Appendix . . The title for the book explained . Two other titles for this book were worked with at different times before finally arriving at a concept that was "perfect" for the intended purposes of the entire text, namely: . When the truth is found to be lies... . Previous ideas were War Against Lies and The Book of Lies. These rejected choices had value and will be discussed in what follows, but some comments about "When the truth is found to be lies..." is in order so that there is no misunderstanding about intentions. . The most important words in any book are the words of its title. All successful writers understand this axiom -if they didn't, they would not have become successful. A title "sells" a book and unless a book sells -reaches its target audience- it has been an exercise in futility. Accordingly it is smart -"essential" is a better word- to lavish as much time on choosing a title as necessary so that the result is exactly what makes the best sense and has the potential to attract readers. . The first title for this volume, "The Book of Lies," was not the first idea that occurred to me. There were several hours of thinking about the problem before arriving at that set of words. Later, after asking myself questions about this title and doing some research, it became clear that some other title was needed. The same process was repeated for "War Against Lies" until the current title was selected. This will be explained soon enough. . . When the truth is found to be lies... originates from the lyrics to a 1967 Rock song performed by Grace Slick at the time she sang for the short-lived band, "The Great Society." Here are the words as they are sung in concert: . When the truth is found To be lies And all the joy Within you dies
Don't you want somebody to love? Don't you need somebody to love? Wouldn't you love somebody to love? You better find somebody to love... . Classic Rock aficionados will know these lyrics by heart, especially if they lived through the late sixties and early seventies; it was very popular, a music sensation, and was broadcast on radio frequently for some years and Miss Slick also appeared on television singing her masterpiece. . The theme of deception was also popular in that era, whether the lies told by the Johnson administration or by Nixon and his corps of professional mudslingers, not to mention public awareness of false advertising and knowledge gleaned from psychology classes that just about everyone in college studied, to the effect that human beings lie all the time, and some are pathological liars. Others, when confronted with serious problems, fall into denial -they refuse to admit mistakes and rationalize them away with manufactured false memories, invented excuses, and evasions. . All of which remains as relevant as ever, now in the 21st century. . This is not only to speak of lying by presidents and aspirants to the presidency. Indeed, one definition of politics might be "a profession that places a premium on effective lying." There is an abundance of institutional lying, of lying by the press, of business lying, and, of course, personal lying -which sometimes can have devastating effects in one's life. . At issue here is a combination of types of lying, everything from the personal to the presidency. The title suggests the universality of lying. And who doesn't resent being lied to -or lied about? Who has not been adversely effected by lying? . The title is also intended to suggest a certain vindictiveness; as soon as it is possible my intention is to make everyone who has lied about me, or lied to me, pay dearly. Money is the least concern, what matters to me is ruining the reputations of everyone who has lied about me, and this means everyone, political leaders, journalists, federal agents, or the sonovabitch who lied to his insurance company after running me down with his car while I was riding a bicycle on June 24, 2015, where I was entirely within the law and had the right-of-way. He could have killed me. But instead of remorse, he put petty economic gain first in his life. That kind of crap is not about to be forgotten. . I was extremely lucky to escape with minor injuries; the driver who was responsible won't be lucky at all as soon as I have the chance to expose him to the world for the criminal that he is. . About which there is much more to say, which will be left to my attorney to hear in detail, but so that readers will get the idea. Willful lying, as I see it, certainly when no high moral purpose is the motivation, is inexcusable and unforgivable. Especially when it harms another person. If that dirty sheisskopf loses everything, his home, his fancy late model car, his career, that will be his tough luck. . No, I do not believe it is a virtue to go around forgiving people because it is "the Christian thing to do." Like hell it is. Making oneself into a patsy for Christ is not my idea of meaningful faith. . Haven't we all had extremely bad experiences because someone decided to lie about us? If there are any exceptions please let me know. They would deserve to be considered as authentic miracles. And all such cases of lying merit not only complaints, but actions intended to result in justice. And justice is what this book is really all about. . The theme of being lied to was also topical in another song of the counter-culture of yore, "Won't Get Fooled Again," originally written by Pete Townshend of The Who, after his experiences with Asian religion. Its 1971 release was popular enough but in 1993 it became a number 1 hit when it was recorded by Van Halen. Of course there was the irony that the Left was fooled again that year, and fooled worse than at any time in recent history -until 2008. About Van Halen, I know almost nothing, nor, for that matter, do I know much at all about The Who. However, the lyrics of that song speak to millions of people and they are also in the background, at least by intention: . I'll tip my hat to the new constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday Then I'll get on my knees and pray We don't get fooled again . . But mostly the title is about the Grace Slick song. About which there is a story of its own. . It is interesting, of course, to look into the subject of "mondegreens," misheard lyrics, which result when people misunderstand the words to a song. This is not a form of parody, it usually consists of projection, hearing what one expects to hear, a phenomenon that occurs in a many other situations as well. . There seem to be two mondegreen versions of "Somebody to Love." First is the Right-wing interpretation: . Don't you want some money to love? Don't you need some money to love? Wouldn't you love some money to love? You better find some money to love. . . Here is the Left-wing, aka "reefer" version: "When the turkey's stoned..." . Rather than: "When the truth is found..." . . What is also notable is that the Grace Slick song -it seems to have been written by her brother-in-law - is that everything that was to happen was incredibly inexpensive by any standards of the time. Grace Slick's contract was purchased by Jefferson Airplane for the sum of $750. That was, for sure, one of the greatest bargains in Rock music history. And the album that featured Somebody to Love, namely, Surrealistic Pillow, was produced for about $ 8000, the second greatest bargain in Rock music history. This information courtesy of Wikipedia. . The album, you might like to know, went onto the Billboard 200 chart in March of 1967 and stayed there for a full year, selling 1,000,000+ copies. Anyone who had seen that coming would have gotten rich... . Hence, I just wonder who will see the success of "When the truth is found to be lies," and about who will deny that it can become a success and will gamble against any such outcome. . Some people love to be idiots, they really do; maybe you know people like that, I have known more than I ever hoped to know... . . . Obsolete titles: Here is a discussion about the reasons for these choices as prepared weeks ago... . . War Against Lies . This title was intended to suggest not only the history of endless lying perpetrated by Alvin Toffler, Heidi Toffler, Betty Friedan, and other former Communists, and the lying carried out in defense of the Tofflers by every president since Jimmy Carter -Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, William Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Hussein Soetoro- but also a "cause" that Americans can adopt and make their own. . There needs to be a war against lying, especially lying by the government but all forms of official lying, including lying by business leaders and religious figures. Obviously, this does not include legitimate foreign intelligence subterfuge nor investigations into crimes committed in the United States. The point is that entire categories of official lies are unjustifiable and immoral and must be stopped and those responsible for slander, libel, defamations, and related crimes brought to justice. . A search of the Web could not locate any previous book with this title. The phrase, or some variant, dates to the era of the New Testament, especially in II Thessalonians with its imagery of Satan as the arch-liar and the necessity of a war against the forces of evil which the Devil commands. Chapter 2 is a call to spiritual warfare with the warning "let no one deceive you in any way whatever." . The phrase occurs in several modern contexts although never as a book title. For instance a site maintained by Trinidad Times tells us that Rupert Murdoch declared war against lies and libels in May of 2012. An essay can be found on the Web with the title "Gore Vidal: The war against lies," published by the Independent Company, UK, in January of 2004, but considering Vidal's biography clearly he is someone that this war should be fought against. . There is a You Tube entry with the title "War Against Lies" that dates to March of 2014 and consists of news footage of demonstrators seeking to save Charing Cross Hospital, those seeking to close it said to have lied. The phrase was also used by George W Bush in 2001 when he spoke of a "war against lies by the Taliban." This is posted at cuttingedge.org for October 29 of that year. . There is a "Declaration of War Against Lies" by the CanadianSpartacus's Blog for July 22, 2011, which promotes 'radical environmentalism.' And a site devoted to an exposition of II Corinthians 10: 3 -5 tells us that "Paul is speaking of waging a war against lies, half truths and overt error and against all that is opposed to the Gospel." Finally, while there are a few other examples that might be cited, there was Marilyn Ferguson's usage of the phrase in her 2005 book, written a year or two before publication, Aquarius Now, which has New Age context. . None of these examples is directly related to my book although those with Christian meaning come the closest. The preceding list is provided primarily to tell the reader that the title, as intended for a book, is original even though the phrase has a history; in all likelihood it dates many years before 2001. . The first title that appealed to me was "The Book of Lies." Unfortunately, that title was first made use of by Aleister Crowley in 1912 for a book about his own version of religion, usually referred to as Gardnerian Wicca in our period of time, after Gerald Gardner, who re-used many of Crowley's ideas when he set out to found a sect of Wicca. This type of "spirituality" is completely diseased as far as I am concerned, teaching essentially the opposite of spiritual truth. In case anyone has ever said anything about me to some other effect... . A case could be made that since other authors had also made use of the title -maybe they had not carried out title searches- a new and very different approach would be justified. This refers to Brad Meltzer's The Book of Lies of 2008 and James Moloney's The Book of Lies of 2004. There is also a 2006 TV show -which continued until a later date- with the title, A Book of Truth, a Book of Lies. . Each of these productions is fiction. . Moloney's novel, as a review explains, "tells of the story of ...Marcel, after he wakes up in a foundling home with no memory of who he is. His struggle to reclaim his identity, along with close allies Nicola and Fergus, centres on uncovering the truth from amid a sea of lies, where few people are what they claim to be." . Brad Meltzer's novel is historical fiction based on two related themes. As another review explains if recounts "a conspiracy laden story about the first murder in history, that of Abel by his brother Cain" and goes on from there "to explore the alleged murder of Mitchell Seigel and how that lead to the creation of the most-recognized superhero in the world, Superman.." . The TV show -which can be seen on You Tube- consists of a series of episodes about the lives of Russian emigres in New York City in the days before 9/11. One of the episodes is described in these words: . "Two former Russian immigrants, Jenya and Andrey, have good reasons to be atheists, to espouse polygamous relationships and be convinced that the single source of all peoples' problems is a human propensity to believe in speculative unprovable causes." They then "embrace their lovers, friends and family members and in the same time open people's minds to realize that unexamined beliefs lead to dire consequences in life," however, "they find themselves being rejected time and again. The two conclude that they simply belong to a different conscious species and decide to leave the human race -on September 11th, 2001." . I wasn't sure what to think of these creative ideas but can report that others have been similarly perplexed. Brad Meltzer's story, for instance, has drawn both rave reviews and expressions of dismay. Here is a "thumbs up"- "This book was absolutely fantastic. The pages just flew by. I read it in a day and a half because I had such a hard time putting it down. I kept telling myself that I'd only read one more chapter and that'd be it.....ha! That sure didn't work! ...The book was smart, fast-paced, and every chapter left me wanting more; I just had to find out what happened and what it all meant." . Here is a thumbs down: . People actually pay money for this drivel??? I've read better writing from 8th graders! Meltzer displays just about every amateur writing trait that I can think of: he's really heavy on exposition; he withholds information that the point-of-view character knows, just to artificially create false tension; his dialog sounds like it comes straight from a soap opera; he relies on melodrama instead of actual drama; his characters are one dimensional stock fare that do not act or talk like real people." . For more reviews see Goodreads quotes about the book, some of which are good as literature themselves. . Meltzer also wrote an essay entitled " How The Book of Lies Was Born" which is available on the Web and, as you can see, inspired me to write this short essay about my title. Meltzer explains the genesis of his idea and how it took shape during the course of a ten year period. This included his meeting with the nephew of Jerry Siegel, the creator of Superman. And we learn a variety of hitherto unknown facts such as the news that the original Superman jumped rather than flew, and had limited super-powers; his full repertoire of abilities took time to develop. . All of which is interesting enough, and maybe could be played off of in some way to segue to my own book, but there was Crowley to consider, someone I detest. . Over the course of years I have said almost nothing about the man. At most he has been mentioned maybe three or four times in everything I have ever written until now, and that number may be inflated. Aleister Crowley represents everything perverted and evil that can arise in a religious context. There simply is no way that I want any kind of association with him or his sickening views of religion. It was Crowley who said: . “Keep on acquiring a taste for what is naturally repugnant; this is an unfailing source of pleasure.” . “Some men are born sodomites, some achieve sodomy, and some have sodomy thrust upon them...” . "And I am Satan! I am Satan! I am cast out upon a burning crag! And the sea boils about the desolation thereof. And already the vultures gather, and feast upon my flesh.” . “I was not content to believe in a personal devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the word. I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his chief of staff.” . “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” . . These views are indefensible. They discredit everything Crowley ever did that in any way might be considered worthwhile. He was a moral monstrosity, in his mind was a cesspool of filth, and he was incapable of rational thought. . To be sure, some people have been fascinated by his life of adventure. Perhaps credit is due to him for that. He traveled all over the world -to Egypt, India, Algeria, etc.- to many countries in Europe, and to America. But rather than finding the best in diverse peoples and faiths, his "talent" was finding the very worst, whatever was evil and self-destructive, and 'christening' it as blessed and good. He fell very far, indeed, from the time when he was the scion of a well-to-do Plymouth Brethren family .. The Brethren can be thought of as "fundamentalists" but that is not the entire story since they can also be considered as sincere Christians who seek to live lives centered on love for Jesus and upon his commands to serve people in their community, but this is not how Aleister understood his parental faith. For him, Christianity was all about superstition and restrictive morals. Nothing else registered. And he set out to make himself into the foremost nihilist in the world to show his contempt for Christian faith. . In the mid-1890s as a student at Cambridge he began to delve into esoteric religion and by 1898 he had become a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he learned the 'art' of ceremonial magic. Some time after that he moved to a large house near Loch Ness, Scotland. Allen Bennett became Crowley's live-in guest and the twosome performed rituals in which they used various drugs. Things got even worse from there...... . Crowley claimed to have had mystical experiences in which he heard voices of one kind or another, starting with the intonations of Hoor-Paar-Kraat and, in due course, graduating to the upside down 'wisdom' of Ab-ul-Diz. Voices of these kinds supposedly taught Aleister all kinds of mumbo-jumbo from the spirit world that he then wrote down in an early text, The Book of the Law, which was to serve as the basis of a religion according to which he was to act as a prophetic leader for a "new aeon." . It was from this time, in the early 1900s, that Crowley's nihilistic views come into high relief with his principle, 'do whatever you want and don't think about the consequences,' promoted as divine inspiration. Which, of course, was nothing but a modern form of Carpocratianism. . Meanwhile, borrowing the names of just about every God and Goddess known to antiquity, although showing flashes of creativity, Aleister did such things as devising his so-called "Rites of Artemis," which featured magical illusions and elements of theater in which members of his cult played the roles of deities. Such things attracted enthusiasts of the bizarre, something which had become an affectation in elite circles of the era. From that time he entered into a series of sexual relationships, sometimes with women, sometimes with men. . Until that period, Crowley had maintained membership in Golden Dawn but his antics upset the more respectable members of the group and when his libertine activities could no longer be ignored, especially after he began a feud with William Butler Yeats, he was expelled and his new departure in religion could really develop as he most wanted. . This included plagiarism from the occult works of Theodor Reuss, a German who led the bizarre group, Ordo Templi Orientis, also known as "O.T.O." While some of the ideas were his own, it was these plagiarisms, if I have the story correct, that served as the basis of much in Crowley's Book of Lies. . By the way, after an initial period in which Reuss and Crowley traded accusations and insults, the two became good friends and Aleister promoted OTO. Indeed, Crowley was initiated into Reuss's group during a ceremony in Berlin during which he took the name "Baphomet." This is medieval nomenclature that basically means "Satan" although interpreted as if the Devil has a special relationship with Muhammad -about which it may safely be said that at least Crowley got that right. . Another influence of Reuss upon Crowley was emphasis in OTO on "sex magic," which seemed like a marvelous idea to Aleister, hence anal sex became important in his warped version of religion. As the Wikipedia article about him says, Crowley was a bisexual although he was more interested in women than men. There were some number of "bohemian women" who had affairs with him but he did not neglect male homosexuals and in those instances Aleister "usually played the passive role," due, it seems, to his masochistic proclivity. One of his biographers was explicit about this. . It should also be noted that part of Crowley's religious practice, required for everyone who joined his group, was participation in homosexual rituals. Among those who disliked this activity was a disciple named Cecil F. Russell, who finally quit, providing an account that further discredits Aleister. .. One of his homosexual paramours in this era was Somerset Maugham. .. Other biographers tell us that Crowley was employed by British intelligence from an early date but what to make of this assertion is an open question. This is not a serious interest of mine but it can be reported that Keith Jeffrey's 2010 opus, The Secret History of MI6, 1909 - 1949, does not mention Aleister in its 752 pages. Still, some things Crowley did are consistent with the view that he sometimes did service for the British government. . For instance when he lived in America just before and during WWI, he wrote for a pro-German newspaper, The Fatherland, and as one of the publication's most well known writers he doubled as an agitator for Irish independence -but with tactics that could only have embarrassed the Irish even if his German employers would not have understood how ridiculous Crowely's actions actually were -like his 1915 publicity stunt -"reported on by The New York Times– in which he declared independence for Ireland in front of the Statue of Liberty." Supposedly the real purpose was "to make the German lobby appear ridiculous in the eyes of the American public." . In New York, however, Crowley also wrote for the legitimate press, including Vanity Fair, where he penned articles about astrology. About which, in case anyone asks, while the subject has historical interest, the whole idea strikes me as ill-advised. Its main usefulness is as a conversation stimulant and for concepts that can be incorporated in the arts; nonetheless, the premises on which it is based are empirically false. . Politically Crowley was unclassifiable. What can be said for certain about him is that his views were the diametric opposite of Radical Centrism. That is, while Crowley did not identify with either the current political Right or Left of his day his reasons were based on his disdain for normality and hatred of democracy. . It has been noted that Crowley was, in turn, attracted to both Marxist-Leninism and Nazism, for instance, each of which from a Radical Centrist perspective is evil and wholly unacceptable. Crowley was most interested in Nazism, however, and expressed the hope that Hitler would convert to some version of his religion which dovetailed with the OTO. And maybe, for a short time, this did not seem far fetched; many writers have pointed out the occult interests of the Nazi leadership. But Hitler had no use for occultists with political pretensions and he outlawed the OTO and imprisoned its leader. Only then did Crowley criticize Hitler. . What is interesting in this context is that Crowley seemed to have had an interest in Mussolini's Fascism in the years before Hitler's rise to power. Which makes sense since Aleister sometimes lived in Italy. However, when Benito learned what Crowley was doing at his 'religious' compound in 1923, the dictator had him deported immediately. . . About democracy, Crowley called it an "imbecile and nauseating cult of weakness," contrasting it to the 'necessity' for society to be divided up into two incompatible classes, masters and slaves. In contrast, Radical Centrism assumes democracy and is based on the goal of creating the best kind of political system for a democracy, nothing else. . When not venerating Fascism, which he ceased to do in the early 1940s, Aleister's interest in Communism revived, and for some time he called his views of politics "aristocratic communism." This was an amalgam of Nietzsche and Marx, a combination that actually was quite popular in early Revolutionary-era Russia, but Crowley's interpretation was unlike anything associated with the Russians, indeed, it was essentially a gross misreading of both Marx and Nietzsche, but that did not dissuade him. Crowley also added Social Darwinism to the mix and various other elements but this is sufficient to paint the portrait of a maniac . Aleister had other preferences also, for example in his praises of the Chinese as spiritually superior to westerners, although on what grounds is a mystery. The suspicion must be voiced that this wasn't much of a favor to people from China but reflected the common stereotype of the "inscrutable Chinese." This was the era of Charlie Chan detective films, after all. . Crowley also regarded Muslims as virtuous, showing the world, as the Wikipedia article puts it, "manliness, straightforwardness, subtlety, and self-respect." For some reason he did not add: Bigoted, narrow-minded, hot tempered, poorly educated, irrational, insular, and grossly disrespectful of others. . Aleister has also been characterized as a misogynist who regarded women as inferior. This evaluation would seem to be confirmed by the history of his relationships with the opposite sex, all of which seem to have been weird beyond belief and otherwise psychologically unhealthy . Among Crowley's new 'friends' of the war years was Nancy Cunard of the steamship company family, a disinherited rebel of dubious causes who surfaced in various contexts in that era, ordinarily somewhere on the political Left. She can be thought of as an early Cultural Marxist although she was more of an Anarchist than anything else. Noted as a collector of sexual escapades with literary figures of the period, and of black celebrities, she added Crowley to her list. . Another chum of Aleister was the well known pathological liar John Symonds, one of the first homosexual activists of the 20th century. Crowley took a liking to Symonds which Symonds appeared to reciprocate -to the extent that Crowley made him his literary executor, but that turned out to be one more sham. Symonds also became a biographer of Aleister and did not disguise his contempt for the man. . Aleister was a "blatant bigot" and anti-Semite although as in much about his life things were not so clear cut as this characterization infers. He had 'negro' friends but, true to form, his purposes were fairly typical of the social elite of that time, Africans were seen as bearers of a culture that was seen as superior to that of Europe or America, a viewpoint that still exists today among members of the snobocracy. He also had Jewish friends but insulted them on a regular basis, much along the lines of George Bush's insults of Carl "fart blossom" Rove. . Note: Some scholars of things Bush insist that George II actually called Rove a "turd blossom" as a form of endearment. Either way this strikes me as idiotic in the extreme since Rove was one of the few really smart people in the Bush White House, someone whom you may disagree with but who nonetheless deserves sincere respect, but the facts are what they are. . Crowley has had influence on modern-day popular culture. Thankfully I never was much of a Beatles fan for among those "inspired" by this flamboyant huckster was the English singing group who placed Aleister's image on the cover for their famous 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Other musicians whom I never cared for also fell under Crowley's spell including Led Zeppelin, homosexual David Bowie, and lunatic Ozzy Osbourne. Maybe Osbourne isn't really demented but to express an honest opinion of someone whom doesn't deserve 1% of the fame he achieved. . Two others who have been influenced by Crowley are L. Ron Hubbard, who invented Scientology, and Anton LaVey who created modern organized Satanism. . . It is against this background that we need to evaluate some of Crowley's most popular aphorisms, for example: . “The sin which is unpardonable is knowingly and wilfully to reject truth, to fear knowledge lest that knowledge pander not to thy prejudices.” . This sounds good until you realize that what would be for others a statement of rational philosophical principle was for Crowley an excuse for every perverted self-indulgence he might dream up. . Crowley also argued that it is unwise to make judgements about subjects you are ignorant about. And who can disagree? But Crowley seldom lived up to his self-professed principle and continued to make occult and magical practices central to his life as long as he lived, never seeking to learn the kinds of science that would have exposed both magic and occult views as profoundly mistaken fonts of error. For him, science was unnecessary and the spirit realm (actually he believed in what is better called the demonic realm) provided the answers to our deepest questions. How did he "know" this? He did not actually know any such thing, he merely had pretensions that he did. . . All of this may seem beside the point in a book about political lies many decades after Crowley's death -he died in 1947- but there are two reasons or this discussion. First, he provides a prime example of someone whose whole life was predicated on lying. Or if not overt lying, preachments that promoted falsehoods large and small. Secondly, Crowley inspired recent era religious developments that are very much with us today. Even if these ventures of religion are not major in terms of size they are real, part of popular culture, and have influence that extends far beyond some subculture we can all ignore and forget about. Because of the undiluted evil he represents it seemed advisable to make it clear that there is much more to do than deal with the fallout from the Alvin Toffler scandal and the political mess that follows from the presidency of the worst chief executive in American history, that of Barack Hussein Obama.. . However, there has also been another reason: To make it clear that none of my religious values have anything at all to do with Aleister Crowley, someone I detest. He was an ambassador from Hell. Even the closest approximation to him today, Claude Vorilhon Rael, falls significantly short of Crowley's undiluted Satanism. . Almost anything to do with Aleister Crowley, including his influences in the modern world, as I see things, should be totally discredited as evil -not just in a spiritual sense but as psychologically malignant and culturally diseased. To make it as clear as possible, especially since I have ignored Crowley almost completely throughout my life and have said almost nothing about him until now, any material that says something else necessarily is fraudulent. . This has not been a scholarly discussion of the life and ideas of Aleister Crowley. It was not intended to be any such thing As much as possible this account has been objective but the purpose in writing about him at all has not been to present an antiseptic biography but to put maximum distance between his beliefs and practices and my views and values. .. These things understood, there is one final consideration about Crowley that deserves attention before closing this essay. . Crowley made much of "the uniting of opposites." For him, polarities were at the heart of reality. Which, once more, is a truth when someone else teaches this same principle -as many people have, especially people who have knowledge of Tantric philosophy or, for that matter, Hegel's philosophy. . The question concerns the use that a philosophy of polarity is put to. . For Crowley the concept of polarity was one more justification for libertinism, "anything goes," and to hell with human decency or anything but self-gratification. Sure, the female and the male should be united as should souls with bodies, to use that metaphor, but what Crowley meant and what nearly everyone else means who use such language are drastically different. Hence Crowley's attack on Aristotle's concept of the Golden Mean as if the philosopher recommended compromise and half measures as normative in life. . Briefly, here is Crowley's argument as provided in the Wikipedia article: "There is great danger in this Golden Mean, one of whose main objects is to steer clear of shipwreck, Scylla being as fatal as Charybdis." However,Crowley continued, this outlook is "worse than wrong unless it derives from striking the balance between two very distant opposites." . Exactly what this means isn't all that clear but he did go on to say that moderation of opinion is unjustified when some kind of "positive" statement is called for in real life. It is not advisable to be wishy-washy, to refrain from making up your mind. And many people are so inclined because of the fear that if they take a strong stand on an issue and doing so may offend others they may be called a bigot. Which is to say that something like multi-cultural Political Correctness was already at work in western society in the first half of the twentieth century. . As "proof" of his position, Crowley said that the opposite of a proposition may not exist, in which case there can be no Golden Mean. Hence, as he saw it, there is freedom to indulge in every conceivable perversity. This conclusion is one that can only be completely repulsive to anyone who is sane. . Crowley, in so many words, poisoned religion. He distorted it, he disrespected any kind of life-affirming spirituality, all of this is the context of world class muddle-headed thinking. . Hopefully my meaning cannot be misunderstood; what I am all about is completely different than anything Crowley ever sought during his sick and pathetic life. . . . All of which says that thinking about a book's title is important. Just as the purpose of Aristotle's philosophy of the Golden Mean is to find the best solution to problems, an author needs to be absolutely certain that a book title is the best possible title that can be conceived. . Speaking personally once more, what also appeals to me about "When the truth is found to be lies," is its musical character. I habitually think of how composers create movements in symphonies, how they construct the play of voices (cello, violin, flute, oboe, brass, etc.) in the concerto form, and how melody ties it all together. There is something similar in other types of music, as there decidedly is in the best of Rock. And as a Rock musician, Grace Slick was among the very best. . Because so much discussed in this entry in the Appendix is about religion, a few comments on that subject might be useful. . With no question about it, I have a religious agenda. Moreover, I am not in the least reluctant to discuss this subject; quite the opposite, as some people can attest from having been subjected to my sermons on various topics over the years. The style of all of these homiletics derives directly from Baptist example, which is an art form in and of itself. Except that the content is likely to originate almost anywhere, the Bible, Japanese Buddhism, Mesopotamian scared texts, Thomas Aquinas, Zoroastrian studies, and much else, not even counting modern religious scholarship which means so much to me. . The trouble is that this overall subject is highly complex; there are literally hundreds and thousands of considerations, some of which are extremely important on their own merits. . Writing about religion in the context of this book would shift attention from the story you have been reading in an altogether different direction, and that is not a good idea. This being the case, yet wanting to give the reader some kind of impression, let me just say that you can infer a great deal by knowing even a few of someone's favorite spiritual-theme musical compositions. Here, then, is a short list to get you started: . There are three CD albums that have special significance, Glorify Thy Name (Hosanna Music, 1986), Ocean of Mercy (Jaya Lakshmi), Missa Luba; and four songs, A Mighty Fortress (with Luther's original lyrics), El Shaddai (Amy Grant), the hymn, Troublesome Times, and Amazing Grace (especially as sung by Judy Collins). I love this music and what it represents. . . . . . . . . . -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
