The World's Tragedy

by Aleister Crowley, Christopher S. Hyatt (Foreword), Lon Milo DuQuette (Foreword)

"Christianity is not only the cause but the symptom of slavery". Crowley's tongue is at its sharpest in this indictment of Christianity. The World's Tragedy is more relevant than ever with the current rise of the Fundamentalist Movement. With incisive commentary by Crowley experts Pegardie, Hyatt, and DuQuette.

Genres: Poetry

114 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

Aleister Crowley was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, proclaiming himself as the prophet destined to guide humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, Crowley published extensively throughout his life.
Born Edward Alexander Crowley in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, he was raised in a wealthy family adhering to the fundamentalist Christian Plymouth Brethren faith. Crowley rejected his religious upbringing, developing an interest in Western esotericism. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, focusing on mountaineering and poetry, and published several works during this period. In 1898, he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, receiving training in ceremonial magic from Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and Allan Bennett. His travels took him to Mexico for mountaineering with Oscar Eckenstein and to India, where he studied Hindu and Buddhist practices.
In 1904, during a honeymoon in Cairo with his wife Rose Edith Kelly, Crowley claimed to have received "The Book of the Law" from a supernatural entity named Aiwass. This text became the foundation of Thelema, announcing the onset of the Æon of Horus and introducing the central tenet: "Do what thou wilt." Crowley emphasized that individuals should align with their True Will through ceremonial magic.
After an unsuccessful expedition to Kanchenjunga in 1905 and further travels in India and China, Crowley returned to Britain. There, he co-founded the esoteric order A∴A∴ with George Cecil Jones in 1907 to promote Thelema. In 1912, he joined the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), eventually leading its British branch and reformulating it according to Thelemic principles. Crowley spent World War I in the United States, engaging in painting and writing pro-German propaganda, which biographers later suggested was a cover for British intelligence activities.
In 1920, Crowley established the Abbey of Thelema, a religious commune in Cefalù, Sicily. His libertine lifestyle attracted negative attention from the British press, leading to his expulsion by the Italian government in 1923. He spent subsequent years in France, Germany, and England, continuing to promote Thelema until his death in 1947.
Crowley's notoriety stemmed from his recreational drug use, bisexuality, and criticism of societal norms. Despite controversy, he significantly influenced Western esotericism and the 1960s counterculture, and remains a central figure in Thelema.

Reviews

[Keith]

The drama critic James Evershed Agate is supposed to have noted that "Shaw's plays are the price we pay for Shaw’s prefaces." We know from Liber 888 and elsewhere that Crowley was not just as familiar with George Bernard Shaw as any literate Englishman of his generation, but also at least a sometime admirer. It may perhaps be speculated, then, that this represents an homage to the general form of a marginal (and likely unstageable) poetic drama on which to hang a somewhat more cogent polemic.

And polemic it is: "That religion they call Christianity; the devil they honour they call God. I accept these definitions[…] and it is their God and their religion that I hate and will destroy." That destruction is, of course, unsurprisingly beyond the reach of the doggerel that follows, despite a small handful of gems. The story is not even up to the level of Behold the Man.

If, on the other hand, what you seek is an extended screed of howling rage against literalism, and particularly of the Bible, then this is the preface for you, along with the newer introductory material by the editor and publishers, suitable to satisfy bitter bellies, if not as sweet on the tongue as honey.