[Part I: Thelemic Philosophy | Part II: Systematic Theology]

Part III: Thelemic Psychology

Prologue: Theoretical Orientation
Chapter 1: Alethiological (Cartography) Model
Chapter 2: Spectrums of Consciousness
Chapter 3: Methodologies of Therapy

Prologue

Theoretical Orientation: A theoretical orientation is "an organized set of assumptions or preferences for given theories that provides a counselor or clinician with a conceptual framework for understanding a client’s needs and for formulating a rationale for specific interventions" (APA Dictionary of Psychology).

Premises of a Thelemic Theoretical Orientation

When I consider a theoretical orientation (the underlying assumptions and preferences) for a potential therapeutic approach, and when informed by my own understanding of Thelema, I find the following assumptions can be made:

1. that individuals are neither inherently broken nor do they inherently lack wellness; and
2. that individuals cannot be separated from their environment, experiences, or expressions, but must be engaged in each of these areas intimately through Love under Will; and
3. that individuals are not static creatures but dynamic within objective (biological), subjective (psychological), intersubjective (cultural), and interobjective (systemic) dimensions of individual and collective perspectives; and
4. that each therapeutic concern of the individual must be addressed throughout all four dimensions of the individual in some manner even if one or more dimension is predominant over others.

Certainly, these are merely some initial thoughts, but I think it's the start of a direction that is productive.

Thelemic Psychology: A Theoretical Orientation

In putting this all together into a coherent Thelemic theoretical orientation, it might read something like this:

1. The human experience can be explicated simply as Perfection-experiencing-Imperfection for the purpose of accumulating change.
2. There is only a single essential (authentic) self with a multiplicity of existential masks/garments or subpersonalities. There is no "higher" or "lower" Self/self dichotomy.
3. Each individual and each experience of the individual is an existential composite of the four validity domains—objective, subjective, interobjective, and intersubjective.
4. There are interior and exterior modes of individual and collective expression for the sole purpose of aggregating experience.
5. Underlying these four domains is sense of self-awareness and a sense of direction (True Will) that can be discovered and assimilated to best express our purpose in life.

We cannot approach the individual in any therapeutic manner through a single lens. We must explore all aspects of the individual and the situation in which the individual finds themselves. All encounters of the Khu with external or internal stimuli are a matter of relationship.

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Canons of Thelemic Philosophy & Religion © 1996-2024 by Qui Vident.

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