Thelemic Four Step Guide: Step 4 - Destructive Actions

To say harm none or do not interfere with someone else's will; is a bit too general to be useful in examining your own actions. Judeo-Christian use the ten commandments to evaluate their actions, but these don’t really work for us. We do, however, have our own traditions to use as a model. This section is based on the Papyrus of Nebseni, also called the 42 Negative Confessions used by the Egyptians as a guide to healthy behavior (British Museum No.9900, Sheet 30). As some of them are repeated several times, there will not be 42 items below, but it is time to make lists. For each of these, list the circumstances,if any, when you have performed the action and its result. Then begin changing your behavior by changing your reaction to events a little at a time. If you hit a person when they make you angry, try not hitting, then try breathing, then try not getting angry. Changing behavior is not a feat accomplished overnight. Don’t punish yourself for setbacks, simply don’t do it again. Act, don’t react. Reaction is the same as giving someone else control of your Will.

1. I have not done iniquity. Purposefully committing an evil action that violates another’s will, or your own ethics

2. I have not robbed with violence.

3. I have not done violence to any person.

4. I have not committed theft.

5. I have not slain man or woman. Killing a person in self-defense, in defense of another, or while in a military action still has an emotional effect on you, and it also affects your behavior. How did it change you? What were the consequences of that change?

6. I have not made light the bushel. Shortchanged someone, sold something for more than it was worth. Selling someone an ounce of marijuana that was well short of an ounce.

7. I have not acted deceitfully. Doing something you agreed not to do.

8. I have not purloined the things which belong unto the Gods. Spending the coven’s money on yourself…

9. I have not uttered falsehood.

10. I have not carried away food. That is, taking food from the hungry, or stealing food meant for someone else.

11. I have not uttered evil words.

12. I have attacked no person.

13. I have not killed animals other than for food or for sacred purposes if you belong to a Yoruban based Faith.

14. I have not laid waste the fields which have been plowed. The modern equivalent of sowing a field with salt might be things like sowing a computer virus, or destroying someone’s business by any means.

15. I have never pried into matters in order to make mischief. (Creating chaos and uproar just to watch it fly. Playing both ends against the middle in a dispute.)

16. I have not set my mouth in motion against any person. Bearing false witness, gossiping

17. I have not given way to wrath concerning myself without a cause.

18. I have not defiled the wife of a man I have not had a dishonest sexual relationship behind the back of their partner. I have not raped anyone.

19. I have not committed any sin against purity. I have not debased myself by agreeing to do something against my Will.

20. I have not struck fear into any person.

21. I have not encroached up sacred times and seasons. Disrupted religious services, made fun of rituals.

22. I have not been a person of anger.

23. I have not made myself deaf to the words of right and truth. (Hard-hearted.)

24. I have not stirred up strife.

25. I have made no person weep.

26. I have not committed acts of impurity. Use your own definition.

27. I have not eaten my heart. Ignored spirit in favor of whim.

28. I have abused no person, this includes children, they are not property.

29. I have not acted with violence.

30. I have not judged hastily. Jumping to conclusions and prejudice.

31. I have not taken vengeance upon another or upon the Gods. Revenge is not sweet.

32. I have not multiplied my speech over-much boasted or exaggerated.

33. I have not worked wickedness. Caused harm to people or violated their Wills. This would include killing something just to watch it die, criminal mischief like breaking windows or damaging property, and tagging.

34. I have not uttered curses. I have not become a brother of the left-hand path. I have not hexed unjustly.

35. I have not fouled the water. Poisoned the well…sleeping with co-workers so that they have to quit that job, created discord within the Lodge or coven…

36. I have not made haughty my voice. Boasting, conceit, egomania in action.

37. I have not cursed the Gods. There is a difference between being a god and being THE GOD, the job of ultimate universal divinity is taken, and you are not IT.

38. I have not behaved with insolence. Disrespect for others.

39. I have not sought for distinctions. If you want to be in charge, you probably aren't qualified.

40. I have not increased my wealth, except with such things as are justly mine own possessions. No embezzling, theft, or con games.

41. I have not thought scorn of the Gods who are in my City. Ridiculed other’s spiritual or religious choices.

Now that you are done, go back and look for patterns of behavior. The AA definition of insanity is "doing the same things over and over and expecting different results." If you keep getting into abusive relationships, you are stuck in a pattern. Go back in your life until you identify where the pattern started and meditate on how you felt at the time. Now that you have identified the origin, you are no long chained to it. You can not resolve an abusive childhood by finding an abusive partner and trying to make them "love" you (stop hitting you).

Next, make a list of every good deed, material, verbal or spiritual that you have carried out to date. Only actions count here. This gives you some perspective on the fact that no one is all good or all bad. For those of you who think beating yourself up and engaging in guilt is a way to accomplish the Great Work, guess again. We do not do guilt. If an action made you feel bad, don’t do it any more. We treat the past as lessons we have learned so that we don’t have to repeat them, and as opportunities to develop character and help others attain to their Wills.

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