Liber AL vel Legis I: 58 reads:
“I give unimaginable joy on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice.”
These are comforting words coming from Nuit in the Book of the Law. Joy, certainty, peace, rest, and ecstasy are ours. And it’s free: She demands nothing in return.
This partly echoes a passage from in Liber Tzaddi:
“But you who have defied the law; you who have conquered by subtlety or force; you will I take unto me, even I will take you unto me. I ask you to sacrifice nothing at mine altar; I am the God who giveth all.”
It is comforting to think that we could be given all without having to give up anything. Whether or not this is the true intent of either passage, or what it might mean will be the topic for another time.
This essay focuses on the three words in the above verse “certainty, not faith” and attempts to find some meaning. Why is Nuit offering us certainty, and not faith? Why not both? And why would one be given or preferred over the other?
The most obvious answer is that certainty is a superior state of mind. It is the more solid position of the two.
There is nothing inherently wrong with having faith. Most people have faith in something, and faith is perfect as a starting point. Faith means to accept an idea as fact without having first-hand knowledge or experience that it is true. Faith does not require proof, only spiritual understanding.
We can have faith in a person to act in a certain way. We can have faith in gods, angels, demons, spirits, or a higher power to help protect us from harm or to take positive action on our behalf. There is nothing wrong with this, so long as we retain a clear understanding of the reality about faith, that no matter how strong is the desire for our beliefs to be true, we do not know for certain. In faith, there will always be a gap between the desired end and the knowledge that it exists. There will be doubt. And that is the crux of it.
Faith is an open doorway through which we have looked, but which we have not yet entered. Over time, faith can lead to belief. Belief can lead to certainty. Only by crossing that threshold of experience can we truly know anything with a sense of certainty.
Faith does have a dark side. Beware of the false sense of certainty that arrives when beliefs go unchallenged. Certainty is always false unless and until it is grounded on actual experience. False certainty develops when one’s faith and beliefs are never truly tested in the real world, or when we ignore averse results that do not fit our beliefs. False certainty can lead to the unfounded conviction of the righteousness of one’s position. When chance events seem to support one’s faith but are not challenged, this promotes superstition, another way that false certainty can grow.
Certainty and faith are not mutually exclusive, but when misaligned they do oppose each other. Faith and certainty have completely different foundations. Faith is supported by a set of beliefs that may or may not have not been exposed to the crucible of experience. True certainty comes only from direct knowledge.
In The Book of Splendours, Eliphas Levi says:
“Tranquility of mind is an effect of certainty; peace of heart comes from patience and faith. Without faith, science leads to doubt; without science, faith leads to superstition. Uniting them brings certainty, but in so doing they must never be confused with each other. The object of faith is hypothesis, and this becomes certitude when the hypothesis is necessitated by evidence or by the demonstrations of science.”
Ultimately, these three simple words, “certainty, not faith,” in the Book of the Law reflect the spirit of Scientific Illuminism as it is embraced by the A∴A∴ and expressed in the motto:. “The method of science, the aim of religion.”
In the occult, we seek the answers to life’s mysteries in dark corners of the self where most do not go. The answers that others have found can be interesting, useful even, but should never be taken on faith alone. We must question every source of our information, dig up the root of our beliefs, and reject as wishful thinking anything that cannot be confirmed through direct experience.
There is something concrete about certainty. It is unshakable because it is based on what we know to be true. Predictable effects that come from a repeatable pattern of actions can be relied upon to be true. When we do inner work with eyes open, and that work is based on the known, then we have confidence that the transformative results of our operations are real. We feel and see and experience real change in conformity with Will.
Nuit gives us the opportunity for “certainty, not faith.” We must seek out and find that certainty for ourselves.