Edward Alexander “Aleister” Crowley said and did a number of things I do not agree with. But I fully understand that he grew tired of all the ideologies and creeds that suppressed man’s pursuit of great heights and powerful emotions. Aleister wanted strong men – and women. Men, not gentlemen. And we understand what he means. He speaks of men who do not compromise their nature and who do not bow to conventions, opinions, and ideas that are irrelevant in the pursuit of one’s specific “maximum happiness” – or in the process of finding one’s “True Will.”
“Aleister Crowley shines as a star in the firmament of history, champion of individualism, gadfly to hypocrites, proto-punk provocateur and publicity-chasing prankster who donned the mantle of prophet to receive the religious revelation of the present age: Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law! Love is the law, love under will!” writes Spencer Dew.
Crowley was a force – and he didn’t care about recognition. He had a message, and he “took no prisoners”:
I want none of your faint approval or faint dispraise. … I want men behind me, or before me if they can surpass me, but men, men not gentlemen. Bring me your personal vigour; all of it, not your spare vigour. … If I can get but seven such men, the world is at my feet. If ten, Heaven will fall at the sound of one trumpet to arms.
It always begins with a small group.