“The prophet cried against the mountain; come thou hither, that I may speak with thee! The mountain stirred not. Therefore went the prophet unto the mountain, and spake unto it. But the feet of the prophet were weary, and the mountain heard not his voice.
But I have called unto Thee, and I have journeyed unto Thee, and it availed me not. I waited patiently, and Thou wast with me from the beginning. This now I know, O my beloved, and we are stretched at our ease among the vines.
But these thy prophets; they must cry aloud and scourge themselves; they must cross trackless wastes and unfathomed oceans; to await Thee is the end, not the beginning.”
–Liber LXV, II:57-62
This parable teaches about the importance of patience and perseverance. The desire to see results can be strong, and the magical path can be full of hardships and challenges that stand in the way. There may be long stretches of silence that seem to lead nowhere.
Persistence in the work will eventually lead to success, but this parable makes the important point that the real answers we seek are not to be found outside of ourselves. Ultimately, the inner journey is just as important as the destination.
Let’s start climbing…
“The prophet cried against the mountain; come thou hither, that I may speak with thee! The mountain stirred not. Therefore went the prophet unto the mountain, and spake unto it. But the feet of the prophet were weary, and the mountain heard not his voice.”
The two main characters in this parable are the prophet and the mountain. The prophet could be Crowley, of course, but taken more generically he represents an initiate or practitioner, a seeker on the magical path. In Thelema, each person who advances in the work of their grade is becoming the prophet of their own religion.
The mountain is not described in detail, but one might think of Mount Abiegnus of the Rosicrucians which represents great spiritual attainment. Symbolically, the mountain could refer to any revelation, advancement in a grade, or spiritual challenge. Specific to Thelema, this mountain could symbolize the primary achievement of Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel.
The proverbial saying “If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain,” bears some verbal resemblance, but that proverb’s meaning does not apply here beyond the fact that this prophet is literally going to the mountain after it would not come to him.
The prophet first calls to the mountain to come and speak with him but gets no response. So he goes to the mountain and speaks to it but still gets nothing. This reflects the incorrect idea that what is being sought is somewhere “out there.” He can call for the mountain to come to him, or go to where it stands, but either way it only reinforces the absence of something that is not here. Nothing works because the prophet is caught up in the illusion that the answer can be found outside of himself.
The prophet’s feet reinforce this idea of traveling far and wide when the answers are close to home. The weary feet also indicate a weak or unbalanced foundation, making him ineffective and unable to be heard.
“ Learn first --- Oh thou who aspirest unto our ancient Order! --- that Equilibrium is the basis of the Work. If thou thyself hast not a sure foundation, whereon wilt thou stand to direct the forces of Nature? Know then, that as man is born into this world amidst the Darkness of Matter, and the strife of contending forces; so must his first endeavour be to seek the Light through their reconciliation.” – Liber Librae
When the Tree of Life is overlaid on the human form, the Sephirah Malkuth at the bottom of the Tree rests near the feet. Malkuth represents the physical world, and the Elements of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth that must be balanced within the magician to form a solid base from which to stand and operate.
“But I have called unto Thee, and I have journeyed unto Thee, and it availed me not. I waited patiently, and Thou wast with me from the beginning. This now I know, O my beloved, and we are stretched at our ease among the vines.”
The prophet called, and he searched, and all that effort seemed like it was for naught. But then, he stopped, and he waited patiently. When he stopped looking outside himself and waited for that inner voice, it was then that he had the sudden realization. Thou wast with me from the beginning.
This stopping refers to the stillness of meditation. It refers to the withdrawal of the outer senses, a disconnection from desire and from lust of result. The waiting refers to maintaining patient receptivity. When we stop looking outside ourselves and wait quietly long enough to hear the inner voice of the Angel, that is when the realization comes that the Angel has been right there beside us the whole time.
From that point, “we are stretched at our ease among the vines.” This ease is not idleness, but rather it is the ease that comes with freedom. The Great Work is accomplished. We know our Will, and we are doing our Will, and effort is unnecessary.
“But these thy prophets; they must cry aloud and scourge themselves; they must cross trackless wastes and unfathomed oceans; to await Thee is the end, not the beginning.”
In this hard physical world of Malkuth manifesting in Assiah, people must work and suffer in order to gain wisdom. There are very few other alternatives. All possible extremes of personal experience are a necessary part of the search for Truth. Pain is matched against pleasure, joy against sorrow, love against hate. In the end, all opposites cancel each other out to form a whole and complete nothingness.
This parable shows that the Angel is by our side waiting for us through all of our trials and searching. The searching is natural, and necessary, but when we stop and wait, we become receptive. We enter into the perpetual present moment, and that is when we get the glimpse of the wings, hear the whisper of the Angel’s voice.
The idea is similar to another parable from LXV, the Striving Scribe, that deals with striving and yielding.
“To await Thee is the end, not the beginning.” There is a play on words here. Being aware and present in the moment with a sense of expectation is what is meant by waiting. In a sense, developing that awareness is the whole purpose of the journey and makes all the struggle worthwhile.
It is in the eternal Now that we realize that everything we are looking for can be found within. The waiting is the end we seek. In that state of consciousness, the whole struggle – highs and lows – becomes an experience that can be savored. The search is not simply a means of getting to the glorious bounty awaiting us at the end of the road. Finding joy in each moment along the way is the real treasure.
Conclusion
This parable illustrates that the ultimate truth we seek is not to be found “out there” somewhere, but rather it is inside ourselves. The prophet pursued the mountain for a long time and in many ways. There are always going to be difficulties and hardships in the occult path, and in life generally. It was only when he stopped and waited that the divine connection was felt, and then he realized that the Angel had been there all along. The waiting, being in the moment and finding joy in every experience along the way, that was the true destination of the journey.
I continue to admire your overall effort, and find genius in examining Liber LXV as a collection of parables. And thanks; please keep this going as I remain ever, to read more of your thoughts.
But if I may inquire here for the sake of giving you more to consider, why not think of this whole passage as an illusion to the problem with Islam and Mohammed, specifically? That the mountain would come to him and his voice was too feeble to reach the ears of his god, there is much to glean from this. Even also, that it was his tired feet ("Cobbler, mend me this shoe that I may walk.") that held him down from his journeying.
Of the ego of Mohammed, that he would expect the Mountain (God) to come to him, and later, would come to God with his tail tucked between his legs; that really says something. And remember, Islam starts out with Christian influence; they being docetic in such a manner as they proclaimed no god could be crucified and made to die. Their reactive ideology developed out of the same winds; the Koran being but other desert stories not included in the Old or New Testaments.
"That thou wast with me from the beginning" becomes a Thelemic notion that God is not over there, or up there...or out there:--God is Me! (And God is you.) We are each that God of very God and there is no higher force above us; but that we create ourselves and are responsible for the creation of the Universe.