The Four Immeasurables of Thelema
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In Liber CL (de lege libellum), Uncle Al riffs on Light, Life, Love & Liberty in relation to Thelema. He calls them the "rays" or "emanations of the law" of Thelema. During my first introduction to the Four Immeasurables it occured to me that we have a useful congruence here: Love = Loving Kindness
Light [in Extension] = Compassion, because the "light hath healing in its wings."
Life = Joy, because "existence is pure joy."
Liberty = Equanimity, because freedom, or liberty, is the result of equanimity.
A mandala formed of those 4 letters "L" might form a solar gammadion/svastika/thunderbolt = vajra, which is turned & spun by the sound "AL" (A is the void whence the vajra proceeds) & thus sent out the to beneficients.
Thank you, Sam, for your work on Pagan Dharma & Tantric Thelema. It couldn't be more relevant to me:)
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Winter, This is so great!
Winter,
This is so great! A lot to contemplate (in all the senses of that word) for sure.
If I may, I'd humbly like to add to the repertoire here regarding the Four Immeasurables, especially inasmuch as it may be a tie in to our Hermetic tradition. I've been playing for years now with a four-elemental correspondence to the Four Immeasurables. I've found this to be useful (and it's an order with which many of us should be familiar):
Love / Loving-Kindness = Fire, b/c fire is ever-generous, selfless, externally directed. It is the disintegration of the individual for the sake of all else. It is my "self" placed upon the pyre, to serve as sacrifice for others. It must be tempered with the following...
Light / Compassion = Water, b/c it is healing, b/c it is quiet but ever-moving sympathy for suffering, b/c it is that energy which flows between each of us, connecting each of us, through which I share my experiences with others, and they share theirs with me. It is Reiki. It is the salve. It is the cool balm upon my hot, bruised flesh.
Life / Joy = Air, b/c it is lifts us, raises us up from our sufferings, brings us into the ethereal realm where we are enlightened and lucid and gain a hawk's eye perspective on the world. We have joy b/c we rise above our sorrows.
Liberty / Equanimity = Earth, b/c we are one, we are none. We are present and still. We are in the now. We are solid and centered.
Hope this is of use to someone! My thanks to you, Winter. And also my thanks to you, Sam, for bringing this work to us.
Sam Lam
Heru Gaté Svaha
Thank you samtlam:)
Psh.
How Lovely!
There is so much more depth in here than I have plumbed.
More hands, more eyes, more hearts will improve the Work!
)O+
sam