest man in the world’ and ‘the most evil man who ever lived’ – titles he reveled in.

But when he wasn’t trying to shock the prudes or engaging in outrageous self-promotion Creepy Crowley was actually a pretty serious and thoughtful religious scholar. It’s even possible he was a true mystic, though given his dedication as a student and talent as an actor it seems equally possible he was faking it.

What many would find particularly surprising is that Crowley was no slouch as a moral philosopher either. Many of his ethical aphorisms – such as “The Way of Mastery is to break all the rules; but you have to know them perfectly before you can do this” – are designed to shock as much as to enlighten, but throughout his writings you can see the influences of Aristotle, Spinoza, Hobbes, Hume, Kant, Bentham, Mill and, of course, Nietzsche. There are probably many others I’m too ill-educated to spot.

At its core, Crowley’s professed morality resembles no others more than it does that of St Augustine of Hippo (cue the outraged cries of 1.2 billion Catholics).

If you know anything at all about Aleister Crowley you would know that the ethics of his home-brewed religion, Thelema, boil down to “Do what thou wilt”, but this is not the same as “just do anything”. He believed that the most important endeavour in the life of an individual is to discover his or her “True Will” and to follow it … err … religiously.

True Will to Crowley is a combination of calling, destiny and the mode of action that brings one most into harmony with nature. In this it is very similar to the Hindu fundamental moral concept of dharma. By acting in perfect accord with his True Will, the Master is not only maximising his own spiritual potential, but minimising the amount of harm he does to others.

True Will is something completely individual. It cannot be learned from a book or a guru – each must find her own True Will. In that, Crowley was a complete moral relativist.

And you know something?
I think he was right.

Morality can only arise from the moral agent herself.

If you’re following an external rule or prescription you are not really acting morally, you have handed your agency to someone or something else and have become an ethical automaton. And how can you possibly know if that external authority is ethical at all – it is only your own heart you can see into.

When the Buddha entered the town of Kesaputta he was mobbed by the local people – the Kalamas – who wanted to know the best way to behave. Kesaputta was on a popular pilgrimage route and many devout holy men had passed through, each preaching his own particular path to enlightenment with its attendant ethical precepts and each contradicting the teachings of the others. As you might imagine this left the Kalamas somewhat confused and in their confusion they thought the best thing they could do was ask yet another holy man for the answer.

A whole village load of straight men for Buddha!
Ananda must have felt greatly relieved.

“Don’t listen to what everyone tells you”, the Buddha told them, “Don’t believe the hype or swallow the word on the street. Don’t go along with what the authorities say. Don’t just do what your forefathers did or let yourself be fooled by the nonsense in holy books. Don’t believe in natural laws or anything else taken as a given. And don’t kid yourself you know it all or can reason it out. Don’t hang on celebrity endorsements or self-help manuals and ignore those pompous prats who claim to have a direct line to God. If you want to know what to do, you’ve gotta ask yourself. You’re the only one who knows what’s right for you. But you have to ask yourself very carefully and thoroughly. And it’s probably a good idea to start by considering what wise folk say and whether it may also apply to you. If you’re wise that is.”

Aleister Crowley couldn’t have put it better himself.

Like Augustine – or Hindu bhaktis – Crowley believed that perfect love was the perfect guide to human behaviour. But perfect anything probably is. Perfect contemplation, perfect dedication, perfect concentration even perfect hedonism – all will eventually lead to the realisation that all is one and to disrespect anything is to disrespect yourself.

Of course perfection in anything is pretty tricky to pull off, so the best most of us can do is struggle futilely towards it. Near enough isn’t really good enough but as near as you can possibly get is good enough for you.

Strive towards your own level of competence, don’t think you can exceed it by aping the competence of others.

OK, I’ve bombarded you with truisms – just as Aleister did – but do I have any practical advice?
Probably not. I only know what works for me.

But one thing that does work for me is to try to be aware that every decision is a moral decision, and every thought is a decision – or at least it should be. If you can’t even decide what to think there’s probably not much point trying to work out how to behave.

So you need to be mindful of your own mind. Be as aware as you can of every instant of your existence and everything that impinges upon it. Act in harmony with your own nature and what nature presents to you – because they are really one in the same.

Hey, did I say perfection was easy?

But if you’re really paying attention to the moment you simply haven’t got time to be worrying about what the law is or what the Bible says or what the neighbours might think. Or even what you think. You’re too busy living your life. Your life as a moral being.

And you know what?
It all works itself out.
It’s been doing that for a long time already, even without all your moralising and anguishing about it.

You don’t improve yourself with morality, you improve your morality by improving yourself.
You can’t act morally, you can only be moral.
You don’t follow a morality, you live it.

So get out there and start being the only thing you’re perfect at being.
You.
Even if it means you’re being a perfect fool.